Mike Benner

My blog is going to take a turn for the month of November.  I am participating in the PragProWriMo and will be writing a series on my experiences on starting up a new business.  It took me awhile to come up with a topic that I thought would be interesting, insightful and that I have enough knowledge to actually discuss in detail enough to fill a month worth of posts.  These posts will not be in a from start to finish order, but will rather be posted as individual "chapters" as I feel I have enough together to post them and will be followed with an interview the following day with a startup that fits the current topic.

You may wonder what makes me think that I know enough to help you through your start up.  I won't say that I do, but I will say this: Over the last 10+ years I have failed at business, been successful, been shocked beyond words and surrounded myself with others that share these experiences.  I have learned that no two companies are the same and what works for one will kill another and great things will at times come completely out of nowhere.  My hopes is that sharing these experiences will give you some insight into running a startup and help you not make my mistakes, recognize patterns without having to experience them and if nothing else maybe get some laughs at some interesting stories.

On a side note, I will leave the comments on (against the recommendations) as I feel your views and experiences can also help other readers.  So let's see where this wild ride takes us and who knows, maybe at the end of the month we will have the foundation for something to continue pursuing or I will realize writing a book is not for me but I will know that I gave it my best shot.  See you tomorrow when I will write about my first startup experience in the crazy days of the dot com craze.