Damir Perge's Blog: Entrepreneur Insights from the Trenches, page 15

Espressopreneur: The Most Extraordinary Ingredient Required in Any Startup or Growing Business

“Speed is the essence of war.” — Sun Tzu

My Commentary: The most important ingredient for any startup or business is the element of speed. Speed is of the essence in war and speed is of the essence in startups or any business. When you incorporate speed into every part of your business, you can afford to make little mistakes along the way— and most importantly, you don’t have to be perfect in everything you do.

When you deliver your idea with supernatural speed, even if your solution is not per...

Startup Harmony: The Art of Startup Agreements and Disagreements

One of my partners called me while I was right in the middle of a very important business meeting. He knew I was in the meeting but he called me anyway. I don’t usually take calls during meetings but I figured it must be very important or he wouldn't have called to interrupt.

“Hey, what’s up?” I said in a somewhat annoyed voice because everyone around me was staring at me.

“I looked over the product specs on this last product you gave me and I didn’t like it,” he said.

“Okay,” I said.

I could tel...

Espressopreneur: My Grandfather’s Entrepreneur Words of Wisdom

"If you don’t risk, you don’t profit BIG." — Paul Radojevich

My Commentary: My grandfather was an awesome entrepreneur. I had a great childhood because I grew up on his farm, which was located within ten minutes of the city center. My parents worked the farm because my grandfather left the communist country of Yugoslavia to come to the land of opportunity — America. Even though we worked hard on the farm, we still had plenty of time to enjoy the resources of the farm.

We had an orchard full of...

Espressopreneur: Why Marissa Mayer is Right on Yahoo’s New Work Policy

"To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices." — Jackie Reses, Yahoo

My Commentary: Marissa Mayer has been making waves as the new CEO of Yahoo. Formerly with Google, she incorporated a new policy that Yahoo employees can no longer work from home. It has created quite a stir in the media. In November, her first public interview after taking...

Espressopreneur: Be Swift as the Wind

“When campaigning, be swift as the wind; in leisurely march, majestic as the forest; in raiding and plundering, like fire; in standing, firm as the mountains. As unfathomable as the clouds, move like a thunderbolt.”— Sun Tzu: The Art of War, Chapter VII, Maneuver (Verse 13)

My commentary: When it comes to incorporating the element of speed in your business, I can’t think of a better analogy for any entrepreneur than to be “swift as the wind.” Here’s my business prophecy: incorporating speed in...

The Hillstone Restroom Test

You can tell a lot about the quality and type of service you will get as a consumer by visiting a business' restroom. When I go to a new restaurant, I check out the restroom, after being seated, to see the cleanliness level.

Who gave me the authority to become a restaurant restroom inspector? My mother did. When I was a teenager growing up in America I cleaned the bathrooms in our home to make her life easier. Because of that, I am qualified to inspect any restroom and within microseconds I ca...

Espressopreneur: “Let’s Make a Billion.”

I recently met with some very cool new entrepreneur friends. After working with them a few days, we decided to help them accelerate their startup. While discussing with them the startup valuation process and different investment scenarios, I explained we don’t operate like a traditional accelerator business model in Silicon Valley, or the hundreds of accelerators sprouting up all over the world.

“I love your startup … it’s a billion dollar play,” I told the two entrepreneurs.

“Thank you. We bel...

Espressopreneur: "Don't Try ... Do."

I was talking to Robert Stenger, an entrepreneur friend of mine, about all the things we wanted to accomplish this year. Of course, most people commit and make personal goals for the year after each year-end. But how many people follow their goals on a continuous basis? The ones that do, they make things happen.

After talking to him, I could see a different kind of psychology coming from his entrepreneur mind. Over the years, I have often told people that when someone tells you that they will...

The Revenue Vectors in any Business Model

I am obsessed with figuring out various ways that any business model generates revenues. From a visualization perspective, I am working on setting up the components of a business model using a Lego-type modeling approach in order to make it easier to combine, mutate and re-combine your own business models. In some respect, this is copying nature's DNA structure and applying it to business modeling.

If your startup or business doesn't have a business model roadmap of how you're going to make mo...

Startup Energy: Energized by the Market

There is nothing like talking with people that are domain experts in the sector you’re addressing with your new idea, startup or product. I recently met with an old friend I've known since high school but hadn't seen in about fifteen years. We are looking for beta users for one of the startups we're accelerating and I was excited to get market feedback from him. He's been living this particular market for more than thirteen years.

When I met with him, he was as gracious as he's always been in...