Category Archives: Business

09/11/24

Dispute Resolution – How To Avoid It And How To Deal With It

I was looking back at some old notes from when I first got into the CEO coaching business a dozen years ago and reflected on the nature of my relationships with CEOs. One of the things that bubbled to the surface is I have been involved in a lot of internal and external dispute resolutions.

There is a distinct difference between internal disputes such as removing a key C-suite team member and external disputes such a dealing with a board of directors or venture capitalist. Some are both internal and external — a board of directors fighting amongst itself about replacing a CEO.

[Almost every startup company CEO will be replaced within 5 years of venture capital funding.] Continue reading →

02/19/24

Don’t Cry For Me, Elon Musk

Elon Musk, whose 2012 employment agreement compensation was the largest in US corporate history, is angry that the Delaware Chancery Court invalidated his 2018 employment agreement (also the largest in US business history).

The 2018 agreement is fairly described as being a “performance based, equity compensation plan.” It contained a dozen milestones each of which when attained delivered to Musk approximately 1% of the shares of Tesla.

BTW, Elon Musk does not draw a salary.

Musk enjoying a blunt on Joe Rogan’s pod cast.

In his sophomoric anger, Musk has threatened to move Tesla’s state of incorporation from Delaware to either Nevada or Texas. This would require shareholder approval. Seems wildly childish and small, but, hey, Elon Musk is Elon Musk.

Nevada corporate law is modeled (plagiarized from) on Delaware law and has only a decade of experience whilst Texas has jury trials. You do not want a jury trial if you are a public company.

Continue reading →

12/27/23

The Amazon Prime Nibble

Today I received a friendly email from my friends at Amazon Prime — currently $139/year — telling me the ad free nature of Amazon Prime Video was going to change.

There will now be “limited” ads on its movie and TV offerings, unless I want to pay — drumroll please — an additional $2.99/month = $36/year. Boom! Continue reading →

11/16/23

The $10MM Gross Revenue Reality Check

If you are a startup, I hope one day soon you get to $10,000,000 in gross revenue. If you do, I have some thoughts for you.

A caveat first — there are a great number of exceptions to what I am going to share with you, so do not fall prey to missing the difference of your situation or embracing every word I say, but there are reasons big and small as to why I hold these views.

Continue reading →

06/23/23

This Bud Lite’s Not For You, Amigo

Case studies are a great way to learn. If you get an MBA, you will study lots of examples of what happened in the real world. They are very instructive.

One of the most recent interesting case studies is the Bud Light School of Marketing’s recent program to destroy America’s leading beer brand.

TikTok and Instagram influencer, Bud Lite enthusiast Dylan Mulvaney ready for summer

Continue reading →

05/16/23

Dupes v Brand Slavery/Loyalty

Imagine you are a woman in the market for a new set of leggings/yoga pants.

You look at the Lululemon line of products because they are a highly recognizable luxury brand, your butt looks great in them, you can wear them everywhere except church, and decide you are going to buy a pair of Align leggings/yoga pants.

You are a careful shopper, so you check prices and end up on Amazon where the price is $124.

You are about to invoke One Click purchasing when your frugal husband whispers, “They look great and you will look great in anything, darling, but what about a dupe?” Continue reading →

05/26/21

Adapt Or Die — New York Times

Evolution is a real thing. We are seeing companies evolve due to the realities of the Internet and digital everything.

Do you recall just a couple of decades ago when we knew that hard copy, paper newspapers were a “dead man walking?”

You just knew all that content was going digital and that a paper newspaper was a death sentence. Right? Not so fast, amigos.

Remember when everyone said the New York Times — once America’s paper of record — was headed to the dustbin of history?

There is, however, an alternative to the dustbin of history — it is called “adaptation” and the 170-year-old New York Times has successfully undertaken that course of action.

Continue reading →

04/16/21

Elegant Simplicity

Steve Jobs (please note his elegant, simple look above through the years) is alleged to have said:

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

Continue reading →