How to destroy a company in 10 easy steps, by Suranga Chandratillake

1/ Waste company time and resources by developing products which are never released (Transaction Hijacking, Cheep)

2/ When you do release products, fail to promote them in any way (Blinkx Music)

3/ Never, under any circumstances, promote your company either to the public or within your industry. Let's keep it as our secret! Spend any spare cash promoting yourself for industry awards rather than on TV campaigns to let the general public know that your company exists. Note to self: ego much more important than revenues!

4/ Never communicate anything to your shareholders - they don't deserve to know anything, they only own the company. (NB: don't buy any shares in your own company, that will only encourage irrational exuberance in people)

5/ Pump irrelevant news into the markets about trivial tie-ups with companies nobody has heard of or cares about but claim they are world beating deals.Try and do this once a week - especially if the markets are crying out for news of a substantial nature to clarify the company's position. If you do luck out and do a major deal (AOL), DON'T TELL ANYONE!!!

6/ Further to the point above, employ the most incompetent PR people you can find,  to ensure that when the company does release any news, it is as nonsensical as possible. Wouldn't want to give anything away, would we!!


7/ Do everything possible to persuade the market that you, as the company's CEO, are utterly clueless. Like, for example, saying that mobile is not a priority when it is a hugely exploding and fastest-growing segment of the market; or bragging that you have outperformed your sector in growth, when in fact you have only tracked your sector. 


8/ Act in as childish and petulant a manner as possible, just to reassure investors and the markets that you are the right person for the job. If you make an offer for a company and it's rejected, go back with a lower offer (Miva)! That will show them! And if the company's share price gets shafted by investment bankers you had previously courted, throw your toys out of your pram with a schoolboy rant against 'bin men'.


9/ At all times never cease to remind anyone who will listen that the company is operating in a' perfect storm of opportunity' whilst simultaneously demonstrating that you are completely failing to make the most of those opportunities.


10/ Over-promise and under-deliver. Always.