Steve Blank

JANUARY 19, 2011

Over the last 40 years the U.S. has evolved an entrepreneurial ecosystem with two of the most unlikely partners – venture capital investors and technology entrepreneurs. This alliance has led to an explosion of technology innovation, scalable startups and job creation. Tied at the hip, VC’s and entrepreneurs take large risks together. VC’s invest in startups with minimal tangible assets and no certainty about the product’s viability, market size or customer adoption.

Silicon Valley 235

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Software Review Technical Review 235

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. I have been through many months with them but because of lack of funds, I spent lot of time doing non-technical work for first 4-5 months, spending time with them on putting pitches for investors, cash flows, budgets, writing business plans, produ

CTO 167

CTO CTO Hire Equity Vesting 167

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 18, 2011

Right now there are a lot of reports about large companies in the Valley not being able to find the talent they need. There are also a lot of reports about companies bending over backwards financially to retain the people they have. But what I found working for a large Valley corporate in the last few years is that it is not hard to find talent. The real problem is that companies are not ready for new talent.

Europe 139

Europe India Hiring Engineer 139

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 18, 2011

(One of the common questions I hear is how to reconcile design and user experience (UX) methods with the Lean Startup. To answer, I asked one of my favorite designers to write a case study illustrating the way they work, taking us step-by-step through a real life redesign. This is something of an IMVU reunion. The attendees at sllconf 2010 were wowed by Food on the Table's presentation.

Design 167

Design Lean Metrics Silicon Valley 167

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

crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 19, 2011

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!

Social Media 97

Social Media Small Business Design Media 97

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. I have been through many months with them but because of lack of funds, I spent lot of time doing non-technical work for first 4-5 months, spending time with them on putting pitches for investors, cash flows, budgets, writing business plans, produ

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire Equity Vesting 150

Up and Running

JANUARY 19, 2011

I posted here yesterday something that worries me about social media marketing, those fake word of mouth tactics. Writing that reminded me about the good and a little bit bad in the sweeping change of the new business landscape that social media represents. I’ve been in the expert business for 40 years. I was a journalist, then a business journalist, then a consultant, a software developer and publisher, and now a blogger.

Social Media 65

Social Media Software Developers Software Development Media 65

crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 21, 2011

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.

Serbia 94

Serbia Design Community Flash 94

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Quora Home About Login Sign Up Add Question Before adding a question, search for it above. If you can't find what you are looking for, hit enter or click "Add Question" again. Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Team Configuration 500 Startups Guerilla Marketing Organizations Entrepreneurship Startup Founders & Entrepreneurs Startups Startup Incubators and Seed Programs Seedcamp Y Combinator TechStars Lean Startups What is the perfect startup team?

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

JANUARY 20, 2011

Living in Brisbane last week was a little bit different. I’m not entirely sure what the news coverage was like overseas, however I do know many of my readers aware that we have had a little flooding problem in my city, the third largest in Australia. Needless to say it was, and still is huge news, and it caused major disruption to the lives of people in my home town.

Flash 97

Flash Technical Review Australia Programming 97

Up and Running

JANUARY 19, 2011

Tweet I posted here yesterday something that worries me about social media marketing, those fake word of mouth tactics. Writing that reminded me about the good and a little bit bad in the sweeping change of the new business landscape that social media represents. I’ve been in the expert business for 40 years. I was a journalist, then a business journalist, then a consultant, a software developer and publisher, and now a blogger.

Social Media 60

Social Media Software Developers Software Development Media 60

Ben's Blog

JANUARY 19, 2011

Sittin’ up drunk shuffling thoughts. Got paper but I’m lost. Losing focus what a n#%$a still hustin’ for? My seed is straight the family’s settled. Idle time get the man in trouble. —Nas, Suicide Bounce. One of the most difficult decisions that a CEO ever makes is whether or not to sell her company. Logically, determining whether selling a company will be better in the long term than continuing to run it stand-alone involves a huge number of factors, most of which are speculative or unknown.

Acquisition 78

Acquisition Technical Review Intellectual Property Silicon Valley 78

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Quora Home About Login Sign Up Add Question Before adding a question, search for it above. If you can't find what you are looking for, hit enter or click "Add Question" again. Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Non-Technical Co-Founders Co-Founders Technical Co-founders Finding Co-Founders Startups & "How Important Are Ideas?

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

The Entrepreneurial Mind

JANUARY 18, 2011

Normal. 0. false. false. false. EN-US. X-NONE. X-NONE. MicrosoftInternetExplorer4. Lee Rainie, Director of Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project , gave an intriguing talk on their research into the current use of the Internet in the US at our USASBE conference this past week. The trends they are finding on the use of wireless, social networking, the types of technology we are using to access information, and the types of information we are seeking is really eye-opening.

Technical Review 58

Technical Review Internet Social Network Conversion 58

Up and Running

JANUARY 20, 2011

Tweet While speaking at Entrepreneur magazine’s Growth Conference in Atlanta this week, I spoke to small business owners in a talk I’m calling 3 Weeks to Startup after the book that I co-authored. I went over the basic assumptions behind starting a business in three weeks – that it’s a tight schedule, and very quick, but doable with tools available online today – and I shared some of my favorite common startup mistakes to avoid.

Startup 61

Startup Technical Review Atlanta Cofounder 61

deal architect

JANUARY 15, 2011

It is with sadness that I heard this week of the untimely passing of Joe Vales. As Phil Fersht describes he was a powerhouse in outsourcing circles. But I will especially miss him for our personal relationship. Our paths did.

246

246

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Startup Advice: When to Use a Consulting CTO There are not many to be found. He or she might call himself a “consulting CTO,&# “freelance CTO,&# “on-demand CTO,&# “CTO on call,&# “CTO for hire,&# or just a “technology strategy advisor.&# Most likely, this is a person who is a serial entrepreneur and was the chief technology officer for two or more web startups.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2011

Entrepreneurs are a notoriously stubborn (some say confident) group of people, so I see many of them making the same mistakes that predecessors have made. Thus I’m convinced that it’s useful for all of you to step back from time to time, and listen to some sage advice from people who have been there and enjoyed success. Recently, as I was perusing a new book by Robert Jordan, titled “ How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights ” I saw some wisdom and inspiration that made sense.

Entrepreneur 260

Entrepreneur Jordan Green Hiring 260

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 17, 2011

Finding and agreeing upon a worthy name is always a struggle, especially if you have co-founders. This is one of those emotional decisions where it’s not okay to agree to disagree. There’s a lot of advice on the Internet about naming companies; see this article from OnStartups.com for a particularly good, detailed checklist. Here’s a few additional things I’ve found useful.

Naming 247

Naming Cofounder Startup Search 247

deal architect

JANUARY 20, 2011

“Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!” tweeted Eric Schmidt as Google announced he would move up to Executive Chairman. Lost in that bombshell was a move by Ray Lane, the incoming Non-Executive Chairman at HP to add some exceptional talent.

239

239

blogs.computerworlduk.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Slideshows White Papers Videos Newsletters Topics Open Source Mobile & Wireless Networking Public Sector Operating Systems Outsourcing Business Intelligence Antivirus Microsoft Apple All Topics News In Depth IT Management IT Business Security Applications Infrastructure Cloud Computing Professional Resources Career Development How-Tos Advice White Papers IT Jobs Solution Centres Blogs Most Popular );//]]> Home Blogs Blogs Topics Open Source Public Sector Security Applications Windows Apple Our A

Web 51

Web Open Source Architecture Internet 51

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2011

I’ve long believed that entrepreneurs are different. We all know successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of school, and people with high IQs that cannot manage a business. I used to call this “street smarts,” but recently I found a better explanation, called multiple intelligences. Successful entrepreneurs always seem to have several good intelligences.

Entrepreneur 252

Entrepreneur Business Plan Developer Design 252

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

Creativity. I’ve always believed it’s been one of the most important attributes of business success yet something very few business leaders talk about. So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A slightly shorter version of this post originally appeared on TechCrunch ). As a practitioner of creativity rather than as an instructor of it I’m certain that there are many ways to get the creative juices flowing and how to release more creativit

Technical Review 356

Technical Review Framework Audience Media 356

deal architect

JANUARY 20, 2011

In the investment world there is a clear demarcation between sell-side and buy-side analysts. Been wondering whether the tech world needs something similar as I read various industry research and have conversations with several technology advisers. Among the research I.

Conversion 231

Conversion Technology 231

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Quora Home About Login Sign Up Add Question Before adding a question, search for it above. If you can't find what you are looking for, hit enter or click "Add Question" again. Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Venture Capital Venture Capital Term Sheets Startups Term Sheets What are examples of good startup term sheets?

Term Sheet 41

Term Sheet Startup Angel Investor Wiki 41

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2011

Startups and entrepreneurs are drowning in the information overload, where the volume of data created is like a new Library of Congress every 15 minutes. That creates a huge gap between data and meaning, and makes quick decisions and action ever more difficult. We all need to take a little more time to think. On the other end of the spectrum, some people “over-think” things to the point of inaction.

Entrepreneur 248

Entrepreneur Demand Technology Internet 248

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 19, 2011

When I asked for recommendations a couple of weeks ago for sites to feature in our "Never Mind the Valley" series, I was overwhelmed with the response. It's quite encouraging, in light of all the reports of global recessions, slumps, and downturns, to hear from so many people saying that their community is a thriving site for entrepreneurship. You can still send me your recommendations, and I'll be working my way through them in the coming weeks and months.

Nashville 161

Nashville Ruby Seed Stage Incubator 161

deal architect

JANUARY 16, 2011

on the New Florence innovation blog The improving ROI around LED lighting The Mercedes SLS AMG E-cell Bluetooth and Barbecue IBM’s annual “Next Five in Five”

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199

Genuine VC

JANUARY 17, 2011

Last summer, I along with my partners announced that we were forming a new micro venture capital firm. At that point, Rob Go, Lee Hower, and I possessed a shared vision and a newly minted name, but were still in the process of forming our approach. Now six months later, we’re ready to lift the covers on what we’re doing (although there have been a few previews ).

Seed Stage 125

Seed Stage Boston Early Stage New York 125

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2011

With the advent of social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, Internet usage has totally morphed, from a serious business medium, to a social and fun medium that still means business. Regular people now build business applications with “mashup” technology, rather than hiring programmers. I’m a technology follower from the early days of the Internet, so a couple of years ago I decided to dive into this new world and check it out (who even heard of blogging or mashups ten years

Social Network 239

Social Network Networking Naming California 239

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 20, 2011

Suddenly the VC/entrepreneur meme for Q1-2011 is “The Quora for X.&# Here are two examples from the past few days: Google Ventures Leads $ 600K Investment In LawPivot, A Quora For Startup Legal Advice. Hipster Is Quora Plus Location – Or Q&A For Where You Are. Lest you think this is a TechCrunch phenomenon, I’ve received a half dozen emails in the last week pitching companies as “Quora for X&# or some derivative of this (often “The Quora for X&# ).

Vertical 134

Vertical SEC Email Entrepreneur 134

deal architect

JANUARY 20, 2011

Remember the IBM of old? Homogenous corporate culture, even down to dress code.

PR 218

PR 218

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 17, 2011

Debates over the importance of naming your startup have resurfaced recently with news of a stealthy startup called Hipster. The company is in private alpha, and while details are scarce as to what Hipster is , folks seem to have plenty to say about the startup's name. Mashable's Brenna Ehrlich asks "Should you name your startup after a meme?" And Techcrunch's Alexis Tsotsis asks the question "Is naming your startup 'Hipster' genius or terrible?".

Naming 126

Naming Startup Matching Advertising 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2011

We’ve all heard the old joke “In a bacon-and-egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.” This quote epitomizes the true essence of commitment. We all know at least one self-professed entrepreneur who claims to committed, but seems to treat it like a part-time hobby, won’t put any personal skin in the game, and is quick to give up when things are tough.

Entrepreneur 237

Entrepreneur Leadership Startup 237

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 17, 2011

After writing Do More Faster with David Cohen, I have deep appreciation for the effort involved in writing a book. After reading a bunch of entrepreneurship books, I’ve decided there are three categories: (a) autobiographies, (b) consultant roadmaps, and (c) practitioner stories. I like the practitioner stories best, followed closely by autobiographies.

LP 129

LP DC Startup Washington 129

Rembrandt Communications

JANUARY 17, 2011

Is your site optimized for the search engines? If not, does one of these statements sound familiar? • I don’t need SEO. • It’s too expensive. • I was ripped off by SEO in the past. Well, here’s the cold hard truth about SEO: You need search engine optimization to compete. What happens right now when potential customers [.].

SEO 100

SEO Engineer Search Customer 100