To crib from the Bard, Beware the Black Swan. In the West, people were convinced that swans were only, and could only be, white. In 1697 black swans were first seen by Europeans in Western Australia. Minds blown. For modern use, the term “Black Swan” was popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It’s a framework to help us understand our own … Read More
“I wish my neuroses were more productive.” That’s a joke I share with my friends. To be honest, It isn’t always a joke. I listen to podcasts, read the Harvard Business Review, and see the latest books about how to improve productivity, create new habits, and do the things that will really make me a better human being—or at least … Read More
If you have played with Chat GPT, an artificial intelligence writing tool, one thing immediately comes to mind: you wouldn’t want to be a copywriter right now. ChatGPT is a large language model that can generate human-like text based on the input it receives. It is unique in its ability to complete a wide variety of language-based tasks, from answering … Read More
The best person to be the first sales hire for a B2B tech startup is someone that can deal with failure and rejection. Repeatedly. They need to learn from each experience, refine the pitch, gather insights, and develop new approaches and potential clients. They have to keep doing this until success hits. The question for entrepreneurs—and everyone else— when they … Read More
Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is a celebration in Mexico held on November 1 and 2. It is a day when friends and family gather to remember and pay their respects to those that have passed. The celebration was brought into the global pop culture consciousness through the Pixar film Coco. In the same way, the tradition … Read More
How do you know a person you are about to hire is who they say they are? You call in the modern Dr. Frankenstein. These are Ph.Ds in lab coats that peel back the outer layers of ego and self-defense and peer deep inside the nooks and crannies of your gray matter to get to the truth, the unvarnished essence, … Read More
Kicking off the dust of stupid corporate politics and incompetent bosses. Early retirement. Expensive cocktails. Fabulous vacations. Having to worry about inheritance taxes and not raising entitled children. Ah, the daydreams of startup life. We get it. We’ve been down that road more than once. (And believe me, getting a reliable crew for both the yacht and the private jet … Read More
We want magicians. Our hope when we hire our first salesperson is that they will work magic. It’s not a realistic hope, it’s not even spoken out loud, and we might not even be conscious of it, but we want them to work their sales magic and make it rain money. It’s no wonder we are so often disappointed. Through … Read More
Money Makes the World Go Round, as the song goes. But what makes your first sales hire get out of bed? Are they just motivated by the almighty buck or is something else helping drive their ambition? We all have dreams of being the next startup that gets the unicorn valuation of US$1 billion. To begin any business journey, you … Read More
Relationships and reputation are the keys to your startup brand. Outside of the founder and the performance of your product, the biggest impact on both is your first Sales hire. Outside of the founder, the first Sales hire is the biggest brand evangelist and brand ambassador. They are the first individual your clients will meet and likely be the person … Read More
