The next time you are in your office, wondering what you should do. Take a random walk through your company. You’ll be surprised by what you find.
The body is strong, the mind is weak.
It starts deep in the pit of my stomach. It’s hard to describe. It’s like a cross between butterflies and sharp fluttering stomach pain. Sometimes, it manifests itself as a pain on the left side of my neck. It feels like a burning, humming sound. The buzz you might hear at a power substation full
Around the time this article is published, a whopping 7000 people will descend on Las Vegas to discuss the future of insurance. For three solid days, people from all walks of life who have joined the insurtech wave will introduce themselves, network, and fight to get heard in a sea of innovation. It’s all happening
About 8-years ago, I boarded a flight from JFK to make my way to an island about 30 miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was a welcome break. I was attending a small, annual, invitation-only gathering of the northeast’s forward-thinking entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, executives, and researchers. The location and name — Nantucket Conference — were fitting. The island
The truth is when you have the combination of these two (thinking and doing) inside you — whether you believe it or not — you are an entrepreneur. (Photo by christian koch on Unsplash) What do home climate control and missile defense systems have in common? A lot. This is what my friend Dip Patel discovered in circa
Once, when meeting with the CEO of a new customer, I pulled out a bottle of ketchup and set it on the table. It was one of these … Once, when meeting with the CEO of a new customer, I pulled out a bottle of ketchup and set it on the table. (Image: istockphoto) It was
Managers love to reward hyper-specialization. But is it better to hire for general problem-solving abilities?
It happens rather quickly. Your new investors sign a shareholder’s agreement, a subscription agreement, and a corporate charter. Usually, you create a new class of (preferred) shares. You receive a notification from your bank that the wires from investors have cleared. Your lawyers file the company’s new corporate charter, and a new board of directors
“…It’s both physical and spiritual. The essence is to try and feel what the poor feel without food and try to be a better person by reflecting on our actions and thoughts. Try to be nice to each other, avoid bad/angry thoughts, etc.” — B. Drissi (personal friend) As I write this article, we are 19 days
It’s been two years since I have been at the helm of a fast-growing #insurtech startup. I have since moved on to new adventures. But, I have kept up with the pulse of the industry by serving as an advisor and coach to newbie CEOs who are among a class of innovators. In my role,
“Crunch, crunch, crunch,” was the sound my gait made as I marched along a distant barren landscape. Here, there were no demanding customers, no competition putting pressure on me. There were no employees anxiously seeking consensus and no investors asking endless questions about our sales forecast. Absent were the industry publications offering views of the
I believe that the life story of everyone on Earth is not just a linear fairy tale with a straightforward beginning and end. Instead, it is a mosaic of mini-stories that come together to create a masterpiece like the work of Antoni Gaudi. When I opened my copy of Michelle Obama’s book Becoming, I half
“Four votes for John,” said one of my four co-founders. It was 1997, and we were deciding who among us would be the titular head of our first venture. It was a simple ceremony, no cryptic puffs of smoke through an old chimney. While I was happy to have won the election — I wanted to win — I
“Resisting pain only increases its intensity.” — Chogyam Trungpa I am 47 years old and I have made a lot of mistakes in my life — both professional and personal ones. I hope I make many more. It’s true. I have hired the wrong people on my management team. I have taken too long to fire people after I realized
Never fall in love with your product, keep your ego in check, and love your customers.
I have been the CEO of Soluna for the past year (2018) and what a great year it was! If you read one of my earlier articles on Soluna’s blog, “My Next Adventure”, you may recall that I knew very little about Blockchain when I first started this journey. However, like many of you, I
My strategic accounts sales team met me in our NY office for a final briefing before our big meeting. After my usual grilling questions, I packed up my laptop and some choice tools for the job. I loaded a pair of red Vic Firth Drumsticks in my briefcase and taped up a box of a
