Tag: success


What every entrepreneur should learn from Abraham Lincoln


Starting a business is tough. No one will dispute that fact. Statistics tell us that approx. 90% of all startups will fail within the first 5 years. So what is the key entrepreneurial trait that differentiates the other 10 percent? No, it is not that these entrepreneurs are smarter, have...

Earning vs. Learning


On this first day of a new decade I was going through some old papers and I saw the original shareholder documents from a company I co-founded 20 years ago. I gave 6 years of my life to that startup and yet the value of my shares today would barely...

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?


Last week I was so fortunate as to preside as the President of the Selection Jury for the 2009 Eurecan European Venture Awards. I sat-in on many of the presentations as 25 of the finalists pitched their business plans to investors and industry experts. I was struck by how good...

The perfect ski run


I watched the crazy downhill guys on TV yesterday. As these skiers were getting ready to plunge down the icy slopes of a mountain at speeds of up to 140 km per hour, they prepared themselves by closing their eyes and envisioning skiing the course, turn for turn, in an...

Picking the Winners


How do you pick future champions while they are still young and developing? How do you identify a talented team of entrepreneurs at an early stage? How do you measure the real potential of a startup business? (more…)

Be Careful What You Believe


Henry Ford is one of my heroes. He was a pioneer of large-scale mass production, he founded the Ford Motor Company and he produced the Model T in 1909 - a product that forever changed the world’s idea about what was truly possible. (more…)

Meetings with Remarkable Men


I saw a strange French movie in 1979 that made a big impact on me. It was called Meetings with Remarkable Men and told the story of G.Gurdjieff, a philosopher who traveled through Central Asia in order to discover spirituality through dance, music, near-encounters with death and by meeting remarkable...

A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste (Part 1)


My own company is in a crisis right now… a real crisis with tough decisions to make, sleepless nights to endure and an impending sense of doom that is like a nasty hangover.  A bit of bad luck, bad timing, some strategic mistakes and a global financial crisis have all...

Throw away 1000 years of history


When I arrived in Trento, Italy on Thursday the first thing I noticed were the city walls. Since the medieval times they have kept out invaders from the north and conquerors from the south. When you are reminded of your ancient past each day, perhaps it makes it harder to...

Street Smarts


European Entrepreneurs must Startup Global European startup companies actually have a big advantage over US based startups and many don't even know it. No, I am not talking about fat government subsidies or protected local markets. I am talking about "street smarts". (more…)