Yes or No? — When you begin your business: YES, you have to make assumptions in order to have a foundation to start from. YES, you have to work hard to find all of the pros and cons of those assumptions. YES, this foundation is only as strong as the feedback you receive from…

Do the work of the market to be sure you are in the right place at the right time. — 90% of startups fail in their first year. This is a stat that research is proving to be a bit of an exaggeration, but the actual percentage is still pretty steep and the message is still pretty loud. The #1 reason for failure, by far, is lack of market demand. WHY? Because the founder doesn’t spend enough time knowing what the right market to enter in is or what the…

And not the “dry,” lecture kind. — Getting back to the previous story… (this is like part 3… (or 7?)) I thought if I only had a really realistic, logical, step-by-step planual that walked me through the right phases in the right sequence, maybe I would have gotten somewhere then further than I did. For a few years after the startup I helped start up, I worked as a consultant…

… using a smaller lens — In reality this is the space between where an idea emerges and something gets started. It is in essence a solution that does not yet exist (going from 0 to 1). This post is not to be confused with the book called From Zero to One from Peter Thiel. His thesis focuses on progress from a startup perspective, and how that can be looked at…

The story continues… — Wines in the City was a “what to know and where to go” event platform for Everyday Wine Enthusiasts: built on both a website and app. (Insert eyeroll here. Why did I try to build an app before I proved the concept? …

Let’s take a detour and talk about a rocky journey. — The story of when I first tried to start my first business. (pt.1) Let me know if you know the story… I had an amazing idea but I couldn’t get it off the ground. (That could be the story of just about 50% of all first time founders you speak to. Maybe even more.) I left Corporate America and if you’re anything like me, after being in a corporate career for…

To build or not to build? We want huge things when we think about building our businesses; things that will obviously take a lot of work and effort. But, for some reason, that last bit doesn’t seem so daunting when we are just in ideation stage. However, this can be a major catch as you set…

A bit of an op-ed today. — I’m a geek. Have been since I was a kiddo. I will get a grip on something that interests me and stay focused on that knowledge work until I get to some point of mastery. I’m not always successful, insert Juggling failure, but, I’ll give it a full on go. (I have tried juggling off and on for years. There…

What does it mean to be game day ready? — The ability to perform at our best is not about getting everything right on one day — it’s about building healthy habits during the days, weeks and months (even years) ahead of the moment of truth. Preparation starts weeks, months and even years in advance. We spend all of our time preparing to perform at the highest possible level in competitions. The weeks and days before are more important with regard to final prep and alignment compared to all of the grunt-work of research and detail…