Bootstrapper’s Manifesto: The BIG do not always eat the small but the fast always eat the slow

Big companies have better distribution, access to money whenever it is needed, a brand that customers trust, access to the people who buy, and great employees. They have lots of competition, big and small, and they have sharpened their axes for battle. As a bootstrapper what is your advantage? You have nothing to lose. This…

Bootstrapper’s Manifesto: A state of mind

  From a definition point of view, bootstrapping is starting a business without or with limited cash. Bootstrapping usually refers to a self-starting process that is supposed to proceed without external input For me, a bootstrapper is not a particular demographic or even a certain financial situation. Instead, it is a state of mind. Bootstrappers run…

The World

The world is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness is not very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more? How do you sell an anti-aging moisteriser? You make someone worry about aging. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make…

Belonging

People always have a need to belong. They always want to feel a need to belong, even Maslow recognised the need to belong in his hierarchy of needs. Human beings can't help it: we need to belong. One of the most powerful of our survival mechanisms is to be part of a group, to contribute…

Make something…

Everyone should learn to code. Not because we have a shortage of people who can code, but because once you know how to make something, it changes how you see things. Once you know how to dismantle and assemble an electronic device, every computer seems a bit less mysterious. Once you know how to give…

Being Busy and Lazy at the Same Time

In the Startup Revolution: Fit In or Stand Out, I talk about the new definition of laziness. That if you can do your work with your eyes closed, without having to apply your mind, then you are not working hard. If you go to work and stamp papers the whole day without really applying your…

The Art of Entrepreneurship: The critic inside

A friend recently posted on social media that he prefers Facebook than Twitter. According to him Twitter people are harsh and cold, that they have no chill because his day was spoiled due to a twitter argument he had with someone whom he suspects was probably using a pseudo account. I have realised that social…