Startups
42 posts
From Theory to Practice: Building Real Decision Models with Petersburg
A practical guide to modeling complex decisions with Monte Carlo simulation using petersburg, featuring real case studies from startups and drug development.
Angel Portfolio Cira 2021-2023 Update
A narrative walkthrough of notable developments across my angel portfolio from 2021-2023, including Scout Space, Jericho, and Flex.
Management Technical Debt: The Hidden Costs of Quick Fixes
How shortcuts in engineering management create organizational patterns that seem efficient short-term but compound into major problems.
Metrics That Actually Matter (And the Ones That Don't)
Why most startup dashboards are full of vanity metrics that feel important but don't drive better decisions, and what to track instead.
The Efficiency Trap: When Optimization Kills Growth
How the post-2022 obsession with operational efficiency is creating a generation of companies that are profitable but can't grow - and what to do about it.
The Passive Resistance Problem: When Good Employees Go Quiet
How to recognize and address the subtle but devastating pattern when long-term employees comply with directives but stop delivering meaningful results.
Integrated Venture Engineering: Building Profitable Ventures by Design
How Cornell's IVE framework applies systems engineering principles to venture creation, treating profitability as an engineering requirement from day one.
The Three Pillars of Product Success: Why Good Ideas Still Fail
Why products need to be technically feasible, perceived as valuable, and actually valuable to succeed - and what happens when any piece is missing.
The Speed-Quality Paradox: When Fast Decisions Kill Startups
Navigating the tension between making decisions quickly and making them well-understanding when speed matters most and when quality can't be compromised
Data-Driven Decisions vs. Data-Justified Decisions
The difference between using data to discover truth and using data to support conclusions you've already reached, and why most companies get this backwards.