This is where I express my opinions when they're longer than 140 characters.
You can see examples of my short attention span on Twitter: @kerskine
You can also send me an email
It starts after Launch - your initial announcement of your product/service that gets you that fantastic bump in publicity. In that year you have to reach for your company’s lifestyle, which means “we make money by providing X to Y market.” While it doesn’t require you to be cash flow positive from operations, it should clear (i.e. if we hire two more sales reps) on how to get there. As obvious as this sounds, setting the one year goal before you get things going helps keep everyone on track and forces a hard decisions earlier in your startup’s life than later when they can become really big deals.
As I’m trying to work on the Next Big Thing (TM), I keep thinking of time to market and a time table to figure into that shows a go/no-go point for “continuing the mission” (kind of like planning a space mission). This is something I haven’t paid enough attention to in the past and it’s important to now. Too many times you can get caught up in good intentions and prolong an endeavor that should be shut down. It’s only fair to your team, investors, family, and yourself.
I’d like to point out that these rules mainly apply to your mobile/Internet startup. Biotech and Energy companies have their own set of rules, timetables, and financial requirements.
