Entrepreneurship

The insanity of “shareholder value”

December 29, 2011
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I’ve been saying this for years. Many times those with “MBAs” have told me I’m wrong. Yet, deep down, I knew something was remiss. Something was just absolutely, 100% wrong. Why? Because it made no sense to have a company focus on guessing what their balance sheet was going to look like a year from now when every person I know would not be able to hit a personal target within 1% if they tried. Life just has too many variables. And the total focus on guessing is detrimental, as I’ve personally experienced in certain large firms where senior executives run around “managing expectations” as opposed to pleasing the customer. The irony is that there’s this insane hire/fire mentality that goes with it, removing talent and thus impacting long-term viability. It’s simply maddening. One of the things I liked about Steve Jobs was his total disregard for Wall Street. He focused on pleasing his customers and proved that an insane focus on the consumer was all that really mattered. The pity is that so few have comprehended this fact even while they try to “replicate” Jobs’ success. I’m hoping well abandon the “dumbest idea in the world”, as Welch puts

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Thoughts… on plans

November 30, 2011
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I’ve been having discussion regarding plans with some folks recently. It got me thinking and I’ve come to the conclusion that you should keep Eisenhower and Powell’s Axioms in mind, namely: Eisenhower’s Axiom: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Powell’s Axiom: “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” To this I’d like to add my own: Eugen’s Axiom: “The foundation of a good plan is to rely on those you trust.” It makes the planning quite useful if you know that when the plan becomes obsolete you can move forward with conviction.

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Darth Vader: Venture Capitalist

May 28, 2011
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I’ve been through a number of start-ups and friends of mine are still toiling through theirs. And although I have rejoined their ranks as a CTO in a research-oriented startup I don’t miss the turmoil associated with trying to please investors, customers, and employees all before you have a product. Especially when it seems that you don’t get to include yourself in that mix of who has to be pleased. Like most geeky types I’ve been watched the Star Wars series repeatedly. My kids watch the original three at least twice a year, with my son and I’ve come to notice something: Darth Vader is a venture capitalist. Now, you may think me nuts — I’ve been called that before, usually before heading off on another start-up adventure — however, hear me out. When you listen to Darth Vader motivating the troops or attempting to get the upper hand on the competition (i.e., the Rebel Alliance), he speaks like a seasoned venture capitalist. I’ll provide some examples although this may mean you can never watch the Star Wars saga in the same way again. On Deals I am altering the deal, pray I do not alter it any further. When

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Sales, Salespeople, and Salesmanship

May 15, 2011
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In my prior entrepreneurship entry I talked about the key hires that a company had to make early on in its life. I purposely left out one of the most important: the sales team. This could be a VP of Sales, a Director of Sales, whatever, but for a company to succeed it needs to have qualified, dynamic, hungry salesmen (and women). That’s a given. The question though is not whether to have them but when! A company lives on cash. For VC funded companies the initial infusion of cash comes from VC Funds that invest a part of a given fund into a company. Obviously, if this is the only cash the company ever receives it won’t be long for this world. A revenue flow is required. To attain that flow sales must occur. But how? That’s the trickiest question of all. How do we get sales? Fortunately it’s simple: provide customers with a product or service that scratches a particular itch and one that results in a demonstrable return on investment (ROI). Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy to quantify nor to find those first customers — those “early adopters” who effectively will wish to live their startup aspirations

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Entrepreneurship: Staffing a CEO

March 6, 2011
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I tend to view things fairly simply. From coding to business I’ve found that this works exceedingly well. There are always special cases, but I tend to handle those on a case-by-case basis. I try to keep the general workings of my code, my life, and my business fairly straightforward. It’s saved me from a lot of agonizing over finding the perfect way to do a given thing. I also tend to hold specific truths to be self-evident. One of these truths is that if a CEO is required he or she should be brought in early, rather than later. Either a new CEO was required from day one or a new one wasn’t. If they always were, bringing one in early is best for the company, for morale, for logistics, and just generally. Of course finding the right CEO is no easier and may in fact be harder earlier than later, but I stand by my assertion. I didn’t always think this way.   CEO: Now or Never Jim Collins’ new book Good to Great is a prequel to his eye-opening Built to Last that discusses what it takes to get a company from good to great. From a

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Entrepreneurship: Who to Hire

February 13, 2011
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When a company is started it’s crucial to ensure that the right people are brought on board at the right time. All too often a company starts up with a slew of techies with little or no business acumen and even less understanding of markets and market drivers. And since every successful company must sell product to a customer it’s crucial that the company determine who those customers are as early as possible. After my time at Texar I’ve come to a series of conclusions as to who should be brought on early, who should be brought on at various stages of corporate growth, and who should never be brought on. Although my take is my own it seems to jive with what most other entrepreneurs see as the correct sequence. In at least one case, though, my belief is at direct odds with what investors, especially, view as crucial to getting a start-up to success. My disagreement stems from the belief of how the senior management team should be arranged, especially with regards to how super successful high-tech companies look at the senior level. Here I’m talking about companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and Newbridge from their formative years until

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Entrepreneurship: Due Diligence

November 21, 2010
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Continuing on with my occasional writings on entrepreneurship, let’s move on to due diligence. As mentioned in an earlier blog entry, I’m opting for entries regarding my forays into entrepreneurship by focusing on subject matter as opposed to chronological order. Perhaps at a later date and if it makes sense I’ll place these into a logical or chronological order, but for now I’m going to do them as I feel. Hope you like it! Due Diligence is that aspect of starting a high-tech venture whereby a series of investors get to examine every aspect of your organization and, to a certain extent, you. The outcome of a due diligence review is usually a set of reps and warrants (representations and warranties) that you sign off on saying that what was discovered is the whole truth and nothing but the truth, as far as you know. And God help you if you lied during this phase as it will come back to haunt you ñ big time! The due diligence is typically broken down into a series of requirements: Sales & Marketing Financial Engineering & Manufacturing Materials Management I will endeavor to go into each in some level of detail. However,

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Rules to Live By

November 1, 2010
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If you are or want to be an entrepreneur, go read The 11 Harsh Realities of Being an Entrepreneur. Definitely worth your time!

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Tom Peters on Innovation

November 1, 2010
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Tom Peters gives a mini-rant on what truly drives innovation. I would definitely agree. But, to be successful, being angry about something that’s stupid is only half the battle. The other half is finding those people who similarly believe a given system is stupid and are capable of assisting in change. Otherwise, you can be angry all you want, create a great product, but if the folks with the bucks don’t agree with you you’ll get nowhere. Thus, to affect change you need to ensure others who want to live vicariously through you are also those who can affect change. It’s this very reason why I believe innovation takes so long to take off. Much of it is a fight against those who refuse change. They dislike it because change is different and different is uncomfortable. But I do agree with Tom Peters: stay angry if you want to make change. Just make friends who can help you affect that change once you’ve converted your anger into a solution.

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The Real Work Begins

October 23, 2010
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During the Winter of 1998-99 I had spent time discussing the possibility of having certain people join me at Texar. I had my sights on a number of people who I had known from prior interactions and with whom I’d hoped to reconnect. One of my primary targets was Tony, who I had met at Carleton University when we both were pursuing our Master of Computer Science degrees. Tony had completed his degree before I had and continued on towards his Ph.D. Tony and I had repeatedly discussed the possibility of his joining Texar should Texar ever get funded. In early 1999 the possibility moved towards a high probability. Tony and I sat down and discussed the possibilities at my favourite restaurant, Mini-Italia in Centrepointe. Enjoying another fantastic meal prepared by Kenny, Tony and I discussed what was transpiring. He was interested but wanted to mull it over. I told him I’d keep him informed. When the deal finalized I told him the money was “imminent”. He contacted me a short while later and we discussed positions, salary, and other issues. When it was all over I had hired myself a Chief Scientist. It was now April 1999, we had

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Musings

A blog of my musings. Some folks find it interesting and so I continue. Hopefully it will remain fairly interesting. At worst, it'll keep me writing orthogonally to my day job.

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