Author archive for admin

  • How entrepreneurs keep going, and going, and going

    Being Best When You Aren’t Feeling It

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Rob-BestWhenNotFeelingBest01.mp3It can sometimes be painfully obvious we’re not physically or mentally up to a task, but what happens when...

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  • The top three things to do when pitching to VCs

    Pitching Your Company – The Top Three Tough Things

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Guy-Special-pitching-your-company-Final.mp3Silicon Valley’s longest serving CEO talks about the three tough things to do when pitching your company. If you...

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  • Jennifer Chatman, Professor at U.C. Berkeley

    Corporate Culture, Part 3 – in conversation with Professor Jennifer Chatman

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Chatman-Part-3.mp3Third and final part of a series where Silicon Valley’s longest serving CEO chats with Professor Jennifer Chatman, a...

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  • Jennifer Chatman, Professor at U.C. Berkeley

    Corporate Culture, Part 2 – in conversation with Professor Jennifer Chatman

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Chatman-Part-2.mp3Part two of three in a series where Silicon Valley’s longest serving CEO chats with Professor Jennifer Chatman, a...

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  • Jennifer Chatman, Professor at U.C. Berkeley

    Corporate Culture, Part 1 – in conversation with Professor Jennifer Chatman

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Chatman-Part-1.mp3Part one for three in a series where Silicon Valley’s longest serving CEO chats with Professor Jennifer Chatman, a...

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  • How to communicate your point without enraging other people

    Make Points, Not Enemies

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Rob-MakingPointsNotEnemies01.mp3Unskilled communicators can create a breakdown in conversation at every turn, sometimes making enemies in the process. In this...

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  • How to set goals for your business and your life

    Setting Business Goals

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Rob-SettingAchievingGoals01.mp3If Tough Things First stands for one thing, it’s setting and achieving goals even when they are difficult. In...

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  • Managing Conflicts - Leadership - Management - Tough Things First Podcast

    Managing Conflicts

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Rob-CorePrinciples01.mp3In business and in life there are conflicts. Some of those are internal but threaten the external when we...

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  • How business leaders choose to make innovation happen

    Three Innovation Engines

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    How you innovate depends on what you are innovating. A lot of startups hate hearing that. They have the...

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  • Tough Things First Podcast - How to make better business decisions

    Bad Decisions, Good Outcomes

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Rob-BadDecisions01_01.mp3Entrepreneurs are bound to make bad decisions, but it’s how they handle them that is the difference between success...

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  • debt and growth

    Managing Debt and Corporate Growth

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Guy-ManagingDebtGrowth01a.mp3When should a company take on debt to enable growth? Silicon Valley’s longest serving CEO has some answers. Guy...

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  • Surviving a Business Downturn

    Surviving a Downturn – Three Tough Things series

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/TTF-series-RayGuy-SurviveDownturn01.mp3What should a business leader, especially a startup CEO, do to survive a downturn. Ray Zinn, the longest serving...

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  • Balance between business success and social activism

    Social Causes and Smart Business

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Rob-CauseBiz01.mp3Stories and charitable causes are a dime a dozen in the modern start-up era. What is the right balance...

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  • Entrepreneurial Pivoting During Disasters

    Entrepreneur, Prepare to Pivot

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    SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) came around 2002. It was right at the end of the dot-com implosion. For...

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  • Choosing the right leadership style

    Dictator Leadership

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    http://toughthingsfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/Ray-Rob-Dictators01.mp3Sometimes you choose a management style and sometimes it chooses you. In this edition of the Tough Things First...

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