Note: John Azubuike (@jnazubuike) and I are currently conducting research on software startups in the ocean freight shipping market. We expect to publish that towards the end of January 2017. Our blog post about freight trucking startups opened the door to numerous conversations that we may never have had, with people who know more about […]
Tag Archives | Strategy
#NotesOnStrategy: Tips For Early Stage Startup Founders on How To Build A Culture of Accountability
By Brian Laung Aoaeh on July 2, 2016 in Entrepreneurship, Management, Organizational Behavior, Strategy, Team Building, Technology
CULTURE EATS STRATEGY FOR BREAKFAST, OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE FOR LUNCH, AND EVERYTHING ELSE FOR DINNER. – Bill Aulet During one of our weekly Monday morning team meetings we were talking about one of the startups in our portfolio . . . Things are going well; the product is pretty good and improving, sales are increasing, revenue […]
Revisiting What I Know About Efficient Scale, Cost Advantages, & Early Stage Technology Startups
This is the fourth post in my series of blog posts on economic moats. I have already written about Network Effects, Switching Costs, and Intangibles. In this post I will discuss how Cost Advantages and Efficient Scale might develop as an early stage startup travels through the discovery phase of its life-cycle. 1Any errors in appropriately […]
Revisiting What I Know About Intangibles & Startups
By Brian Laung Aoaeh on October 26, 2015 in Business Models, Entrepreneurship, Funding, Innovation, Management, Strategy, Technology, Venture Capital
This is the third post in my series of blog posts on economic moats. I have already written about Network Effects and Switching Costs. The remaining three sources of an economic moat are Cost Advantages, Efficient Scale, and Intangibles.1 In writing this post I am trying to consolidate what I have learned about intangibles & […]
Notes on Strategy; Michael Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies for Early Stage Tech Startups
Running a business without a strategy is like breathing air without oxygen. My post Notes on Strategy; For Early Stage Technology Startups led to follow up questions from a handful of readers who asked for additional posts with more explanations and examples. 1Let me know if you feel I have failed to attribute something appropriately. Tell me how […]
How Studying Bankruptcy And Working On Two Turnaround Assignments Prepared Me To Become An Early Stage Venture Capitalist
By Brian Laung Aoaeh on August 1, 2015 in Behavioral Finance, Business Models, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Innovation, Investment Analysis, Key Performance Metrics, Operations, Organizational Behavior, Private Equity, Sales and Marketing, Startups, Strategy, Team Building, Uncategorized, Value Investing, Venture Capital
When I started business school at NYU Stern in the fall of 2005 my plan centered on taking every class in Bankruptcy & Reorganization, and Distressed Investing that I could. I took 3 elective classes in that area; Bankruptcy & Reorganization with Prof. Ed Altman, Case Studies in Bankruptcy & Reorganization with Prof. Max […]
Notes on Strategy; Where Does Disruption Come From?
By Brian Laung Aoaeh on July 19, 2015 in Business Models, Entrepreneurship, How and Why, Innovation, Startups, Strategy, Technology, Uncategorized, Venture Capital
Marc Andreessen’s brilliant explanation of @claychristensen‘s disruptive innovation theory in 15 tweets: pic.twitter.com/3ic1teQbRW — Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) June 24, 2015 Introduction You can imagine my surprise when I was browsing my Twitter feed one night last month and came across one of Marc Andreessen’s tweetstorms. This time he was tweeting about Clayton Christensen’s Theory of […]
Industry Study: Nanotechnology
Note 1: This is an update of an article that I wrote on a whim in December 2006, while I was on a break from business school at NYU Stern. It was published without update at Tekedia in July, 2011. The announcement by IBM about its new 7nm chip prompted me to dig it up […]
6 Things I Have Learned About Building High-Performing Teams
By Brian Laung Aoaeh on June 29, 2015 in Critical Thinking, Entrepreneurship, How and Why, Management, Organizational Behavior, Psychology, Sociology, Strategy, Team Building, Venture Capital
I spend a lot of time thinking about teamwork; how teams function, how they operate, how they fail or succeed, and how the most successful teams make their success repeatable in the face of changing conditions. This post is my attempt to synthesize what I have learned so far.1 What is a team? For the purpose […]
Notes On Early Stage Technology Investing; Art, Science, or Both?
By Brian Laung Aoaeh on June 18, 2015 in Business Models, Innovation, Investing, Lab Notes, Lean Startup, Science, Strategy, Technology, Venture Capital
Often when I have asked other people this question I get a response that leaves me feeling dissatisfied. It seems most investors are compelled to take one side over the other, and, at least as far as the admittedly small sample of investors I have asked this question are concerned, insufficient thought is given to […]