What does transparency buy you?

I had an emotionally intense conversation with a startup CEO today about the benefits and costs of regular, transparent communication with company investors and close advisors. My point of view — which I articulated forcefully if not very effectively — was that transparency within this limited set of insiders was incredibly valuable and created far continue…

Wm. Shakespeare, Behavioral Psychologist

There are so many examples to choose among in the collected works that I might have to turn this into a series, but the one that’s been rattling around in my head this week is the following (from Hamlet, Act III, Scene II): Hamlet.  Madam, how like you this play?Queen.  The lady doth protest too much, methinks. continue…

Sell your investors a ticket, but don’t let them drive

I’ve had too many conversations recently like this one: ENTREPRENEUR: “We’re raising [insert amount of money here]. As soon as our raise is complete, we plan to [insert one or more of the following: quit our day jobs; stop outsourcing and hire a real dev team; start building our product; etc.]” ME: “So, you’re asking continue…

Flow

“Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi I am not religious, but I am guilty of evangelism. I spent the first seven years of my professional life careening from one unsatisfying corporate job to another, working my way down the ladder from a continue…

Who Loves You? | Who Fears You?

Entrepreneurship and schizophrenia have a lot in common. Every entrepreneur lives the Stockdale Paradox — constantly toggling between the urgent daily realities of survival and their lofty dreams of massive success and cultural impact. But entrepreneurs who take outside funding — and especially those who raise “institutional” money — have another dual life to live: continue…