A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 12, 2010

Software patents are especially useless for small, bootstrapped startups. It should be part of your business plan that other people will copy you. Except in certain industries (e.g. food, drug, medical), I'm unaware of companies who stave off quality competitors through patent holdings. We're better at SEO and social media.

Intellectual Property 319

Intellectual Property Bootstrapping Software Review Open Source 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

To keep you out of this statistic, I recommend the following steps to all aspiring business owners as they step into this new and exciting world of managing your own business: Solidify your funding plan before you start spending. Do a written business plan to validate your thinking.

Intellectual Property 245

Intellectual Property Social Media Angel Investor Metrics 245

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

In my view, the very fact that they feel that the technical development of a web startup is only worth a couple percent speaks volumes. These “startups” are almost always mostly-non-technical founders offering 1-2% premoney for a “lead developer” position. That’s a pretty common experience.

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Personalize a simple web site. The net is that if I see a website business plan today with a projected development cost greater than $200K, I suspect the founder must be including some fancy perks, or they don’t understand the market dynamics of e-commerce today. Life is more fun that way. Grab your shopping basket.

Cost 220

Cost Startup Hosting Bootstrapping 220

The Next Web

JULY 20, 2013

They speak about how they love to help entrepreneurs build successful companies, yet when I ask them to give me feedback on my business plan or idea, they usually don’t even bother writing me back. Prior to Credo, Andrej worked at an early growth fund Benson Oak, the first backer of AVG Technologies . VCs are arrogant. VCs are cowards.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Mongolia Technical Cofounder Entrepreneur 124

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 7, 2012

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! If your small business or startup sends email newsletters or other email marketing campaigns, what is the best time of day to send those emails? VentureBeat – [link].

Social Media 104

Social Media Small Business Design Media 104

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

While you are working away on your business plan, looking for ways to raise capital, finding the right people to hire, etc., Bootstrapping can be fun, you get to iterate quickly, turn on dimes, invent new features on the fly. We should have slowed down just a tad to plan a few steps further out when naming things. “On

Cofounder 164

Cofounder Founder Startup Bootstrapping 164

The Next Web

DECEMBER 30, 2012

When our users do business with each other, we take a fee as facilitator. We’ve learned through experience that because web apps are becoming cheaper to build, tools will eventually become free if there are other ways to monetize them rather than charging directly for them.

Business Model 133

Business Model Technical Review Advertising B2C 133

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

OSEO can be involved during very early stage activities, such as business plan creation and feasibility studies. All those struggling, bootstrapping, Ramen-eating founders? Web and mobile. OSEO validation in turn makes early-stage startups eligible for a variety of support services and funding options. E and more).

France 163

France Technical Review Incubator Early Stage 163

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2020

Write a Business Plan. The first thing to do for any entrepreneur, will be to begin with a solid plan for business. This crucial component of your business campaign provides direction and rhythm to your efforts. Your plans can be broad or extremely specific, formal or whimsical whatever you feel comfortable with.

LLC 164

LLC Finance Business Plan Hiring 164

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

Bootstrapping is a type of self-funding where the business funds itself. The business will continue to throw off cash as it grows and this, in turn, helps the company grow even further. One owner got the funding by bootstrapping his business. These are just a few of the major ways to fund a small business.

Small Business 100

Small Business Angel Investor Bootstrapping SBA 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2012

Establishing the legal structure for your business, registering trademarks, filing copyrights and patents, and drafting partnership agreements used to require extensive attorney fees and ongoing consultation. I now see and believe business plans that budget $1K for all this, versus a previous $20K or more. Facilities and staff.

Cost 255

Cost Burn Rate SEM Startup 255

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2013

Raise your first round of money, or bootstrap. There are two ways to start a tech business. You either do it on your own, taking all risks and responsibility yourself (“bootstrapping”), or you find investors that believe in your company.

Management 120

Management Cofounder Startup Bootstrapping 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Establishing the legal structure for your business, registering trademarks, filing copyrights and patents, and drafting partnership agreements used to require extensive attorney fees and ongoing consultation. I now see and believe business plans that budget $1K for all this, versus a previous $20K or more. Facilities and staff.

Entrepreneur 235

Entrepreneur Burn Rate SEM Social Network 235

Up and Running

APRIL 24, 2018

Your health startup business plan should be a tool to guide your growth. If you’ve never written a business plan before, take a look at these sample medical startup business plans. At first, you need to focus on developing your business model and validating it. Have a comprehensive growth strategy.

SBIR 73

SBIR Startup Artificial Inteligence Intellectual Property 73

Gust

JUNE 10, 2012

Establishing the legal structure for your business, registering trademarks, filing copyrights and patents, and drafting partnership agreements used to require extensive attorney fees and ongoing consultation. I now see and believe business plans that budget $1K for all this, versus a previous $20K or more. Facilities and staff.

Cost 139

Cost Burn Rate SEM Startup 139

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 10, 2010

If there's a business plan less likely to succeed than a restaurant , this has to be it. At the same time, they also run television ads (with celebrities), are expert at SEO and AdWords, built a user-friendly web site, and do tech support for consumers. Maybe it's the "go big or go home" mentality? A marketplace is born.

Business Model 310

Business Model Finder SEO Bootstrapping 310

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

Certainly venture-backed startups don’t have this luxury – every business plan has a model in it. This model of joint accountability is at the heart of the lean startup, and is just as applicable to venture-backed, bootstrapped, and enterprise startups. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Up and Running

MAY 22, 2017

That stick-to-it attitude comes with a catch—you may also have a hard time knowing when to call it quits on a failed business venture. Balance your never-give-up mindset with your business-savvy side. Stick to your original business plan. There are tons of resources to help you launch a bootstrapped business.

Due Diligence 113

Due Diligence eCommerce Cofounder Bootstrapping 113

Start Up Blog

AUGUST 1, 2010

Maybe we ought implement Y now and skip X altogether?

Bootstrapping 59

Bootstrapping Advertising Leadership Internet 59

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2010

Establishing the legal structure for your business, registering trademarks, filing copyrights and patents, and drafting partnership agreements used to require extensive attorney fees and ongoing consultation. I now see and believe business plans that budget $1K for all this, versus a previous $20K or more. Facilities and staff.

Burn Rate 125

Burn Rate SEM Social Network Angel Investor 125

viniciusvacanti.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

Big Picture Overview of All the Components of a Web Service [To Come] More to Come… Cliff Dailey This is a great post. I currently just started a tech blog to cover under the radar, bootstrapped startups and this is great advice for the startups I cover and my readers. I plan on bootstrapping my upcoming startup.

Cofounder 43

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Ruby 43

Tim Keane

MARCH 4, 2011

 After a half hour of web searching I found Khosla Ventures investing in essentially the same thing - to the tune of $10MM or so.   Posted at 06:03 AM in Bootstrapping | Permalink.  After a half hour of web searching I found Khosla Ventures investing in essentially the same thing - to the tune of $10MM or so.

Wisconsin 60

Wisconsin Bootstrapping Angel Investor Startup 60

The Entrepreneurial Mind

JUNE 29, 2011

version of my syllabus for my planning class that has become largely centered around the Business Model Generation framework. My class no longer looks like a traditional old business planning class. Instead, students learn to develop a business model and pivot until the cows come home. I am refining the 3.0

Business Model 65

Business Model Framework Canada Bootstrapping 65

Up and Running

APRIL 1, 2010

As I delve into my business plan marathon season, and the angel investment group I’m in starts looking in earnest at a flock of new companies, I find myself constantly bumping into several very common myths. Product businesses usually can. Some web service businesses can. But a lot of businesses can’t.

Dividend 60

Dividend Exit Strategy Startup Angel Investor 60

Up and Running

DECEMBER 29, 2015

In an earlier post here on Bplans, I suggested that investors offer a useful filtering process for businesses: The investment process works as a filter, sorting business plans, pushing some to the top and others out of the way. If they’d edited their business plan better, or made it longer, or shorter, or added more appendices.

Bootstrapping 92

Bootstrapping Intellectual Property Venture Capital Angel Investor 92

www.mint.com

MARCH 9, 2010

However, a perfectly acceptable—and perhaps even better—answer is that there are no investors other than the founders, and the plan is to bootstrap the company as long as possible. Guy Kawasaki is the co-founder of Alltop.com , an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web. a “magazine rack&# of web articles.

Software Review 68

Software Review Startup Post-Money Valuation Technical Review 68

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Step 1: Start with a lean plan. Instead of sitting down to write a 40-page business plan, start with a one-page pitch. It’s the fastest way to get your idea onto paper, and it’s the very first step in the lean planning process, which is much easier and more iterative than traditional business planning methods.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 7, 2007

In part one, How To Bootstrap Your Startup , we outlined the process of bootstrapping your company into existence. A Word on Strategy Every good business begins with a solid understanding of the proposition and business plan - in short, your strategy.

Web 40

Web AJAX Software Review Development Team Review 40

Up and Running

OCTOBER 3, 2011

Every year, I spend a lot of time reading and judging business plans for business plan competitions. I have read some great plans and some not-so-great plans, but that is how it always turns out in any business plan competition.

Business Plan 158

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Forecast Bootstrapping 158

Up and Running

OCTOBER 21, 2014

Day 5: Start ‘business planning’ not the ‘business plan’. Coming from someone who works for a company that makes business planning software , that may sound odd. The truth is, you’re going to do the ‘official plan’ a bit later, in week 2 when it comes time to sort out where your funding is coming from.

Elevator Pitch 166

Elevator Pitch Software Review SBA Business Plan 166

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 30, 2009

 If you intend to improve literacy around the world with a web application, do the markets most in need have broadband access?  If you intend to improve literacy around the world with a web application, do the markets most in need have broadband access? Bootstrapping. Learn the market.  Why isn’t this here now?

Wisconsin 60

Wisconsin Milwaukee Angel Investor Committed Capital 60

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us. What Apple proved, and what I suspect is the issue with web content, is that monetization was a product problem. You can bootstrap your way into existence. Develop your business plan. Final Thought.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

Austin Startup

MARCH 2, 2019

I’m a very risk adverse entrepreneur as a result of bootstrapping my first three businesses, almost failing on the fourth (Coremetrics) due to market timing (I was too early and didn’t predict the dot-com bust) and its overcapitalization, and being a mostly customer funded and very capital efficient on the fifth (Bazaarvoice).

Advisory Board 51

Advisory Board Cofounder Greece Bootstrapping 51

crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 4, 2013

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! How One Startup Grew a $100M Business Without Spending Venture Capital | Forbes – [link]. Don’t Accidentally Bootstrap Yourself to Death | saastr – [link].

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Design Media 100

The Next Web

OCTOBER 10, 2013

He started his first business at age 15 and ran it until he went off to college at UC Berkeley. When Gleb was in business school at Berkeley he founded NetRelevance – his professors liked his business plan so much that they used it in the Haas School of Business as a teaching tool.

Cofounder 143

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Kenya Dilution 143

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

Evaluate Business and Financing Needs - We initially went out seeking $10 million in financing, but listened to the prospective investors and watched the market. Mid-way through the process, we took another cut at our business plan and built a model where $5 million would be sufficient to get us beyond breakeven. Steve Bennet.

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28