07 May Knowledge, Stefan Zanetti The higher you go as an entrepreneur, the lonelier you feel. I found 5 ways to overcome that feeling. May 18, 2025 By Stefan Zanetti Yesterday at the EO Zürich Entrepreneurs Summit, the theme was: “Lonely at the top”. Dominique Reber invited me to share some of th... Continue reading
29 Apr Knowledge Pilot projects are a death trap April 29, 2025 By Stefan Zanetti 38 comments Pilot projects are a “death trap” for tech founders. Here’s how to escape them (without burning your best people). I’ve seen it happ... Continue reading
24 Apr Knowledge Why I was wrong on Ray Dahlios book April 29, 2025 By Stefan Zanetti 28 comments I thought Ray Dalio's book "Principles of Life and Work" was not for me. I was wrong. In 2019, right after we closed our Series A at... Continue reading
08 Apr Knowledge When do you know it’s time to pivot? April 24, 2025 By Stefan Zanetti 28 comments 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲, 𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝘅 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀: “𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁?” Here is what the data says. Continue reading
20 Mar Knowledge What the hell does ACME mean? (and why you keep seeing it in my posts) April 22, 2025 By Stefan Zanetti 29 comments I use ACME as an “alias” for the companies I work with. You'll see the name pop up every time I share a case study. Why not call com... Continue reading
10 Mar Background, Case Study, Knowledge Finding your pivot paths, fast: What the ACME1 team said about the workshop, in hindsight. April 23, 2025 By Stefan Zanetti 29 comments A week ago I posted how we identified 3 immediately relevant pivot paths within one 5 hours workshop for a real company, called “ACME 1... Continue reading
05 Mar Case Study, Knowledge How we found 3 immediately relevant pivot paths for a stuck company — within a 5-hour workshop April 23, 2025 By Stefan Zanetti 0 comments I just wrapped up a workshop with a tech startup that hit a flat growth phase. Let's call that company ACME 1. The management tea... Continue reading
22 Feb Background, Knowledge There is a question I get asked a lot in my 1-1 sessions: “When is a strategic change really a pivot?” April 23, 2025 By Stefan Zanetti 0 comments For example: "𝘐𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘵?" "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳?" And here’s wh... Continue reading
29 Oct Knowledge Exploitation versus Experimentation versus Exploration December 5, 2024 By Stefan Zanetti 0 comments This one is for board members in tech ventures: Are you thoughtfully balancing exploitation, experimentation, and exploration in your v... Continue reading
24 Oct Background, Knowledge Focus, focus, focus… really? October 24, 2024 By Stefan Zanetti 0 comments The no. 1 advice for startup founders: focus, focus, focus… Really? A very common paradigm in the startup environment: focus, focus,... Continue reading