Tag Archives: startup

02/9/15

Raising Taxes, A Presidential Thing

Big Red Car here in the ATX which is enjoying some convertible weather. I am headed out to the Hill Country this afternoon and why not?

Folks up north, please don’t hate me — the azaleas will be blooming in about five weeks here in Texas. Always coincides with Spring Break.

So The Boss has been digging into the issue of taxes. Taxes are an important consideration for those in the startup business as they hope to ultimately monetize their work and investment. In the course of doing this they will likely be subject to capital gains. Not a bad thing. Continue reading →

10/11/14

You Will Not Be A Startup Forever

Big Red Car here in the ATX and it’s ACL weekend #2, y’all. Austin City Limits is a huge music festival at Zilker Park which attracts 2.5 million fans annually — OK, that’s a lie it just seems like two and a half million. It’s a lot of people. In the old days when it was in September it used to be hot, dusty and dangerous. Now it’s in October and seems to attract torrential rains and frogs. Oh, well.

So The Boss was talking to four different CEOs and they got on the subject of when do you stop being a gangly, colt legged startup whose every transgression against common sense can be blamed on — It’s a startup, y’all! — and become a real company with real revenue and grown up leadership and management? Continue reading →

04/30/14

Legacy v startup cultures

Big Red Car here.  Nice, lovely crisp day in the ATX.  Going to be a beauty–move to Texas kind of wonderful.  But, hey, you already knew that.

So The Boss’s offspring are an investment banker and a startup graphic designer.  One foot in a legacy company wrestling with becoming a more timely enterprise and a startup going through adolescence.  Got The Boss thinking about evolving ways to run a business. Continue reading →

04/3/14

Dangerous Inflection Points, the Turn to Final

Big Red Car here.  Bit cloudy and cool here this morning in the ATX, still Spring is in the air.  It is currently 72F and it will be 87F before the day is through.

So The Boss gets talking with a couple of venture capitalists and the conversation drifts toward “inflection points” or pivots and how to deal with them. Continue reading →

01/5/14

George Washington — American Entrepreneur

Well, The Boss has been reading all about George Washington (for about the fifth time that the Big Red Car is aware of) and is reading Douglas Southall Freeman’s seven volume history of Washington for at least the second time.

Freeman is the author of the definitive works on Washington and Robert E Lee.

Continue reading →

05/14/13

George Washington, America’s First Entrepreneur and Startup Genius

Big Red Car here.  Going to be another sweet day in  the ATX — sunny, bit of a breeze, low humidity and cool.  Ah, on Earth as it is in Texas.

So The Boss has been re-reading Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer and published by the Oxford Press.  This must be the third time he has read it.

Continue reading →