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Accused of Doing Too Much – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/2015/07/29/accused-of-doing-too-much
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. July 29, 2015. Accused of Doing Too Much. One year after we sold Pardot. An accelerator program), Hannon Hill. My first company), and Pardot.” Not having heard that before, I agreed that it seemed like a lot but that it was my style — I like to stay busy. Thinking about it some more, a few thoughts come to mind:. My ability to do multiple things is primarily driven by surrounding myself with great people who are self-starting. I think your philosoph...
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Challenges with the Venture Investment Model – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/2015/07/30/challenges-with-the-venture-investment-model
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. July 30, 2015. Challenges with the Venture Investment Model. 8211; Stock in private tech startups, especially ones in the earlier stages, is incredibly illiquid, making it almost impossible to get money out of the fund before a material exit occurs. Long Horizon for Any Returns. Higher Entry Prices Require Higher Exit Prices. What are some other challenges with the venture investment model? One thought on “ Challenges with the Venture Investme...
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Entrepreneurship – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/category/entrepreneurship
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. August 21, 2016. One of the questions I like to ask is “Where do you do your best thinking? 8221; Of course, we do thinking all the time. Yet, when I ask that question, people immediately know what I mean. While we’re always thinking, there are certain times, locations, activities, and events that routinely deliver better thinking. Here are a few questions to ask when thinking about your best thinking:. What was a recent breakthrough? August 20, 2016.
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Video of the Week – Gary Vaynerchuk USC Entrepreneur Talk 2015 – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/2015/07/31/video-of-the-week-gary-vaynerchuk-usc-entrepreneur-talk-2015
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. July 31, 2015. Video of the Week – Gary Vaynerchuk USC Entrepreneur Talk 2015. Has always epitomized the entrepreneurial hustle starting as a poor immigrant and going on to build several super successful companies. In this talk from earlier in the year, Gary shares his thoughts that entrepreneurship is not teachable, the importance of betting on personal strengths, and the state of the current tech startup community. January 13, 2016 at 11:33 pm.
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Scholarships at the Atlanta Tech Village – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/2015/07/26/scholarships-at-the-atlanta-tech-village
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. July 26, 2015. Scholarships at the Atlanta Tech Village. One of the first things we did after opening up the doors of the Atlanta Tech Village. Is setup a scholarship program. For startups that don’t have the means to pay yet, social enterprises, and student entrepreneurs. In fact, our most famous startup to start and graduate from the Tech Village, Yik Yak. Came in on a scholarship and left after raising a $62 million round of funding. And feel tha...
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Leadership – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/category/leadership
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. August 12, 2016. Video of the Week: Patrick Lencioni – The Four Traits of Healthy Teams. One of my favorite authors. Talks about The Four Traits of Healthy Teams. In our video of the week. Enjoy! July 30, 2016. Counterpoint on OKRs as Bad for Small Teams in a Startup. An interesting counterpoint from Steve Olechowski. About OKRs being bad at the micro level in a startup:. Thoughts from a great thread about the use of OKRs among @foundrygroup. Are al...
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Corp Culture – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/category/corp-culture
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. June 2, 2016. The Ideal Team Player. Patrick Lencioni is one of my favorite leadership authors. Writing books like The Advantage. And The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. His latest book, The Ideal Team Player. Is focused on “how to recognize and cultivate the three essential virtues.” As always, he starts with a fable and then goes into more detail. Here are the three virtues and descriptions from the book:. Start by reading Lencioni’s books. From YouTube...
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Most Metrics Don’t Matter at the Beginning – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/2015/08/05/most-metrics-dont-matter-at-the-beginning
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. August 5, 2015. Most Metrics Don’t Matter at the Beginning. I love metrics. I love understanding all kinds of different aspects of the business. What’s improving? Here’s what matters in the first 12-18 months:. 8211; Getting that first $100,000, or better yet $250,000. In recurring revenue, shows there’s the kernel of something meaningful. When an entrepreneur talks about metrics, and has a handful of customers, point out that the focus should be on...
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Morning Meetings Only – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/2015/08/02/morning-meetings-only
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. August 2, 2015. One of the new experiments I’m trying out is only scheduling meetings in the morning. Using Calendly. I have several different types of meetings configured, depending on the context with most meetings 20-30 minutes to keep them effective. Only, I found that standard rhythm-oriented meetings (like daily check-ins. Here are a few thoughts on morning meetings only:. I’m going to try this out for two months and see how it goes....Address...
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SaaS Metrics Cheat Sheet – David Cummings on Startups
https://davidcummings.org/2015/01/06/saas-metrics-cheat-sheet
David Cummings on Startups. David Cummings on Startups. January 6, 2015. SaaS Metrics Cheat Sheet. Has a nice new PDF online called The Ultimate SaaS Metrics Cheat Sheet. Where they’ve consolidated many of the key SaaS metrics from thought-leaders like David Skok. Here are a few key items from the SaaS Metrics Cheat Sheet:. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR). 8211; Amount of money billed monthly for existing customers (or the appropriate pro-rated amount for customers that pay annually). You are commenting ...