A great pitch needs a great story. Here’s how to tell yours. There is a key moment of any pitch when you pause, when you look up at your audience. Sometimes it comes early, sometimes not until you finish. In that most dangerous of moments, that moment of maximum vulnerability, if you’re paying attention, you’ll know whether […]
A Great Pitch Needs a Great Story Read More »
With OpenAI and other LLM companies demonstrating the amazing potential of an AI future, It’s become an almost unavoidable question: what should we teach students. I hear all the time about bringing more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education to our schools. I watch (with horror) as some politicians and others try to shift
Let’s Teach Students to Think NOT to Compute Read More »
Almost 25 years ago, I was part of a company that was very early in the birth of online backup and ultimately the beginnings of the Software-as-a-Service business model. Free trials came in the form of special software licenses, not recurring service plans. I remember that VCs didn’t want to fund a start-up with a
Stop Giving Stuff Away for Free Read More »
Some insights about human nature (life hacks) We value progress, but progress requires change and we don’t like change — especially when it happens to us. We all want to be liked. At the same time, we want to be right. When interacting with others, these desires conflict. We treat disagreements as zero sum and
7 Paradoxes That Make Us Human (Life Hacks) Read More »
I’ve gathered a few bits of wisdom and career advice that I’d like to share from my own experiences (and mistakes), listening to my Hult Business students and working with hundreds of entrepreneurs and innovators. This career advice applies equally to both those early or those later in their careers. Some notes: I have found that the
A Simple Guide to Being/Doing/Getting More Read More »
What if We Could Control What People Think about Us? The opinions other people form and adjust about us can be critical personally and professionally. People’s opinions of us give us our practical authority, our ability to influence and our ability to draw satisfaction from our work. Managing expectations is a skill that can be
The Power of Managing Expectations Read More »
Many years ago, I created and delivered training for resellers of LiveVault, one of the first online backup services. At the time, what we were selling was very new and counterintuitive to most of our target customers. We were basically telling them that what they were doing and had been doing for many years (often
The Paradox of Innovation Read More »
It is very easy to conflate sales and marketing, especially from the outside. If you’re an engineer or an operator, it’s understandable how salespeople and marketers could seem like the same thing — with transferable skills. I’ve seen this pattern many, many times — an engineer founder hires a super charismatic former sales manager as
Don’t Let Sales Leaders Run Marketing (EVER!) Read More »
I’ve been very fortunate to meet and spend real time with the founders of many companies across a diverse spectrum of industries and have seen them struggle with startup storytelling. I’ve found a pattern — almost none of them can quickly articulate what they do. Instead of being the best at startup storytelling their own product
Why Founders Suck at Telling Their Own Stories Read More »
I’ve heard hundreds of pitches for businesses over the past few years — both as part of my role at Hult International Business School and in my time advising start-up founders. I’ve noticed a pattern. If your pitch starts with “an app/token/coin that…”, your business is almost definitely going to fail. The problem isn’t that
Great Products Come from Passionately Dissatisfied Startup Founders Read More »
Covid has tested us and we’re failing. Covid-19 is insidious and it’s coming for all of us unless we do something differently. Covid-19 is not just like a cold. Letting it rip unimpeded is adding an enormous, unsustainable health debt to ourselves, our families, our businesses and our society. Herd Immunity was never possible and certainly isn’t now. Long Covid isn’t just
We Can’t Wish Covid Away Read More »
I’m not an expert on hip hop, but I’m a fan. Its evolution is fascinating. The amount and pace of innovation is remarkable. I believe that some day in the not-too-distant future, people will look back on today as a golden era of music innovation. I believe the lessons of hip hop, itself an interesting
5 Startup Lessons from Hip Hop Read More »
There is a sword-fighting scene in Princess Bride between the “The Man in Black” and Inigo Montoya. A few minutes into the scene, after the two men have been fighting for a bit (while talking quite a bit), there is a dialogue between them. Inigo Montoya: You are wonderful. Man in Black: Thank you; I’ve
The Day Google Stops Playin’ Read More »
I originally wrote and published a version of this article about autonomous vehicles in September 2016. Since then, quite a bit has happened, further cementing my view that these changes are coming and that the implications will be even more substantial. I decided it was time to update this article with some additional ideas and
73 Mind-Blowing Implications of Autonomous Vehicles Read More »
For the past year, I’ve been working with a Baptist minister, Rev. Jeffrey Brown to help him fund and scale his violence reduction work. Rev. Brown has spent the past 25+ years helping Boston and 21 other communities reduce violence. His TED talk tells the story about the The Boston Miracle — a 29 consecutive month period
An Agile Approach to Peace? Read More »
