Entrepreneurship is the most important driver of our economy. People who dare to leave the security of a salaried job and start their own company are probably the greatest source of innovation, growth and creativity. In addition to ideas, market knowledge and leadership skills, founders need two things above all: Read more…
By now we probably all understand that the current market situation in the tech industry is not just a blip, but likely a serious downturn that could last many months or even years. I’ve been through two downturns as a startup founder (2000/01 and 2008/09) and am now experiencing this Read more…
How can we in Europe motivate more technical people to take risks as founders? A pattern I’m hearing worryingly often from seed-stage startups is this: “We don’t have a technical co-founder yet, but we have identified a CTO who will probably join after we close the round.” Look, I get Read more…
As an entrepreneur or startup investor, should you care about the history of innovation? The answer is not obvious. Of course it’s generally crucial to learn from history, particularly in politics. The world is a more peaceful and prosperous place today because we learned from the mistakes of the past Read more…
“Our technology is so brilliant that it will sell itself. Maybe at some point we’ll hire a sales guy who can take care of phone calls and paperwork.” “Our business idea is amazing, and we really know how to sell it. Building the product is the least of our worries. Read more…
You would believe so if you observe VCs. They’re eagerly monitoring former founders’ LinkedIn profiles and Twitter bios for that “Stealth startup” or “Working on something new” popping up. Serial founders who are working on a new venture get pounded by inbound investor interest. Is that justified? According to a Read more…
On this day 15 years ago, Apple announced the iPhone. It’s worth watching the entire video of the event. It’s a masterclass in how to announce a product and how to do a brilliant demo. There was much hype around it at the time, but considering how much this product Read more…
Humans are a tribal species. We evolved in small bands of hunters and gatherers. Close collaboration within your group and scepticism towards any outsiders was a precondition for survival. Later, humans organized in larger groups called tribes, which had more complex social structures. This was the dominant organizational pattern for Read more…
Being an entrepreneur, particularly a founder of a fast growing tech startup, is obviously a hard job. Anybody who chooses this career is probably aware that it comes with long hours, many ups and downs and plenty of challenging situations. Entrepreneurship traditionally has a culture of relentless optimism. Ask any Read more…
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” — Peter Drucker’s famous quote summarizes well how important a strong culture is for any company’s success. Particularly tech startups have gone to great lengths in consciously shaping their culture and even exposing their cultural principles publicly (as in the example of Hubspot). But one Read more…