Too many startups lack market focus. They don’t really understand their target customer and what that customer wants. And that lack of focus kills startups. It’s easy to look at and define a big...

Recently someone asked me for advice on how much equity they should give to their early employees. His company had just closed an early round of funding and he wanted to cement the employee...

Many years ago when I started blogging I wrote a lot about small business and blogging. How to blog well was all the rage back then, and I studied some of the greats, like Copyblogger and Liz...

Here’s a sampling of some great startup lessons worth reading about.

Join me for my latest obsession: Surprise. In thinking about Surprise and how it relates to my business and the Web in general, I realize that there’s absolutely not enough surprise on the Web. How often do you visit a website and get...

Turns out, people like surprises. Who’d a thunk it? Actually, some surprises may anger, disgust, scare or shock people — but that’s a good thing! And most important for businesses out there: People will pay for surprise. Andy Nulman is Mr. Surprise....

We often hear, “Creativity loves constraints.” The premise is that real creativity, insight and innovation come out of situations that are constrained in some way. Oftentimes it’s a lack of money that forces startups to be smarter, faster and better....

…until you’ve actually done it. If you’re running a startup, or thinking about it, or have an inclination that some day you want to, or you work at one, go read Paul Graham’s latest essay, What Startups Are Really Like. For me it reads like my...

Writing a great survey isn’t easy. At first it might seem straightforward, but after banging out a few questions with your favorite survey tool (I use Wufoo most of the time), you start to see the complexity and intricacies involved. More and more...