I read the news today, oh boy. Apple announced today that they are officially discontinuing the iPod, twenty-one years and some 500 million… — I read the news today, oh boy. Apple announced today that they are officially discontinuing the iPod, twenty-one years and some 500 million units after launching it. I remember how crazy we all thought Steve was back then for entering a new market that seemed completely unrelated to Apple’s core…

It’s always been about branding. But now it’s about branding the CEO. — I grew up in a world where the biggest brands were Kodak, Coke, Xerox, Sears, and Chevrolet. Today the biggest brands are Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Marc Andreessen, and Richard Branson. The point is that we’re in an era today where the brand of the CEO is at…

LLC? S-Corp? Delaware? How to choose? — One of the first decisions any startup founder makes is how and where to incorporate. There are several different sorts of legal entities, and different jurisdictions, so which one should you create? It can seem complicated, but in making this choice there are really just three main drivers for the…

Successful startup ventures need to articulate an actual problem they solve, not simply the absence of something. — One of the first things I have my Stanford entrepreneurship students do is to write a problem statement — a sentence that describes the problem their proposed startup venture intends to solve. What I’m looking for is something along the lines of “Busy parents want their kids to eat healthy…

So hot that the 4thly Startup Accelerator is launching a new program just for digital marketplace startups. — Marketplaces have been around forever. Since the dawn of time, people have gathered so that buyers can meet sellers and conduct transactions. I love going to weekend farmers’ markets, just to soak up the energy. But of all the things the internet has proven to be great at turbocharging, there…

Product/Market/Channel Fit, that’s what. — Last month I met with a longtime Silicon Valley venture capitalist to get his thoughts on updating my Stanford curriculum for 2022. During our conversation in his back yard, Tim said to me “Everyone talks about Product/Market Fit, but I think the key is actually Product/Market/Channel Fit”. The fact is…

From the perspective of health and longevity, we live in the greatest era in the entire history of the human species. Life expectancy in… — From the perspective of health and longevity, we live in the greatest era in the entire history of the human species. Life expectancy in the US has more than doubled in the past 100 years, and all over the world people are living longer, healthier lives. But as always, there’s…

We live in the era of unlimited information. With Google and a mobile phone anyone has access to all the information available in the world… — We live in the era of unlimited information. With Google and a mobile phone anyone has access to all the information available in the world today. That’s pretty remarkable. But just having access to a firehose of information doesn’t automatically mean we make better decisions. Sometimes we have so much…

Everybody tells me I should do meditation. Even the Mayo Clinic recommends meditation, saying that it will improve my emotional well-being… — Everybody tells me I should do meditation. Even the Mayo Clinic recommends meditation, saying that it will improve my emotional well-being and overall health. But honestly it’s just not something that comes naturally to me. …