A VC in Vacationland
Seeking the next gen supply chain technology breakthroughs
recent posts
- The Role of Generative AI in Supply Chain Investment Strategies
- AI’s Impact on Supply Chain Investment Strategies
- The ‘New Normal’ is now the ‘No Normal’ in Supply Chains
- SRR—Sustainability, Resilience, Risk Management: The Latest Supply Chain Buzzwords & Investment Opportunities
- 3PLs–Investing in the Next Generation of Outsourced Supply Chain Solutions
about
Category: Managing start-ups
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Image via Wikipedia Start ups today do not need to (nor can afford to) make huge investments in marketing, sales, education, training and support infrastructure. Web-based capabilities around conferencing, meetings, webinars have allowed small companies to compete without having teams of professionals jump on air planes to visit potential/actual customer offices. Besides, in the current downturn, who can…
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Image via Wikipedia Money is tight and many entrepreneurial start ups are looking for any ways to save money. This will be the subject of a future post. But today, we shall try and keep you out of jail. Here are a few ways NOT to save money in a bad economic environment, as they…
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Image by static416via Flickr Entrepreneurs anguish over naming their company. Rightly so. A good, basic name that describes the product can be a real help in attracting customers. My daughter-in-law, for example, named her reusable drink sticker company clinQs, as in clinking glasses together. The name is easy to remember, relates to the product and the…
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The CEO at one of my former portfolio companies (we sold LeanLogistics last year to Brambles Logistics), Dan Dershem, reminded me of the most important question an entrepreneur can ask themselves as they develop their business/product/service plan–who writes the check? What he meant was who writes the check at your potential customers. When I ask the…
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Image by rosemaniosvia Flickr "Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone." — The Dhammapada The Buddha had it right. Your journey as an entrepreneur (and through life) should always be with your equals or better. I often see young entrepreneurs who are overly eager to get going on their idea…
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Image via Wikipedia I unfortunately get to do this a lot–calling someone's baby ugly. It is not a pleasant act–an entrepreneur has worked long and hard fleshing out their ideas. I come along and call it ugly. Of course, I don't literally do this. Usually, I just say that I am not interested in making…
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I get sent a lot of business books to review. Mostly, I browse them and see if anything attracts my attention. Often, nothing does and the books head off to Goodwill. Monday Morning Leadershipby David Cottrell is not new. Published in 2002, the book is focused on how managers can do a better job leading…
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Loyalty is not a word that is used a lot in the business world anymore. Customers used to be loyal to products and channels, but the Internet changed all that. Employees used to be loyal to their employers, but layoff after layoff, often with little regard for the human implications, changed all that. Companies used…
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I often get asked where an entrepreneur can compete for seed money, or just practice for venture capital pitches. The granddaddy of these competitions is the annual MIT 100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The founders of one of my portfolio companies, Sean Willems and John Ruark, won the 2000 MIT competition and went on to found Optiant,…
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Looking for the perfect C-level executive for your startup? Got some venture money in your pocket and have the urge to hire your new, full time leadership team. WHOA! I have seen too many mistakes by early stage entrepreneurs bringing in full time C-level leadership who turn out not to be the right match for the…
A VC in Vacationland 