Leadership

Hey, I followed the rules! What more do you expect from me?

Corporate rules and rigidness

This post is from the “attic”. I wrote it a few years ago. When I was speaking to employees of a large corporate I was doing business with a few years go, they talk about the company as an external thing. As if they cannot control it by themselves. There is a certain feeling of […]

An important driver for success

Who wants you to win?

An important driver for success is if you can answer the question who wants you to win? This is especially important when you’re disrupting existing industries and markets. Sometimes it’s the customer like and sometimes it’s your suppliers. Here are a few examples. Google Android won because the industry wanted to offer a smartphone which […]

Not all products are treated equal

Feature vs mission

A couple of days ago, I wrote about Evernote. Once, Steve Jobs called Dropbox a “feature”. He was right in his own context. But I do belief mission trumps features. I rather use Dropbox than Apple’s iCloud, Google Drive or Microsoft’s OneDrive. Same goes for Spotify versus Apple Music or YouTube Music. I really wish […]

A simple realization with profound insight

What Drives You

Yesterday, someone asked me what drove me. It’s a good question. Some people know from “birth” what drives them, for other people like me it takes longer. I can remember the day I realized what drove me. Let me tell you the story. Back in 2007, we started Shapeways. I worked, nurtured and grew it […]

Cold emails

Yesterday, Hunter Walk wrote about cold emails and that they can be better than a luke warm email. It reminded something a friend told me a while ago. We were talking about cold emails from various SaaS companies offering their services. I told him I routinely just deleted them. He had a different strategy. He […]

Growing your startup

Ownership

Yesterday I had a good discussion about how to manage teams and people inside fast-growing organizations. One effective way I favor is making sure every team and person has clear ownership in their own domain. Assuming people are onboard and aware of the mission and vision of the company, ownership gives everyone – person, team […]

Mere Potential Can Be More Important Than Achievement

In a series of experiments set in different contexts, we found that high potential can be more appealing than equally high achievement.

Self-Destructive Behavior of Entrepreneurs

The article Why do entrepreneurs engage in self-sabotage? tells something about human nature which in general applies to everyone, but gets super-exposed when starting a company.

Make you feel safe

The Art of Persuasion

First Round Review keep putting out excellent articles, but every now and then one of them is a must read. The post Master the Art of Influence — Persuasion as a Skill and Habit is definitely in this category - especially when you’re pitching or selling something. This article gives a great overview with concise and concrete examples on how to persuade people for your ideas, companies, views or products.

Values inspires and action follows

Why -> How -> What = How Great Leaders Inspire Action

The TED talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” is a classic but I came across it quite recently. You could substitute leaders with organizations or companies. The end result is the same. When there is a clear defined WHY, it’s easier to persuade people on your HOW and WHAT. This applies to defining, building and selling your product through hiring members for your team. If you can’t clearly define WHY, then HOW and WHAT does not really matter. It will never be as convincing.