What do Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Larry Page all have in common? Yes, they’ve founded multi-billion dollar businesses with virtually no formal business training, with combined revenues of over $80 billion. But they are also former software engineers and hackers, an experience that undoubtedly taught them skills in critical thinking and problem solving. Making...
[Continue Reading]How to Write a Memo That People Will Actually Read
I spent many late nights as an investment banker and strategy consultant early in my career. My #1 learning from that experience (besides financial modeling) was how to communicate in an effective way, particularly with senior executives. As training now for my team at ff Venture Capital, I’ve written a three-part series on communications. And...
[Continue Reading]How to Hire a New Employee and Make Sure You Don’t End Up Firing Them
(also posted in Forbes.) You just hired a new employee for $100K; congratulations! Recruiting is expensive. You probably spent 30-50% of her compensation recruiting her (her recruiting cost ratio), and if she leaves early you’ll lose another 30-50% of her compensation recruiting her replacement. So how do you increase the odds that she says with...
[Continue Reading]How to start your new job on the right foot
Congratulations on your new job! Now, how do you make sure that you keep it? 46% of newly-hired employees will fail within 18 months, while only 19% will achieve unequivocal success, according to a study by Leadership IQ. Of those that fail, only 11% lacked the necessary technical skills. The overwhelming majority (89%) have other...
[Continue Reading]How To Create Buzz Around Your Company
Are you trying to build buzz, but don’t have the cash to launch a full-fledged PR campaign? Hack it. I emphasize that the best PR you can build is through satisfied customers with high Net Promoter scores. In other words, you should focus first on a great product/service, and only after you’ve achieved that worry about...
[Continue Reading]Build Your Startup on a Vacant Domain Name
This is part 2 of a 2-part series on domain names and startups; part 1 was “Should a Startup Spend VC Funding on a Domain Name?”. I’ve written in the past about how to identify a great startup opportunity. Let me propose a path few take: find an under-monetized domain name and start a business...
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