David Richter's blog

The following came from Guy Kawasaki's blog (http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/01/take-the-entrep.html):

Scott Shane of Case Western recently published The
Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors,
and Policy Makers Live By. In the book, he bursts many of the
bubbles of entrepreneurship in America. Says he, “People start
businesses based on the myths we tell ourselves about entrepreneurship and then
are hurt when confronted by reality. Investors believe these myths and invest
money and they’re disappointed when they don’t hold true. Policy makers make
policy based on these myths and then wonder why the economy isn’t growing with
all these entrepreneurs now in it.” If you think you already really know the
scoop about entrepreneurship, try taking his test. If
you score less than 80%, maybe you should buy the book. I scored a whopping
40%.

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Studies in the article find that we are interrupted as often as every 11 minutes, with an additional amount of time spent on returning to the task, picking up where you left off and refocusing. Even though we all work towards a "groove" or a "zone" to produce quality work that feels rewarding, it is becoming harder and harder to do so in this self-inflicted world of NOW and immediate gratification. So what’s the solution? Here are the articles specific actions you can take now to minimize interruptions later: 1. Group similar tasks into blocks of activities in order to reduce the time lost to switchover. Do your budgets, your phone calls, your drawing, your contract reviews, etc., at one time rather than switching between them. 2. Establish meeting “corridors” – essentially office hours when you’re available to meet with colleagues. During emergencies people can disturb you, but this will reduce the non-urgent interruptions.

After posting "Financial Models for Underachievers: Two Years of the Real Numbers of a Startup" about the two years of actual costs of Redfin, many people asked for a generic version of the financial model that Redfin used to project costs. Here it is! Redfin used this model over the past two years, but beyond the costs already disclosed, the numbers are all fictitious. Also, unlike last week, the values aren’t actual data-points but formulas and formats that calculate them.

Glenn’s point isn’t to make a statement one way or the other about Redfin’s business or to even give you a crystal ball for seeing whether you’ll succeed. A model, after all, doesn’t drive demand or serve customers; it only helps you count up the beans if you do. We’re posting this model because its basic structure might help other entrepreneurs who don’t know where to start.

Here’s what you’ll find in the model:

* Earnings, capital expenses and cash balance summarized on a single page.
* Ratios of revenue and profits to employees and program expenses.