When it comes to launching your product, imperfect is perfect. Sometimes, the most important question you can ask isn’t, “Is this good enough?” Rather, you can emulate Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and ask, “Is this going to destroy the company? If not, then let them test it!” That’s just one of the many counter-intuitive, genius-level…
The best business ideas often appear laughable at first glance. Google, Facebook, Airbnb—they all sounded crazy, before they blitzscaled into spectacular successes! In the latest episode of the Masters of Scale podcast, “The Beauty of a Bad Idea,” we explore why getting laughed out of the room by potential investors might actually be a good sign for your…
Tim O’Reilly wrote a great response to the most recent episode of Masters of Scale, “The Money Episode”. Tim’s LinkedIn Influencer post, “Some Businesses Bleed Black”, adds nuance and complexity to the philosophy that startups should raise more money than they think they need. As Tim points out, there is definitely a continuum between the all-out…
Entrepreneurs should always raise more money than they need, so they can plan for the unforeseeable. That includes anything from a stock market crash or outlandish expenses to an opportunity you couldn’t predict in a market that didn’t exist when you started out. This week’s episode of Masters of Scale — the new audio series I host…
Lessons from the “Masters of Scale” Podcast The first episode of the “Masters of Scale” podcast — “Hand Crafted” featuring Airbnb Co-Founder and CEO Brian Chesky — launches today, and the remaining episodes will be released weekly. I’m proud of this podcast; I think you’ll find that it doesn’t sound like any business podcast you’ve…
In Silicon Valley, the biggest financial rewards go to innovative, often contrarian ideas that scale globally. So entrepreneurs don’t just look for opportunities to create something radically new. They also look for opportunities that can impact hundreds of millions of people. This mindset has brought us Google, Amazon, Facebook, Airbnb, Uber, smartphones, and countless other…
In my early years as an entrepreneur, the world was still largely ruled by scarcity. Products required raw materials to produce. Distribution was expensive and logistically complex to achieve. That led to a mindset of prudence and precision expressed in aphorisms that still carry a great deal of weight today. You only get one chance…
Progress comes from innovation, and innovation happens when inventors, entrepreneurs, activists, organizers, and others refuse to accept the status quo. Instead, they pursue new paths and new solutions – and sometimes bend or even break the rules in the process. This dynamic is what inspires the MIT Media Lab’s Disobedience Award.Announced in July 2016 at the…
There’s a delightful symmetry in using my Microsoft Surface Studio to update my LinkedIn profile and post this note. Effective today, I’m joining Microsoft’s Board of Directors. Ever since my co-founders and I started LinkedIn in 2003, the company’s mission has been to create new opportunities for every member of the global workforce, and thus boost…
How the Affordable Care Act Encourages Entrepreneurship While broad access to healthcare is a cornerstone of social justice, some critics have characterized the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as a form of socialism. Others emphasize the regulatory burden it places on small businesses, which under its terms must offer healthcare plans if they have 50 or…
It was an honor to speak to hundreds of entrepreneurs from around the world in the plenary session of the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, hosted by The White House and the State Department at Stanford University. This post is the extended version of my remarks. Part I: Why is entrepreneurship important to society? “All humans were born…
Imagine yourself one hundred years from now. Yes, you’re still alive, breathing through genetically engineered pig lungs, and having dinner at your favorite restaurant. A robot waiter rolls up to refill your glass of wine, which is equipped with a sensor that allows the restaurant to automatically deduct $10 from your Bitcoin account. Your companion, who doesn’t actually…
Nearly every company understands the urgent need for innovation. Technology and globalisation have so accelerated change that scale and power — once the greatest strengths — have become weaknesses because they impair an organisation’s ability to adapt. The problem is, the term “innovation” is used so broadly that it has become virtually meaningless.Consider the typical…
At least one global cryptocurrency will achieve mass-market adoption. That cryptocurrency will either be Bitcoin or a derivative inspired by it. The chance that it will be the former is so strong that in 2014 I invested in Bitcoin startups Xapo and Blockstream. And yet, perhaps surprisingly, when one of the very smart people I…
I’m co-author of a new book titled The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age. I’ll be writing a lot more about the book in the weeks ahead. To kick us off, here’s a visual summary of the key ideas that drive an employer-employee alliance, and details about the Tour of Duty framework.