The Blueprint for Building A+ Teams

By Nikki Blacksmith, Ph.D. & Maureen McCusker, Ph.D., Co-Founders of Blackhawke Teams make up the backbone of every startup. An “A” team can drive companies to success, but ineffective teams inevitably drive companies to failure. What drives startups to unicorn status: an A+ team. So what makes an A+ team? Based on decades of studying […]

Featured Startup: Well-Paid Maids

Featured Startup: Well-Paid Maids At Blackhawke, we come into contact with countless entrepreneurs that are building impressive companies that we believe are on their way to make significant impact on society. In this regular feature, we invite startup founders and founder teams to share their story and tell us more about their company. In this […]

The paradox of the female entrepreneur.

Startups with at least one female on their founding teams are more successful, yet female entrepreneurs receive only a fraction of the funding of their male counterparts. Why is this, and what can be done about it? In one study, researchers found that companies with at least one female founder perform 63% better than investments […]

The Myers-Briggs: Trick or Treat?

All Hallows’ Eve. The night of the year when we psychologists, just like normal people, like to sit around the fire, toast marshmallows, and swap scary stories while we sip our pumpkin-spice martinis. We’re made of stern, rational stuff. And scary stories – like that one that ends with “…but the call was coming from […]

The Science Of Getting It Wrong: Why Good Investors Make Bad Decisions

We like to think that all of our professional decisions – including investment decisions – are objective and unbiased. But a large body of research shows just the opposite: it turns out that humans are really good at making bad decisions. Our judgment and decision-making are consistently – and predictably – prone to error. In this […]

Entrepreneur or Narcissist? A Venture Capitalist’s’ Field Guide

What’s the difference between an entrepreneur and a narcissist? It may be harder to tell than you think. In a 2016 study, researchers sent a survey to 466 business and MBA students asking them questions about their intentions to become an entrepreneur and their motives for entering entrepreneurial ventures. They also measured their standing on […]

Is your leader the smartest, or just the boldest?

What is this highly valuable asset? Its own people. Says Morgan Fraud, the author of The Thinking Corporation, “Given that we are all capable of contributing new ideas, the question becomes how do you successfully generate, capture, process and implement ideas?”