What is a business model?

A reporter recently asked me what the most interesting thing is that I’ve learned from running Fluency Scores on hundreds of companies in the past two years. It would be completely understandable if your answer to this question was “how a company makes...

How can we level the playing field for startup capital access?

The “how to” of de-biasing the startup selection process with Fluent, the FICO score for startups [June 22, 2021 equity research findings article by Fluent Studio Inc.] Every year, investors pump $300+ billion dollars into startups that seem like good investments....

Your startups (probably) don’t need capital

How do you know what the founders in your network or community need? Ask any founder what they need most and they will say “capital.” When startup founders are new at this innovation process, they tend to be fairly unsophisticated in their understanding and ability to...

The Machine: Making Customers

A few years ago, one of my founders in an accelerator I was running joked that we needed t-shirts for our cohort that say “Build the Machine.” I said it so often, in my workshops and coaching sessions, it had become the mantra of their cohort. I said it so often,...