You might find that a new role offers you a chance to start over and reframe the way you think about your job — and yourself. — There can be big upsides to switching teams, changing roles, or launching something new. I’ll share the top four that influenced me going from startup founder to startup employee. In June of 2021, our startup had shut down and in typical founder fashion, we started building a new one —…

5 simple steps to take back control of your inbox and get more out of each day. — Email: the electronic communication tool that we’ve all come to love and hate. From spam to notifications to the people who “reply-all” to “URGENT” subject lines, email can be an annoying thing. Email is the real-time communication tool of choice for over three billion people around the world. Does it…

The theory of network effects, how they create value, and how it influences our lives. — In this essay, I’ll discuss the basics of network effects, how they create value, their influence on our decision-making, and how dependence can be a negative outcome. Network effects are a key concept in understanding the value creation of network businesses, such as social networks and marketplaces. …

Prototypes are quick, interactive, and powerful. It’s the critical step to bringing an idea to life — one that can be handled, touched, and tested. — If you want to bring raise your chances of launching a successful product, don’t waste your time and money building a functioning MVP. An MVP is supposed to be the smallest product imaginable with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future products. Instead, it is…

You’re sharing information that is at the heart of your business — everything you’ve built will be on display in these documents. — Data rooms can be a great tool for startups during fundraising, but keeping them secure should be a top priority. A data room is a secure online storage space that contains all the information about you and your startup, typically organized and presented in an easy-to-use format. Data rooms are…

Failure is one of the greatest teachers you can have and I experienced my fair share of it on the road to pursuing my dream. — In 2018, I left my career role to launch my first startup in what would be a life-altering journey. I come from a family of entrepreneurs where problem-solving felt like a religion growing up. However, I didn’t follow that path at first. My degree was in Occupational Safety, Health, &…

Assemble an amazing team of advisors to give your startup the knowledge and network it needs to grow. — We set up our first advisory board before we ever had a product. I’m going to share why it was so powerful for us and how we did it. A startup can be a rewarding yet brutal journey where learning becomes second nature — an important mindset to adopt. It…

DAOs represent an opportunity for community membership to be ownership, where consensus is not just valued, it’s the ruling principle. — Oh cool, you’re in DAO… what’s that? First, let’s define it. “DAO” is the acronym for decentralized autonomous organizations. In a traditional organization, there is typically a hierarchy. The board of directors or upper management determines the structure and has the power to make changes. …

Learn to differentiate ‘must-have’ from ‘nice-to-have’ work to be an effective founder. — I’ve overworked myself fixing things that never really mattered. In my first startup, I pulled countless all-nighters. On one occasion we were building a profile view that would allow users to edit their assessments straight from their profile without switching screens. After 6 straight hours in the dead of night…