Founder / entrepreneurs are among the most intriguing people you will ever meet. In order to overcome the almost impossible odds of starting a business they have to possess certain traits: extreme confidence in their vision, creativity, endurance, enthusiasm, etc. Given the entrepreneur will hear “it will never work” so many times at the beginning they have to be stubborn and unyielding in the face of criticism. All of these traits are typically found in founders who successfully push their companies from an idea to a working product or to a first set of customers. Unfortunately, these same traits are often what causes a founder to fail as a leader in the next chapters of a company’s growth. This note is about what entrepreneurs should be focused on as they consider taking their companies to the next level (more staff, outside investment, etc). Continue Reading »

“I don’t know what my business will look like three months from now let alone three years!”

Every entrepreneur hates the dreaded financial model. Just the thought creating one can cause heartburn, fatigue and endless discussion about the unnecessary burden put on entrepreneurs in order to raise money. Less-experienced entrepreneurs often will try to dodge financial modeling with claims that “our market is so big, you don’t need a model to convince yourself we have a great business” or “I’m too busy running a business to spend any time building spreadsheets”. But the reality is that if you’re going to raise money, you’ll need to build a detailed three to five year financial model. The surprising news is that the exercise of building a model will help you better understand your business and make you a better entrepreneur. Continue Reading »