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Benefit of the Doubt
Collaborative relationships are at the core of building a startup business. This is value creation at its finest – and navigating the relational dimensions can make the difference between success and failure because good relationships unleash the power of the benefit of the doubt.
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The Illusion of Control
Owning over 51% of shares doesn't guarantee startup CEOs control due to dependence on investor funding and their significant influence.
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Whole Personhood
There is something about the advancing years, marked by birthdays, New Year’s celebrations, and life stages, that invites pausing for a bit of introspection and reflection. What makes up a whole life?
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Appreciating Important Things in Life
The holiday season is upon us – and I always find that this time of the year induces stepping back and reflecting on life’s bigger picture – seeing the trends and threads weaving together into the hills, mountains, and deep valleys that our life journeys consist of.
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Generations
I have spent decades in the startup ecosystem. Enough time to have evolved from being a beginning first-time founder to now surveying the landscape as a veteran startup CEO, board member, occasional angel investor and VC limited partner. Now, as I look around, I see distinct generations — generational waves of great people networked across the ecosystem – and that…
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The People Matter
Even as we confront new implications of AI, I think people and the relationships between them still matter. And this is even more true in the land of high-potential startups that have their roots in the novel insights of the teams building them.
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Co-Founder Dreaming
There is a time in the inception phase of a startup as an idea takes shape and a team assembles when a shared dream emerges. By dreaming together, co-founders lay the foundation of a shared vision, an understanding of each others’ inspirations and motivations, and the beginnings of trust.
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The Value-Creating Power of Person-to-Person Relationships
Relationships are the glue that knits together people who will engage in the innovative process of bringing something new into the world. Relational integrity is key to forming those strong relationships that can enable those breakthrough moments of forward progress.
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For Me, It’s Not Just Business
Startup CEOs come in different styles. For some, "it's just business." But, for many founder CEOs, it is far more than that as they pour all their passion into their startup and embody it profoundly. That embodied passion is often the activation energy that propels the startup out of the gate and onto a successful trajectory as it persuades others…
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Being Trustworthy
Trust is foundational for good relationships, either personal or corporate. At its best, It is bilateral, yet trust cannot be demanded, only given. All we can control is our side of the trust relationships we are part of.
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Trusted Collaborators
I have been reflecting on how I make decisions for my startup – and the role of my trusted inner circle.
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Pants and People
Growing a high-potential business presents many opportunities and encounters with people that can be pretty intimidating. My mentor taught me that remembering the human dimension can help you engage authentically and effectively. That insight has helped me often.
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Work-life balance?
It seems that work-life balance is a routine subject in today’s culture, emphasizing making sure you keep your “work” under control to make sure you have time for the rest of your “life.” What if that does not feel like the right answer?
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Startup Families Care for One Another in Sometimes Unexpected Ways
Startup teams start small – and they often feel like families, with co-founders in “business marriages.” The relationship dynamics of people within a startup environment are often different from joining larger, less personal, more established companies as an employee – and it shows when the larger context of people’s lives intersect with business operations.
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Good Partners
Developing good partnerships demands common ground, open communication, complementary strengths, and ultimately formalizing the relationship.
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Win-Win Partnerships
When considering partnerships, it is crucial to build a strong business rationale for both parties. Finding some intrinsic synergies between the products, business models, and customer bases can make one plus one equal more than two.
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Keeping Promises
Keeping promises is an expression of integrity and builds trust. This is one of the most potent principles to apply in successful startup building as well as successful life building.
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Going Virtual
COVID-19 hit like a freight train in the spring of 2020. We went 100% virtual in a day. And began learning and evolving our approaches to work to adapt to a new reality. Here are some initial reflections on our particular case study for the impact of the pandemic on our team.
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The FDA Are People, Too.
Government agencies seem like monolithic entities governed by complex rules that are hard to relate to. Still, under that seemingly impenetrable exterior, it helps to remember that, just like your startup, the agency is made up of people, too.
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Family Enablers: The Source of an Entrepreneur’s Strength
Building a company out of nothing is enormously hard work. Hidden behind most startup CEOs are tremendously supportive families. This is one of the secrets to success.
