Entrepreneurial Mentorship

In the call to action of my TED talk on the Entrepreneur’s Journey, I exhorted seasoned entrepreneurs to answer the call to service by mentoring less experienced entrepreneurs. Because entrepreneurship requires such different skills, heuristics, and calculi than other, much more common business arenas, having an experienced guide is invaluable to first-time entrepreneurs and canContinue reading “Entrepreneurial Mentorship”

Third Derivative: My Next Great Adventure

Far over the misty mountains coldTo dungeons deep and caverns oldWe must away ere break of dayTo seek the pale enchanted gold. I have founded or led eight climate tech startups. I’ve had one really big success, a few smaller successes, and a few “learning experiences” along the way – but every one of themContinue reading “Third Derivative: My Next Great Adventure”

The End of Smart OES

Last year Smart OES was acquired by Ingenero, one of our corporate strategic investors! I’ve been meaning to blog about this momentous event but the acquisition itself and then major moves in other areas of my life (More on that soon!) have kept me busy. Finally I have a chance to reflect back on SmartContinue reading “The End of Smart OES”

My Entrepreneurship Principles: Leadership

In my first piece on Mindful Entrepreneurship, I laid out several principles to optimize the entrepreneurial process.  In my second piece, I argued that culture is extremely important to startups. In this final (?) piece I will now examine how leadership can create an optimal startup culture and execute the entrepreneurial process. Entrepreneurial Leadership CultureContinue reading “My Entrepreneurship Principles: Leadership”

My Entrepreneurship Principles: Culture

While I was hunkered down surviving Hurricane Florence, I had further opportunity to reflect on my principles as an entrepreneur. In the first part of this brief series on Mindful Entrepreneurship, I laid out my keys to the entrepreneurial process. In this second part, I will focus on culture. Entrepreneurship Culture Culture matters a lot.Continue reading “My Entrepreneurship Principles: Culture”

My Entrepreneurship Principles: Process

I have recently been reflecting on the principles that I believe make entrepreneurial ventures successful. Today, the 56th anniversary of JFK’s famous moon speech, a speech that inspired a nation to accomplish an impossible goal, seems like a good day to try to distill those principles down into a succinct post. I won’t claim toContinue reading “My Entrepreneurship Principles: Process”

15 Years An Entrepreneur

Fifteen years ago I cofounded my first startup. Now, with seven startups under my belt, some big successes, some small successes, and some, ahem, “less than successes,” it’s amazing to think about how pivotal that decision to try the entrepreneurial path was. It was my junior year in college and I had been working partContinue reading “15 Years An Entrepreneur”

Entrepreneurial Leadership

Last week I was invited to give a talk on a topic of my choice to the team of a high-growth startup in Durham. Because leadership challenges often cause friction during times of high growth, I chose to address the topic of entrepreneurial leadership. Check out my video below and let me know what youContinue reading “Entrepreneurial Leadership”