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…
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 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…
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…
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…
In an excerpt from Kanye West’s interview with Seth Meyers on Late Night with Seth Meyers, West discusses music, fashion, and how his celebrity status is holding him back from what he really wants to do in life. In answering one of Seth Meyers's question, Kanye says " I have synesthesia; I can see sound in…
At the beginning of the internet revolution in the 90s, back then there was no word wide web (www), there were three guys all in the internet space. They were, like other people watching this fascinating thing called the internet unfold. They were all looking at the same thing. The one guy (out of the…
If you want to make something new, start with understanding. Understanding what is already present, and understanding the opportunities in what is not. Most of all, understanding how it all fits together. Today's technology would allow someone to make a short film with very little effort. But could you? The making of the movie is…
We are taught how to speak, but we are hardly taught how to see because it is assumed that you either see or you don’t, meaning you either have sight or not. We assume that if you can see, you don’t need to be taught how to see. I think this is not true. Looking…
Leaning on the doorbell means exactly what it says, leaned up against it, causing the doorbell to ring continuously. Knocking, on the other hand, is a brief, and often more quiet way of announcing your presence at the door. The quote uses these different methods to show a relationship between the two. Opportunity is usually…
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…
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…
