My life has revolved around people, negotiations, deals, and family. Here are a few of the maxims I’ve created reflecting scars in my stomach incurred along the way and lessons (hopefully) learned.
On Negotiations
- An Expectation Unarticulated is a Disappointment Guaranteed.
- The Seller’s Mantra is Certainty and Confidentiality.
- God gave us one mouth and two ears; the ratio wasn’t an accident.
- Propinquity counts.
- Deals, like the universe, tend toward entropy.
- Time is the invisible but palpable enemy.
- It’s better to have some percentage of something than 100% of nothing.
- If you put your head in the lion’s mouth often enough, eventually the lion wins.
On Start-Ups
- When people are paying tulip bulb prices, and you own tulip bulbs, you should sell them.
- Start-ups are time, cash, and emotion vampires.
- Cash is a proxy for time; time is a proxy for opportunity.
- Being a Founder is a fact; not a job description.
On Life
- Never break a promise to your kid.
- In the end time and gravity win.
- There are so many ways to be human.
© Copyright 2008-2022.