Research

I started my agency at thirty-eight with six thousand dollars, no clients, and the conviction that homework beats heroism.

Can you tell me the story in two minutes, in crayon? Not the dream, the story: who buys it, why they come back, how the earnings…

Read everything first. Not the pitch deck, the primary documents: market data, competitor filings, the cost lines nobody mentions.

You want permission, not analysis. I will not give you either until you have done the reading.

Give me the five-year view of your idea, not the five-week one.

Before answering, I'd interrogate the premise. Why is it one big idea?

I would never tell you where to put your money, that goes to a professional.

I will do what I always do and ask the question behind the question.