Why Tech WON'T Fix Your Business A while back, a friend asked me what I thought about him taking a job offer at MIX. “They’re the reboot of StumbledUpon,” he’d told me. “They want me to improve their recommendation engine, to keep the users they have with better recs, and to get new users by … Continue reading What Happened at MIX
The Competitive Analysis process, step-by-step… I want to find competitors for my fantastic AI SaaS application. Well, let me be clear. I don’t want to find competitors already producing my brilliant offering, but I know it’s smart to look for them before investing a lot of time (and time is money in business), in developing … Continue reading How to Find Startup Competitors
Need an IDEA [that will likely SELL] to Startup? Many want to be entrepreneurs, but most people lack product ideas, or can’t think of a service (or app) that isn’t already available. For over a decade, I taught entrepreneurship at Stanford and Cal Berkeley/Haas. I designed a course to teach the process of turning an IDEA (or … Continue reading How to Generate Product IDEAS
Marketing 101: How to motivate people to DO what you want them to do… An entrepreneur recently asked me: “What specific skills or knowledge do you believe will be most crucial for aspiring entrepreneurs in 2025 to navigate this complex and dynamic environment?” My response: “The greater understanding one has of what motivates people, individually … Continue reading Engage in Learning About People
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2mZnXeKz2I9AwrAugpTtQF?si=xbDknxyRRw2dxhlhT2am0w My second job out of college I was the Art Director for 1928 Jewelry Co. The company is still alive and vital today, quite a monument to startup lore. My boss, Fred Burglass, was the best boss I've ever had. Funny. Kind. Patient. Smart. I really loved that man. He was like a father … Continue reading On Networking
I hate running. It hurts my legs, my lungs, my back, my tits. I run between 3 and 4+ miles, five days a week. And I'll continue to run as long as the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. I hate feeling fat, and running is the quickest calorie burn I know of (my me-time is hugely … Continue reading Marketing 101
https://open.spotify.com/episode/73bJk8ZjpGbXueSQBnr5tn?si=vPOofPjXR3SdF5ed85JBrw There is a pandemic in Silicon Valley. It is making startups sick, and 90+% of all small businesses fail. This virus didn't start in China, or any country. It didn't begin in crowded, filthy wet markets from different animals swapping genes. It began with Google and Facebook, and their unrelenting greed for profits. I … Continue reading The Virus Killing Silicon Valley Startups
This morning I came into my office and there was an email from my husband. It was title, "The terminator is coming..." No joke. That was the exact SUBJECT LINE of his email. I don't care that another Terminator movie is coming out. I liked only the first and second Terminator movies, and thought the rest … Continue reading A True Email Tale
