Forums Search

Are we really aligned with everyone around us — our employees, Co-Founders, or even our spouses?

After 30+ years of working my ass off to find "synergy" with these three groups, I learned a painful lesson — try as I have, I'm not fully aligned with the people in my life.

I want to be. They are all awesome people. But I've come to realize that there are some important nuances that prevent Founders from ever being 100% on the same side of the table as the people around us.

This has been a source of endless frustration for me, and certainly for those around me. Over time, I've come to acknowledge and support the differences. But first, I had to figure out what the hell was so broken!

Should Startups be a Family? Running a startup isn't a grou...

When does having "more" become a liability?

As Founders, we all start with nothing, so we're heavily conditioned to keep asking for more — more customers, more revenue, more capital, more resources. More is always better, because we have so little.

Yet if things go well, at some point we do have more stuff. We've got a successful company, a great income, and lots of toys. For the first time, we start to realize that getting "more" starts to become extremely expensive, and potentially not worth it all.

So, how do we figure out what that perfect balance is for us? How do we avoid falling into the trap of not being able to stop ourselves?

Who am I Really Competing Against? What if we're all competing in a game we can't actually win?

How to Fin...

Entrepreneurship saved my life. It took me from a poor, under-privileged kid to someone who finally felt like I had control of my future.

I strongly believe it has the power to alleviate the poor conditions of millions of people around the world, but how realistic is that transformation? Is access to meaningful entrepreneurship only accessible to those with means?

It's a question that's been gnawing at me for decades.

In Case You Missed It

Where to Find Opportunities in a Recession When crisis is unavoidable, strong Founders will seek out the opportunities during a recession.

How to be a Happy Entrepreneur Everything about entrepreneurship works against our basic human desires for comfort, stability and predictability. So, how do we keep ou...

We have a great opportunity to be super tight with our employees — but should we be?

It's easy for us to fall in love with the idea of being close to the people we work with. In the early days of a startup, it’s almost unavoidable. We’re in the trenches together, working long hours, taking risks, and sharing wins. At some point, it stops feeling like a team and starts feeling like a family.

But there’s a line. And if we’re not careful, we cross it without realizing it. Suddenly we’re not just the boss. We’re the friend, the therapist, maybe even the surrogate parent. That closeness feels great, but it's also a potential liability.

I’ve been on both sides. I’ve run cultures where we were emotionally connected and others where we kept things ...

Who should you know about when it comes to startup growth? Who should you be following for the latest in growth tips? Which growth experts regularly deliver valuable, actionable content to their followers? If these questions resonate, this article is for you.

We’ve looked far and wide to find the very best in startup growth. We’ve pulled a collection of well-known startup growth leaders who have been there and done it. Everyone in this list has been part of startups that have rapidly scaled. Some have synthesised their knowledge into well regarded books, some have built their own fractional CMO services others work purely as advisors.

Matt Lerner

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewlerner/ Website - https://www.systm.co/about-ma...

What if one day we woke up and all of the things we set out to do in life were done? Would we be happy or sad?

This actually happened to me in the past year, and it's been freaking me out! But it's also been a cause for a ton of reflection.

As Founders, we set a ton of goals for ourselves and our startups — obviously. We work tirelessly toward those goals with the anticipation that once we accomplish them, something magical will happen.

What we rarely consider is what happens on the other side of these goals once we've crossed the finish line.

In Case You Missed It

We Need a Strict Definition of Personal Success Every moment we spend pursuing an undefined goal is a complete waste of time — especially personal goals.

Why No One Tells Founde...

Being a Founder has always been a lonely experience. So how is it that with a million ways to connect to each other, we've never been more lonely?

In the past couple of years when I sit down with Founders in person, I always ask how well they are maintaining their personal relationships. In the past few years, I've noticed a significant downward trend where more Founders are finding themselves more isolated from the world around them.

Being a Founder was always isolating, but this trend really concerns me.

We used to live in a world where we were surrounded by co-workers by day, out with friends and loved ones at night, and having conversations on the phone with those we couldn't connect with in person.

Since then, we've begun to build a ...

How do we become confident Founders when none of us have ever done this before?

As a startup CEO for over 30 years, I can tell you I have the confidence now, but when I was starting at 19... not even close. I was so out of my depth I was terrified to even tell people I was a CEO for fear they would laugh at me. And they often did.

Back then, I thought confidence was something certain people were just born with — like being tall or having good skin. Growing up, there were always those kids who seemed like they had it figured out. I assumed they had something I didn’t.

Years later I'd come to know those same supposedly confident people very well, and I'd learn a valuable lesson — no one is just "naturally confident." It all comes from experie...

What if college simply doesn't make sense for aspiring Founders — are we ready to sacrifice this sacred cow?

Last week I was having lunch with a very successful old friend who made over $100 million in his career. He wanted me to sit down and advise his 18-year-old son who had just graduated high school. The first thing he said was, "He's decided to skip college and go straight to starting his own company."

This is the first time I've heard a parent say that out loud, but I'm starting to think it certainly won't be the last.

My immediate gut reaction was going to be some defense of college, even though I dropped out as fast as I could to start my first company. But no matter how many points I sped through in my mind, I couldn't come up with...

What if our startup is only failing because we refuse to let it evolve?

There’s a moment in every Founder’s journey when nothing feels like it’s working. The product isn’t catching on. The sales aren’t converting. The market isn’t responding. And the creeping voice starts to whisper: “Maybe this just isn’t going to work.”

But what if it’s not the startup that’s failing — it's us?

What if we're the ones who are holding on too tightly to the original product or vision that we're preventing our startup from evolving into what it's meant to be?

The Myth of the Perfect Plan

Most of us fall in love with an idea before we’ve ever tested it. That’s how this whole thing starts. We get a flash of inspiration, we build the deck, and we convince oursel...