Democracy and technology are the two most defining themes of the twenty-first century. Recently, the general belief seems to be that democracy is in crisis. Many seem to have one gnawing concern is democracy failing? How do we fix democracy? Is this the end of democracy? A Google search of these three phrases gives 52,800,000 hits on the first, 56,000,000 hits on the second, and 247,000,000 on the last. But we must ask ourselves, is it the very concept of democracy that is perceived to be failing or is it liberal democracy that is receiving a pushback? Could it not be said that democracy is in an evolution churn, same as the disruption we see across every aspect of life?
Starting a new firm? What to expect and how to survive the experience.
Starting a new business is hard work. Really hard work. No matter how hard you think it will be, it will be even harder than that.
I know from first-hand experience. I started my career as a lawyer and helped many businesses get their start, including a handful of financial advisory firms. Then I started a small venture capital firm with a couple of partners and helped even more businesses get off the ground.
Then I decided to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty. Over the past 30 years, I have either founded or worked at seven small or startup financial services firms. Some succeeded. Some failed. It added up to a lot of blood, sweat and tears.