Dave Berkus
Dave Berkus is a noted speaker, author and early stage private equity investor. He is acknowledged as one of the most active angel investors in the country, having made and actively participated in over 87 technology investments during the past decade. He currently manages two angel VC funds (Berkus Technology Ventures, LLC and Kodiak Ventures, L.P.) Dave is past Chairman of the Tech Coast Angels, one of the largest angel networks in the United States. Dave is author of “Basic Berkonomics,” “Berkonomics,” “Advanced Berkonomics,” “Extending the Runway,” and the Small Business Success Collection. Find out more at Berkus.com or contact Dave at dberkus@berkus.com
Latest
Are You Mentally Equipped to Depend upon Others?
I guarantee that there comes a time when growing businesses outgrow the original span of control of the entrepreneur. It is a critical period, and is a test of the entrepreneur’s desire and ability to…
Are You or Your Business “Time Bankrupt”?
Time bankruptcy results from the deliberate over-commitment of core resources. You’d know the symptoms, if not the name. You’re fighting to put out the fires from customer complaints, or incomplete work, or are suffering from…
There’s No Second Chance to Create First Quality
Let me illustrate this insight with a personal story. As my enterprise computer software company which produced innovative lodging systems for hotels and resorts grew quickly, we found ourselves straining to keep up with the…
Haste Makes Waste, but to Lag is to Sag
Let’s examine the relationship between time, quality and competitiveness. If you are getting the impression from these many insights that complex relationships cause simple problems, you are right. We have heard the “haste makes waste”…
Wasted Time is Money Lost
We’ll get to my heartbreak about time and money in a minute. But first… There is a relationship between time and money that is more complex than most managers think. Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment…
Greatly Exceed Early Customer Expectations
First customers are critical. Greatly exceed expectations at all costs. There is so much history behind this insight, and so many stories that illustrate this point. Your first customers for any product or service form your…
Find Your Teacher Customer
Your customers know what they want more than you do. Find one to teach you. This week’s insight came from personal experience and from a good friend who advanced the notion of the “teacher-customer” years…
Don’t Rest Until You Test!
So, you have a great new product or service that you and your associates love. Early adopters should climb all over each other for a look. But what have you done to test the concept…
Everything Changes from Concept to Release
You can take this headline as a rule, not an exception. You’ll recognize the truism, “No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy” first stated by German Field Marshall von Moltke way back in the 19th century….
Boy! If I Had Only Learned This Before Spending a Million!
Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. I love absolutes—statements with no wiggle room for gray-area responses. Well, here is one of those, and it deals with market research…