Every business starts somewhere. There are very few that got off the ground with hundreds or thousands of customers rather than ten, one, or none. The first ten are a huge deal for a bunch of reasons. They validate the business and the founders’ reason for starting up. They inform…
Browsing Category Entrepreneurship
A slice of Saatchi
Here’s one way to get people talking about your brand – especially when you’re a B2B services company. Dubai’s Freedom Pizza hired Saatchi & Saatchi as their ad agency. As part of the deal, Saatchi asked for a piece of the pie. Quite literally. Visit a store or head to…
A simple recipe for working independently
It can be hard not to marvel at those productivity gurus; the creative mavens; those extraordinary entrepreneurs. They’re so flawless, so sleek, so in-tune. How do they get it all done? How do they stay focused, primed, able to shut out the noise? How are they able to work on…
The Dollar Bill and The Golf Ball
My brother came to visit from Amsterdam for a couple of weeks; first a trip to SXSW, before a week in NYC. Two places with plenty in common: teeming with energy; recognised by acronyms; and holding firm at 30 degrees (albeit one in Celsius, the other in Fahrenheit). Plan A…
Co-Founder Conflict: NFI?
I met up with my friend Gillian yesterday. Like me, she’s perhaps a frustrated introvert – very comfortable being out there in front of a room, but less keen on being the in-your-face face of a brand. As we chatted about the shift from contractor/freelancer to entrepreneur, and being front…
Life’s a Pitch…but for who?
Over the last few months, I’ve been working with nearly two dozen founders from across the spectrum of New York’s media & entertainment industry. It’s the third cohort of New York City’s AMP NYC accelerator program, a first of its kind initiative helping small business owners in the city develop…
SXSW 2020: The Remix
A blog post I keep coming back to is The Rise of the Remixer. I wrote this quite a while ago, and didn’t think much of it at the time – or rather, I sensed there was something interesting to explore further but wasn’t sure exactly what that something was….
The Educator in Residence
Why a different type of EIR could be your firm’s new secret weapon In 1989, the Hollywood talent agency CAA moved into its new $25m offices designed by star architect I.M Pei. In a little over a decade the company had grown from a $21,000 bank loan and no employees…
The important thing before on-boarding
It’s not just about what happens once they’re on board and the vessel is setting sail. It’s not just about the on-boarding rituals that occur once they’ve arrived at the place of departure and they’re beginning to assimilate into the culture of how we do things here. It’s also about…
Learnings from the other side of an accelerator program
In the Spring of 2018, I was approached about collaborating on a new project being presented by New York City’s Department of Small Business Services and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. The project came about from the City looking to further their support to creative businesses. Media &…