SoCal CTO
DECEMBER 19, 2012
I was talking with an early-stage founder who has a product vision and wants to get it built. He is not a technical person, but is somewhat web savvy. He wanted to get input from me on what he's doing, and he wants to begin to ask developers what it would take to build his product. I asked some of the same questions I ask in my Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions and then I get to a very common conversation: Me : Do you have specs?
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 20, 2012
I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Maybe it’s time to look harder at the mantra of a new breed of gurus and successful entrepreneurs, including Steve Blank and Eric Ries , called “nail it then scale it” (NISI).
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deal architect
DECEMBER 18, 2012
I average a book every 2 to 2.5 years and am due one in 2014. I don’t just pick on a buzzword like Gamification or Big Data and start writing. I don’t just listen to Valley VCs on what’s hot.
Mike Michalowicz
DECEMBER 18, 2012
Bad Business Habits. There was a time that you loved your work. Maybe you started the business yourself, or you joined a company that was going to take you places. But things have changed, and you hate your company. You dread coming to work. The cause of all this loathing may not be them, it may actually be you. After all we have the sole control over what we think of things.
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
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 20, 2012
With the rapid rate of development in new technology there is no surprise that this is the fastest growing sector of the market. Whether it is the latest smartphone, or a digital camera that also makes toast, pretty much everybody has enjoyed the guilty pleasure of indulging in a new gadget of some kind, shape, or description. As a result of the high levels of productivity this is a very crowded market place, which really plays into the hands of the shopper.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 21, 2012
Have you noticed that more companies beg you to participate in their business today? It started with an email survey on your last stay at their hotel, but now includes requests for online product reviews, to social media input on the design of future products. They do it because engaged customers become loyal advocates and buyers. Welcome to the “Participation Age” of marketing.
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
The Equity Kicker
DECEMBER 19, 2012
Every now and again I come across a phrase which I wish I’d come up with myself and this is one: Plans are worthless, but planning is indispensable. Chris Dixon used it as a title for a post yesterday, and at first I thought the credit was due to him (which wouldn’t have surprised me), but it turns out that President Eisenhower uttered these words in a 1957 speech.
This is going to be BIG.
DECEMBER 21, 2012
This week, three companies that I met super early and passed on raised significant rounds of funding. Actually, I wouldn't even really call them passes, because in a couple instances, they were just conversations--"Pre Deck" if you will. Devrim Yasar just raised an additional $7.25 million for Koding.com. I met him in April of 2010--almost two years before he got a venture round.
Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook
DECEMBER 19, 2012
Stanford’s Tina Seelig. Emma Collins writes a guest post for me today with an article on sustainable innovation — in education. Innovation in education has been slow to arrive, but recently there have been some significant shifts, for instance the free courses Stanford is offering. i’ve heard amazing things about the virtual course conducted by Tina Seelig. .
OnlyOnce
DECEMBER 19, 2012
Startup CEO (OnlyOnce- the book!), Part II – Crowdsourcing the Outline. As I mentioned a few weeks ago here , I’m excited to be writing a book called Startup CEO: A Field Guide to Building and Running Your Company, to be published by Wiley & Sons next summer. Since many readers of OnlyOnce are my target audience for the book, I thought I’d post my current outline and ask for input and feedback on it.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 15, 2012
My Blackberry died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know. It seems so long ago that we had to start hiding our Blackberry’s in our pockets to avoid always being chastised. If you were caught sending out an email on your Blackberry you had to quickly whip out your iPhone to show that – wait! – I have one of these, too. It is stunning to think about the blind spots that market leaders can develop.
deal architect
DECEMBER 21, 2012
The Orlando Sentinel ran a story “Vendors complain after Orlando spends $ 8.7m on software without bids” I sent the reporter and the Editor this email “I read your article and would like to share some reactions. I am a.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 18, 2012
It would be no fun if starting a business was simply plotting a straight line between your idea and success, with no challenges along the way. Zigging and zagging amongst the obstacles is the fun part of being an entrepreneur, and it’s what sets you apart from the average worker who knows exactly what he or she has to do every day to get paid. Relish it, or if it scares you, don’t try it.
A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
DECEMBER 18, 2012
Recently Gotham Gal opened the question: What does workforce re-entry mean for the modern mom? She observes that a completely structured environment is unlikely to be fulfilling: I am not so sure that someone who had spent the last ten years at home raising a family has any interest in re-entering at the same speed, level or capacity. I believe most want to re-enter but not after having the flexibility and life that have had for the past ten years.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 17, 2012
I got a call Sunday from a business colleague while I was sitting in the lounge at LAX waiting for yet another delayed flight. This colleague is a lawyer with whom I work on a deal and have done so for a couple of years. By all accounts I now consider him a friend. He caught me while I was sipping a Bloody Mary and thinking a bit a business situation that bummed me out.
deal architect
DECEMBER 19, 2012
On the New Florence blog Next-gen Magnets The Outside office evolves “Proton Jeff” GoPro or Go Amateur Videographer City Planning in a fast moving world Boston re-imagined Sweden wants your trash “The earliest mobile apps”.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 17, 2012
Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Now, even the earliest stage startup can rise to visibility or be forever lost by their first media spotlight, so it behooves us all to know the rules early. Most entrepreneurs I know admit to a poor first media interaction, and many are still waiting for the instant replay.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 16, 2012
Singaporeans travel overseas like there’s no tomorrow. It’s probably because the country is so tiny that traveling just 40 kilometers in any direction requires you to carry your passport. It’s a good thing that the Singaporean passport lets its holder travel to most countries without fuss, and there’s no lack of innovation when it comes to online travel services – social travel discovery and recommendation sites, for example, or airline comparison and booking engine
Genuine VC
DECEMBER 17, 2012
Most first and second pitch meetings with VCs are fairly lopsided, where entrepreneurs spend the bulk of the time sharing their businesses, rather than being a true exchange of both parties in developing a relationship. However, there is typically (and should be plenty of) time for founders to ask VCs questions about their approach and working-style to help determine if there’s a mutual fit.
deal architect
DECEMBER 16, 2012
on the innovation blog Cloudera: Big Data meets Open Source Honeywell’s ruggedized mobile devices Data Bartering How Black Friday was different this year Made for TV Terrorism MRAPs The Slingshot Water Purification System Internet of Things + Big Data +.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 19, 2012
If you are one of the many people still searching for that job lost during the recent depression, or about to dump the loser of a job you have now, you should be working on starting your own business, in parallel with looking for that ideal job. Let me explain why this is a win-win deal, no matter what the outcome. You have probably secretly always wanted to run your own show, but with an existing job, never took the time to consider a startup.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 19, 2012
Those who are on medication – whether short or long term – are aware of the dangers of missing out on taking their medication, or worse, taking multiple doses by mistake. When their father had a health scare when he accidentally took a double dose of insulin for his diabetes, brothers Rotem and Omri ‘Bob’ Shor decided there should be an easier way to remind patients to take their medication.
Pascal's View
DECEMBER 17, 2012
Denis Dougherty of Intersouth Partners was recently interviewed by Brian Gormley of The Wall Street Journal on the decade-long liquidity crisis that continues to plague the venture capital industry. Responding to the question “ What do you see as the biggest investment opportunity for venture capital in 2013? ”, Dougherty said, “ If we have a broadly rebounding economy, the big corporations would begin to buy products and programs that they want to have, not just the ones that they have to have.
deal architect
DECEMBER 20, 2012
The New Florence blog set a blistering pace during 2012 – it will end year with 750+ posts. Each one of the posts makes you go “wow”, and very tough to play favorites but I scanned the titles to come.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 16, 2012
I’ve always wondered why every executive meeting has to be one hour in length, or longer. That’s probably a tenth of your day spent on one issue. It better be a critical one, because you have a hundred others waiting. I believe you can be much more productive, as well as a more effective leader, if you approach most meetings as mentoring opportunities, and limit them to five minutes.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 19, 2012
by Thomas Ford, Marketing Director of www.123Print.com. Starting a new business might sound like a complicated endeavor, and many would-be entrepreneurs probably shy away from creating a company from the ground up because of the expected costs involved. However, with some careful planning and perseverance, you can start a business even if you don’t have a great deal of cash on hand.
Feld Thoughts
DECEMBER 15, 2012
When I created Startup Revolution and began writing Startup Communities , I insisted with Wiley (my publisher) that the word be “startup” and not “start-up” or “start up” or even “StartUp” It took a while to (a) get everyone to agree to that and (b) expunge the efforts of the copy-editor to reintroduce some gross variant of “startup” but I finally got it done.
deal architect
DECEMBER 21, 2012
are - - - That’s right, they are blank. My visit to the Mayan ruins at Tulum last weekend affected me deeply. While we smugly make fun of their end of world today prediction, I was in awe that their.
Gust
DECEMBER 16, 2012
ABC Shark Tank Angels via Elite Daily. Every new startup I know dreams of being funded early by one of the 318,000 active Angel investors in the USA alone. But many entrepreneurs don’t realize that Angels are also extremely discerning in the projects that they will invest in, rejecting approximately 97% of the proposals submitted to them, according to the California Investment Network.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 20, 2012
Workplace productivity isn’t as high as it can be, many managers complain. The culprit they usually point to? The Internet and social media. But they’re wrong. Every year, some $134 billion is lost by employees spending time on tasks that are not work-related. The biggest time-wasting culprit is actually meetings, followed by office politics and annoying colleagues.
Feld Thoughts
DECEMBER 18, 2012
This first appeared in the Wall Street Journal’s Accelerator series last week under the title Cultural Fit Trumps Competence. Also, I’m going to be doing online office hours with the WSJ on Friday 12/21 at 3pm ET – join and ask questions! The first people you hire in your startup are critical to your company’s success. So it’s easy to say that you need to hire the “absolute best people you can find.
VC Cafe
DECEMBER 16, 2012
Make learning and development a key resolution in 2013. If you're a startup, you are by definition competing with the smartest people in the world - either large companies or fellow entrepreneurs who. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].
Lightspeed Venture Partners
DECEMBER 21, 2012
Over the last 12 months, there have been a handful of acquisitions of mobile start-ups like RapSphere * (by Appsense), Nukona (by Symantec) and most recently Zenprise (by Citirix) that help enterprises better manage mobile devices. In the consumer world, the newness of mobile has, for the most part, worn off as everyone from teenagers to grandmothers now proudly carry smartphones, using apps and taking photos wherever they go.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 17, 2012
by Michael Houlihan, coauthor of “ The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built a Bestseller “ Your child may still be in elementary school but you’ve already started worrying about the “boomerang” syndrome. It’s a valid concern. Most kids come back home after college to “crash” until they find a job. But as the months (and years) crawl by and your child still can’t find anything that doesn’t involve cash registers, coffee machines, or polyester uniforms, it becomes cle
Feld Thoughts
DECEMBER 21, 2012
We are sandwiched between Thanksgiving and Christmas in a country that is recovering emotionally from two disasters named Sandy – one natural (Hurricane Sandy) and one man-made (Sandy Hook). Our politicians in Washington are playing a zero-sum game around the Fiscal Cliff. The CEO of the NRA just held a press conference and said “we should be able to afford to put a police officer in every school” and he called on Congress “to appropriate whatever is necessary to put arme
Gust
DECEMBER 19, 2012
For November 2012 we are noticing an interesting trend of product ready companies declining, while concept stage companies are rising. This trend is mostly led by a decrease in product ready internet web service companies in the US, Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom, and with an increase in concept stage companies in Spain, India, Brazil and the United States.
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