Sat.Aug 13, 2011 - Fri.Aug 19, 2011

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What Startups Can Learn About PR and Crisis Management

Both Sides of the Table

I was recently approached by Fast Company to comment on “crisis management&# at startups in the wake of the Airbnb “ranksackgate&# story. I agreed to do the interview because the story was about what other companies can learn rather than about airbnb in particular. What are the teachable moments? The short article in Fast Company is here if you’d like to read it.

PR 329
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Why Steve Jobs Is Wrong

Growthink Blog

I recently read the following quote from Apple CEO Steve Jobs: "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new." Job's statement reminds me of a similar statement made by Henry Ford many decades before, which was: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.

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Support an Entrepreneur: Buy Local Technology

ReadWriteStart

There was a wonderful conversation two weeks ago on the NY Times' Room for Debate around " Can New York Rival Silicon Valley." As someone who spent two years in 2003 and 2004 in NYC selling technology to Wall St trading firms and having my friends and clients wonder what this whole startup thing was about and why I was "wasting" my career doing this after doing a fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University it is great to see how vibrant the NY Startup community has become.

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People First

OnlyOnce

People First. I do not think it’s telling that my fourth post in this series of posts on Return Path’s core values ( kickoff post , tag cloud ) is something called People First. Ok, it probably should have been the first post in the series. To be fair, it is the first value on our list, but for whatever reason, the value about Ownership was top of mind when I decided to create this series.

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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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Why You Need to Take 50 Coffee Meetings

Both Sides of the Table

50 coffee meetings. It should stick in your head as a metaphor for networking. For getting outside of your comfort zone. For starting relationships today that won’t pay off for a year. It’s the entrepreneur’s equivalent of “ 10,000 hours.&#. Anybody who has spent any time with me in person will be tired of this advice because I give it so frequently.

Dividend 410
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Landing A Gig at a VC Firm

Babbling VC

This is once again more of a public service announcement to help out those trying to "break" into a VC firm. I am not addressing principle, junior partner or partner level positions with this post. There is a completely different path to those positions. What I am addressing here are internships, analyst and maybe even investment manager positions. .

More Trending

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SaaS-Fest

deal architect

Trivia: did you know Munich’s Oktoberfest actually starts in the middle of September? Oh well, the last week of August is shaping up as SaaS-Fest in San Francisco. Courtesy of Marc Benioff’s hospitality at his Dreamforce conference, a number of.

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PicPredict app in AppStore now!

Sophia Perl of Wisdom

A labor of love has finally come to fruition! From start to end, I developed PicPredict , your photo fortune teller. It’s an iPhone app where you can select a photo on your phone, add your own fortunes, then shake for your magical psychic answer. Voila! I had this idea of creating a fortune teller app with a cartoon character and funny fortune sayings.

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Ten Tenets To Live By When Starting a Business

Startup Professionals Musings

If you expect to succeed in the thrill-a-minute, roller coaster ride of a startup, let me assure you it takes more than a good idea, a rich uncle, and luck. In fact, the idea is often the least important part of the equation. Investors tell me that they look at the people first, the business plan second, and only then at the idea. If you want some tips to beat the insurmountable odds, take a look at the following concepts, adapted from Richard C.

Flash 267
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[Event][Singapore] Winner of Martell VSOP The Ultimate Start-up Space 2011 – Preparazzi

YoungUpstarts

After months of intense competition, Preparazzi has emerged as the winner of ‘ Martell V.S.O.P The Ultimate Start-up Space ’ 2011 competition. The brainchild of Jeremy Nguee, an inspiring chef and businessman who has spent the past two years getting the business up and running, Preparazzi is a meal preparation outfit that plans, cooks and delivers customized, healthy meals for busy people with sophisticated tastes who look to enjoy meals in the comforts of home.

Singapore 186
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Googles Motorola Motion

deal architect

One of the chapters in my next book is on how attorneys have in some respects become more important than engineers in the tech industry. Couple of extracts: “If there is a poster child for a regulatory agency which is.

Engineer 231
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The Four Steps to the Epiphany is Now in Russian

Steve Blank

The Four Steps to the Epiphany ( ?????? ???? ? ???????? ) is now available in Russian. Thanks to Denis Dovgopoliy for making the Russian version happen. It joins the French version: Les quatre étapes vers l’épiphanie. and the Japanese version ???????????? [???????????. Now in Japanese. Pay It Forward. What’s pretty remarkable is these translations are not from a commercial publisher, but rather a labor of entrepreneurial love.

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10 Top Content Marketing Tips for Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

These days every new entrepreneur understands that an innovative product or service is necessary, but not sufficient, to start a business. You have to build a web presence with marketing content to get visibility above the 50 million other new websites created every year, and attract the customers you need. But most entrepreneurs don’t know where to start.

Widget 256
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MakeAffinity – Making Toys For The New Digital Age

YoungUpstarts

What happens when toy robots make sweet mechanical love to smartphone devices? You get something along the lines of Kleekbots , a website that lets owners of LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics kit view and control their robot with their iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, iPad and other mobile devices instantly. Developed by Singapore-based toy company MakeAffinity , the site also allows Mindstorms owners to share control of their robots with friends through email.

Singapore 184
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More New Florence

deal architect

on the innovation blog GPS –beyond satellites SAP in the Youtube era @WalmartLabs This drone is also a hacker and a poser.

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Do You Know These SEO Social Secrets?

Rembrandt Communications

Recently, I focused on how it’s important to provide value to your customers in your search engine optimization (SEO) copywriting efforts. You can ask your customers what they want via surveys to get some good information, but there is also another way to get information from your customers. Uncover SEO Secrets with These 3 Social [.].

SEO 160
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Driving Your Startup to Profitability is Job One

Startup Professionals Musings

A question that I often hear debated these days is whether a new startup should focus on growth or profits. First of all, the glory days of “dot.coms” are gone, when investors “didn’t care” about profitability, and all the money went to growth. In the long run, everyone wants both profitability and growth, but the question is still which comes first.

Startup 243
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WordWit – A Mobile Game App That Teaches You Proper English

YoungUpstarts

There are mobile reference apps, and there are mobile game apps. What if there was an app that combined both? Here’s one that does – WordWit from Ballpoint, Inc. allows you to learn (proper) English and have fun while you’re at it. The app pairs often misused words – think ‘principal’ and ‘principle’, or ‘there’ and ‘their’ – and then will explains them clearly, as well as provide entertaining examples from literature

Mobile 182
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7 Reasons Why Many Smart People Fail to Lead

Life Beyond Code

You have seen these people – the best of the best in the lot. They get promoted to become the leaders and all hell breaks loose. They are not only frustrated but they will also royally frustrate their followers. Here are seven reasons why this might be happening: [ Note : Replace "You" with the appropriate person as applicable]. 1. The ingredients and the recipe for future success is different.

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Proof That Your Audience Is Online

VC Cafe

Let me guess -- you are reading this article because you doubt your audience is online? Welcome to the club! Many marketers and business owners share your hesitation and dip their toes into the waters of inbound marketing with caution. But the truth is, your business needs to transform in order to match the needs of a new marketplace. Today, we tap into online social networks to search for product recommendations, ask for reviews, and share experiences.

Audience 160
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How to Get Over Mourning Your Startup Demise

Startup Professionals Musings

Your startup is gone, it’s never coming back, and you are in mourning. An entrepreneur whose business fails grieves similarly to anyone who has lost a loved one. The pain of losing a business is not only about a significant loss of income, but can send an entire identity into turmoil. Most entrepreneurs define themselves by their business projects. They calibrate self-worth by what they accomplish or do not accomplish.

Startup 233
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20 Hidden Marketing Techniques That Make Consumers Spend More

YoungUpstarts

It’s no secret that certain marketing tricks exist to help separate you from more of your money. Most people know about strategic item placement, music to fit your shopping mood, and other tricks of the trade, but are you sharp enough to spot them all? Take a look at these 20 hidden marketing techniques designed to make you spend more, and be prepared next time you shop. 1.

Marketing 176
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The Best iPhone Photo App – 360 Panorama – Is Free. For Now.

Feld Thoughts

For a limited time, Occipital’s Panorama 360 is free. If you don’t know why this is such an awesome app, watch the short video demonstration below. We closed our investment in Occipital last week and I wrote about it in the post titled The World Is Just A Bunch Of Pixels. The Occipital gang is going to create a bunch of amazing stuff and now’s your chance to get on board with a one minute iPhone download.

Video 143
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What Skills Every New Internet Entrepreneur Needs

ReadWriteStart

I had lunch with one of my favorite Internet entrepreneurs today, Mark Sawyier , the CEO of Off Campus Media. The company provides college students with apartment listings near their schools, and what started out as an idea five years ago is now a multi-million dollar business. Sawyier came to this business without any formal training in computer science, business, management, or other technology training, yet he is a natural when it comes to running a modern-day Internet business.

Internet 142
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Human Consultants in Business are a Dying Breed

Startup Professionals Musings

Let’s face it, consultants have a bad image. Businesses want experienced people who get their hands dirty, rather than experts who give presentations, make recommendations, and disappear. Even consultants don’t like their job, since they don’t often get to see results, and too much of their time is spent looking for the next gig. The Internet has changed the world.

Semantic 232
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[Event][Hong Kong] 2nd Cloud Computing World Forum Asia 2011

YoungUpstarts

Taking place on November 30 to December 1, 2011 at The Mira, Hong Kong, the 2nd Cloud Computing World Forum Asia will feature all of the key players within the cloud computing and SaaS market providing an introduction, discussion and look into the future for the ICT industry. The free-to-attend event is perfect for professionals to learn and discuss the future development and integration of cloud and SaaS services and products.

Asia 170
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Kindlegraph My Books

Feld Thoughts

I’ve always loved getting books signed by the author. As an author of two books, it makes me smile a huge smile when someone asks me to sign a copy of my book for them. With Kindlegraph , I can finally sign my Kindle books. I met the founder, Evan Jacobs, at Glue a few months ago. He had just started putting books up on it and I immediately told him that I was game to put Do More Faster up.

Founder 136
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The value of a CFA

David Teten

We took our interns out for dinner last night and one of the topics we discussed was their career planning. Walking to work today, I saw the woman below at 38th & Broadway. According to her T-shirt, “I survived the CFA exam.

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8 Ways Starting a Business Helps Your Job Search

Startup Professionals Musings

If you are one of the many people who lost your job during the recent depression, you should be working on starting your own business, in parallel with looking for that ideal replacement 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 a full-time job, never had the time to consider a startup.

Search 230
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[Singapore][Conference] 2nd Annual Strategic Online PR & Media Relations Forum 2011

YoungUpstarts

The 2nd Annual Strategic Online PR & Media Relations Forum 2011 , organized by T.U.N. International , is scheduled to take place in Singapore September 13-16, 2011, after its successful debut the previous year. For this year, the conference is themed around “Learning the Art of Fortifying your Corporate Reputation in the Digital Realm&# , and will focus on how brands and corporations can participate in genuine and transparent engagement through online platforms, especially in a time wh

Singapore 167
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Help Your Shoulder Feel Better

Feld Thoughts

Today on Brad Feld’s Amazing Deals , we are featuring the Urban Sherpa Strap from Go Gaga. Sherpa Straps distribute the weight from laptop bags, gym bags, and briefcases that take straps, across your back and shoulders. I’ve been using the Sherpa Strap for a while – it’s dynamite. With today’s deal, you can get the strap and free shipping for $19, a discount of 50%.

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Startup Camp Graduates Ten New Ventures Today in Silicon Valley

ReadWriteStart

Both ReadWriteWeb COO Sean Ammirati and I are active in our respective communities' entrepreneur mentoring programs, and we always enjoy seeing how other localities help nurture their budding startups. Probably nowhere else in the world is the idea of a startup happy place more entrenched than in Silicon Valley, where one electrical engineering professor, Frederick Terman, spawned an entire culture of new ventures back in the 1950s.

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Audiences, Fanbases and Communities: Why I probably wouldn't sublet a room to a fellow blog commenter

This is going to be BIG.

I had a great breakfast this morning with Andrew Parker , and we talked about a range of things, including how to describe big groups of people who consume content and services. People use the term "communities" a lot, and in many ways, overuse it--describing groups that don't feature any of the key attributes of a real community. Various descriptions of community include: "shares some common values".

Audience 102
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LinkedIn Mobile Apps Redesigned; Includes Groups

YoungUpstarts

Entrepreneurs and small business owners in the know have been quietly leveraging professional online social network LinkedIn to keep in contact with business contacts and mine potential sales leads to good effect. I’ve been using and advocating LinkedIn since 2008, and I find it a great way to plug yourself into the relevant industry discussions occurring all the time between thought leaders and subject matter experts.

Mobile 154
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5 Business Reasons to Be on Google+

Up and Running

Early adopters are showing enough cautious optimism that it’s time you become aware of what all the hype is about with Google +, that’s if you aren’t already “building circles” and “hanging out.”. If you think “Why? It’s less than a month old. How big can it be?”. You need to know that in its tiny life span it has already exceeded 20 million users (something that took both Facebook & Twitter 3 years to do).

B2B 97
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12 Questions: Meet Grace Conlon (USA)

crowdSPRING Blog

In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.

Utah 99