Shikhar Ghosh, Author at ROCK CENTER STARTUP GUIDE

Tips for Technical Hardware Startups Working with Enterprise Customers

Rescale’s co-founder and CEO Joris Poort shares valuable insights about the challenges and cycles for market testing and sales cycles unique to hardware startups.

What Founders Need to Understand about the Sales Process

Every entrepreneur begins by selling an idea. But, often, founder-CEOs lack fundamental knowledge about the sales process that underlies selling products. In a focused interview, sales expert Lou Shipley defines fundamentals that all founder-CEOs should know and understand about the sales process.

Sanchali Pal, co-founder and CEO of Joro, seated, discussing the founders journey.

Saving the Planet from Your Smartphone: Sanchali Pal on Leading a Mission-Driven Startup

In a focused interview with Shikhar Ghosh, Sanchali Pal, co-founder and CEO of Joro, discusses her unexpected path to entrepreneurship, insights she gained on fundraising, and the daily realities of being CEO at a growing early-stage company.

Quick Tips for Finding Co-Founder Fit from Sunil Nagaraj

Sunil Nagaraj, founding partner of Ubiquity Ventures and co-founder of Triangulate, shares why having too many similarities with your co-founder could damage business.

Seated man, Mudassir Sheikha the co-founder and CEO of Careem, reviews 3 consequences of hypergrowth

3 Consequences of Hypergrowth & How to Prepare

Growing at a rate of nearly 30 percent per month turned Careem, a mobile-based ride-hailing service, into the first unicorn of the Middle East. But rapid growth created internal strain. Co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha shares how creating a distinct culture helped Careem navigate the challenges of scaling.

Two business partners having a difficult conversation

How to Mentally Prepare for a Difficult Conversation

How do you mentally prepare for that difficult conversation? Matthew Bellows shares how meditation can help you mentally prepare for the dreaded conversation of firing a colleague. And he shares a three-minute guided meditation you can do before any stressful situation.

Kevin Ryan shares tips on how to identify a big idea and launch a successful business

How Do You Identify a Big Idea? AlleyCorp’s Kevin Ryan Shares Tips

Kevin Ryan, founder of multiple billion-dollar tech companies, shares his insights on identifying big ideas in an exclusive interview with Shikhar Ghosh.

How to Express Empathy While Working Remotely

Expressing empathy during times of crisis can help your team become more resilient. But how can you express empathy when your team is physically separated? We connected with entrepreneurs at various stages who share strategies for demonstrating empathy to help your team weather the COVID-19 storm.

woman working remotely video conferencing with team

Strengthening Your Team while Working Remotely

It’s challenging to create a sense of community when the newly assembled team of your early-stage startup is forced to work remotely. But it’s not impossible. Sanchali Pal, co-founder and CEO of Joro—a technology platform that enables users to track and improve their carbon footprints on their smartphones—shares tips on how she strengthens her team as they work remotely through the COVID-19 crisis.

Business leader building team cohesion while working remotely

Joro’s CEO on Adapting Plans & Building Your Team While Working Remotely

COVID-19 is having long-term impacts on startups, affecting everything from daily operations to future fundraising. In this, a series of interviews with entrepreneurs of all stages, Sanchali Pal, Co-Founder and CEO of Joro, shares how COVID-19 affected her team, business development, product plans, and fundraising. Her perspective and creative approaches, such as effective ways to build your team’s morale online, are inspiring.

people seated around conference table, at a meeting, discussing how to get value from your board of directors

How to Get More Value from Your Board

How can you benefit from the experience of board members and get more value from your board? In conversations with serial entrepreneurs, we explore ways to reframe your relationship with your board. Learn to maximize their value to your business and strengthen your relationship.

Resources For Business Owners

As startups respond to the economic consequences of COVID-19, we’re sharing advice and a list of major resources, including private companies and nonprofits, and government agencies that are supporting small businesses at this time.

Image of piece of blue paper with a piece peeled back to reveal "Uncover Your Customer Needs." This illustrates customer interviewing tecniques that can help founders uncover meaningful data

Customer Interviewing Techniques That Uncover Your Users’ Unmet Needs

Customer interviews can help you understand users’ needs and yield invaluable data. But often, people ask questions that yield irrelevant responses that send them in the wrong direction. Julia Austin and Wendy Tsu share their insights on how to conduct better customer interviews to obtain more meaningful feedback and gain a deeper understanding of market needs.

Raising Money at an Early-Stage Startup? Tips from Joro’s CEO

Perfecting your pitch deck and following best practices doesn’t guarantee you’ll receive a term sheet. How and when you present the details of your pitch matters. Sanchali Pal shares how repeatedly hearing “no” from VCs helped her strengthen her pitch, tighten her focus, and successfully raise from the most appropriate investors.

Four empty chairs in a line. The words "Join Our Team, appear across 3 white chairs. One black chair, with no words, appears between "join" and "our." Illustrative of the need to spend more time on recruiting.

Want to Build a Strong Team? Spend More Time on Recruiting—Not Money

Studies show that companies spend more money on hiring today than ever before. Despite the infusion of resources, conventional hiring tactics yield poor results. Shikhar Ghosh talks with six experienced entrepreneurs about how to attract and retain top talent by spending time recruiting outside of conventional channels.