Archive - Bursts of Color

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Raise Now or Wait Until Next Year?

I've had a dozen founder conversations lately that start something like: "I'm trying to decide if I should try to raise a new round now, or to hold off…

Sep 28 •

August 2023

Bursts of Color - Performance Marketing (Guest Interview)

I’ve seen many open job reqs for Performance Marketing lately, so I chatted about this with my friend and colleague Brian Osborn, who has been VP…

Aug 10 •

July 2023

Bursts of Color - Onboarding a Controller

One of you recently hired a Controller and turned to our partner Rob for advice on the best way to set things up. I thought the resulting exchange had…

Jul 27 •

Bursts of Color - Personal Wealth Planning (Guest Interview)

Our co-investors at private wealth firm Mercer Advisors recently hosted a dinner for us with some startup founders in San Francisco. As we munched on…

Jul 20 •

June 2023

Bursts of Color - Hosting an Offsite

A well-planned offsite can do a lot of good. It also takes some work. Here are some of my suggestions after attending and hosting a bunch of these over…

Jun 22 •

Bursts of Color - Offices & Offsites

Despite high vacancy rates in office space, it's often still remarkably hard for startups to find a good place to work consistently. Co-working passes…

Jun 8 •

May 2023

Bursts of Color - Succession (Planning)

I have been enjoying the final season of Succession, so I smiled at this post from my old friend and boss Kip Knight: While we all eagerly await the…

May 25 •

Bursts of Color - Stayin' Alive

A few weeks ago my partners and I met with several consecutive founders who shared similar stories: sales are slow and capital is hard to find, but…

May 18 •

April 2023

Bursts of Color - Your Team Tomorrow is Not Your Team Today

We all know that successful startup teams grow and evolve over time. New people join, and they don't stay forever. Here's how this headcount growth…

Apr 27 •

Bursts of Color - Org Design 101

Every startup builds the team and organization that fits its unique requirements. But that does *not* mean we have to re-imagine every role, job spec…

Apr 6 •

March 2023

An Ode to the Founders

I have deep and abiding respect for founders. This will surprise nobody given how I have chosen to spend my working years. Really I just admire…

Mar 9 •

January 2023

Bursts of Color - Have You Tried Raising Prices?

I am a big fan of price testing, as prices typically have higher leverage on a business than almost anything else. In some cases, a minor price decrease…

Jan 12 •

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