The Pragmatic Strategist

A ‘No Vacation Policy’ Policy

Last spring, I was reading the annual WorldBlu list of the most democratically run organizations in the world. One of the companies that caught my eye was one whose democratic organizational practices included eliminating a formal vacation day policy. I remember making a mental note of the idea, because I liked it and wanted to [...]

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Not Being Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

I love startups. I love the chaos. I love the insane hours. I love the energy. I love the types of people who are attracted to work on high-risk ideas with long odds. I love the culture that evolves around them. I love it all. I have spent my career hopping from one startup to [...]

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Through the Entrepreneurial Looking Glass

In a recent blog post, author Scott Ginsberg recently asked Have You Executed These Ten Essentials of Entrepreneurial Excellence? He then listed off the ten things he highlights as essential for entrepreneurs to be truly successful: Prestige requires pandemonium Confidence requires congruency Fame requires flexibility Success requires surrender. Creativity requires curiosity Originality requires murder Serendipity [...]

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Grumble, Bumble, Facebook Trouble

I was reading an article this weekend, on Entrepreneur.com, and it actually made me a little snarky. In Health Insurance, a 401(k) and…Facebook?, author Justin Petruccelli discusses a new Junior Achievement/Deloitte Teen Ethics Survey in which 58% of teenage respondents stated that the ability to use social networks would be a factor in their decision-making [...]

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A Left Turn in the Gen X Timeline

Sort of figures: tonight was the first time in weeks I’ve been able to set aside some time to do some catch-up blogging. I have a list of things I’ve been meaning to write about — I was just trying to work the opportunity into my schedule. And now that tonight is finally here, I [...]

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Interactive Austin Keynote Videos

The second annual Interactive Austin Conference has wrapped up, and in true social media fashion, there is no shortage of online accounts of the day’s activities (with more to be coming over the next few days, no doubt). Online already are keynote coverage posts by Ricci Neer, for each Dion Hinchcliffe, Sam Lawrence and whurley. [...]

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20/20 Hindsight – Transitioning a Services Company to a Product Company

This is something I’ve been thinking about more and more recently. The fact that we started off as a services company is what allowed us to get started and to avoid having to rely on outside funding. But it was transitioning to a product company that allowed us to grow and scale, and to ultimately [...]

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