Startups Archives — Page 3 of 3

Is This Why the Startups Are Eating Your Lunch? Part II

May 27, 2019 Startups No Comments

My second introduction to the “start-up” advantage was with Cerent. We started as “Fiberlane”, imploded and became several companies. It was only the second tech company I had worked for, and the stories along the way highlighted why startups are able to take fewer people and less money to build…

Is This Why the Startups Are Eating Your Lunch? Part I

April 21, 2019 Attitude Startups No Comments

Photo by Seth Kane on Unsplash In my history as a Sales Engineer I’ve helped promote nearly 2 dozen different on-prem or SaaS software “solutions”. When I started at Compuware, for example, we had 7 distinct offerings. They were integrated, but the Account Executives had a lot to offer to help solve problems. …

Lessons Learned from a High School Robotics Competition

March 26, 2019 Attitude Startups No Comments

My son is on one of the 3,790 FIRST Robotics Competition teams around the world. This weekend his team competed in Monterey, which I watched remotely over Twitch. That, plus the past 2 months, has confirmed some key lessons. This all can be applied to the modern tech job…

How To Build a System Workbench

January 1, 2019 High Level Tech Intro Startups No Comments

With the growth of the Cloud, fewer and fewer people actually put their hands on hardware. But there are times that a cash-strapped startup, consultant or a frugal hobbyist/entrepreneur will want to get a MVP (Minimally Viable Product) up and running without having the recurring expense of deploying in the…

Does That Startup Have a Bright Future?

October 18, 2018 Getting Hired Startups No Comments

If you are looking to join a firm that is either planning to go public or be acquired, how do you analyze the risk level? It used to be that a “startup” was a small firm, low in employee count, where there was a clear risk. These days firms…

Hiring, but the Bus Is Empty?

July 11, 2018 Hiring Process Startups No Comments

One of the most influential book I read during my graduate studies was Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . And Others Don’t by Jim Collins. His analogy of the Mirror and Window is a litmus test I use for leaders in the workplace. And…

Job Candidate – We All Get The Same Pay . . .

July 5, 2018 Hiring Process Startups No Comments

I’ve worked for startups that have ranged in size from 5 people to a few hundred. (Yes, technically those shouldn’t be labeled “startups” but this is a different kind of economy.) At the smallest I actually signed on part-time for just health insurance and equity in the beginning. The next…

When Founders Hold On Too Hard

March 26, 2018 Startups No Comments

The tech scene has evolved and changed a lot since I joined Next Level Communications back in 1995. It used to be that there had to be much more of a path to revenue to generate investment. Lately it takes a lot less for a firm to get investment and…

Eric Burns Online

Category: Startups