Entrepreneurship Tips — Co-Founder

Are Your Clients Marketing and Story as Good as Their Innovations?

Posted by Robert Norton on

Are Your Clients Marketing and Story as Good as Their Innovations?

I'm reposting this image because it is great stuff. We "buy on emotion", more than logic, and remember by stories. Ten million years of evolution created our human ability to remember PERSONALITIES. Good versus bad.    A brand is just a company personified. And a story is a collection of personalities made memorable.But to truly be successful and grow, or scale at 50%+ CAGR, you also need strong innovation and protect ability.As The Father of Management said: "A company has two jobs. Innovation and marketing". Only those that do both well will scale to $100M+ which only 1 in 6,300...

Read more →

How Do You Determine The Distribution of Equity Among Co-founders When Starting A New Company?

Posted by Robert Norton on

How Do You Determine The Distribution of Equity Among Co-founders When Starting A New Company?

There are many factors, and it is too complex to offer a standard answer. You need to hire a consultant that is a CEO/Founder with lots of experience to discuss things for 1–2 hours. One way around this is to set hourly rates for the founders and track time to allocate it according to contribution. Shares are earned with seat equity. A simple spreadsheet with monthly invoices submitted by everyone is easy to do. There are plenty of software solutions for this too, but likely best only when it gets complicated with many founders. People and Founders are never “equal”...

Read more →

What is Your Resource Saving Tip for Individuals?

Posted by Robert Norton on

What is Your Resource Saving Tip for Individuals?

  According to this source, resources needed from the planet will be exceeded by human demand this August. I guess this means more people starve and suffer soon. I find most corporate ESG initiatives to be all PR and no real meat or commitment. What are you doing to reduce the human footprint on the planet?  So many easy things every individual can do. Interestingly, I learned today from a related chart you can see at link below that almond milk uses 40.9% less water than cow's milk. And my doctor recommends it for less cholesterol, too. These easy choices...

Read more →

What are the most common starting mistakes made by the founders?

Posted by Robert Norton on

What are the most common starting mistakes made by the founders?

Prepare for years in advance by study and experience in management, leadership and smaller companies. Read 2–4 books per month. Always be learning. Now, you can build a tiny house alone, but building a significant company requires a team without about 20 different skills that no one person possesses. Many think they can build a skyscraper alone, even without capital! Dumb. A formula for disaster and why 85% of new companies fail. It takes tremendous commitment and perseverance and is always a rollercoaster ride. Almost never a straight, predictable, linear process. Here are some great educational sources I have created...

Read more →

Should I join a company as a Founder?

Posted by Robert Norton on

Should I join a company as a Founder?

If you have to ask this question, you are likely not passionate enough or ready in other ways to do this. The commitment to any startup is likely five or more years. And long working hours that can easily be sixty-to-eighty-hour weeks at times.  As a result, you need to know for certain you would both enjoy the work and are qualified to do the job offered. You also need to do your due diligence to understand the company’s team, finances and chances of success. About 85% of startups will fail. Just a fact. Asking about a specific company is...

Read more →