I am often asked what I think about incubators. Short Answer Incubators are bullshit. Most incubators are like the McDonalds edition of starting a company. Craftsman founders don’t need them. Incubators are like birthing classes. They take up a lot of time before doing the actual work, and then when the time comes for the […]
Dear Lucas… I’m self-funding a startup right now, it’s my first company and I would like to get all the advice and help I can! I’ve read a lot of conflicting advice on pitching style, but it seems that while most of them advocate the use of well chosen analogies some of them put more […]
Being a startup founder is hard enough, but making common mistakes can often lead to total disaster. Here are some common things to look out for: Stop drinking your own kool-aid. – If you are not brutally honest with yourself, you can’t make informed decisions that will truly improve your company. You will hide behind excuses […]
Dear Lucas… My startup has been growing steadily for three years now. I bootstrapped it and we are making over five million dollars a year now. I know we could be doing so much better with some extra marketing budget and I believe that if we continue to invest ahead of our revenues, it will […]
Dear Lucas… I have never raised money before and I don’t know how anybody remains sane after pitching venture capitalists. I just finished my first round of bay area pitches… and it sucked. I had to tell the same story a half dozen times a day and I never knew how well I was doing. […]
Dear Lucas… I want to get your opinion on my product, and some strategic advice if possible. Reading the lean start-up and watching countless videos, entrepreneurs always say it is easier to raise money before launching and I wanted your thoughts on that. I think raising money is a huge factor for whether I have […]
Three years ago, I was just a programmer. I had made a name for myself as a programmer, having written a 900 page book on Ruby, a few popular Ruby gems, and built several successful startups like Mog.com from the ground up. Then something changed in me. I transformed into a startup founder, creating AppFog.com […]
Dear Lucas… My product automates a task that is currently manual and labor intensive for most companies. I started the company almost a year ago and I am putting the finishing touches on the product right now. We are about two weeks from launching. My technical co-founder is building it out and we have hired […]
Dear Lucas… I have an idea I’ve been working on that I’d love to get your feedback on. I’d also like a little mentoring on startups and the like if you’re willing. It’ll probably take me a couple more weeks or a month to have my prototype ready and my idea crystallized. What I could […]
Dear Lucas… Question for you: I had the opportunity to speak at a conference in Vegas last month. Ran about 20 minutes — a good toe dipping in the water experience. I’m hooked. I’d like to speak at future conferences — have any recommendations or articles that might help me formulate rock solid speeches? —Newbie Speaker Hi Newbie Speaker, […]