Check out my talk, "Left for Silicon Valley To Raise Unicorns," from the STRIVE Student Conference on "The Morality of Value Creation & Trade" in Atlanta, GA, in November 2015. Thanks to the Michael & Andrea Leven Foundation.
Read MoreListen to my Founder Institute joint session with Adeo Ressi from December 2015: How to Create a Great Elevator Pitch.
Read MoreListen to my Founder Institute Q&A session from July 2015: How to Secure a Lead Investor.
Read MoreI keep running into companies--both startups and mature businesses--that exhibit a disappointing level of confusion about who they really are (or who they're trying to be). Whether it's engineers contemplating what product features to focus on next, or the marketing team arguing over what to say on social media and how precisely to say it, an ambiguous emotional fog often permeates the space where a clear structure ought to stand. This is bad. Very bad. It's one of those "ghost" problems that is easy to never bother addressing, but which eats away at the soul of your company over time and causes a myriad of seemingly unrelated, frustrating problems all over the organization. So solve it. It's easy.
Read MoreI'm not a naming expert, but in my experience I've never seen a great startup name do much to propel that company to success. There are so many other much more important factors that the difference between a great name and an okay name is hardly something to lose sleep over. However, a really bad name can be a significant roadblock, and unfortunately I see a lot of founders demonstrate an uncanny ability to conjure up and fall in love with some pretty large piles of manure. So to save them (and us) from this world of shitty names, it's time for me to share eight guidelines when it comes to selecting a name for your new startup.
Read MoreThis is the official blog of Inara Ventures. As such, the content will focus on startups--building them, investing in them, running them, celebrating them when they succeed, and mourning them when they fail. My current plan for a posting schedule is: "when I feel like it." Complain all you want about that, but you get what you pay for.
I keep running into companies--both startups and mature businesses--that exhibit a disappointing level of confusion about who they really are (or who they're trying to be). Whether it's engineers contemplating what product features to focus on next, or the marketing team arguing over what to say on social media and how precisely to say it, an ambiguous emotional fog often permeates the space where a clear structure ought to stand. This is bad. Very bad. It's one of those "ghost" problems that is easy to never bother addressing, but which eats away at the soul of your company over time and causes a myriad of seemingly unrelated, frustrating problems all over the organization. So solve it. It's easy.
There are some great books about this, of course, but the people who could most benefit from them often don't stop to take the time to actually read them. As a result, I've decided to share a one-sheet "Brand Foundation" template that I've used at companies in the past. Once you fill it out, you'll have a simple document that distills many of the important elements necessary to defining and building your brand. It's short enough to be posted on cubicle and lunchroom walls and easily referred to by anyone seeking quick clarification. Call me an enabler.
To be clear, I didn't invent this. This template is basically a distillation of the brand foundation described in "Brand: It Ain't the Logo" by Ted Matthews, which you won't read but you should. It's a great book. [Go to Amazon and buy it. Buy it now.] I've only made some very minor tweaks/edits to his foundational elements based my own experience. The genius is all his.
So here's the template. Download it. Fill it in. Use it. And let me know what you think.
[Note: Upon request, I later explained in more detail how to use the Brand Foundation Template. That explanation is here.]
Inara Ventures is a pre-seed fund that invests in companies with the potential to undermine the coercive power of government and founders who understand what that means.
