Duncan Knight 

You spend an hour going around the team for updates. One issue takes over the discussion. The important decision gets pushed to next week and everyone leaves with a slightly different understanding of what happens next. Meanwhile, several decisions still come back to you afterwards... If that sounds familiar, your management meeting may need a clearer purpose. As a startup grows, the conversations that once happened naturally between a few people need more structure. A useful

A founder once asked me to expand on why meeting people matters when you’re looking for customers, employees, investors and advisers. For me, meeting face to face offers something valuable. You have space to get to know someone beyond their job title, hear about their experiences and discover whether you would like to continue the conversation. Online conversations have their place too. But getting out of your usual environment can introduce you to people and perspectives you

Some days you work constantly and still finish feeling that the important things have barely moved. As a founder, there is usually more you could do than you have time for. Customers need answers, colleagues need decisions and your own plans compete with whatever arrives during the day. I find lists useful. Writing things down helps me organise my thinking and follow through. But a list cannot decide what deserves my attention. I still need to make that choice. If you are str

People sometimes ask me what sort of business they should start. How to get it going is usually the next question. There is no single answer I can give them. The decision depends on their experience, circumstances and what they want from running a business, alongside whether there are customers willing to pay. My own route was not a case of dreaming up an entirely original idea. Neither of the two technology businesses I co-founded began with an idea that was mine. In the fir