October, 2012

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10,000 Startups – Startup Weekend Next

Steve Blank

Today we are announcing the biggest entrepreneurial program ever launched – Startup Weekend Next. A partnership of Startup Weekend , Startup America , TechStars and Udacity , Startup Weekend Next brings four weeks of amazing hands-on training learning to build your startup to cities around the world. Our goal– to inspire, educate and empower hundred’s of thousands of entrepreneurs and help create 10,000 startups.

Startup 335
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Why “saving money” and “ROI” are probably the wrong way to sell your product

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

I can’t remember how many times at Smart Bear I tried to sell Code Collaborator with the argument that it “saves you money.” And customers demanded it — some even required that we produce an ROI spreadsheet. And we did. The argument makes sense (though it’s wrong). Code Collaborator is tool which helps software developers review each other’s work, just like an editor of a book.

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7 Startup Mistakes Kill the Best Profit Projections

Startup Professionals Musings

Many startups fail before reaching that magic “cash-flow positive” position they have been striving for, despite seemingly reasonable financial projections. A closer analysis often indicates the cause to be a lack of diligence in handling common business finances. These mistakes are usually masked by excuses, like the economy turned on me, or my competitors played dirty.

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The End Of Marketing As We Know It

YoungUpstarts

by Bill Lee, author of “ The Hidden Wealth of Customers: Realizing the Untapped Value of Your Most Important Asset “. Consider for a moment the annoying, interruptive, often obnoxious nature of traditional marketing. Dinnertime phone calls from strangers in noisy call centers. Glossy pictures of the latest fashions worn by models who barely look human.

Marketing 188
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Building Healthy Innovation Ecosystems for Your Projects

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

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Better Than Getting Rich Quick: Startup Geoloqi Gets A Deal For The Long Haul

ReadWriteStart

Geoloqi was a smart little startup from Portland, Ore., that made software for telling a smartphone where in the world it is. All kinds of investors wanted a piece of the action, but Geoloqi said no, no, no. Its founders wanted to find a fit , not an “exit,” a place where they could keep building the apps and maps thy love. Now they have. Geoloqi has been acquired by Esri.

Portland 163
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Traction is the new IP

Version One Ventures

“Traction is the new IP ” sums up perfectly how the technology space has evolved over the past decade due to the nature of the web. Barriers to entry are no longer created by patents or by tech differentiation alone, but by superior traction in the marketplace. In today’s web landscape, word of mouth drives adoption and can lead to “winner takes all” (or almost all) in both B2C and B2B markets.

IP 163

More Trending

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Startup Map & Trends Analysis – September 2012

Gust

September’s Startup Map showcases the latest trends in startup profiles created on Gust between September 1 st and September 30 th. Some of the entrepreneurs chose to keep their startup profiles private and therefore are labeled as unpublished in this month’s map, and were not included in the trends analysis. In September the US has once again shown the highest concentration of startups, even though there was a decline when compared to the month of August.

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8 Entrepreneur Mistakes Which Will Kill Seed Funding

Startup Professionals Musings

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. After exchanging a couple of notes, I concluded that she was more likely a victim of item #1 on my reject list below, rather than a drought on seed funding.

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Dealing With Business Cards

Feld Thoughts

There are some things I wish would just go away forever. Business cards are one of those things. I stopped carrying them several years ago and simply give people my email address (brad@feld.com) as my primary contact data. But at the end of every day I have a handful of cards to deal with. Sometimes it is one or two; often it is a big pile. Yesterday I was at the Xconomy Big Data Conference in Boston.

API 154
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How - And Why - Startups Should Hire Millennials

ReadWriteStart

It’s like a harmonic convergence. Startups need workers, and the largest generation ever born in America — the Millennials — is desperately searching for work. But as every startup knows, it's never as easy as all that. According to a new research study from PayScale , the world’s leading provider of on-demand compensation data and software, and Millennial Branding , a Gen Y research and management consulting company, Millennials (ages 18 to 29) are underemployed.

Hiring 137
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Twitter Link Roundup #151 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

crowdSPRING Blog

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

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Build it and they won’t come: How and why growth hacking came to be

The Next Web

The buzz on “growth hacking” has spread all across the world. Classes on growth hacking are being taught in Singapore. Companies from San Francisco to London are recruiting growth hackers. The first Growth Hacking Conference popped up a few weeks ago. This rapid craze beseeches an explanation. Why has growth hacking so strongly resonated with the startup community?

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How to Generate More Sales From Your Email Marketing Campaigns

ConversionXL

Compared to social media and content marketing, email is a mature channel for engaging online consumers. Its longevity is a testament to its ability to convert leads into buyers and buyers into repeat customers. In fact, according to a Forrester report put out on September 24, 2012 email continues to be the top factor in influencing repeat purchases: Forrester Research report showing email’s positive influence on repeat customers.

Campaign 111
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Street Smart Disciplines Every Entrepreneur Needs

Startup Professionals Musings

As a mentor and advisor to entrepreneurs, I find it’s easy to recognize “street smarts” when I see them, but it’s hard to explain the specifics to someone on the other end of the spectrum, even if they are willing to learn. Some people argue that street smarts are only a natural born skill, but I disagree. I believe they are disciplines that can be taught and learned.

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Global Multichannel Consumer Behaviour (Research/Purchase) Analysis

Occam's Razor

As my focus has evolved to getting companies to imagine and execute incredible digital marketing initiatives, I've discovered that my passion for the medium, my experience in creating innovative solutions, and — yes — my charm are sometimes insufficient to convince some CxOs to take their digital marketing opportunities seriously. Rather I've had to fall back on my trusty steed: data. :).

Global 136
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Startup Funeral: Honoring The Lessons Of Failure [Video]

ReadWriteStart

Failure gets a lot of praise in the tech world. It’s a great learning experience, it’s a vital growth opportunity, etc. But nobody celebrates the actual event. Recently several entrepreneurs in New York City got together to do just that, holding the inaugural Startup Funeral to honor the memory of three dead technology companies. “Every startup has a launch party, but what happens when a startup dies?

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Twitter Link Roundup #150 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

crowdSPRING Blog

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

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Troubled media sharing startup Color Labs said to be acquired by Apple

The Next Web

Color Labs, the photo-and-video-sharing social network that received much criticism over its pre-launch $41 million funding round, is about to be acquired by Apple. We’ve heard through trusted sources that the startup was nabbed for a price that is in the ‘high double digits’, as in millions, and that the deal is ‘done’, though papers have yet to be signed.

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Writing Home Page Headlines For The Modern World (3 Formulas That Work)

ConversionXL

Read any copywriting manual or article and you will learn that the headline is the most important thing in your sales copy. And it’s true. The sad thing is that the advice that follows is often severely outdated and originates from the snail mail sales letter people from the 1950s and beyond. I researched 500 headlines of successful online businesses and figured out which formulas work today. .

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Thinking big and doing stuff properly

The Equity Kicker

I’m just back from an inspiring few days at Dublin Web Summit and then F.ounders , both in Dublin. Many of the conversations and talks there revolved around the importance of having big ambition and of doing quality work. Paddy Cosgrave’s F.ounders and Web Summit are great examples of both. Delivery of high quality conferences characterised by an extraordinary attention to detail have enabled them to grow in three years from nothing to 4,000 people in Dublin last week and conferences around the

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Eastern European Champions & the 4 V’s of Big Data

Cracking the Code

Eastern European Champions I had the opportunity to do a keynote at the IDCEE conference in Kiev last week. It was my first time in the city and I must say that I was immediately taken by the energy of the city and of the entrepreneurs that I met at the conference. It took me some time to figure out a title and I eventually settled for “Building European Champions” as the region has proven its ability to generate very successful venture outcomes and will continue to be the birthplace of many suc

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Why You Can't Settle For The "Minimum" In Your Minimum Viable Product

ReadWriteStart

Many startups scramble to create a "minimum viable product," or MVP, to get a version of their product to market quickly for testing. It’s a great way to cost-effectively test a website or app with real users. But be careful, if your MVP is too minimalist, it could torpedo your company's future. Guest author Matthew Zehner is the CEO of ZehnerGroup , a digital agency that specializes in launching Web startups and innovating established businesses.

Product 129
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Oct. 25 NY: Enterprise Tech Meetup: Best Practices in Startup Hiring

David Teten

I’m participating this Thursday, Oct. 25, in the Enterprise Tech Meetup, where we’ll discuss best practices in B2B startup hiring. We’ll also cover how can a candidate make themselves more attractive for a quickly growing enterprise company. You can see some of my thoughts here. RSVP. Besides me, the other panelists are: Sean Maclsaac, CTO, Yext.

CTO Hire 114
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11 apps to promote healthy lifestyles among employees

The Next Web

These days, there’s an app for everything small-business related, from easing the pains of payroll to holding virtual meetings with contractors on the other side of the world. And there’s also an app for everything when it comes to personal productivity, helping people keep efficient to-do lists and staying on top of their family matters. Yet as the work-life balance blurs more than ever — especially for an employee of a startup team — entrepreneurs are taking the pledge to not only

Employee 128
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Small Business and Startups: Slice & Dice Your Customer Service Data

crowdSPRING Blog

After every quarter I delve into our customer service data to have a look at a few things: first (and foremost) are we effectively meeting out goal of providing world-class customer service to our community? Next, what is the demand on our system and do we have capacity available to meet it? Third, have we improved our performance across the key metrics of speed, quality, and efficiency?

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How We Fight – Cofounders in Love and War

Steve Blank

I often get asked about finding cofounders and I usually give the standard list of characteristics of what I look for in a founder. And I emphasize the value of a founding team with complementary skills sets – i.e. the hacker/hustler/designer cofounder archetype for web/mobile apps. But Jessica Alter , Cofounder & CEO of FounderDating , pointed out that co founders did not mean two founders in the same room.

Cofounder 329
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The IT Reality Check

deal architect

InformationWeek tells a depressing, if not surprising, story “But when we asked 382 business pros--a mix of IT and non-IT people--about how IT is perceived in their companies, we were shocked by what we found in both the responses and.

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7 Facts of Business Life For Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Startup Professionals Musings

When I started mentoring entrepreneurs and startups a few years ago, I anticipated that I would get mostly tough technical questions, but instead I more often hear things like “Where do I start?” I find that the basics are actually the hardest to answer, just like your parents found out when they first tried to fill you in on the “facts of life” a long time ago.

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The rise of the “successful” unsustainable company

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

It’s appalling what passes for “successful entrepreneurship” in the press or the Valley, but it’s not their fault. Witness, for example, this terrific Fast Company article on Bill Nguyen , serial entrepreneur who’s seventh startup “Color” famously raised $41m for a new mobile app before it even launched. (The launch, by the way, was a failure.

IPO 240
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Clarity releases scheduling feature to replace Tungle.me, aims to connect 10 million entrepreneurs

The Next Web

It’s inevitable that entrepreneurs run into problems every once in a while as they pursue their dreams. Often, they might be wondering where they can turn for help and advice on what to do. Serial entrepreneur and investor, Dan Martell, has set out to create that solution for troubled founders. It’s called Clarity and connects you with an experienced advisor so you can ask all the questions you want to help you get on your way.

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Are These 3 Scary Things on Your Website?

Rembrandt Communications

It’s Halloween, and there is a lot of scary stuff out there. But you may be unaware of some things that are really frightening and happening right in your business. For example, when was the last time you looked at your Website? If you have been busy focusing on your core, business activities as an [.].

SEO 215
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How to Get a VC Meeting – the flowchart

Steve Blank

I often get asked, “how do I get a meeting with a VC?” Here is my slightly tongue-in-cheek view. Filed under: Customer Development , Venture Capital.

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SAPs rollout malaise

deal architect

Reading Dennis Howlett’s update on HANA, you get the sense it is the first time SAP has had rollout issues I can point to several more lethargic product rollouts in the last few years ECC 6.0 available since 2005 is.

Product 290
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10 Top Reasons For First-time Entrepreneur Failure

Startup Professionals Musings

Based on my experience as a mentor and an entrepreneur, if you fail on your first startup, you are about average. That’s not bad, but who wants to be average? Every young entrepreneur knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Statistics show that the failure rate for new startups within the first 5 years is as high as 50 percent. How can you improve your odds?

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[Singapore] Entrepreneurial Film ‘Shuttlecock Boys’ To Screen In December

YoungUpstarts

If you love movies that have an entrepreneurial theme in it – “ Jerry Maguire “, anyone? – you should look out for this upcoming independent movie: “ Shuttlecock Boys ” from India by director Hemant Gaba. “ Shuttlecock Boys ” revolves around the lives, successes and failures of four friends who hail from lower middle class backgrounds in Delhi.

Singapore 217
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10 Entrepreneur Tips Dodge Million-Dollar Mistakes

Gust

Ryan Blair book image via Amazon. It’s a well-accepted axiom in the investor community that entrepreneurs learn more from their failures than their successes. Thus a well-explained startup failure often can actually improve your odds of funding in the next go-round. Yet, there is no doubt that the best strategy is to learn from someone else’s mistakes, so you can enjoy the millions that someone else lost in learning.