Avoid hellish bureaucracy

No matter what framework you uphold to justify your decisions, stakeholders will typically acknowledge the logic of it, but in practice ignore it.The Great Silence, Brad Dunn on Product Coalition It is so easy to be lean and mean when you're small and go heavy and lazy when you get bigger. In one of lifes… Continue reading Avoid hellish bureaucracy

Getting inspired by others

How many times have you met a startup, which has claimed to be ‘Uber for X’, ‘AirBnb for Y’ or another version of something already in existence and hugely popular? Many times. And every time it has been cringeworthy. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is all bad taking your cues from others, who… Continue reading Getting inspired by others

Keep winning

When looking at B2B startups, it’s super easy to get impressed by a well-executed growth model that brings new customers in in droves. Of course it is; sales is an art and can be a super tricky one at that, so every time a startup succeeds in closing a deal, it’s reason to celebrate. But… Continue reading Keep winning

Real ‘Best Practice’

Best practice is NOT to do what you did the last time and the times before that. Best practice is using what you have learned in doing what you now know you SHOULD have done the last time, which - in hindsight - would have given you a better outcome. The first - and most… Continue reading Real ‘Best Practice’

Always think about strategy

When you're busy executing on tasks, it can be super easy to forget about setting time aside to think about strategy. But you should. For a number of reasons. First of all you need to always make sure that what you're working on is taking you in the right direction. There is the old saying… Continue reading Always think about strategy

Control vs success

There is nothing as potent to pave the way to success as being in control. There is nothing so blocking to success than to insist on being in control. To some being in control is an all positive thing; it enables you to define the path to follow forward and ensure the necessary decisions are… Continue reading Control vs success

Trello and OKR

When trying to build a startup ground up, there are a ton of different tasks that need to get done. And keeping track of it all is essential. But how do you do that efficiently? For me I have resorted to using a combination of Trello and OKR. We use OKR's to define our objectives.… Continue reading Trello and OKR

Idea or execution?

Rocket Internet, the famous German copycats of popular digital services, is delisting from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This has prompted some to claim that their time is up, and that their model of copying others successful ideas was never a viable one to begin with. But that's totally not true. Zalando alone is amble proof.… Continue reading Idea or execution?