January, 2013

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GRP Excited to add Sam Rosen to Its Ranks. How Did He Get the Role? Hustle. Here’s the Story.

Both Sides of the Table

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. It’s the first EIR that we’ve had in the years that I’ve been with the firm and I hope will be the start of our investment in this program. And it’s the latest in a series of investments we’ve made in building out our practice as the LA technology market continues to grow robustly and

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Top Entrepreneurs Have Follow-up, Not Ideas Alone

Startup Professionals Musings

When someone introduces me to an “idea person,” I automatically jump to the down-side conclusion that this person doesn’t do follow-up. Of course there are people who are great at getting things done, but haven’t had an original idea in their life. Great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates, are great at both. I was with IBM in the early PC days when Bill worked with us to provide PC DOS and other software.

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Designing a Corporate Entrepreneurship Program – A Qualcomm Case Study (part 1 of 2)

Steve Blank

I ran into Ricardo Dos Santos and his amazing Qualcomm Venture Fest a few years ago and was astonished with its breath and depth. From that day on, when I got asked about which corporate innovation program had the best process for idea selection, I started my list with Qualcomm. This is Ricardo’s “post mortem” account of the life and death of a corporate entrepreneurship program.

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The Chinese government appears to have completely blocked GitHub via DNS

The Next Web

Reports are coming in that the social coding site GitHub has been blocked in China. While the service has seen blocks in the country before, this appears to be a much broader denial of service, affecting most, if not all users in the world’s most populous country online and offline. We first heard about the new censorship from Chinese web monitoring site GreatFire (and our own Josh Ong confirmed he couldn’t access the site as well): GitHub completely blocked in China now, including H

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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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How to pitch to investors in 10 minutes and get funded

Up and Running

I know what it’s like to pitch to investors – both angels and venture capitalists. I’ve raised close to $1 million from angel investors for my previous technology start-ups. Sometimes you only get 10 minutes to pitch your business opportunity to the investors (or less in some cases). Below is a format I’ve successfully used, as well as helped many other first-time start-up CEOs raise investment capital.

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How Reed Hastings’ Facebook Status Update Landed Netflix in SEC’s Crosshairs

Gust

Last month, the SEC announced it was taking action regarding Netflix’ (NFLX) securities compliance based on a Facebook status update posted by CEO Reed Hastings. The move came as a shock to many in the tech business community, in which we’ve become accustomed to real-time disclosure by company executives through social media. What could be wrong with more transparency?

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7 Failures of Corporate Executives as Entrepreneurs

Startup Professionals Musings

Mid-level or even top executives who “grew up” in large companies often look with envy at startups, and dream of how easy it must be running a small organization, where you can see the whole picture and it appears you have total control. In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations survive in the early-stage startup environment.

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Designing a Corporate Entrepreneurship Program – A Qualcomm Case Study (part 1 of 2)

Steve Blank

I ran into Ricardo Dos Santos and his amazing Qualcomm Venture Fest a few years ago and was astonished with its breath and depth. From that day on, when I got asked about which corporate innovation program had the best process for idea selection, I started my list with Qualcomm. This is Ricardo’s “post mortem” account of the life and death of a corporate entrepreneurship program.

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Google Analytics Tips: 10 Data Analysis Strategies That Pay Off Big!

Occam's Razor

In the coming year, based on current announcements , Google Analytics is set to go through an almost unprecedented amount of evolution. My postulation is that by this time next year the tool will be almost unrecognizable. [My favorite is Visitor Analytics, and visitor level segmentation that will be pervasive throughout the product. This is insanely cool.].

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4 things to know about crowdfunding versus raising capital

The Next Web

Crowdfunding is the process of raising capital by offering rewards to ‘backers’ by pre-selling your product or offering equity in exchange. While the latter is not yet legal in the United States, the JOBS Act, which was signed into law in April 2012, mandates that the SEC makes it legal by January 1st of 2013. There will inevitably be delays as the SEC works to implement a new framework to support this legislation, but it would be wise for entrepreneurs to start comparing equity crowdfunding wi

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Twitter Link Roundup #162 – 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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Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Blog

This is going to be BIG.

Ok, it's still resolution time, right? Time to get cracking on some new initiatives in 2013. and I can't argue strenously enough for investing the time into a blog this year if you've started a company. Forget the fact that you can't write or it takes a long time. These are things that go away over time. First off, many of the widely read tech bloggers aren't the best writers either.

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10 Attributes of That Rare Ideal Manager at Work

Startup Professionals Musings

Everyone can recognize a great manager a mile away, so why is it so hard to find one? We all remember a few that are “legends in their own mind”, but that doesn’t do it. In fact, the clue here is that the view in your mind is the only one that matters, rather than the other way around. Almost every one of us in business can remember that one special manager in their career who exemplifies the norm, who commanded our respect, and treated us like a friend, even in the toughest of personal or busin

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Qualcomm’s Corporate Entrepreneurship Program – Lessons Learned (Part 2)

Steve Blank

I ran into Ricardo Dos Santos and his amazing Qualcomm Venture Fest a few years ago and was astonished with its breath and depth. From that day on, when I got asked about which corporate innovation program had the best process for idea selection, I started my list with Qualcomm. This is part 2 of Ricardo’s “post mortem” of the life and death of Qualcomm’s corporate entrepreneurship program.

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How to Use Social Media To Drive Sales

ConversionXL

According to a report by Nielsen on social media Americans spend three times more time on social media than reading their e-mail. 7.6% of online time is spent reading e-mail and 23% on social. The juicy bit of the study is that more than 70% of social networks users shop online. That’s ~12% more than the average person. These stats make a good case that if you and your brand is active on social networks, you can get rewarded – if you do it right.

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Concentrated Production, Diversified Consumption

Growthink Blog

Watching the disaster of a process that was the D.C. fiscal cliff drama this past week, I found myself with a curious reaction. And maybe even a little bit of a selfish one. It was, by golly, how happy am I that I get to work in this so dignifying world of business and free enterprise and not have to waste my precious life energy on such nonsense? And then feeling a bit more generous, I felt happiness for the hundreds of millions if not now billions of people worldwide that are able to do likewi

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Lean Business Tips: Hiring Contractors for Fun and Profit(ability)

crowdSPRING Blog

We write often about ways small business can reduce expense, increase productivity, and operate more efficiently through a lean approach to marketing, technology, and operations. Today I want to write briefly about a strategy we have used to very good effect when hiring new workers: outsource. When we hear that word, we typically envision massive call centers or bucket shops filled with developers writing code half-way across the world.

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Aspen Institute Maghreb Investor Delegation, next week in NY and CA

David Teten

Localisation du Maghreb (Photo credit: Wikipedia). Partners for a New Beginning (PNB), a public-private partnership housed at the Aspen Institute, is organizing a Venture Capital, Private Equity and Angel Investor Delegation from the Maghreb. The delegation will be in NYC January 14-15 and is looking for investment professionals to join roundtable discussions as speakers.

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Will Your Startup Get Venture Capital or IPO in 2013?

Startup Professionals Musings

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 billion from 49 listings, and represented the strongest annual period for IPOs since 2000. Yet 2013 is still projected by The Fiscal Times as a difficult IPO opportunity for startups, due to choppy markets, continuing fiscal uncertainty, and the

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Why and When to Learn to Program

Spencer Fry

I can only share with you what worked for me. Everyone learns differently. The only thing without a doubt that holds true for everyone learning to program is that you must deeply want to learn. Need to learn. If you go about passively learning then you'll get frustrated and give up as soon as it starts get tough. A few hours a week isn't going to cut it.

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Beauty Pays: Beautiful Websites (and People) Get Better Results

ConversionXL

Does beauty sell? Most people would intuitively say ‘yes’, but what evidence is there that supports the claim? In today’s article we’ll take a look at the world of beautiful people, products and design. How being beautiful has it’s upsides and sometimes, things to look out for. Welcome to the world of beautiful design, beautiful people, beautiful products, beautiful everything.

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Letter to Carmen Ortiz about Aaron Swartz

Andrew Payne

Stepping off my usual entrepreneurship topics, here’s a letter I sent to Carmen Ortiz, Stephen Heymann, and Scott Garland (the prosecutors in the Aaron Swartz case) earlier this week. I’m expecting precisely zero effect on anything here, but it captures my analysis of what happened. Apart from the sadness and tragedy, I think we all need to be very mindful of the growing gaps between technology and our laws.

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Small Business and Startups: 5 Threats to Your Online Security

crowdSPRING Blog

How often do we read about online security breaches, loss of data, or massive credit card theft? While these events typically involve larger companies or even governments, all businesses are vulnerable to fraud, theft, or other forms of malice or just plain mischief. Most small businesses assume that it is only larger companies are at risk for security breaches. but over the last several years, small businesses are increasingly the target of hackers and fraudsters.

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How to Wow Your Manager

OnlyOnce

How to Wow Your Manager. Last week, I talked about how to Wow your employees. Now I am going to discuss the converse of that – How to Wow your Manager. Why Wow your manager? Even if you are senior leader in an organization, the Wow factor is still important. What impact does a Wow have? It sends the signal that you are on top of things. Symbolism is important.

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7 Must Have Features If You Sell Products Online

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

Tweet Last year I did a lot of online shopping, more shopping than I have ever done before. I suspect if you’re a net addict as I am, you spent more online last year than ever before too. According to Comscore, over $43.2 Billion was spent online in 2012. That’s up 15% from 2011. It’s a cliché to say now that online shopping is the real deal, and not just a fad.

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A Post Startup Execs Should Forward to Your Spouse or Partner. 12 Tips for Making it Work

Both Sides of the Table

I recently wrote a post about how to manage relationships when you’re at a startup or are busy executive. It was based on an excellent book I had just read by Brad Feld & Amy Batchelor (his wife). I had images in my brain of all of the stresses I had placed on my wife in the heyday of my startups. We once took a “vacation” in Spain with Tania’s parents but we were in the midst of an M&A transaction so this photo is how my wife & her family remember me on that

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7 Social Media Tactics Your 2013 Budget Needs to Succeed

www.clickz.com

); //. Marketing News & Expert Advice. ClickZ Awards. ClickZ.asia. ClickZ Academy. Search Engine Watch. SES Events. Topics Stats & Tools Training & Education Jobs White Papers. Subscribe to Newsletters. Touch Edition. Marketing. Strategies Data-Driven Marketing Marketing Automation Marketing to Latinos Conference Call Local Retail Sports & Entertainment Politics & Advocacy Automotive CPG Financial Services Healthcare & Pharma Agency Spotlight.

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The big disruption opportunity in book publishing

deal architect

Apple says it has written $ 6.5 billion in royalty checks to iOS apps developers in the last few years. While my book had a section which shows the distribution of those checks is uneven, and this NY Times article.

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Do Job Specs Matter?

Seeing Both Sides

Today's post is brought to you by my friend, Paul Blumenfeld , a recruiter who is one of the most thoughtful people I know when it comes to hiring processes. Since the topic is so fundamental to the company-building process, I am pleased Paul agreed to share his thoughts. When my wife and I got engaged, we had barely clinked champagne glasses when a friend asked when we would be visiting Crate and Barrel to register for wedding gifts.

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The 5 Fastest Ways to Get More Referrals for Your Small Business

Duct Tape Marketing

Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is from Andy Sernovitz – Enjoy! photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc. Most small businesses will tell you their new customers come through word of mouth, but very few can tell you how those referrals happen or where they come from. But, it’s not magic and it’s not an accident.

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Clay Collins Founder Of Startup Leadbrite, Pioneer Of The Prelaunch, And Serial Entrepreneur Shares His Story

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

Tweet. Download the Text Transcript in PDF (coming soon). Subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes. Clay Collins is the founder of Leadbrite , the company behind LeadPages and LeadPlayer , two tools that are fast becoming the go-to-standards when it comes to collecting leads online with video and landing pages. This interview is epic in terms of how many things Clay talks about.

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Goodbye Jody. You Really Were Awesome

Both Sides of the Table

Jody. You’re gone too early. We still had so many more times to spend together. I loved this image I saw posted by Andy Rankin. Because this is the one word that was not in your vocabulary. And it was the first word I muttered when I heard the news tonight. I remember when we met years ago. I think Michael Kantor introduced us. You were pitching me an online business selling other people’s baby food.

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Back to Colombia: Vive La Revolución Emprendedora!

Steve Blank

My co-author and business Partner Bob Dorf spends much of his time traveling the world teaching countries and companies how to run the Lean LaunchPad program. He’s back to Bogota, Colombia this week for round two. —– Back to Colombia: Vive La Revolución Emprendedora! Lean LaunchPad Colombia starts again today in Bogota with 25 more teams of tech entrepreneurs and at 25 mentors from the country’s universities, incubators, and chambers of commerce.

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SAP cloudwashes its image

deal architect

Watching the playoffs this weekend, I chuckled when I saw SAP is the NFL’s Official Cloud Software Solutions provider. Not sure how much it cost SAP but they are clearly eager to be considered “cloudy”. Since the revenues show a.

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My simple ways to be a happier, smarter 30-something

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Do this stuff, and I guarantee you will literally be happier, smarter , more productive, live longer, and most importantly you will not feel like you’re missing out on life. Don’t eat anything that’s nasty at room temperature. It’s OK if it’s not ideal at room temperature, it just needs to be not nasty. Real ice cream is melted at room temperature, but it’s cream and sugar; not gross.

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Entrepreneurs Who Master Storytelling Win More

Startup Professionals Musings

The entrepreneur’s challenge is to effectively communicate their value proposition, not only to customers, but also to vendors, partners, investors, and their own team. Especially for technical founders, this is normally all about presenting impressive facts. But in reality facts only go so far. Stories often work better, because humans don’t always make rational decisions.