Size Matters

A while ago, I wrote on some key things to keep in mind when looking at opening an additional location. I was recently talking to a colleague of mine, and he said that if he were starting a new business, it wouldn’t be in Prague (for the record, at the time, I was based in … Continue reading “Size Matters”

Sales Operations

Recently, I took the responsibility for developing a sales-operations department. Naturally, I started with the question, “what, exactly, is ‘sales operations’”?

Your People

Recently, I was speaking with a manager in my organization. He said something which I hand’t heard in a while, but was once a common refrain in my own early managerial career. “Sometimes it gets to the point where it’s just easier to do it myself.”

Organizational Behavior

As we move through our careers, if we’re successful (and maybe even if we’re not) we will continue to encounter unique situations and problems which we haven’t encountered before. Whether that’s managing a difficult individual, or navigating organizational change, or engaging in M&A for the first time, or managing across cultural boundaries for the first … Continue reading “Organizational Behavior”

Back to The Basics

As we head into summer here, I thought it might be useful to put together a quick summer reading list. If you haven’t already read these three books, go get them now: The Art of War (kindle) (Apple Books) The Book of Five Rings (kindle) (Apple Books) The Prince (kindle) (Apple Books) If you have … Continue reading “Back to The Basics”

Don’t Reinvent The Wheel

There are only two reasons to start a business: either you’ve spotted a technical discontinuity, or you’ve spotted a market discontinuity, and you’re looking to leverage that observation. But the reality is, this line of thinking and and should be extended to cover your entire organisation and operations — and failing to do so is … Continue reading “Don’t Reinvent The Wheel”

Managing Multiple Locations

If you run a growing company in any industry, odds are you’re looking at adding additional locations. The new location may be a satellite sales office, and additional retail outlet, or even an off-shore development office. Through a combination of growth and M&A activity each of my last two start-ups ended up with multiple development … Continue reading “Managing Multiple Locations”

Successfully Offshoring

For the last several years, off-shoring has become all the rage. In fact, it’s gotten to the point where if you’re pitching a VC you had better include off-shoring in your pitch if you want to have any chance of success. But success in your pitch doesn’t necessarily mean success in your business. I want … Continue reading “Successfully Offshoring”