05/6/24

CEO Shoptalk: The Escape Hatch, The Startup Pre-Nup

When a founder is giving birth to their new baby, he or she is filled to overflowing with the giddy excitement of creating life. Sure, they may create Corporate Bylaws, Articles of Incorporation, a Shareholder Agreement, or even an Operating Agreement — really good companies have Employment Agreements which subsume job descriptions with each of the co-founders — but there is one necessary element they typically fail to contempate.

OK, I’ll bite, what is it, Big Red Car?

Ahhh, dear reader, it is the escape hatch by which I mean the issue of who is in control and how is it done if the founders should have a spat or decide they need to part company. I think of it as the startup pre-nup.

This should be attacked right up front when there is nothing but goodwill about because if you don’t and such an eventuality befalls you, there will be no goodwill nor reason upon which to resolve the dispute. I have seen some brutally ugly disputes. Continue reading

03/27/24

CEO Shoptalk: Perception, Perspective, Persuasion

One of the mean tricks of Father Time is he arms us with useful skills late in life that we needed when we were in our twenties and then laughs as we try to share that experience and wisdom with others.

Pro tip: given the choice of discovering wisdom at full tuition or renting it — RENT IT.

Today we discuss the linkage amongst perception, perspective, and persuasion — a lesson I wish I had had when I was a 22-year old platoon leader some 51 years ago or a deflowered entrepreneur a decade later. I, unfortunately, paid full tuition. Continue reading

01/19/24

CEO Shoptalk: Consistency

If you are a founder or a CEO or both then you are running a complex organism that requires an abundance of skill and character in order to cast off the training wheels and compete in the marketplace, wherein the competition eats companies like yours for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at the cocktail hour.

It is a hard gig, but it can be made easier by embracing some simple character traits. One of those is consistency. Continue reading

01/1/24

CEO Shoptalk: Learn To Say Goodbye

If you aspire to be good at anything, to really excel — including as a CEO — then you better learn how to say “Goodbye, y’all,” as you will be saying it a lot.

Girl whispering to guy, “Look you’re cute as a Labrador puppy, and you have great utility, but I have places to go and people to meet on the road to excellence, so this is goodbye, stud muffin.”

Think of excellence as being a mountain. As you near the top, the air is rarified, the pathway more treacherous, the successful climbers fewer, and that is life. As my billionaire pal Taylor Swift says, “Deal.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Big Red Car — you are no pal of mine, you lying bucket of bolts.”

Come on, babe, play along. You’re making me look bad here.

Continue reading

09/25/23

CEO Shoptalk: Self-Appraisal

There is a chance that if you are the CEO of a small business, a privately held business — so, not a startup — or a startup that is initially self-funded and, thus, has no investors looking over your shoulder, you do not have a working Board of Directors and, thus, do not have a meaningful CEO performance appraisal system in place.

Let’s pretend that Boards of Directors always have a working CEO performance appraisal plan in place. Isn’t that charming? Continue reading

09/17/23

CEO Shoptalk: The Transition Point

A few years ago, I was speaking to a totally inexperienced potential founder (brilliant young man, recent prestigious university grad, and a very likeable person) and I asked him as I always do, “Tell me how the process of standing up a startup works out in your mind?”

It is always a good idea to know what the entrepreneur, even an inexperienced one, thinks they’re getting in to.

He said, “It all starts with PRODUCT and I am all about product. Product is my secret sauce.” I am paraphrasing, but I am sure I have it close. Continue reading

07/26/23

CEO Shoptalk: Fear Of Failure

Chatting the other day with a serial entrepreneur of some seasoning and success and we get on the subject of “fear of failure.” He had some interesting things to say amongst which are: “Everybody has some degree of fear of failure. Perfectly normal. It becomes a problem when it prevents you from going forward.”

WTF is “fear of failure,” Big Red Car?

Continue reading