Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 20, 2010
I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. A few people have asked me to try and define the perfect startup organization chart. I don’t believe that one exists. Every team configuration is different. But I do have more insight into understanding your startup team. This time I thought I’d try and address engineering talent.
Steve Blank
NOVEMBER 24, 2010
When It’s Darkest Men See the Stars. Ralph Waldo Emerson. This Thanksgiving it might seem that there’s a lot less to be thankful for. One out of ten of Americans are out of work. The common wisdom says that the chickens have all come home to roost from a disastrous series of economic decisions including outsourcing the manufacture of America’s physical goods.
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A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
JULY 19, 2010
This is Part 2 of the series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches.??? What if someone copies your awesome business idea? About twenty people on Answers OnStartups have asked this question in one form or another: When I meet an angel investor, he may ask: "What if a big company copies your idea and develops the same website as yours after your website goes public?".
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 5, 2010
I often get asked the age-old question (by men) of “Who are the best entrepreneurs, men or women?” Women already believe they know the answer, so they never ask. I always try the diplomatic answer of “It depends”, but that doesn’t satisfy anybody. First, here are a few facts to set the stage. Only one in four companies in the USA today are run by women, but the number of female-owned firms is growing twice as fast as all businesses.
Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic
Every startup and innovation project exists within an ecosystem that either helps or hurts that project. As innovation managers, we need to keep a pulse of that ecosystem and make sure we're helping those innovation projects we're managing every step of the way. In this webinar, Nick Noreña will walk through an Innovation Ecosystem Model that he and his team at Kromatic have developed to help investors, heads of product, teachers, and executives understand how they can best support innovation in
Startup Lessons Learned
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 27, 2010 Good enough never is (or is it?) One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.&# It’s inspirational, always calling the team to try harder and do better. It works to undermine excuses for poor or shoddy work. And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations.
ReadWriteStart
SEPTEMBER 3, 2010
If you're capable of seeing past the old stones of Paris and the picturesque rural villages, you'll realize that France is every bit as technologically advanced as any other Western country - more so in some areas. Not only does the country have a higher percentage of homes with high-speed Internet than the U.S. (plus it's faster and costs half as much ), it ranks first in the world for number of blogs per Internet user, and has a formidable market of Internet consumers who spent €5.5 billi
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
mashable.com
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
Top Topics Twitter YouTube Facebook iPhone Google Video Google Buzz Social media Music Business Advertise Network Blippr iPhone App Mashable France MashDeck Twitter App Mobile Site Social Media Events Twitter Guide Book Facebook Guide Book Partners App Development WordPress Experts MaxCDN Content Delivery Dynect Managed DNS Rackspace Hosting Intridea About Us Submit a Tip!
Life Beyond Code
MARCH 14, 2010
Why some smart people don’t take action? I mean “action&# that will lift them to a whole new level in life and in business. This is a question that has haunted me for a while. I meet so many smart people during my travels and speaking engagements. when I hear what these people are involved with and think about what they “could be&# actually involved with, it is not difficult to see the “gap.&# They could be doing much more but it seemed like they have resigned to be just
Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak
NOVEMBER 2, 2010
Before I got into the fat loss industry, I was a musician (I still play today so who knows what the future holds!). In the past, I tried to make that love an income. My dreams were big, but my pockets ultimately were empty. Eventually I had to do what a lot of musicians do and get a job. Luckily, it ended up being in something else that I love – health and fitness.
Software By Rob
AUGUST 18, 2010
Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← “Start Small, Stay Small&# Now Available in Kindle and ePub Formats $528 Worth of Optimization Tools for $25 → Why Free Plans Don’t Work Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 14, 2010
How to Interpret Analyst Reports. The headlines in the media are filled with that latest stats. Stats sell. The stats are often quoted from the latest reports. People then parrot them around like they’re fact when most of them are complete bullsh*t. People throw them around at cocktail parties. Often when they do I throw out my favorite statistic: 73.6% of all statistics are made up.
Steve Blank
MAY 27, 2010
Startups need to have a great lawyer, accountant, patent attorney, etc. But founders need to know how to ask for their advice and when to ignore it. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. I was having coffee with a friend who teaches at the U.C. Berkeley Boalt Law School and runs their entrepreneurship program. Our conversation led us to Scott Walkers post Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers and why we both recommend that entrepreneurs print it out and tape it to their wall.
A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
AUGUST 9, 2010
This is Part 3 of the series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches.? Of hundreds of startup pitches at Capital Factory , almost none had unearthed 10 people willing to say, "If you build this product, I'll give you $X.". Meditate on this: Hundreds of people ready to quit their day jobs, burn up savings, risk personal reputation, toil 70 hours per week, absorb as much stress as having a baby (believe me, I've done both).
Ben's Blog
APRIL 28, 2010
“You’re just a rent-a-rapper, your rhymes are minute-maid. I’ll be here when it fade to watch you flip like a renegade”. —Rakim, Follow the Leader. When my partner Marc wrote his post describing our firm , the most controversial component of our investment strategy was our preference for founding CEOs. The conventional wisdom says a startup CEO should make way for a professional CEO once the company has achieved product-market fit.
Startup Lessons Learned
FEBRUARY 22, 2010
Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, February 22, 2010 Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Diversity is the canary in the coal mine for meritocracy. As entrepreneurs, more than any other industry, we’re in the meritocracy business. The companies that make decisions based on merit, rather than title, politics, or hierarchy execute faster and learn faster than their competitors.
ReadWriteStart
DECEMBER 19, 2010
Ideally, you'll find some time over the next few weeks to curl up with a good story. Or hey, at least that's what I look forward to on vacation. If you are looking for some books on entrepreneurship to read, or even to gift, here are some recommended books from 2010. There were a number of great business books published this year, many of which we reviewed here as part of ReadWriteWeb's " Weekend Reading " series.
crowdSPRING Blog
JULY 27, 2010
We’ve recently discussed several useful topics for small businesses and startups, including naming your company , how to make you taglines stand out from the crowd., and tips for buyers looking for logo design. Today, we’ll cover web design marketing best practices and tips for small business. Most businesses, from one person start-ups to small and mid-size businesses to international conglomerates, need to have a presence on the Web.
mashable.com
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
Top Topics Twitter YouTube Facebook iPhone Google Video Google Buzz Social media Music Business Advertise Network Blippr iPhone App Mashable France MashDeck Twitter App Mobile Site Social Media Events Twitter Guide Book Facebook Guide Book Partners App Development WordPress Experts MaxCDN Content Delivery Dynect Managed DNS Rackspace Hosting Intridea About Us Submit a Tip!
Altgate
SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
@altgate Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between Skip to content Home Furqan Nazeeri (fn@altgate.com) ← Switching Costs Startup Executive Compensation Scorecard → Outsourcing For Startups Posted on September 16, 2010 by fnazeeri A few weeks ago John Prendergast (founder/CEO of Blueleaf ) and I gave a presentation on outsourcing at the Boston Founder Institute.
Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak
MAY 16, 2010
I wasn’t going to write this article. I was comfortable with my stance on outsourcing, comfortable enough to recommend it and promote products, and profit from the affiliate commissions, from people who use the catch-call of $2-per-hour labor and the phrase – “ they do the work, you get the money “ I’ve begun the process of outsourcing to the Philippines.
Software By Rob
AUGUST 5, 2010
Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Two Recent Press Appearances: Inc.com and the TechZing Podcast “Start Small, Stay Small&# Now Available in Kindle and ePub Formats → Why Startup Founders Should Stop Reading Business Books Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 22, 2010
On why you should be an entrepreneur, “A lot of people do what they have to do. You want to get yourself to a position where you can do what you want to do&# (Chamillionaire). Last night I co-hosted a dinner at Soho House in Los Angeles with some of the most senior people in the media industry with executives from Disney, Fox, Warner, media agencies and many promising tech & media startup CEO’s.
Steve Blank
APRIL 12, 2010
Startups are the search to find order in chaos. Steve Blank. At a board meeting last week I watched as the young startup CEO delivered bad news. “Our current plan isn’t working. We can’t scale the company. Each sale requires us to handhold the customer and takes way too long to close. But I think I know how to fix it.” He took a deep breath, looked around the boardroom table and then proceeded to outline a radical reconfiguration of the product line (repackaging the products rather than reengin
A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
JULY 12, 2010
This is part 1 of the series: 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches. Listening to first-time entrepreneurs talk about their competitive advantages is as predictably invalid as the local weatherman's 10-day forecast. Between this blog and reviewing applications to Capital Factory I see hundreds of pitches a year. Every pitch has a section on competitive advantages, and quite literally 95% of the time the claimed competitive advantages are pathetic, unoriginal, and not really advantages at all.
Ben's Blog
NOVEMBER 15, 2010
Meet the new boss. same as the old boss. —The Who, Won’t Get Fooled Again. Cause hustlers hit the block when police change shifts. New York, California different toilet, same s#@t. —The Game, Let Us Live. Every day I hear from entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists about an exciting new movement called “the consumerization of the enterprise.
Startup Lessons Learned
JUNE 17, 2010
Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, June 17, 2010 No departments Big companies have departments. Startups are companies. Startups aspire to become big companies. Therefore, startups should have departments. Right? Why do companies have departments? There are a lot of reasons: ladder of advancement, sharing of best practices, functional specialization.
ReadWriteStart
DECEMBER 29, 2010
During the holidays, the Web becomes an even more significant part of our lives, connecting us to our relatives and friends around the world. The Internet might be truly global then, but the world of startups still revolves much around Silicon Valley. Together with 40 Nordic entrepreneurs , we decided to take a trip to the startup mecca, looking for opportunities and lessons to learn.
crowdSPRING Blog
DECEMBER 15, 2010
Small businesses and startups face many challenges when marketing their products and services. Small businesses and startups have minimal brand recognition, are often located in geographic or demographic areas that limit their marketing options, and most have small (or non-existent) marketing budgets. Some marketers advise small businesses and startups to research and create strategic marketing plans.
www.paulgraham.com
OCTOBER 23, 2010
Want to start a startup? Get funded by Y Combinator. March 2005 (This essay is derived from a talk at the Harvard ComputerSociety.) You need three things to create a successful startup: to start withgood people, to make something customers actually want, and to spendas little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it becausethey fail at one of these.
Startup Company Lawyer
MARCH 14, 2010
After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source&# equity seed financing documents: TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document).
Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak
OCTOBER 18, 2010
Leigh Peele , in her own unique style, tackles the issue of procrastination. As someone who teaches people how to reduce fat, helping others deal with the issue of not taking action is one of the single most important tasks she has as coach and trainer. Her advice is sound and relevant to any person procrastinating any task, and that includes you. Here is what Leigh has to say… You may be thinking, “ Great, another article about being productive, when I could be doing something productive!
Software By Rob
OCTOBER 14, 2010
Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← The #1 Goal of Your Website – Slides from my Business of Software Talk Why You Should Start Marketing the Day You Start Coding Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.
Both Sides of the Table
JULY 22, 2010
Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. It was accept the terms or go into bankruptcy so we took the money.
Steve Blank
MAY 17, 2010
Last week one of the schools I teach at invited me to judge a business plan contest. I suggested that they first might want to read my post on why business plans are a poor planning and execution tool for startups. They called back laughing and the invitation disappeared. At best I think business plan competitions are a waste of time. But until now I haven’t been able to articulate a framework of why or had a concrete suggestion of what to replace them with.
A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
AUGUST 30, 2010
Rob Walling generously allowed me to reprint this excerpt from his new book, "Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup" available in paperback and Kindle from Amazon and in PDF and ePub from StartupBook.net. Rob is one of the most successful "micropreneurs" — creators of small, cash-generating startups frequently sold for cash.
Ben's Blog
OCTOBER 14, 2010
“Concrete shoes won’t help in the river. I don’t care if you is Michael Phelps my n*&#a”. —Lil’ Wayne. The biggest difference between being a great functional manager and being a great general manager—and particularly a great CEO—is that as a general manager, you must hire and manage people who are far more competent at their jobs than you would be at their jobs.
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