Damir Perge's Blog: Entrepreneur Insights from the Trenches, page 9

The Fundamentals of Startup Speed: Stop All Startup Distractions

When you manage your startup, you need to focus on increasing your speed at every point in the business process. Remember, the market odds are stacked against you due to the physics behind the power law. Imagine your startup is a dolphin swimming through an ocean infested with sharks. Just like the dolphin, you must think quickly, act quicker and execute even faster.

In order to increase speed in your startup, look for pockets of slowness in all parts of your startup process. In business-lingo...

Why Startups Love Silicon Valley

Plenty of smart people are trying to replicate the success of Silicon Valley in other parts of the world. Applying complexity science to the process, you can see that Silicon Valley is a huge technology ecosystem clustered tightly together. You can call it an innovation platform—if you want to use a buzzword like "platform" to resonate with everyone.

Having lived in Silicon Valley and outside, having invested in startups across America, I can see that the differential between Silicon Valley an...

The Dog Sniff Test: How Social Media Enables You to Really Know Your Customer

(Source: photo by Damir Perge, welcome mat displayed in front of author's home.)

How many times have you read classical marketing books or maybe someone has even told you, perhaps a successful entrepreneur or a venture capitalist on a discussion panel, that the secret to any startup or new product success is to know your customer. Like this is some incredible secret you've never heard before.

Much has changed since the classic 4 P’s ruled the marketing world: product, placement, promotion and p...

Startup Trigger Advice: Why Talking to Other Startup Entrepreneurs Can Help Your Own Startup

One of the best ways for startup entrepreneurs to find solutions for their own problems is to listen to the strategies and tactics used by other startup entrepreneurs in non-related sectors.

We recently sat down on the sunny patio of a local Starbucks to talk with entrepreneur Pratima Rao to discuss her very cool stealth startup. Of course, thanks to the power of my parking magic, we were able to find a decent parking space in a heavily crowded shopping center. It was not my classic “parking r...

Startupmentals: The Full Meaning of Startup’s Low-Hanging Fruit and the Fruit Higher Up

When I was a kid growing up in Yugoslavia, during the beautiful spring, summer and fall seasons, my twin brother and I acted more like monkeys than humans when it came to eating breakfast. We grew up on farm within the city limits and our parents both worked. They got up early and left the task of making our breakfast to our older sister. The farm was an organic paradise at its best. We grew corn for crop mainly, but around the farm there was an assortment of trees I have never seen since—not...

Startup Mother Magic: Why You Should Have Moms on Your Startup Team

When it comes to forming startup teams and incorporating startup team diversity, including a mother on your team can give you an incredible startup advantage. A member on your team who is also a mother can give you a different perspective on the world and the world surrounding your startup or growing business.

Mothers are magical. They have a tendency to truly understand your customer because they have to deal with being a mother to their own children. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist...

Entreprenetics: Startup Anxiety

The psychological aspects of the entrepreneur mind can create unnecessary havoc in your startup process. If you have a startup idea and are thinking about making a go of it, the time to evaluate the risk is before you get on that startup roller coaster ride.

It doesn’t matter how experienced you are as an entrepreneur (or even investor), the likelihood of having startup anxiety is real. The spectrum of your startup anxiety will vary—depending on the amount of entrepreneur math and analysis you...

Startup Wisdom: If You Get the Talent, You Get the Turn

When you speak with extremely experienced entrepreneurs, they give you incredible words of business wisdom without even offering advice. You simply have to keep your entrepreneur mind, eyes and ears open to absorb the information.

Recently, I spoke to an entrepreneur who goes beyond being experienced. He should be awarded a Ph.D. in entrepreneurship based on his track record. He is involved in managing more than 50 companies in various sectors and life stages. We discussed the incredible time-...

Startup Trigger Advice

One of the best ways for startup entrepreneurs to find solutions for their own problems is to listen to the strategies and tactics used by other startup entrepreneurs in non-related sectors.

We recently sat down on the sunny patio of a local Starbucks to talk with entrepreneur Pratima Rao to discuss her very cool stealth startup. Professor Shivaram Malavalli (Chairman and Managing Director of eHealth TBI), one of my favorite entrepreneurs on the planet, recommended Pratima to us.

I can’t reveal...

Entreprenetics: The Startup Anxiety

The psychological aspects of the entrepreneur mind can create unnecessary havoc in your startup process. If you have a startup idea and are thinking about making a go of it, the time to evaluate the risk is before you get on that startup roller coaster ride.

It doesn’t matter how experienced you are as an entrepreneur (or even investor), the likelihood of having startup anxiety about your startup idea is real. The spectrum of your startup anxiety will vary—depending on the amount of entreprene...