Serac Ventures Office Hours, June 15, 2023: Topic — The Role of the CEO

Please join Serac Ventures on June 15, 2023 from 1pm — 2pm CDT during our live office hours as 3-time tech CEO Chris Tsakalakis will be discussing the role of the CEO and how to be an effective leader. We’ll discuss how to set overall direction and strategy for your organization, define culture, how to communicate your vision, motivate others, and how to effectively prioritize your time. … Continue reading Serac Ventures Office Hours, June 15, 2023: Topic — The Role of the CEO

Income-Generating vs Non-Income Generating Activities

One of the lessons I learned early on in my career was the importance of distinguishing between “income-generating” activities and “non-income-generating” activities. Income-generating activities are activities that have the potential to generate revenue and non-income generating activities are activities that do not. No matter who you are or what field you work in, every business activity can be clearly delineated as one or the other.   … Continue reading Income-Generating vs Non-Income Generating Activities

Gaining The Marginal Advantage in Today’s Competitive Environment

When Usain Bolt won the gold medal in the 2016 Olympics for the 100-meter sprint he did so at a time of 9.81 seconds. Justin Gatlin came in second at 9.89 seconds and the eighth-place finisher came in at 10.06 seconds. Usain Bolt is widely considered the best sprinter in the world, and justifiably so. He’s the first athlete to win gold in the 100-meter … Continue reading Gaining The Marginal Advantage in Today’s Competitive Environment

The Best Tip to Remember for Business Travelers

My partners and I just completed a two-day marketing trip to the East Coast to meet with prospective investors in New York City and Boston. The meetings went well, however what I want to write about is not the meetings but about some of the travel obstacles we encountered on this particular trip. I am a very positive person, but when it comes to travel … Continue reading The Best Tip to Remember for Business Travelers

Expanding Your Frame of Mind and Thinking Bigger

I recently attended a conference for one of our fund managers and the keynote speaker was none other than Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and Co-Chair and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For the 0.0001% of you who may not know who Bill Gates is, he co-founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen and the two of them grew it to become … Continue reading Expanding Your Frame of Mind and Thinking Bigger

Improving Your Critical Thinking Skills Will Make You a Better Leader

One of the skills I’m trying to hone are my critical thinking skills. I majored in civil engineering and have been formally trained on the process of solving complex problems. When I worked as an engineer, the problems I was solving needed to have a definitive answer. Otherwise, there could be catastrophic failure. But now that I work with venture capital firms, the process of … Continue reading Improving Your Critical Thinking Skills Will Make You a Better Leader

How Saying “No” Makes You and Everyone Around You Better

When I was in the seventh grade I had just started to develop an interest in sports and decided I needed to find a sport to play. I had never played organized sports before, so I decided I would keep an open mind and just start trying things out. The first sport I attempted to play was baseball. I had never played before so naturally … Continue reading How Saying “No” Makes You and Everyone Around You Better

Pattern Recognition

Over the last several weeks my team and I have been in the process of marketing our next fund. Collectively, we have probably traveled over 10,000+ miles (by plane) in the last 60 to 90 days talking to potential investors. We’ve been to Boston, Chicago, Tulsa, London, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Austin, Oklahoma City, Houston, Baltimore, Portland, and Vancouver (WA). In each place we go we normally … Continue reading Pattern Recognition

The Art of War Series – Part II – Move Only When You Have the Advantage

It has been tremendously difficult to choose one topic per week to write about from the Art of War because the book is filled with SO many different topics to choose from that I think are all worth writing about. One theme from the book that I have been pondering is the strategy of staying in one place and not moving until you have a … Continue reading The Art of War Series – Part II – Move Only When You Have the Advantage

The Challenge of Making Tough Decisions

  In 2008 I was working as a financial advisor in Chicago for a large insurance company. The job was 100% commission-based and I was responsible for paying for absolutely all of my expenses. The company didn’t provide anything to its advisors, not even basic necessities like printing paper or paperclips. I was 27 years old at the time and enjoyed what I was doing. … Continue reading The Challenge of Making Tough Decisions