Got a question for me? Startup Shop Talk is my weekly "office hours" livestream entirely about startups & innovation — from idea to product-market fit.

Lengthy problem statements kill startup pitches. In this week's weekly email, JDM shares a quick trick you can use to briefly explain the problem.

Startup Shop Talk is our weekly livestream on YouTube where we talk about all things startups — from idea to product-market fit.

In this week's weekly email, JDM shares a foolproof 3-step process for increasing customer lifetime value.

On this week's live show, Dan & JDM discuss channel strategy for startups — and how most founders neglect one of the most important parts of their business model.

The most neglected part of the startup business model is channel strategy, but it literally determines whether you'll sink or swim. Let's break it down.

On this week's live show, Dan and JDM unveil a deceptively simple three-step process for unlocking early-stage startup growth.

This week's issue of JDM's weekly newsletter: how you can use "we can if" thinking to get yourself out of a jam!

On this episode of the Startup Shop Talk live show, we’re here to talk about the Business Model Canvas, including how most people get it completely wrong!

In episode #9, JDm talks about how to ask great questions, even when the topic is muddled and unclear.

The latest issue of JDM's weekly newsletter: good strategy stands no chance in the hands of a dispassionate or apathetic team. But that's only half true.

Here's a slideshow of six common ways to absolutely tank your startup.

Last week's show was all about common ways startups fail, and it occurred to us that nearly all of them had something to do with bad timing.

If you want your startup to fail, make sure you make these 6 common mistakes!

Slideshow: many innovations fail because we try to be efficient before we should.

Many startups fail by trying to be efficient before they're effective. In this episode of the podcast, ensure you’re doing the right thing before trying to do the thing right — and design thinking can help us out here.

On this week’s Startup Shop Talk live show, we’re going to discuss 6 books that are MUST READS for entrepreneurs at all stages.

Despite the amazing growth of tools over the past couple of years, most remote events pretty well suck because we keep making the same mistakes.

Our own JDM is leading a free workshop on Feb 9th on a framework to help you create a stellar startup pitch deck.

On this week’s Startup Shop Talk live show, we’re going to break down the top 10 ways to rapidly test a business idea.

For this episode of the pod, we’re sharing an edited version of the Startup Shop Talk live show on everything you need to know about pitching your startup to investors, to co-founders, and even to potential customers.

Too often, startups die early or leave money on the table because they never took the time to systematically discover & validate their business model. In this episode, we take a look an algorithm you can use to do just that.

In this episode of the Startup Shop Talk live show, we are talking entirely about what you need to know to pitch your startup to potential investors, potential co-founders, and even potential customers.

Product-market fit isn't one thing. It's best to think of it as a spectrum that matches the lifecycle of the startup, and guides founders on what to do next. Let's break it down.

Too many founders think about product-market fit too reductively, as if it were bound by one specific metric that you have to hit. In reality, it's a spectrum with four discernible phases.

The toughest choice you'll face every day as a startup founder or intrapreneur is finding the most important thing to do next. On this episode, we're talking about innovative decisionmaking and how to lead with hypotheses, experiments, data, and results.

In this episode of the Inside the Box podcast, host JDM talks about why the business model canvas is a fantastic tool, but only if you use it correctly: not as a task, but as a process.

Many falsely believe that creativity is about freedom from constraints. In fact, creativity is about achieving freedom by applying constraints.

For our first episode of 2022, with all the promise that a new year brings, we almost have to talk about ideation. But, how does ideation work in an established firm rather than a startup?

Most of the time, when we talk about ideation, we’re talking about brand new companies. But, what if you’re an established company looking to innovate? How do you find valuable new market opportunities?

This episode is all about using design thinking to co-create your startup with your customers. In other words, about how you can use your customers to create the product they're dying to have.

On a recent live show, a viewer asked why customer feedback can be positive pre-launch, and yet lackluster post-launch. Well, what if there was a way to ask customers questions that ensured honesty?

On this episode of the podcast, JDM talks vents a little bit on why efforts to re-invent and rebrand MVPs not only miss the point of the MVP but are also tragically misguided.

When we think about startups and traction, the first thing that comes to mind is sales. After all, that's the ultimate traction we're looking for. But what about when revenue isn't the right metric yet?

What is traction? When we think about startups and traction, the first thing that comes to mind is sales. After all, that's the ultimate traction we're looking for. But what about when revenue isn't the right metric yet?

On this episode of the podcast, JDM talks about why your startup or other innovation idea sucks — and, more importantly, why that’s actually pretty fantastic.

The sound of crickets is lovely if you’re trying to go to sleep. But it’s soul-crushing when you hear them after launch. It happens to everyone — even Google. Let’s talk about how to save our startup souls.

Telling someone to “think outside the box” is not only the most unhelpful advice you could provide, but it’s also the wrong way to think about creativity and innovation.

The problem is one of the most important elements of a pitch, but it’s way too easy to spend way too much time on it.

We talk a lot about a business models, but we rarely say what they actually are.

When starting an innovation journey, it's not about choosing where you'll end up — but about choosing the right direction to walk.

Figuring out what to do — what I like to call "picking a direction to walk" — always has to come before figuring out how we get there.

Mentorship isn't about just giving advice or receiving advice. Good mentorship results in a bi-directional exchange of value.

We find it fitting that Global Entrepreneurship Week falls on the week before Thanksgiving, because it's one of the things for which we're most thankful.

Let’s start with a bold claim: no one came up with the idea for Facebook.

The most common and least helpful innovation advice in Corporate America is to think outside the box.

“Entrepreneur” sure sounds like a fancy-ass word.