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Employed with a side of startup

March 8, 2010 How-To
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Most people start their first company while they still have a day job.

It makes sense: You don't need loans or funding and the worst case is you learn something.

Actually, that's not the worst case. Read on to learn how to start a business on the side with maximum success and minimum risk.

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Startup Fitness

March 5, 2010 Essays
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We need to unhealthily obsess over our creations. But take this too far and your productivity drops off the cliff.

Exercise increases total productivity.

A little goes a long way. Here's a bunch of advice about how to get started.

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An Experiment with Guest Posts

March 4, 2010 Announcements

When I asked recently whether you'd like to see other people guest-posting here, I got a much more positive response than I expected.

So I'm going to try out a few as a test. Here are the ground rules.

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Pick one and own it

March 1, 2010 Essays
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What if your company were allowed only one advantage over the competition?

Hanging your hat on just one advantage that you can own completely is stronger than diluting your message across many advantages.

Here's an exercise that will make all your sales calls and marketing material stronger.

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CapitalFactory: Your startup gets $20k cash + 20 mentors for a summer

February 26, 2010 Announcements
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Help me spread the word about this program!

I'm a mentor and investor in CapitalFactory, a seed-stage startup mentorship program in Austin, TX. Each year we pick 5 companies to participate in a 10-week summer program: $20k in cash, $20k in services, and 20 mentors, culminating in Demo Day.

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Enough with the "expert" guilt

February 22, 2010 Essays
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I'm sick of being admonished that success is predicated on spending the next 10,000 hours of our lives becoming "an expert."

I'm sick of hearing about how I should be molding my life in the image of Michael Phelps or Albert Einstein, because the only thing that separates me from genius is identifying my strengths and working really really hard.

I'm calling bullshit.

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New moderators and flair on Answers OnStartups

February 19, 2010 Announcements
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The startup community over at Answers OnStartups has really taken off! Dharmesh and I started it just a few months ago and it's already helped thousands of people.

We've just blessed four new moderators and added the ability to promote yourself with flair.

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Sunk Costs: An invisible, pervasive peril

February 15, 2010 Essays
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Many of my mistakes can be trace back to a failure to recognize and appreciate "sunk cost."

It's perfectly natural to feel attached to your sunk costs. It sucks to acknowledge that you've wasted time, money, energy, and reputation.

But it's even worse to irrationally prolong the waste.

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Guest post round-up

February 8, 2010 Essays

I guest-post on other blogs fairly regularly, but it was pointed out to me recently that I don't usually share those with you!

So here's a selection of articles I've published elsewhere.

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Rude Q&A

February 1, 2010 Essays
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You need more than a "devil's advocate," you need ruthless abuse.

Here's how to dole it out to yourself so that normal sales calls and company pitches seem easy by comparison.

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A Tradeshow Checklist, born of experience

January 25, 2010 How-To
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Tradeshows are a combination of high-level strategy and low-level minutiae, so a checklist comes in handy.

Here's a bunch of advice learned the hard way — through making mistakes and seeing what worked.

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Why I feel like a fraud

January 18, 2010 Essays
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I felt like a fraud during the early days of Smart Bear, and in many ways I still feel like one today.

It turns out this is a common phenomenon among entrepreneurs and others. If you have these emotions, this might provide some solace.

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