Wisdom

Most people buy products and services for the benefits they bring to their lives, not because they actually want the functionality of whatever they are buying. So when you promote something, push the benefits (what it DOES for people) rather than the technology (WHAT it is, or HOW it works)

Identify problems you know about in your own life, come up with a fix and make a business out of it. It’s a simple recipe for success but it sure beats setting up in a business area where you have little empathy with the customer.

Risk is the gamble we take that whatever we invest in a venture may not pay off. A sound rule is never to risk what you are not prepared to lose. The costs and consequences of failure are downside, as opposed to the positive benefits of upside if all works out. If one starts form…

For entrepreneurs, every problem is an opportunity. The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity. No problem > No solution > No business to solve the problem Stanford Technology Ventures Program’s Executive Director Tina Seelig shares rich insights in creative thinking and the entrepreneurial mindset. Her talk, based on her 2009 book, What I Wish…

You can break down a price tag into several components. The mundane component represents the fundamental value proposition: it is a bag with handles that you can tote all your crap around in. The premium component represents the differentiators that make it, objectively speaking, a better buy: LV handbags do have better materials and better…

A Polical, Economic, Social and Technological analysis can often help a team understand the factors likely to affect them now or into the future. It’s not rocket science: a two by two grid lists Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors. See also: SWOT Analysis

The only true way to define market price is that it is what someone is prepared to pay. One of the first questions any startup faces is: “how much should I charge for my product or service?” and one of the first things an investor typically doesnot want to hear is that your business’s main…

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Eduction alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent —- Calvin Coolidge 1872 But there are…

Traditionally, products that seem superficially similar to those already in the marketplace are termed Me too products. For pure internet plays, being genuinely differentiated in a marketplace where anyone worldwide can see exactly what you are offering the second you put it online is tough. For more: Read: Dharmesh Shah, Lateral Action and David Shen…