Journal
Writing on startups, positioning, AI, advisory work, and what makes projects feel stronger in the real world.
2026-09-26
A B2B software company can have the best product, solid references and a strong team, and still never make the shortlist. Between the need and the choice sits a third party managing its own risk. Here is what your lost deals from the last twelve months say about that third party.
2026-09-25
I could build myself a small app to lose weight. That is not an argument for rebuilding the tools your company depends on.
2026-09-17
A company moves upmarket and the deals stop closing. The explanation arrives before anyone asks for it: our reps can't sell at that level. Every version of it describes the seller, and none describes the deal. All of them rest on a premise nobody tests — that this is the same sale, only bigger.
2026-09-13
A VP Sales leaves after nine months. The diagnosis starts before the door closes, and it always describes the person. Every one of those explanations rests on the same untested premise: that there was a working sales motion, and this person failed to run it.
2026-09-12
You have a sales team, and yet the deals that matter keep finding their way back to you. The usual explanation blames hiring. A more useful reading: what you bring to a meeting is not a skill, it is a permission. And permission can be written down and handed over.
2026-04-05
Every Monday, someone in your company wastes two hours assembling a report nobody really reads. That ritual is one of the best places to automate first.
2026-03-29
Most venture studios still treat image like a late cosmetic layer. They work the thesis, the cap table, the product scope, the market map, and then ask design to make it look serious...
2026-03-28
Africa market entry still gets discussed in lazy shorthand. Big population. Fast growth. Mobile-first users. Untapped opportunity. That language is seductive because it makes the...
2026-03-27
Most AI projects look more impressive in the kickoff meeting than they do six weeks later inside the business. The demo is slick. The promise is big. The strategy words are expensive....
2026-03-26
People decide very quickly whether a startup feels serious. They do not always say it out loud, but they do. In the first few minutes, prospects, investors, partners, and future hires...
2026-03-25
A lot of venture advisory sounds intelligent while making the room less clear. More frameworks. More possibility maps. More strategic language. More analysis that expands the surface...