Be A Badass Through Influence, Not Authority

I just finished reading Donald Desantis’ article, “Everything I Need to Know About Startups, I Learned from a Crime Boss.” If you haven’t read it, you need to read it.  It’s flat out awesome.  Of all the great advice that Don passes on though, there is one thing that really resonated with me the most and that is being a badass by influencing others. Let’s face it, the tech startup world is noisy.  There’s... Read More

A Review of the Tech Cocktail Startup Mixer

The Tech Cocktail crowd at about 7:28p; the event started at 6:30p. Last night was the inaugural event of yet another out-of-town tech event coming to Seattle, Tech Cocktail’s Seattle Startup Mixer.  Tech Cocktail, originally the brain child of New York’s Frank Gruber, followed a similar formula to last week’s Seattle Beta — a Belltown bar and a handful of startups showing off their products or services on a laptop or iPad to any passerby... Read More

Legal Nuts n’ Bolts for Entrepreneurs and Startups

If you are thinking about starting up or are an early stage startup, you have to conserve every penny.  It’s not just about bootstrapping anymore.  It’s about making your very limited dollars go farther.  You also have to use your time wisely and milk useful information out of very interaction.  You have to move fast! What this often times means though is that you cut out much needed legal advice or don’t pause long enough to consider the... Read More

What is Traction?

This article marks the first in a series of articles geared specifically to Startup Strategy — how to pick an idea, implement it, and see how well it’s doing it. I’m sure there isn’t a single entrepreneur out there that hasn’t heard of the term “traction,” as in “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.”  For those of you who haven’t heard of the term, we’ll familiarize you with the concept in this... Read More

How to Deliver the Perfect Elevator Pitch

Everyone knows that if you are a startup, you have to have your elevator pitch down cold.  It’s what entices prospective partners, employees and investors.  Without it, you have an idea without a voice.  In this post, I discuss the elements and content of the perfect elevator pitch, as well as present some examples of what one might look like. Before we get into the content of the perfect elevator pitch, let’s look at  the five fundamental... Read More

The First Mover Advantage Myth

An article by Malcolm Gladwell on the creation myth in the New Yorker a week ago got me thinking about innovation and first mover advantage.  In business school they taught us that the first mover in a market has certain advantages over other competitors trying to capitalize on the same market, usually because of limited resources or due to the ability to erect barriers to exclude competitors.  In the technology industry, entrepreneurs and startups... Read More

Monthly Office Hours

When I started Sophos Law, I knew that I loved meeting with new people and hearing about their ideas.  I also knew that I had to reverse the general opinion that most lawyers and law firms are inaccessible to entrepreneurs and startups and that lawyers are boring, stodgy, and unapproachable.  So, I made a commitment to (1) be accessible; (2) be affordable; (3) be responsive; and (4) educate entrepreneurs to be smarter consumers of legal services. ... Read More

Signal, Noise and Priorities

I read Brad Feld’s post on signal versus noise and it got me thinking about how I decide, as a lawyer and manager, to spend my day and how that may be different from my VC colleagues or clients. By and large, I agree with Mark Suster that one man’s noise is another man’s signal and that it just depends on your perspective.  As the HHIC (head honcho in charge) of a small law firm, I have to keep close tabs on the signal to noise ratio to make... Read More

Bloggers Block and Why I Don’t Blog as Much as I Should

I have now had this blog for over a year but I haven’t been able to find a rhythm to write regular posts, or even posts when a topic pops to mind.  I have a lot of respect for the startup community bloggers out there that manage to always make time to blog because I have failed miserably so far. However, I plan on turning over a new leaf starting now.  Beginning with March and each month hereafter, I plan on writing at least 1-2 posts a week on... Read More

What’s in Your Startup’s Name?

I recently read an article in the Bar Bulletin, a print publication of the King County Bar Association, by Jessica Talmadge, the award-winning designer and owner of the graphic design firm, Talmadge.  It got me thinking about one of the most important things that startups (and lawyers!) don’t do very well:  branding. If you are anything like me, when the spark strikes and you get that brilliant new product or service idea, you start thinking... Read More

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