View from Seed

APRIL 21, 2015

million raised, per CrunchBase): It was January of second semester of my second year, and Michelle [Zatlyn, Matt’s co-founder] and I were brainstorming different ideas to enter into the business plan competition. I was more open to it becoming a real company, but I never really expected it to be a real company from the beginning.

Founder 120

Founder Las Vegas Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2012

I come from a high-tech software background, and only a few years ago, it would cost at least a million dollars ($1M) for a team of professionals to produce any commercial software product. Now, with open source software components, and low-cost development tools, the same job can be done by one good hacker for a few thousand dollars.

Cost 255

Cost Burn Rate SEM Startup 255

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 28, 2010

Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – [link]. Goals, Strategies and Tactics (why startups & small business should pay attention to all 3) – [link]. New-to-the-world: strategic marketing for startups and small business – [link].

Social Media 91

Social Media Small Business Design Media 91

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 28, 2019

If you want to take the plunge and start your own photography business, there is a lot to consider. Here’s a complete, 10 step guide on how to start a photography business. Write a business plan. Decide your legal business structure. Purchase business insurance. Create a sales plan.

Business Plan 64

Business Plan Small Business Administration Hiring Social Media 64

www.reincubate.com

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Contribute to development of primary business plan, with input on focus, costing and approach (platform, build vs. buy, resourcing, hosting strategy, time & cost). Design and maintain a roadmap of projects to meet demanding business objectives, taking advantage of trends and new technology where appropriate.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 40

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

I come from a high-tech software background, and only a few years ago, it would cost at least a million dollars ($1M) for a team of professionals to produce any commercial software product. Now, with open source software components, and low-cost development tools, the same job can be done by one good hacker for a few thousand dollars.

Entrepreneur 235

Entrepreneur Burn Rate SEM Social Network 235

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 25, 2010

In the last decade open source software (e.g Next, each one of the 9 business model canvas boxes then directly translates into a set of Customer Discovery hypotheses that are described in Customer Development and the Four Steps to the Epiphany. Business Model Design meets Customer Development. x86 , ARM.)

Customer Development 329

Customer Development Business Model Developer Customer 329

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2008

It felt like software that grownups were supposed to use, and we didnt qualify. It cost us a few hundred thousand dollars to get our app up and running, but none of that was dollars spent on software licenses or professional services. I dont really remember why it didnt work. It wouldnt boot. It would boot and crash. yeah, its awesome.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Technology Continuous Deployment Lean 68

blog.captainrecruiter.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Two years ago I got the bug to do an online recruiting startup and I began the hunt to find a technical co-founder - a software engineer who works for no cash - to help me build my dream website. You may get a software engineer to start something for you, but they wont stick with the project when it gets difficult.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Software Engineering 40

Gust

JUNE 10, 2012

I come from a high-tech software background, and only a few years ago, it would cost at least a million dollars ($1M) for a team of professionals to produce any commercial software product. Now, with open source software components, and low-cost development tools, the same job can be done by one good hacker for a few thousand dollars.

Cost 139

Cost Burn Rate SEM Startup 139

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

For angel investors, early-stage means there is a good business plan and maybe a prototype, but no customer revenue. This is a concept coined (and trademarked) by Eric Ries a few years ago, primarily for software and web applications. For VCs, early-stage means customer revenue is less than $10M. Lean startup.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Why Use a Consulting CTO A consulting CTO can help you complete a business plan by estimating costs and timelines for the company’s technology development and deployment. A consulting CTO is an expert on the current state of the technology and can suggest the most appropriate development platform for your business.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

For angel investors, early-stage means there is a good business plan and maybe a prototype, but no customer revenue. This is a concept coined (and trademarked) by Eric Ries a couple of years ago, primarily for software and web applications. For VCs, early-stage means customer revenue is less than $10M. Lean startup.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

Software companies had to buy specialized computers and license expensive software. The Business Plan (Concept- Alpha-Beta - FCS ) became the playbook for startups. The reward for doing so was a liquidity event via an Initial Public Offering. A hardware startup had to equip a factory to manufacture the product.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 7, 2018

The real power in WordPress came when they released the plug-in architecture, which basically allowed other developers to write little pieces of software that extends the functionality of WordPress. WordPress is an open source project that was started by Matt Mullenweg leaving a comment on a blog. They call them plug-ins.

Community 42

Community Framework Ruby Architecture 42

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2010

I come from a high-tech software background, and only a few years ago, it would cost at least a million dollars ($1M) for a team of professionals to produce any commercial software product. Now, with open source software components, and low-cost development tools, the same job can be done by one good hacker for a few thousand dollars.

Burn Rate 125

Burn Rate SEM Social Network Angel Investor 125

Gust

JULY 8, 2012

For angel investors, early-stage means there is a good business plan and maybe a prototype, but no customer revenue. This is a concept coined (and trademarked) by Eric Ries a few years ago, primarily for software and web applications. For VCs, early-stage means customer revenue is less than $10M. Lean startup.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 18, 2014

For example, you were one of the first enterprise software freemium models. Customers said they’d already spent $5 million on software and another $1 million on maintenance contracts to solve their problem. We weren’t open source, but we appealed to the open source mindset. They laughed at us.

Founder 60

Founder Entrepreneur North America Startup 60

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Lessons Learned – Business Planning Stage My advice to entrepreneurs working on a new business plan is to build a model similar to those above to estimate the cost of customer acquisition. Extensive use of software to automate all processes such as SEO, SEM, social networking, lead scoring, lead nurturing, CRM, etc.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

www.cscyphers.com

MARCH 8, 2012

It used to be that a techie needed a business person to get a business plan together and then use that to raise money. Not only are there rafts and rafts of books to help someone cobble together a rudimentary business plan, any quality VC values execution over ideas. open source. grad school.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Technical Review Founder Software Review 40

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 10, 2013

Open source is not secure or robust enough for the Enterprise”: +1 Linux -1 Microsoft. All my software must run behind my firewall”: +1 Salesforce.com -1 enterprise software vendors. Read anything by Isaac Asimov or Don DeLillo and then write a business plan. Novels, Not Movies.

Vermont 65

Vermont Entrepreneur Open Source Security 65

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. It is about when in the life of your company you do the spending.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 11, 2019

Helping clients with software and/or hardware issues. Helping businesses to create newsletters, annual reports, press releases, etc. Many small businesses can’t afford to hire full-time HR staff. First, you will need to choose the legal structure for your new consulting business. Communications consulting.

Small Business Administration 86

Small Business Administration Small Business Social Media Elevator Pitch 86

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

Jonathan Bragdon , CEO, describes Capacity as “a team of founders-turned-funders making non-dilutive, founder-aligned investments of $50-$300k in post-startup, post-revenue businesses planning to 2X revenues in 12-24 months. They have open-sourced their investment structure , now on version 3.0, —– Indie.vc

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

news.ycombinator.com

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

For three years I worked at Bug Labs (open source hardware company). We not only told everyone what we did, we posted the source code and the blueprints online. Think about that, people wont even steal your ideas if you give them the plans. The article and HN are concerned with software. Ive told you that: 1.

Stealth 41

Stealth Technical Review Startup Software Review 41

discuss.joelonsoftware.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

(Not logged on) | Register | Log On Home Discuss Jobs About The Business of Software A community discussing the business of software, from the smallest shareware operation to Microsoft. A part of Joel on Software. I intend to rewrite my internal 50-page business plan into an investors proposal.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Angel Investor Affiliate 40

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Lean Case provides standard business models & metrics, so you can apply a standard approach to business planning, modeling, and profitability tracking. PEStack.com : a comprehensive database of private equity focused software, data and marketplace providers. Private Equity Software and Services Directory.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

www.virtuosimedia.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Gather your market research, your business plan, and your prototype and make your presentation to potential CTOs. Software development is like an iceberg – 90% of it is under the surface. Sign that person to an NDA if necessary. Test your prototype in your target market. Rework it as necessary.

Technical Cofounder 41

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Technical Review NDA 41

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

I think the reason I made such a mystery of business was that I wasdisgusted by the idea of doing it. I wanted to work in the pure, intellectual world of software, not deal with customers mundane problems. Some believe only businesspeople can do this-- that hackers can implement software, but not design it. Thats nonsense.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

mashable.com

DECEMBER 29, 2011

Follow Mashable Business. Subscribe to the Business channel. More Stories in Business. Small Businesses Plan to Buy an iPad in 2012 [STUDY]. Open Source Lists. Small Business. Jobs Awards Join Mashable on Google+ Welcome to Mashable! Become a fan on Facebook. Top Related Stories. Jobs Lists.

New York City 83

New York City New York Startup Social Media 83

blog.expensify.com

APRIL 24, 2012

You need to hear this from someone who has used.Net extensively, and then happily walked away from it to go open source: You are a wanker. And before you say.net is only for windows, checkout https://github.com/mono , it’s not an open source application. It’s an *freaking open source*.net

Java 107

Java PHP Software Review Coder 107

Up and Running

JULY 3, 2015

Listen to Episode 7: Show notes: We debate whether you should stick to the plan or change it – (:31). Read also: Should You Stick to the Plan or Change It? Check out Tim Berry’s book, Lean Business Planning , coming soon. Check out Lara Galloway’s new book, Moms Mean Business. – (9:47).

Internet 60

Internet Marketing Lean Small Business 60

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

The group seeks out technologies that are complementary to the company’s core operations, including applications, software and infrastructure startups. Flash vs. HTML5: The "Pong" Version 37Signals Creates iPad-Only Web App An Open Source, HTML5 Framework for i. Code for America Chooses 20 Developer.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

kenegozi.com

APRIL 24, 2012

As for the "Hollywood is not a place for startups" - well probably yCombinator is currently only suited for the valley, however a startup that already has a seed investment, and has a reasonably crafted business plan, does not *have* to be in the "meet all the dudes in the coffee shops" scene. open-source-software(14).

Technology 40

Technology Architecture Startup .Net 40

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

And I’ve been lucky enough to watch innovation happen not only in hardware and software but in Life Sciences – in Therapeutics, Medical Devices, Diagnostics and now Digital Health. In the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, momentum shifted to the enterprise as large businesses supported innovation in PCs, communications hardware and enterprise software.

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

signup, upgrade, trial pricing Zuora – online subscription management FeeFighters – find the cheapest credit card processors HealPay – Collections made easy Customer Support Tender – support, knowledgebase tool for your site GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

VC Cafe highlights everything you need to know from hosting your code in hackathons to open source legal docs. High Quality, and open sourced! Mantis (Open source). Nagios (open source). Panda (Open source). launchpad (bzr only, also only open source projects).

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53