Last weekend I attended Lean Startup Machine as a mentor and judge. It was by far one of the most inspiring events in a long time. The key reason ? It opened my eyes to a public secret about failure & success among startups: that entrepreneurs push their solutions without validating their customer’s problems first. Equally important: LSM helps you do this in 3 days. First you validate your customers.

Richard Branson recently harnessed the power of 15 business tycoons to try and bring peace to the Ukraine, highlighting common business sense as a key argument to resolve the conflict. It got me thinking. Despite his great instinct for guerilla marketing, I doubt he is doing that solely to promote his airline. Is he then simply using his public persona pressure to move the world in the right direction or.