Damir Perge's Blog: Entrepreneur Insights from the Trenches, page 21

Entrepreneur Myths: The Harder I Work, the Luckier I Get

In the book Entrepreneur Myths: The Startup Reality, I dispel 57 myths about entrepreneurship. One myths I haven't addressed is the myth that the harder you work the more successful you become. I do work hard, but the wiser I get, the more I realize that working harder is not going to make you any luckier.

There are sayings that imbed themselves into any culture. One saying I encountered as a boy, after my family moved to America, was “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” This might have app...

Startup Mimicry: Business Modeling

If you’re going to be an entrepreneur copycat of anything, you must consider copying the business models that work. Few entrepreneurs spend enough time learning about business models within their sector — and even more importantly, outside their sector.

When trying to figure out your business model as a startup, you have to look at it from a different perspective than an existing company, or even a company in an emerging or growing market. The entrepreneur logic is simple. Most startups are fi...

Efficionado: Startup Entrepreneur Shortcuts

In my family, I drive everyone crazy because I’m always looking for a shortcut when I drive. I was coming out of Target and the traffic was incredibly busy. It was a Saturday. There were two exit lanes to use out of the parking lot. On the right side of the exit, there was a traffic sign that indicated both of the lanes, left and right, must turn right. You had to be blind not to see the sign.

As I pulled up to the front of the exit in the left lane, I noticed that a white, old, dented car occ...

Startup Entrepreneur Telepathy

When I played soccer in my younger days, from the ages of one to nineteen, I had the privilege of playing with my twin brother. We played every day for hours. This is one big reason I became such a good dribbler and overall soccer player. Another reason is because we loved playing one-on-one against each other. We kept score too. So if I won one day, I knew he would play the next day harder than ever. Neither one of us liked to lose — even if it was to his twin brother.

As an outside observer,...

Living Your Entrepreneur Passion 24-7

The wiser I get, the more I realize that working 24-7 is not a success formula for any entrepreneur. Besides, if you do the math, it is not possible for entrepreneurs to work 24-7. In some of my other writings, I discuss the concept of time shifting and how to maximize your entrepreneur time but even with this concept, I don’t want you to work 24-7. I have interviewed and funded quite a few entrepreneurs that made statements such as “I work 24-7.” This working hard statement doesn’t impress m...

Who’s On Your Favorite Entrepreneur List?

Who’s on your favorite list on your phone? Based on the quantity and the type of people on your favorite list, it shows off your priorities on dealing with people. Favorite lists are a good way to show you which people are important in your life and the frequency of your interaction with them.

I would bet that a good portion of names on your favorite list is your family and friends. This is common sense. What about your favorite list from an entrepreneur perspective? Do you have a list of your...

Strategy Obsession @Warp Speed Applied to Benchmarking

When you set your business strategy, you should be obsessed with speed in order for the tactics to drive your strategy, and your strategy to drive your tactics. If you’re obsessed with increasing the startup speed or launch speed of your product, you have to focus on increasing your speed every minute of the day. This will mean trying different tactics to learn what works and what doesn’t work. You can’t read everything out of a business book. You have to try and learn from trial and error. Y...

The Entrepreneur Passion Meter

Whether you “stay in your lane” or “stick to your knitting” is a key question for any entrepreneur looking to start another company. In some respect, this is not any different than staying within the domains of your career or launching products within the same sectors.

I’d like to turn this mental approach upside down. It should come down to the simple question of what is your entrepreneur passion? Notice, I didn't ask you what your personal passion is? I didn't because we all have multiple pa...

The Dilution Dilemma for Entrepreneurs

I am known to be fond of fine red wine. I prefer Silver Oak, Stag’s Leap, Duckhorn, Jordan or Opus. Imagine if you poured water into a half-full bottle of any of these labels. What would that taste like? In simple chemistry terms, you just diluted a fine mixture of wine with H2O.

A similar dilution effect plays out for nearly every entrepreneur out there when raising capital. Substitute a bottle of fine red wine for your idea, startup or growing business. You’ve funded your own dream on your o...

Funnypreneur (Part 1): When a Product Makes You Laugh So Hard, You Cry

After my father died, I decided to preserve some of the knowledge of my parents. Before he died, he was transferring his knowledge of weight lifting to me so I can pass it down to generations. I got some of it but not all of it. He was a champion of weightlifting in Yugoslavia so I thought it would be a good idea to learn the nuances of weight lifting — just in case any of my children decided to become more serious about his sport.

During the funeral, I looked up at my mom and realized she was...