Mercedes Bent

  • Product Market Fit is not a One-Way Door (FMB Part 11)

    This is an extension of my #FMB “Founders are Made, not Born: How Founders Become Learning Animals” series, based on my Stanford Masters of Education research. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII. Extensions: Parts 7, 8, 9, 10. Last year in June of 2023 I wrote about product market fit not being a one-way door. In…

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  • Creating Defensibility: Monopolizing your Supply Side (Part 10)

    This is an extension of my #FMB “Founders are Made, not Born: How Founders Become Learning Animals” series, based on my Stanford Masters of Education research. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII. Extensions: Parts 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Whether we’re talking about developers, gig workers, content creators, trading supply, etc, there are better and…

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  • FMB: Running board meetings (Part 9)

    This is a continuation of my Founders are Made, not Born series. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII. Extensions: Parts 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Three times in the past week I found myself sharing best practices with founders about how to run optimal board meetings. One was a seed stage founder who is preparing for their first board…

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  • Internal Ventures…..What’s That?

    “You run new ventures….so what does that mean??” This is a question I receive almost every time I tell anyone what I do. I stepped into a role at General Assembly as Head of New Ventures 5 months ago and have quickly realized the role is not just rare, but that many have no idea what…

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  • Corporate to Startup – Tips for Making the Jump

    I moderated a panel a few days ago called “The Corporate Escape” in which four panelists and I discussed how we made the transition from traditional corporate jobs at Fortune 500 companies to small tech startups. A lot of knowledge was dropped for the attendees from the Suits to Silicon Alley meetup group and I wanted…

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  • Framing Goals

    After joining General Assembly, I realized I’d not only entered the tech industry, I’d also entered the education industry. And so far, I’ve learned a TON about the world of teachers and learning. For all the educators out there this post is going to seem really obvious. But for all of you that are like me,…

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  • Writing a Book with the Product Management Hat On

    A friend of mine is about to embark on writing a book. He has a really unique story and set of qualifications that make this a no-brainer. It’s going to be a non-fictional health-related PSA that brings medical research and the patient experience together to help people cope with an illness. Besides thinking it is…

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  • UX Designers Might Make Great Negotiators

    I recently started taking a class in user experience design at General Assembly as part of my quest to understand  different types of technological disciplines and the mental frameworks people use in these disciplines. At the end of the first class, I started thinking… UX designers might make the best negotiators in the tech world. And…

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