“Mr. Kim, I truly appreciate the opportunity to work with your company. After being here for a year and a half, I have come to really believe in the product and the vision that you have set aside for us. I am even more thankful that I am able to be part of this exact … Read more
At a bank? I’d assume that your job would be exactly the same as it once was, just with a pay raise. At a startup? The title feels great, until I came to realize that I was buried in responsibilities, maybe two notches shy of what a CEO does. There are regular VP responsibilities one … Read more
Why would anyone in the world pay $50,000 to have you write a business plan, when they can get an outline on how to make one on their own here for free: Leonard Kim’s answer to How does one create a business plan? Also, there are many professionals out there who write killer business plans … Read more
Someone on Quora asked: Should I give up trying to build a startup? I’m 37 years old living in the middle of Sweden. I have spent nights and weekends during the last 12 months to build my new service. It’s in the domain that I’ve worked in for the last 20 years. I’m quite good … Read more
Someone on Quora asked for advice: I am feeling confused about my life’s direction. I’m 23. I dropped out 2 years ago to work on a startup and my startup was cash positive during the second year. The startup failed due to ego conflicts between founders. I was the principal founder. But due to my … Read more
I personally didn’t when I went through hell and back. However, reflecting back in hindsight, I’m pretty certain that I should have. It would have probably helped me ease a lot of the anger, frustration, and the disastrous thoughts of what to do when I lost something like a client who was paying us $20,000 … Read more
Think local. Expand global. It’s probably better to concentrate on specific markets locally first before branching out into a national platform. — Originally posted on Quora. Leonard Kim consults startups and writes books like The Etiquette of Social Media: How to Connect and Respond to Others in the World of Social Media
On Quora, someone asked: “I have been participating in hackathons and startup weekends for about two years. Last year I was on the winning team in 3 events. This year I have just repetitively lost over and over, participating in maybe 15 this year. If I keep failing at hackathons and startup weekends, should I take … Read more
What’s it like to be part of a failing startup? Tension is high. The C.E.O. is on edge as he knows his company is about to fail. Eloquence goes out the window, and the workplace becomes a high stress, argumentative death trap. Arguments start from the stupidest things, but they all derive from lack of sleep … Read more
What’s the main difference? Variety and commitment. At a major corporation, you’re assigned to do one or two things. It can become tedious and boring. Also, you’re working with thousands of people, so there are a lot of channels to go through to implement something or make a change, and sometimes two departments aren’t even … Read more