entrepreneur – Page 2

Families – not age – affects startups

On February 17, 2013, Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe wrote an article Exploring the Age Divide in Boston Start-Ups. It infuritated me for two reasons: 1) It’s probably true, but 2) for different reasons than Scott asserted. Scott’s premise is that start-ups are only the domain of young, 20-somethings. He concludes “older people” (over 30?)Continue reading “Families – not age – affects startups”

Culture matters even at the start

A few days ago, Todd McKinnon asserted in a WSJ blog article that “long term success is not predicated on creating a world-class company culture.” He also states “Forget about cultural fit and instead get people in the door that can create a beautiful product and bring passion to the problems your company is out to solve.” My friend BobContinue reading “Culture matters even at the start”

Founding CEO succession

In both my venture-backed companies I was founding CEO; but wasn’t CEO forever. The data says this is quite typical. Noam Wasserman’s book The Founder’s Dilemmas, cites the following statistics out of 3,600+ startups surveyed (9,900 founders) over 10 years: Founding A-round B-round C-round D-round On its 3rd (or more ) CEO 0% 0% 9%Continue reading “Founding CEO succession”

Your child (company) will someday grow up and move away

I founded Acquia in 2007 by teaming up with Dries Buytaert. And in the years since then, we’ve succeeded in building up a really great team, forming a really great business, with amazing customers. As with many founding CEOs, there came a time for me to hire a CEO with experience in bigger companies andContinue reading “Your child (company) will someday grow up and move away”

Drupal world domination – step 2

In recent years, a new breed of incubators called seed accelerators have had success helping new companies get started. They provide mentoring, connections, and capital. Depending on the accelerator, even the branding from having been accepted into the program adds value. The best example I’ve seen is TechStars. TechStars has helped launch dozens of companies over several yearsContinue reading “Drupal world domination – step 2”