Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 22, 2020

When Pete approached me for advice, I recommended the “Failure-Proofing” strategy, which is a pragmatic and easy-to-use technique to defend against planning and project disasters. In addition, present any evidence you might use that would serve as an indicator that the failure you are addressing is happening or about to happen.

strategy 317

strategy entrepreneurs consulting creativity 317

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

I did 5 years of building large computer systems and computer networks for global corporations and 3+ years as a “strategy consultant.&# In many of the meetings you’d meet clients who would tell you everything you needed to know, would offer to help you and then would never follow up on the help that they had offered.

frameworks 378

frameworks consulting advice strategy 378

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. This person was educated at the best US schools and had worked for a top-tier strategy consulting firm – one of the big 3. The CEO had 60-page Powerpoint presentations analyzing every micro detail of the business. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Startup Advice.

entrepreneurs 414

entrepreneurs board advice consulting 414

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I told people privately my perfect spec: computer science undergrad from MIT (or any other great school), 2-years at McKinsey but no more than that (I love the analytical framework that the top strategy consulting firms provide. The same is true for strategy consulting and often it is helpful for senior levels within large corporations.

VC 337

VC peer-to-peer advice consulting 337

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. I had an MBA, had done a few years of strategy consulting and knew all of the management theory. We hired a head of technology, a head of customer service, a head of marketing, a head of strategy (which no startup should ever hire) a CFO and, ugh, 33 developers.

startup founder 299

startup founder founder startup VC 299

American Entrepreneurship

JANUARY 5, 2025

Entrepreneurs are presented with both business and personal challenges as they travel their entrepreneurial journey. On the business side, they face hard decisions about establishing the right marketing strategy for their products and services, gaining timely access to capital to grow their business and dealing with the day-to-day operations.

entrepreneurs 98

entrepreneurs mentorship entrepreneurship advice 98

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

By spending more time educating your board on your business you get more valuable advice from them. I’d like to schedule a 45-minute call to agree our strategy and understand who your key contacts are.” You may have an opinion on your market-entry strategy for Europe. Startup Advice' Have topics. Assign away.

board 365

board VC advice pitching 365

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

But for my sins I got an MBA and did “strategy&# consulting. In 1999 I was in Japan doing a strategy project for the board of directors of Sony. There are so many ways to present data to tell the story you want that I can’t even list every way data is skewed. It was originally COBOL and DB2 – so what?

consulting 415

consulting data analysis advice construction 415

Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Be more present. As female entrepreneurs, we are independent-minded and innovative, and this advice is critical for securing our future and the future of our families. She provided me with so much advice on business strategy, business channels and HR. Stop multitasking and instead, do one thing. Enjoy each activity.

founder 262

founder advice entrepreneurship entrepreneurs 262

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2015

I am good at cranking out documents, memos, presentations, letters and spreadsheets. I write my presentations the night before. I even learned how to mark somebody present who was absent. So if I’ve committed to delivering a presentation – you’re going to get my best effort. I rush the last 20%.

creativity 384

creativity consulting entrepreneurship energy 384

StartupNation

JUNE 25, 2021

However, by having all of this well thought out beforehand, you can save your nerves, and instead of coming up with strategies from scratch, you have a base to build from. This should start with revenue strategies. When setting your pricing strategy , be careful. Don’t underprice yourself! Sell wants, deliver needs.

strategy 121

strategy media networking entrepreneurs 121

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 26, 2010

Leaving your real competitors off of you presentation to a VC is not recommended. For starters, here’s the two most common approaches that startups take to discuss competition and also a section on the common pitfalls – even for experienced presenters. With VCs my strong suggestion is that you be open & realistic.

VC 313

VC education strategy opportunity 313

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

A few weeks ago I sat through two very contrasting presentations and wrote this blog post right afterward. Both presenters are anonymized. I hope that when you’re presenting to a VC this will give you some sense of what might be going on in our minds. ’s strategy and missteps. A Tale of Two Pitches.

pitching 288

pitching VC advice strategy 288

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2010

Post MBA I went into strategy consulting where my job was to problem solve for clients. This is a problem for a strategy consultant because you are, by definition, a generalist that is thrown into new problems again and again. It is about structuring your thoughts, presentations and communications.

entrepreneurs 372

entrepreneurs consulting frameworks advice 372

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

He told me that the CEO set the strategy but that he, the President, traveled to all of the conferences evangelizing on behalf of the company. It had a strategy-setting CEO, a limelight-seeking President and a COO who ran the company. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. Unfortunately.

entrepreneurs 286

entrepreneurs advice pitching VC 286

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 28, 2021

During an online business workshop in December 2020, the presenter asked me whether our venture was a hobby or a business. There’s no need for long-term strategy or a plan for growth because there’s no risk if your venture fails to attract clients. You can join business groups and share advice with other solopreneurs.

entrepreneurs 306

entrepreneurs strategy sustainability financing 306

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative

OCTOBER 21, 2021

With the challenges presented to entrepreneurs and their businesses during the pandemic, it is crucial, now more than ever, to utilize this time as a moment of professional growth and self-reflection on the branding and marketing efforts of businesses. Rebranding and expanding your target audience with a social business expert from Brazil.

consulting 243

consulting strategy development networking 243

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. Many years ago I worked at Andersen Consulting, originally developing software for large corporations and then as a strategy consultant. We provide advice that is pertinent because we are able to see patterns across multiple companies. Tags: Start-up Advice.

VC 297

VC board consulting advice 297

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But if you identify investors with whom you’d like to work here’s my advice: 1. If you have good experience then the VC will be leaning forward for the rest of the presentation. I acknowledge that some investors have as their strategy to make lots of small bets. Maybe this CEO doesn’t see me as a great fit.

startup 360

startup VC advice entrepreneurs 360

TechCrunch

AUGUST 27, 2021

I enjoyed the big marquee speakers from companies like Uber, but it was the individual breakout presentations where you really started to get into the meat of the conversation and see how these mobile partnerships come to life. We present the 13 pioneering Korean companies that will enrich our lives with their innovative edge.

disruption 100

disruption advice leadership energy 100

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 17, 2022

an award-winning online printing company that has helped over 5,000 businesses print more than 20 million presentation folders. The following is my advice on how to not just survive, but thrive, during a downturn along with examples of how we’ve used these strategies. Nobody was ordering customized presentation folders.

strategy 220

strategy creativity energy investment 220

Dream It

APRIL 3, 2020

His strategy for selling in 2009 is relevant to any economic downturn. In this episode of #DreamitLive , Moore discussed the challenges we are confronted with in a downturn and the unique challenges COVID-19 presents. Luckily, the strategy can be broken down into 3 steps. What keeps them up at night? What are they ignoring?

pitching 221

pitching strategy advice board 221

Startup Blogpost

MARCH 15, 2024

14 Pieces of Advice for Resolving Conflicts Among Startup Team Members Navigating team conflicts in a startup environment requires wisdom and practical strategies. While it fosters creativity and agility, it can also present challenges like long hours, ambiguity, and an intense work environment. My top advice?

advice 98

advice startup collaboration frameworks 98

The Zapier Blog

APRIL 24, 2023

If you've been wanting to learn a new skill or even strengthen existing ones, here are the seven tried-and-trued strategies I used to boost my expertise—and how you can, too. Now that we're on the same page, let's dive into the seven strategies you can use to learn a new skill or enhance the ones you already have.

strategy 105

strategy mix-use development creativity 105

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. The short answer is that you should have multiple versions of your “pitch deck” (a short, visual presentation in Keynote, PPT or similar and shared as a PDF) and each occasion has a specific goal. This is part of a series on how to improve your fund raising game.

VC 261

VC pitching advice entrepreneurs 261

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2009

My goal is to bring in informative speakers who stretch our collectively thinking on topics that will influence our investment strategies and use it as a way for us to share our experiences in ways that I hope benefit the Southern California technology ecosystem. Tags: SoCal Stuff Start-up Advice VC Industry. All have been fascinating.

social gaming 188

social gaming consulting innovation networking 188

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative

JUNE 7, 2019

As an independent woman with a go-getter attitude, she shared insights with us into her life as an entrepreneur and what it was like getting YHS off the ground, as well as her advice for other young entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Origins of Young Help Suriname (YHS). How did Ashna overcome this challenge?

entrepreneurs 214

entrepreneurs advice peer-to-peer sustainability 214

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

And why my advice to newer VCs would be not to feel bad if you’re missing out on what is perceived as a few hot deals. You need to be very present in these periods of time. Being active, engaged, present, knowledgeable and having earned trust from the core team can make a huge difference on the eventual outcome of the companies.

VC 374

VC investing investment entrepreneurs 374

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 6, 2010

We started presenting our company and talking about our views of the industry. I’ll likely write about other question strategies at a later time. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. Wide questions lead to narrower and narrower of questions later in the meeting.

advice 311

advice investing investment strategy 311

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I guess let’s file this under sales & marketing advice. My first series was the slides that go into a PowerPoint presentation. My strategy was to keep it advice based for the first 6 months so I never really employed this as a strategy to drive traffic. Don’t blow your load on your first post.

advice 286

advice mix-use entrepreneurs strategy 286

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

I look for that fighting spirit in those that present to me. She brought her key team members and emphasized why their strategy was so much better than Company A and other players in the market. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. It is what it is. It was very compelling.

entrepreneurs 296

entrepreneurs advice technology strategy 296

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 8, 2020

If you can’t create the highest return on investment in your present company—then maybe you should rethink continuing to operate your business. Invest in Tax Strategy. Our most effective tax strategy was to open two businesses in Puerto Rico, where we pay only 4 percent in corporate taxes. Invest in Your Business.

real estate 235

real estate entrepreneurs investing investment 235

StartupNation

JULY 1, 2021

Even if you’ve landed on a winning idea for a new app, you’ll need a strategy to get downloads and regular, sustained usage in a highly competitive market. Here’s a growth strategy that’s proven to work in the competitive app market: Develop an app you would use. You’re not just an app developer ; you’re also an app user.

strategy 111

strategy development media sustainability 111

Smart Hustle Magazine

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

Two main challenges that remote work presents are the physical distance between employees and identifying the right technology to bridge this gap. The post Proven Strategies to Efficiently Manage a Remote Team appeared first on SmartHustle.com. The Critical Challenges of Remote Work.

strategy 102

strategy culture coworking collaboration 102

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

In terms of topics we spoke about: - Do VC’s send your presentations around to other people if they don’t fund you? I asked some of the participating VCs, and they told me their attorneys had figured out a way to keep their stealth-mode companies stealthy.Yes, this strategy is not for every company. Tags: Start-up Advice.

VC 285

VC finance financing capital 285

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

This financial leader could well have come through the finance org at another startup or at a larger company but they often also can come from strategy consulting (Bain, BCG or McKinsey) or through investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.). and we were met with weak demand, slow growth and high costs. were more distributed.

innovation 286

innovation startup board leadership 286

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short – maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Even if you have an hour booked, the advice is the same. Implicit in this is the go-to-market strategy. Exit strategy.

pitching 146

pitching sustainability strategy energy 146