Entrepreneurship

Culture matters

When Dave and I started BuildZoom, my perspective on Culture was that it was an abstraction that executives at Fortune 500 companies mull over in order to justify their existences’; I was interested in things like conversion rates, user acquisition, and revenue. After Y Combinator, we raised a small seed round and expanded from two […]

---

Lessons unlearned while working at a startup

Originally published on Forbes.com (March 2014)  When you’re working at a large company, the rules are simpler: build good relationships with management, get your work done on time, hit your deadlines. Prior to BuildZoom, I spent four years working as a product manager for a publicly traded tech company. My life was about building consensus, […]

---

Why bootstrapping Is overrated

This was originally published on Forbes.com (November 2013) “But why would we want to raise capital?” My cofounder’s question caught the Y Combinator partner off-guard. He was a seasoned entrepreneur with multiple successful exits and VC cash was a self-evident truth. He composed himself and shot back, “You don’t…if you want a lifestyle business; if […]

---