All Articles
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing Road Map to Scale Startups
How startups cross from early adopters to mainstream customers.
Chess, Computers and the Time Value of Money
Regulatory Capture: Navigating the Third Rail of Innovation
Six startup strategies to overcome corporate regulatory capture.
Startup Pacing: Winning within the Window of Opportunity
Pacing startups to seize the window of opportunity
Unknown Unknowns: Navigating through the Fog of Disruptive Innovation
Three strategies to uncover hidden opportunity amid uncertainty.
Be Exothermic! Igniting and Accelerating the Startup Flywheel
Radiating positive energy and enthusiasm helps startups build strong cultures, attract talent, and accelerate growth.
Art & Science of Attracting Talent to Accelerate Startup Growth
Hiring the right people accelerates startup growth.
Serendipity Mindset: Ten Strategies to Expand Your Luck Surface Area
Ten practices to expand your luck surface area.
Turning the Flywheel to Reach Escape Velocity
Aligning startup efforts to accelerate growth.
The Power Law: Energizing Returns on Chance in Innovation and Investing
The Power Law reminds us to think bigger. People systematically misperceive long tail risk, which creates opportunity for those who manage uncertainty well. We discuss five strategies to identify and exploit long tail opportunity.
Product Market Fit: Six Principles That Drive Startup Success
Six practices that accelerate product market fit.
TAM and its Many Misuses: Assessing Opportunity in Nascent Markets
Insights from TAM when assessing nascent market opportunities.
Company Culture: The Most Sustainable Source of Competitive Advantage
Culture sustainably differentiates startups more than technology.
Crucible Moments: Surviving and Thriving in a Downturn
Having invested through five downturns, Paul Asel discusses how CEOs can lead effectively and startups can survive and thrive through crises.
Three Cardinal Sins of Investing: Reducing Errors of Omission When Assessing Disruptive Startups
Founder Fit based on Insights v. Experience
Social Capital: The 10X Multiplier on Human Capital
Cultivating Cohesive Startup Boards to Thrive in Crucible Moments
Building a strong, trusting startup board helps companies navigate tough times and avoid destructive conflicts.
Entrepreneurial Mindset: Expanding Your Luck Surface Area
Serendipity involves both choice and chance as fortune favors the prepared mind. An Entrepreneurial Mindset expands Luck Surface Area augmenting talent to seize opportunity.
Social Capital: Six Startup Strategies to Upend Incumbents
Social capital is a contestable incumbent advantage. Startups can reset the playing field with six strategies to redesign the network architecture of an industry.
Exit Strategy: Reverse Engineering Successful Outcomes from the Outset
Successful exits start with the end in mind. Here are six strategies to prepare for a successful exit, including one exercise before you start your business.
The Five Forces: Five Startup Strategies for Winner Take Most Markets
Industry structure dictates profit potential. The Five Forces Model illuminates industry structure and unlocks five strategies to rearchitect industry structure for startup advantage.
Building an Effective Board
Tips for CEOs on assembling a small, balanced, and effective Board to guide startups through tough decisions.
Founder Fit: Insight Driven Entrepreneurship
Founder Fit should focus on insights, acumen and mindset rather than experience. We offer here a Founder Fit framework and guide how to use it.
Impact Investing: Socially Responsible Investing Reimagined
Impact Investing, long a province of development finance institutions, has moved mainstream. My framework shows how venture philanthropy is more scalable and sustainable, though more ambiguous, than grant funding.
Dominant Design: The Superhighway to Industry Growth
Dominant Design shifts the market from proving product viability to winning market share. We discuss five strategies for market leadership after the market settles on Dominant Design.
Founder Fit: Experience vs. Insight
Insight beats experience for identifying disruptive startup founders.
Startup Cairns Mission
Startup Cairns helps startups reach their summits. Cairns are landmarks that guide climbers' ascents — frameworks and mental models from two decades at NGP Capital to help entrepreneurs navigate steep, treacherous terrain.
The Checklist Manifesto: Three Best Practices to Improve Venture Capital Performance
Many private equity firms rely on checklists to reinforce best practices. Venture firms earn returns on startup anomalies, yet checklists still help reduce costly oversights.
Founder's Dilemmas: Strategies to Anticipate and Avoid the Pitfalls that can Sink a Startup
Resilient founding teams align on three Rs: Relationships, Roles & Rewards. Misalignments are hidden, ticking bombs that explode in crucible moments. Here are six strategies to avoid cofounder pitfalls that can sink a startup.
Atomic Habits: Forcing Functions to Form Good Habits and Fulfill New Year's Resolutions
Simple steps to build lasting habits and achieve your goals by making small daily changes.
About Paul Asel
Paul Asel has co-founded and led four successful financial firms. As Managing Partner of NGP Capital, Paul built and led a global venture fund with $1.7 billion AUM across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.