Founderitis rips a blade across the throat of opportunity and buries potential in the soft sand of ego
Think of entrepreneurs as explorers. To survive and thrive, they have to confront an ever-changing world and wrestle with the future. If they don't, they die. They often do not and cannot know the exact course they must take to successfully realize their vision, but they have the courage to leave shore anyway. You gotta…
What happens when your great VC buddy who helped you through so much is gone?
A start-up that takes its fundraising seriously has to allow its CEO to tackle the project full-time for up to a year. The founders have studied the due diligence requirements ahead of the process, and they approach the investment community in an orderly and structured fashion. The founders and CEO work hard to listen to…
Interest rates will rise dramatically to compensate financial institutions with effects lasting for years
It’s not entirely clear whether the Canadian and the global economies are heading for a new inflationary era. It may turn out that inflation is not only elevated from recent negligible levels, but escalates, steadily at first, and then dramatically, as it did in the 1960s until the early 1980s. If it does, the havoc…
... and more corporate welfare
Canadian politicians like Chrystia Freeland see tax competition as a “race to the bottom.” But for the rest of us, a global tax cartel will mean an inevitable march toward higher tax bills and more pork for companies with access to politicians. Freeland agreed to the American-led proposal for a global minimum business tax of…
It’s not the headlines that kill, it’s the many burdens caused by lockdowns that render small businesses unprofitable
Across Canada, as COVID-19 cases surge, there’s talk of locking down again or of tightening second lockdowns. Of course, we haven’t even settled whether lockdowns were the proper solution in the first place, given the enormous collateral damage in unemployment, bankruptcies, and the physical and mental health of millions, amid a virus that overwhelmingly targets…
Part of the reason clients hire me is to give them an outsider’s opinion of the challenges or opportunities facing their businesses. I take this very seriously, so I’m constantly scanning the economic horizon for changes that could have an effect on these leaders and their organizations. Over the past few months, I’ve been talking…
Trudeau government siding wth traditional banking over the interests of small companies looking to survive the pandemic
By Paz Gómez Research associate Frontier Centre for Public Policy The Liberal government has blocked financial technology (fintech) companies from distributing aid to businesses affected by the pandemic. In the age of cryptocurrencies and investment services like Robinhood, the government clings to banks and relics such as cheques by mail. PayPal, Wave and the Canadian…
Unless you’re a careful operator, you may find yourself among the 60 per cent of businesses where the owners receive very little money at the end of the day
It was serious business! My brothers and I were neck deep in it. We were digging to China when we were interrupted by the call by our mother for dinner. Digging holes is something boys do. We dug holes for forts, holes for adventures and holes in search of gold. My son at the age of three dug…
Seven in 10 charities report lower revenues. As a whole, the sector has had to lay off 84,000 full- and part-time staff in Canada
The pandemic hasn’t been all bad for us. For some Canadians, it’s actually meant a bit of a financial boon. That’s not to say there haven’t been massive job losses and income losses. It’s just that the losses have happened unequally. The poorest and the youngest took the worst hit. When think-tank Cardus analyzed the…
But if entrepreneurs can’t follow in the footsteps of blockbuster ideas, they should aim to come in behind campaigns that nearly reached their goals
Entrepreneurs looking to raise money on crowdfunding sites are better off following in the footsteps of ideas that fell just short of their fundraising goals than coming in behind projects that enjoyed modest success, according to a study that proposes the role of the entrepreneur might be to grow the pie for all and not…