Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according the Crunchbase. The cost of entry for tech startups continues to go down. Many have disappeared, and others have forgotten how to be agile and innovative.

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Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Startup 314

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

After many years in business, working in large companies as well as startups, I’m no longer surprised at why mature and successful companies struggle with introducing innovative new ventures as the market and environment changes. Your challenge is to balance the challenge of providing a stable return today, with meeting future customer value.

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Advisory Board Incubator Dilution Agile 359

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2016

Focus” is the key to success in a startup, and a minimum viable product (MVP) that does a few things better than anyone else will get more attention quicker from your market. Every startup team needs a “product owner” role who is not an engineer or coder to collect from customers, prioritize and document required features.

Product 120

Product Coder Dilution Agile 120

YoungUpstarts

MAY 9, 2017

Lean is a methodology that can be applied to all disciplines of knowledge work to increase business efficiency, agility, and visibility. Research shows that 95% of organizations do not start as Lean organizations – they implement Lean after identifying a need for better agility, visibility, and efficiency. Lean Transformations.

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Lean Agile Technical Review Dilution 124

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

If you’re an early employee at a startup, one day you will wake up to find that what you worked on 24/7 for the last year is no longer the most important thing – you’re no longer the most important employee, and process, meetings, paperwork and managers and bosses have shown up. I know a change is going to come. That doesn’t scale.”

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Part-Time VPE Employee Cofounder Hiring 334

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. The cost of entry for tech startups continues to go down. Super Angels have greater scope to match talent with a startup.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

The Next Web

JANUARY 24, 2014

As a startup hub, Amsterdam grabs the same amount of attention as the girl with braces at the high school dance. So is the Dutch tech startup story sold short? I believe it is our excessive urge to ‘act normal’ and disdain of ‘networking’ that dilutes our social glue. Robert Verwaayen is a Dutch venture capitalist.

Netherlands 143

Netherlands Technical Review Stock Silicon Valley 143

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 5, 2010

I have personally sold many copies of his book, and continue to recommend it as one of the most important books a startup founder can read. Brant and Patrick undertook a difficult challenge: to provide a generally accessible introduction to Customer Development, without diluting its impact or dumbing-down its principles.

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Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 166

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2019

A coaching culture thrives on agility and resilience. People need coaching to weather setbacks and surprises which can dilute their confidence, and take away their ability to experience their full potential. They need to possess uncommon empathy and compassion for others, in order to really help them.

Dilution 229

Dilution Agile Developer Demand 229

Agile VC

OCTOBER 23, 2012

The same is not true for venture capital of course, since the underlying startups VCs invest in aren’t publicly selling their equity. Startup outcomes are a power law distribution rather than a standard distribution. Even if you’re top decile for your vintage year (e.g.

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LP Accredited Investor Carried Interest Portfolio 176

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

In other words, they are facing conditions of extreme uncertainty, just like startups. But, as any startup can tell you, this opens up a tremendous set of opportunities for the rest of us. And as everyone’s attention starts to focus on those same indicators, their value is being diluted. What is the right revenue model?

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San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 15, 2009

Of all the tactics I have advocated as part of the lean startup , none has provoked as many extreme reactions as continuous deployment , a process that allows companies to release software in minutes instead of days, weeks, or months. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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Continuous Deployment Software Review San Francisco Lean 167

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Every time you listen to customers, you fear diluting your vision. Every time you listen to customers, you fear diluting your vision. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. That’s natural.

Advisory Board 151

Advisory Board Customer San Francisco Lean 151

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Merrill, Pickard, Anderson & Eyre [Silicon Valley] –> Itself an outgrowth of the venture investing arm of the original Bank of America (based in SF), Merrill Pickard backed many startups that ultimately went public. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. July 11, 2012. And Why 20%?

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Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Across both the startups I’ve personally been involved in (PayPal and LinkedIn) and the startups in which I’ve been an investor, I’ve seen a broad range of co-founder equity splits. As a result, one of the trickier things co-founders tackle is determining the equity split amongst the founding group of individuals.

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Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 255

blog.simeonov.com

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

I have been thinking a lot recently about how to apply agile development principles to investing and key aspects of startup development such as team building. Both stem from the agile principle of delaying decisions until the last responsible moment. The first post is about agile startup fundraising. Board member.

Founder 44

Founder Vesting Agile Startup 44

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Across both the startups I’ve personally been involved in (PayPal and LinkedIn) and the startups in which I’ve been an investor, I’ve seen a broad range of co-founder equity splits. As a result, one of the trickier things co-founders tackle is determining the equity split amongst the founding group of individuals.

Cofounder 173

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 173

ConversionXL

JANUARY 14, 2020

The answer is given by user intent: If your existing pages already target a clear intent, and the new feature would dilute it, create a new page for it. Unless you’re a small, agile startup, shipping new features isn’t as simple as it sounds. If you’ve never heard the term scrum or agile before, you’re behind.

SEO 159

SEO Framework SCRUM Search 159

Agile VC

MAY 9, 2014

Some context… like many startups, the founders of Alibaba still own substantial stakes in the company and believe it’s in the company’s best interests for them to retain an outsized influence in the company’s governance longer term. Companies like Ford and the New York Times Co.

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Government Silicon Valley China Cofounder 153

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2018

A brand identity is the most effective way any organization (startups, small businesses, agencies, nonprofits, or others) can gain a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace. If your brand tries to be too many things at once, the message becomes scattered and the brand grows diluted. A brand is more than logo design.

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Marketing Charlotte Naming Design 162