What Founders Pitching Investors Can Learn From Eminem’s Rap Battles — Look If you had One shot Or one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted In one moment Would you capture it Or just let it slip? In the final rap battle of the movie 8 Mile, Eminem crushes his opponent by doing the opposite of what’s expected of him…

How Business Owners Must Cater To ‘Generation Mute’ — A nasty spider bit my friend Josh! Here in Bali, Indonesia, it happens more often than you’d think. Paradise has its price. But don’t worry! Josh sent a photo of the bite to his doctor over WhatsApp. Moments later, he learned the name of the right medicine. Another 30 minutes…

How to Stay Sane as a First-Time Founder When Things Go Wrong — Sunglasses So, we had just closed our first round of funding when my key employee quits. I had sold the investors on that employee's skills, and everything was horrible. I felt like a faker, and our company would never work despite the funding! That night I slowly walked to the bus…

One of them is overlooked by most founders. — Your role as an entrepreneur is one of an architect. You plan and design. You balance physics with art. You strive to create a beautiful building, but also one that’s sturdy and built to last. You ponder over function as much as over aesthetics. Your best tool is a sharp…

Problems create entrepreneurial opportunities, and 2020 is not lacking in problems — I started my digital marketing company in 2009 against the backdrop of a global financial crisis. Most people thought a young university graduate — like I was at that time — should play it safe and wait for the business climate to get better before starting a company. I’ll never…

Your job isn’t about finding the best option anymore — it’s about finding the option that is least bad — Dear startup CEOs: It’s time to shift your mindset. Last week might have been about growth and funky new initiatives. It could have been about hiring employees and closing that new financing round and launching that new product. Last week was about shiny things. Growth was your religion, and your…

There’s a much better term you can use — In the early years of my company, we did not extend an employee’s one-year-long contract because their performance was okay, but not outstanding. Also, we were in the middle of a financing round and had to save on cash. It was a perfectly rational decision. However, since it was the…

There might be ways to keep them happy without breaking the bank. — Welcome to the beginning of the year. It’s a beautiful time when the snow is falling, new year’s resolutions are not yet broken dreams, and employees suddenly demand a steep salary increase in your chronically underfinanced start-up. You check your bank account with the usual anxiety and realize that this…

Here’s what serial entrepreneurs change about their next business — The sun was setting and starting to melt into a creamy orange color over the beautiful fields of Mallorca’s nature. Our group of 15 entrepreneurs had gathered on the island to learn from each other. One of my core beliefs is that if you surround yourself with…