When I was in high school, I dreamt of someday owning a huge firm. Then I entered college. When I was in college, only the ones with the highest grades were given the most recognition. So I figured, only they could one day "own a company." So, from thereon, I dreamt of becoming a high-ranking corporate employee…
For a lot of us, taking an immediate startup leap can be a daunting task - as much as possible, we want to remain practical and mitigate risk. Before diving in, we want to ensure that the startup can sustain our family's needs. Fortunately, it IS possible to create a startup while holding on to your day…
When a new employee starts in STORM, or any of the startups I'm associated with (we're all in one building), they are treated to something different (especially if they've previously worked in corporations before) which happens every three o'clock. We invite the newbie to our conference room, where we read the Gospel for the day, and then everyone…
A long time ago, I read the bestselling book by Jim Collins, a book which a lot of you are probably familiar with, Good to Great. I have forgotten everything about the book except his 3 circles framework. Jim illustrates that for good companies to become great, they have to exist in the "sweet spot" of 3…
For the next three days, I'll be talking about 3 assumptions I discovered were completely wrong as I went through the startup process: 1) You need a ton of money to start Back in 2005, we were rejected by 2-3 investors before we said, "The heck with it, let's just pool our own money and start." My…
Do you remember the last time you did truly great work? I bet your output was made possible because you were fired up and inspired, and you threw your entire being into the project. I bet you thought about the project during non-work hours, in fact, I bet you had trouble sleeping because your mind was so…
One of these days, I'll post the full-blown story of what exactly happened when I took the leap and kissed my corporate career goodbye. It was truly a Faith-Leap for me. Till then, kindly make do with this super abridged version: I was a 33-year old corporate lifer with a wife and a newborn son I was…