Archive: Startup
One of my favorite things to do in the country is read a new book with the birds chirping in the background or the soundtrack of crickets.
The best teams are built on trust, conflict, and commitment in that order.
The journey as CEO is a long one. You won’t be able to rely purely on your god-given raw intelligence for the whole trip.
I am here to help you achieve your goals. I am your servant.
Micromanagement is a killer. All founders have trouble getting out of the weeds.
Podcasts can be a great escape from the day-to-day grind of being a CEO.
I have a paranoia that I will miss something. So, I consistently start the day with a question for myself (and my team) — “what don’t we know now?”
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
Entrepreneurship is a journey, and it seems like it will be a lifelong one for me. The ride is filled with adventure, obstacles, and destinations that surprise. In the spring of this year, I decided to return to one of my passions: writing about my learnings as a CEO. This year marks the end of
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, certainly makes the list of most admired leaders right now. Under his leadership, Microsoft has gone beyond Bill Gates’ wildest expectations. The firm that launched the PC software industry surpassed $1 Trillion in market cap this year, making it one of the world’s most valuable companies. He’s led the company
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
When developing a B2B technology company, you have two choices. You can sell to small and medium-sized businesses (aka SMBs), or you can sell to large enterprises. There is a stark difference between how you sell to one group versus the other. Large enterprises are demanding, are process-heavy, and unusually large organizations. So, solving problems
At dinner one evening, a close friend and entrepreneur asked me, “what CEO skills are you using the most now in your new role?” (image:istockphoto) ARR, LTV, GTM, churn, positioning, competition, customer satisfaction, valuation. Over the past 18 years, I have been the founder and CEO of two companies where these metrics (and more) were
Trust me, sometimes, getting a NO from a VC — no matter how peculiarly it is delivered — could be the best thing that ever happens to you.
I have noticed a pattern in the 20 years I have been an entrepreneur, advisor, and CEO. Every time there is something wrong with a company, there is a recurring problem. Either someone is not doing their job, or they didn’t know it was their job. It’s more common than you think. A problem with
Twenty years ago, on 11/19/99, I sold my first startup. It was a technology company selling something called “Java Beans.” My four co-founders and I had a life-changing experience when a company called BEA Systems acquired our company for over $100M. We were excited not just for our own lives, but the way it would
In 1971, a young mother of three boarded a small boat to make a journey from her home country, Haiti. She hoped to find her husband, who had fled Haiti’s dictatorship nine years earlier. She reunited with him in a flourishing community of Haitian immigrants in The Bahamas, where he had found safety and work.
