ADHD Entrepreneur Accelerator

Over the past few weeks, I've reconnected with that emotional roller coaster that I experienced when I was leading my first startup through Seed Stage. Only this time it's more personal. I live in Portland, Oregon with my wonderful wife and awesome kid, and the two cats that they love, and I..um...tolerate. We have a nice little house. It's been great for sixteen years. Until this year...

Hi {{contact.first_name}}, "When people tell you something's wrong, they're usually right. When they tell you how to fix it, they're usually wrong." -- Bill Hader One of the constants of Founder life is negative feedback. It's going to happen all along the way. And it will be inbound from any number of sources: Family and friends (even when well intentioned) Investors Pro...

Sometimes, we say the quiet part out loud. Recently, I had a client express the Founder version of this perfectly. During a session, they paused and said, The thing about this gig is, you can’t openly say “I don’t know what I’m doing." You have to present with confidence to all of your stakeholders - team, customers and investors. Even when you've never done this before. And the business...

"How do I keep up team morale and faith as we are trying to get to product market fit - especially when it's taking a lot longer than any of us expected?" This week, I had no less than three Founder coaching sessions where we dealt with different takes on this question. In each case, I asked the Founders, "how are you navigating this stretch?" Answers were along the lines:...

This week several of my Founder clients were in "kicking myself mode." "Kicking myself mode" happens when you've encounter a painful challenge. Then through trial, tribulation and some very hard decisions, figured it out and gotten past it. The funny thing about "kicking myself mode" is that it usually kicks in after you've actually gotten to the other side of...

QUICK ASK: Before I leap into to this week's podcast episode intro, I have a favor to ask. If you have gotten value from my Rocket Ship Founder podcast, I would really appreciate it if you could give it a 5 star rating and post a review wherever you listen to it (Apple Podcasts, Spotify) Really appreciate it! Ok, let's get to this week's episode. One thing you should know about me is t...

Your business is trying to tell you something. This week I was working with a Founder who has an amazing product but has been struggling with an extremely long sales cycle and underperforming sales people.  The pattern was they'd get a client on board for a proof of concept phase for their software. It would initially go very well but then the last five yards would stretch out forever to achie...

Seed Stage is one of the toughest phases of your business journey. After the early wins of first customers and funding, things get really hard. Your product isn't nearly as ready as you thought it was. Your sales and marketing isn't punching through. Team members who you thought were great turn out to be disastrous. The market shifts and you have to adapt. There are a dozen other disasters...

Last week was my birthday. I gave myself what turned out to be one of the greatest gifts I've ever received - a four-day retreat in Southern California.  What made it such a great gift? ​ ​It wasn't the location, though it was very nice. ​It wasn't the food, though there was plenty of good food to be had. ​It wasn't the amenities and activities, though I got some great yoga and a c...

This Sunday is my birthday and I've given myself a great present. As you read this, I am at a retreat in Southern California to step back and recharge. I'm not taking my computer. I'm going to be offline as much as humanly possible. I'm going to do a lot of nothing. This is actually a hard thing for me to do. But time has shown, it's one of the biggest enablers of progress. As...

Recently, I was diagnosed with adult ADHD. Looking back over my entrepreneurial career with this Neurodiverse lens, I see my strengths and my challenges in a new light. It turns out that Founders tend to have a greater Neurodiversity, whether ADHD, dyslexia, being on the autism spectrum. In one estimate, people with ADHD were estimated to be 500% more likely to start a business. In the business pr...

This week's Rocket Ship Founder podcast episode features my first ever interview episode - and I think it's a great one to start with! I speak with Natalie Ledbetter, People  Ops Exec, Startup Advisor, TedX Speaker and Former Operating Partner & Head of People at Boldstart in NYC.  In our wide ranging conversation, we discuss: Natalie's fascinating international personal journey to...

I'm not sure I'm the best person for this job. I've heard this sentiment in a bunch of conversations I had with Founders over the past two weeks. So let's go right at this.  Leading a startup is hard. Seed Stage is especially hard because it's the stage where you have to go from being an awesome "something" - designer, product person, developer, visionary - to being a...

On the surface, getting from Seed Stage to your Series A should be a pretty straightforward proposition. You basically need to demonstrate three things:  Great traction, a high performing team and leadership that everyone can be confident in. Well, that sounds pretty straight forward, right? But as we know, life isn't so simple. The Seed Stage is often anything but smooth. It's a nine to 2...

Getting your Seed funding is a huge win. But as soon as your funds hit your account, you and your team on the clock. You have only so much runway to either get to demonstrate the traction you need for your Series A or a sustainable business run rate.  Every month of runway in Seed Stage is precious. Even more so in the current environment where money is tighter and VC's are being MUCH more sel...

Last week I had the absolute privilege to facilitate 26 Seed Stage Founders at a 3-day retreat in Portugal.  ​ The Founders at this retreat are whip smart, ambitious and working on huge game changing ideas in biotech, food tech, robotics, crypto/Web 3.0 B2B software as well as consumer goods.  It was a brilliant few days of sharing, learning and camaraderie in the Founder journey.  ​​​ ​​My job wa...

This past week marked an interesting event for me. After 54 years of living, I got officially diagnosed with ADHD. It's clicked together some long standing puzzle pieces for me. It helps explain why... ...writing an email that should take 2 minutes takes me 10 minutes ...even though I do get stuff done, it always feels like I'm grinding vs being in flow ...once I solve the hardest problems...

While things seemed to be resolving, the past week have been incredibly stressful for any Founders who had their funds with SVB. Several of my clients and Founder Friends have been caught up in what is known is a WFIO moment. If you're not familiar with the term WFIO, it's one Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz uses. WFIO stands for, "We're Fucked It's Over." Having run my startup during the 2008...

Every Founder I've ever known has hit this same scenario: 1. Have a new hire they need to make 2. Push out job description to network and hiring sites 3. Get a decent amount of resumes 4. Pare down resumes to identify candidates to interivews 5. Conduct many rounds of interviews 6. A candidate crushes the interviews  7. Candidate is hired, yay! 8. Things start off OK, but then quickly go down...

This month, The Rocket Ship Founder podcast is all about building and leading your team.  One of the most important skills Founders need to learn is how to build and effectively lead their teams. Ironically, this is the area people get the least training on.  In the early days of your business when it's just a few close-knit  people, things are pretty straightforward. I call it the...

When it comes to leading a team, there's a dilemma I see for every Seed Stage Founder I've worked with. (And one I certainly experienced myself!) Here's the scenario: 1. A Founder gives a team member an initiative to work on. 2. The Founder sits back and trusts team member to complete the initiative exactly they way expect 3. Team member completes initiative and presents the work 4. Work is not wh...

This week's episode comes in response to a question I got from one of my subscribers. I love getting questions from Founders, so if you have any, reply back and with yours and I'll respond in an upcoming episode. This subscriber wanted to the lowdown on Boards. As a seed stage founder, you know that building and managing a board of directors is a critical step in the growth of your busin...

After a two week hiatus, I am back with another Rocket Ship Founder Podcast Episode. My hiatus was due to taking my 21-year old to LA for treatment for a recurring debilitating condition. During the trip down to LA from our home in Portland, the days leading up to the procedure, and the procedure itself,  the universe threw us a bunch of curveballs. Our train was canceled There was a med...

I had an entirely different topic slated for this week's Rocket Ship Founder Podcast Episode, but felt moved to dig into something deeper: the dichotomy of vulnerability and power. Part of the ironic nature of the Founder's journey is that we are constantly called to outwardly project confidence and strength - all the while knowing/feeling all of the weaknesses and shortcomings in ourselves and in...

In this week's Rocket Ship Founder Podcast Episode, I talk about why facing the biggest uncomfortable things in your business is one of the essential skills Founders need to cultivate. Because if you don't face the big uncomfortable things in your business,  you'll still end up dealing with their effects on your business every day. And eventually it catches up to you anyway. The good news is...