Understanding the Investor Mindset
When pitching to investors, it’s essential to understand what drives their decisions. Investors don’t just want to hear about where your company is today. They want to know about the future. Understanding the investor mindset is incredibly important for any entrepreneur or business owner seeking funding.
Investor Profiles: Matt Blomstedt
In this investor profile, we’re excited to introduce Matt Blomstedt, who brings deep expertise in early-stage investments across healthcare, logistics, supply chain, and fintech.
Investor Profiles: Justin Driscoll
Today, we are excited to share our first investor profile, featuring Justin Driscoll, Principal at LEAD Sports & Health Tech, who shared his perspectives on early-stage investing and what he looks for in a promising company.
Breaking Free from Guilt Trips
As founders and CEOs, the pressure to excel in all areas of life—business, family, personal growth—can often lead us into a familiar and unproductive pattern: the guilt trip. In a recent conversation, our team discussed the intricacies of this emotional journey, revealing insights that could resonate deeply with those in leadership positions.
Surviving the Deluge: Tactics for Prioritization
Most founders feel overwhelmed by the ever growing list of tasks on their To Do list. Here are a few simple ways to focus your attention on what matters most.
The Founder's Guide to Writing Effective Investor Updates
Writing an effective update is one of the most high-leverage activities a founder can engage in! The impact for effort is incredibly high, yet surprisingly, few founders do this well. This field guide will help you craft updates that keep your investors informed, engaged, and ready to support your venture.
The Immense Burden of Being a Founder
Being a founder, especially the CEO, means bearing the weight of immense responsibility and pressure. It is important to understand these pain points and how to deal with them.
Startups Need Revenue (More than Ever Before)
Your idea won’t float you very long. You need actual cash coming in the door, from actual customers. Start early, and get a deal coach as soon as you have real customers.
The True Cost and Impact of People-Debt For Startups
Startups and scale-ups are legendary for their innovative culture and rapid growth. However, amidst the rush to achieve product-market fit and meet investors’ expectations, one critical aspect that often gets overlooked is building the people foundations the business needs to scale.
High-Performance Meetings
Planning meetings sucks. Poorly planned meetings suck way more! With intentionality, good structure, and consistent discipline, you can have High Performance Meetings.
Alignment vs Agreement
One of the most crucial lessons for a great leader is distinguishing between agreement and alignment and understanding why both are necessary for an effective team as it grows.
VCs Are Not Safe
Founders often misunderstand the role of Venture Capitalists, and VCs often misunderstand how founders view them. Clarifying the actual role of VCs will help everyone in the startup ecosystem and help founders get the help they really need.
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Developing an Ownership Culture
Clarifying ownership creates agency. Giving people agency grows the capacity of the people and the organization. But it’s not easy. Here are some traps to avoid.
Developing an Ownership Culture
Clarifying ownership creates agency. Agency tends to increase effort and initiative. When you take agency away, people shrink.
The CEO's Communication Compass: Accuracy vs. Precision
Be clear. Be brief. Focus on the future. This will make you a better communicator, and help your team and your investors stay aligned to the mission.
Why Your Startup Needs a Compensation Strategy
A strategic compensation plan attracts top performers, boosts morale, and fuels your startup's success. Click to learn why yours needs one!
Navigating the Pitfalls of Action-Oriented Leadership
A bias to action is often a step forward. However, unreflective action faces some common pitfalls. This post delves into the delicate balance between driving immediate results and fostering long-term team growth. We also include two powerful examples of this style of leadership in action.
Bias Toward Developmental Action
Never just do the work. Always use the work as an opportunity to develop your team. This accelerates your transformation.
Startup Breakpoints and Evolutions
As startups begin to scale, they hit very predictable breakpoints where things start to go off the rails organizationally. At each of these points, the founders need to evolve their mindsets and the systems they use to run the company.
Never Climb Alone: Wisdom Partners and Your Frontier
I helped start Wisdom Partners to provide today’s founders the support I wish I had when I was a CEO of a quickly growing company. We want to be your partners on your frontier.