Ignite is a set of events where speakers are given exactly 5 minutes to speak on a topic of their choice with slides that auto-forward whether you’re ready or not. It’s a pretty cool format because it forces you to get to the point very quickly. I gave a presentation at Ignite Melbourne a couple of nights ago about how you can use iteration to build a business, even if you don’t have a ton of experience. (more…)

Dealing with fast growth can be tricky, just ask Bruce Banner. One moment he’s a regular comic book uber scientist, then someone has the bad judgment to make him angry and next thing you know he’s a 10 foot green monster who uses guns for toothpicks and likes smashing things. That sort of growth always comes with consequences. In Bruce’s case, it’s his clothes that suffer. Inevitably we see the Hulk burst out of his shirt as he transforms, all the while counting ourselves lucky that his pants managed to hold on for dear life.

(more…)

For most entrepreneurs, ambition far exceeds even a superhuman workday. No matter how you slice and dice it, one person can only do so much. To do more, requires something more than working really, really hard. It requires delegation.

There may only be one of you in the world, but there are plenty of other people. So to overcome the speed bump of your own personal capacities, you’re going to need to get other people to do your work. This can be quite a daunting prospect, after all how do you find people? How can you trust them to do a good job? How do you pay them? What if they don’t work out?

(more…)

Back in the summer of 2001 when I was in my final year of university, I had a part-time job at an internet cafe. It was in a dingy old pub with prehistoric computers and a barely-better-than-dialup connection shared amongst fifteen computers. Because it was such a crappy internet cafe no-one ever really went there. So I found myself with plenty of time to learn Photoshop, HTML and to dabble in PHP.

At that time the Dotcom Bubble had recently burst and though there were some ragged survivors like Amazon, the majority of the high flying, aeron buying, dotcom elite had come and gone. I used to sit in my internet cafe waiting for the nonexistent customers and think, “If only I had gotten into this web stuff five years ago, then I could have been part of all that excitement!” (more…)

Like many things in life, starting a business is a lot harder to do by yourself. In fact, not only is it harder, frankly it’s a lot less fun. That’s why we have co-founders! But how do you choose who to work with? What should you look for in a co-founder? And what should you avoid?

What Co-founders Bring to the Table

Before we discuss the traits that make for a good partner, let’s first look at some of the benefits of having a co-founder. Because there are some drawbacks. One in particular stands out: having co-founders means giving up a share of the ownership pie.

To counter this, your aim should be to find co-founders that bring enough to the table that it mitigates the loss in ownership. In essence you are looking for people who through their contribution will make the overall pie larger, so that a lesser share of this bigger pie is actually worth more than the whole of the original. (more…)