You are an entrepreneur at ideation, pre-seed, seed or series A who has something really great in mind, and need a bit of help bringing all the pieces together.
That's what I do for entrepreneurs like you as a resident mentor at 500 Startups
I provide strategy for startups (over 1,000 so far) and have designed and built over 300 business models. These turn ideas into a solid strategic foundation for execution and growth.
I started my first business the day my wife and I flew across the world to Malaysia. 2 weeks later our first child was born. Then as we started to get everything under control all of customers went bust in the great recession.
We had a great business model, but it was 100 years out of date. Ever since I've been helping people find ways to use their business models to gain competitive advantage.
Over the years I have created 5 startups, worked at a YC back startup and worked with or at hundred of others. Why? The results - hundreds of great testimonials and happy customers.
I know about:
- business model design and the business model canvas
- value propositions
- business strategy
- operations strategy
- marketing strategy
Along the way I've been an engineer, computer scientist, politician, soldier, writer, philosopher, entrepreneur, triathlete, volunteer, changemaker, technocrat and strategist.
For fun I study historical entrepreneurship, referee Ironman races, do ultra marathons and plot to save the rainforests. I also make the best bacon in Malaysia
What you get from me is a bubbling boiling spring of insights and ideas that will open your eyes and let you see the wood for the trees. I'm great at helping you find an approach that effectively delivers your dreams from your initial concept. Call me :)
GEMS
- Good food
- Exercise
- Meditation
- Sleep
If you eat shit your performance suffers. If you don't exercise you get too stressed. if you aren't mindful you worry too much. If you don't sleep you never recover.
Get these right and many startup issues disappear or are solved quickly and easily
1. Rip up their policies and procedures and resolve every issue with ad hoc solutions
2. Stop having clearly defined roles and responsibilities and get people to work on whatever fire is currently burning brightest rather than what they are god at
3. Scrap budgets and most financials controls because it takes too much time and X is always more urgent
You get the gist. A lot of what companies do they do for a reason. It's a series of bitterly learned processes and systems that enable them to deliver quality consistently to their customers at an affordable cost.
Startups aren't like that. They are still figuring everything out. As a result they don't need most of the above until they have got it all to work.