Archive: May 2011

  1. The Junction Wave

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    “Parting is such bitter sweet sorrow that 

    I should say good-night until it be `morrow.” – Shakespeare

    The first wave of the junction is about to move out of our Shocken 32 dwellings. 

    Over this period, in more than one way, the group taught us what is The Junction. Introspecting, the junction is all about building an infrastructure for mutual help and self-improvement. Improvement for us and mutual help for resident companies and hopefully, the community at large. After this first wave, it’s clear that the best way to achieve that is by limiting the waves to 3 months periods, have us give as much as we can to them during that period, and hope for reciprocity between them and the rest of the community.

    It one of those bitter sweet moments. After you get attached to such a group of awesome people, you need to part and bring in the next group.

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  2. Just say “no”!

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    “The truly free man is he who can decline a dinner invitation without giving an excuse.” Jules Renard.

    Frequently, if not always, early stage companies face the very difficult dilemma of being opportunistic or being very focused. I have experienced this dilemma many times and each time it is an extremely tough decision. This occurs in all facets of the business including product development, HR, marketing and especially concerning sales and customer acquisition.

    For all companies, resources are always limited and therefore tough decisions need to be made. Everything has a price and a trade-off associated with it. Unfortunately (or luckily), you can’t do everything and my belief is that companies cannot be all things to all people. Therefore when I analyze and evaluate companies that I am hoping to invest in, the main thing I want to understand (after the people of course!) is; what is your focus? do the entrepreneurs and management understand what the company’s core value is? I understand that start-ups need to be agile, flexible and nimble but they also need to be able to articulate what it is exactly that makes them special. (more…)