It’s that time in my life, where the 10th year reunion of the business school I graduated from is just round the corner. Since I have now become an expert digger, I found a final copy of my essays lurking inside a zipped file. It is interesting that the grand plans that we build for ourselves, sometimes come true.. Here …Read the Rest
Business School
How to win a business plan competition – three
April 4, 2010
The presentation that I am most proud of however is the one that we made together as a team for the first MIT BAP (Business Acceleration Plan) competition. The judges panel included Ken Morse, Bill Aulet and Imran Saeed, all three from MIT E-Labs. Despite earlier failed attempts to impress Ken, this time we managed to get two t-shirts and …Read the Rest
Startup Mode: How to win a business plan competition
April 4, 2010
Here are my notes on how to win a business plan competition. a) For a winning presentation the first prize always goes to the group that can answer the questions judges need to answer. Take a look at the scoring sheet for the competition and then ask if you have answered all the questions in a way that would allow …Read the Rest
Startup Guide: Kill your ego…
April 2, 2010
When I first met Don Sexton, Mark Broadie, Ralph Biggadike and John Whitney at Columbia, a few things stood out at once. All four were very successful, well established and well respected professionals. They had touched professional peaks I couldn’t even dream about and had nothing left to prove. All four changed my life. 8 years later when I look …Read the Rest
Startup Guide: Strategy and tactics or Winning for itsy, bitsy, teeny, weenie, little mom and pop tech shops.
April 2, 2010
Here are my hard earned qualifications that allow me to speak on strategy. I have never been rich or famous (infamy is separate classification) or successful. Of the last four of my ventures, three were dismal failures. I have been teaching since a crazy afternoon in 1995, when I was asked to substitute for a peer at FAST ICS who …Read the Rest
Startup Capital: Funding for dummies…four
April 2, 2010
And finally no financing deal ever goes through without relationships and credibility. Relationships open the door and get you time; credibility gets you to the term sheet. The sooner you build up your stock of these two elements the faster you can get to capital – debt or equity.
Startup Mode: Things they never taught me at Columbia Business School…
April 2, 2010
Despite my numerous comments about how much I owe Bruce Greenwald, Mark Broadie, Don Sexton and Ralph Biggadike on this blog, there are a few thing that they didn’t get around to covering in my all too short stay in school. Here is my list The link between dropping kids to school and closing deals in the parking lot. Who …Read the Rest
