Wed.May 15, 2013

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The One Word That Shouldn’t Exist in an Entrepreneur’s Vocabulary

Both Sides of the Table

'No. The one word the best entrepreneurs never accept. I said it. Now let me walk you through a broader story because avoidance of the word in and of itself will seem cliche. Stay with me. When I was little I had a role model for entrepreneurship – my mom. She was a natural leader. She was president of the UJA in Sacramento. From this I saw civic involvement and leadership first hand.

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7 Rules for Savvy Customer Service Required Today

Startup Professionals Musings

'Customer service has always been reactionary, meaning someone has to wake up and answer website email requests. That’s just not savvy enough to hold today’s fickle, less loyal, and ready to jump customer. Great startups are getting ahead of the game with “anticipatory customer service,” like providing smart phone access to product and account data to head off complaints.

Customer 223
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Its all about the enterprise apps, baby

deal architect

'Silver’s the new green …sang the Taco Bell TV commercial “It’s all about the Roosevelts” as it celebrated dimes to promote its sub $ 1 menu. At SuiteWorld this week I wanted to break out in that rhyme at the.

Green 207
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[Singapore] NUS Enterprise and IDMI Turns Campus Into Huge “Living Lab”

YoungUpstarts

'VIPs checking out the NUS Living Lab booth at InnovFest 2013. Trialling interactive digital solutions can be somewhat of a headache without sufficient beta testers to do proper market testing, so the folks at NUS Enterprise and NUS Interactive and Digital Media Institute (IDMI) earlier this week announced an initiative that would turn the National University of Singapore (NUS) Kent Ridge campus into a gigantic test bed to help new interactive digital media (IDM) or info-communication solutions

Singapore 157
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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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Even more innovation off the global beaten path

deal architect

'We hear so much about Silicon Valley and Bangalore and Shanghai that is refreshing to hear about innovations in unexpected places. Mobile healthcare in Rio''s slums Pods at Abu Dhabi airport for work and sleep DUMBO -NY''s creative new hotspot.

Global 191
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TechStars Austin – The Newest TechStars Location

Feld Thoughts

'I’m excited to join David Cohen and his team in announcing TechStars in Austin. From the TechStars blog: “The Managing Director of TechStars Austin is Jason Seats. Jason is a “ techie ” and entrepreneur. Rackspace acquired his company Slicehost in 2008 and then made him VP of Engineering. Jason is an active angel investor and has been with TechStars since 2011 with two very successful programs under his belt as Managing Director.

Austin 143

More Trending

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Tomorrow on TNW: Your chance to ask greeNEWit founder Jason Jannati your entrepreneurship questions

The Next Web

'Streaming live on The Next Web, greeNEWit founder Jason Jannati will answer questions from readers at 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. PT) Thursday, May 16th. As part of the Young Entrepreneur Council’s #StartupLab initiative, a virtual mentorship program, Jason will appear live via video chat broadcast on this site. Jason Jannati is a devoted brand strategist and leader in energy efficiency.

Maryland 114
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The Absolute Best Way To Discipline An Employee

Mike Michalowicz

'I don’t care how good you think your method of disciplining employees is, I can guarantee it’s wrong. How can I much such a seemingly absurd claim without knowing a thing about you? If you have only one method to discipline an employee, it will be received differently by each. At best, your process will only be moderately successful. Instead of disciplining them your way, discipline each one of them their own way.

Employee 107
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Got Pernix’d?

Lightspeed Venture Partners

'Congratulations to Poojan Kumar, Satyam Vaghani and the rest of the PernixData team for raising a great Series B round led by Kleiner Perkins. At Lightspeed, we are very proud of what the team has achieved in short 15 months since inception. As the founding investor board member I have witnessed first hand an enterprise innovation at Instagram speed.

Flash 103
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What Is A Many To Many Business? (And How Can This Model Produce Billion Dollar Outcomes)

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

'Tweet During the dot com boom around the year 2000, and the years that followed it (this was before I started blogging in 2004), I was a guy in his early twenties looking for a business idea to make my riches with online.

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Startup Showcase vs. Industry Event: How to Decide Which to Attend

Up and Running

'On February 22 I received an email saying that my startup, AdEspresso , had been invited to participate in TechCrunch Disrupt NY! Needless to say, my small team and I couldn’t have been more excited. We hastily began checking hotels and flights to figure out how much it would cost to get to NY. The answer was: an arm and a leg. Did I mention we’re based in Milan, Italy?

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The First Step, No Matter How Small, Is Crucial To Success

crowdSPRING Blog

'Hamdi Ulukaya , CEO and founder of Chobani , recently talked about how he started Chobani. It’s a wonderful story and well worth your time to watch how an immigrant entrepreneur with a vision others thought was crazy, built a business that grew from zero to a billion dollars in just five years. Ulukaya was born in Turkey and was an accomplished feta-cheese-maker.

Turkey 92
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TechStars Expands to Austin

SiliconHills

'TechStars, a Boulder, Co.-based technology accelerator, is expanding to Austin with a new program that will start in August. “Forbes and Bloomberg have been calling Austin the No. 1 Boomtown and the best place for your startup for years now, and Google recently chose it as the second city to receive the fastest Internet on [.] The post TechStars Expands to Austin appeared first on SiliconHills.

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Austinpreneurs as Celebrated Athletes

Austin Startup

'Bob Metcalfe wants tech founders to be heralded like athletes. I see a few tactical steps that will help. I''ll break them into some non snarky categories and avoid "inside baseball" jargon that is inherent in my style of writing.

Founder 74
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Solar Conduction Dryer Wins the Dell Social Innovation Challenge

SiliconHills

'By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Shital Somani riveted the audience instantly, beginning her 90-second pitch at the Dell Social Innovation Challenge awards by announcing that 25 percent of farmers in India commit suicide. Because of lack of refrigeration, 20-to-30 percent of their harvest is spoiled, leaving them in perpetual poverty.

Harvest 90
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Congrats! The Backslappy Nature of Social Media

Hunter Walker

'I’m a nice guy, right? I generally root for people to succeed, even in situations when I’m skeptical of their plans. And a pat on the back – of encouragement, or a job well done – I know that matters. But I’m sorry, I can’t do it any more. The “ congrats ” tweets. They need to stop. Often, especially after a tech news event, my Twitter feed is filled with these meaningless kudos.

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Energy efficiency tips for your business

Up and Running

'Each and every business must work to improve its energy savings. This will not only have a positive impact on the environment, but also improve companies’ cost savings and energy efficiency. And it is often a simple thing to do, with positive changes in energy usage having the ability to reduce a business’ energy bill by around 20 percent. However, before your business begins its journey to improved energy consumption, you must appreciate the uniqueness of your business and understand that cert

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Capital of Innovation Celebrates Austin’s Female Entrepreneurs

SiliconHills

'The next episode of Capital of Innovation shines the spotlight on “Austin’s Top Female Entrepreneurs.” The episode premiers on Thursday at 8 p.m. on KLRU-TV and it will be shown again on May 30th at 8 p.m. The episode introduces viewers to some of Austin’s most intriguing female entrepreneurs. Their accomplishments include a medical device [.

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Lean In Or Get Out: 11 Tips For Using Your Expertise To Create A Wickedly Successful Business

YoungUpstarts

'by Vickie Milazzo, author of “ Wicked Success Is Inside Every Woman “ Long, relentless workdays. Stagnant wages. And uncertainty — will you get that promotion you’ve been working crazy hours to get or will it go to your boss’s favorite? Will you even have a job next year at this time? These are the worries that come with grinding it out in corporate America.

Lean 145
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Startups Need Access to Capital, Talent and Technology

SiliconHills

'Dell travelled the country and met with small business owners to find out what they need to succeed. The result, a report released this week by Dell and Intel, found that startups and small businesses plan to grow and plan to use technology to help them do it. But they need access to networks, talent [.] The post Startups Need Access to Capital, Talent and Technology appeared first on SiliconHills.

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Mutual Mobile Launches GlassSim, Invites Everyone to Dream Big for Google Glass Apps

Austin Startup

'Mutual Mobile today unveiled GlassSim, a free, easy to use prototyping tool designed to encourage people to dream big about what can be accomplished with Google Glass. In a few short minutes users can mock-up fields of view from the perspective of someone wearing Google Glass – no technical expertise or coding required.

Mobile 54
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Culturebooster.com Wins RISE’s Royito’s Award

SiliconHills

'At the RISE Austin opening night ceremonies, Culturebooster.com won the Royitos “Don’t Do Mild” award. Roy Spence, co-founder of GSD&M and creator of Royito’s Hot Sauce, awarded Culturebooster the top prize and a $5,000 check. Culturebooster is a free curriculum and crowdfunding platform for middle and high school students and their teachers to raise money [.

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What to sell first

Start Up Blog

'Before anything is sold to a customer, first a story gets bought.

Sales 59
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RetailMeNot Announces Google Wallet Integration

SiliconHills

'At Google I/O 2013 on Wednesday, RetailMeNot was a featured partner for the new Google Wallet. The Google Wallet will be available to consumers later this year. “This is RetailMeNot’s first digital wallet integration, with more to come,” said Brian Hoyt, spokesman for RetailMeNot. “Once the new Google Wallet is publicly available, consumers will have [.

Austin 64
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University of Minnesota Commencement speech – May 10th 2013

Steve Blank

'I am honored to be with you as we gather to celebrate your graduation. This school has a distinguished roster of graduates… Earl Bakken, the founder of Medtronic , was an Electrical Engineering grad, and Bob Gore of Gortex , and your current president are both alums of your Chemical Engineering program. In fact, I feel very connected to another one your grads.

Minnesota 335
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UT Creates Gaming Academy

SiliconHills

'The University of Texas at Austin announced that it has partnered with video game executives to create the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy. Warren Spector, a game designer with 30 years in the industry, and Paul Sams, chief operating officer with Blizzard Entertainment, will serve as instructors for the video game program. The academy kicks off in [.] The post UT Creates Gaming Academy appeared first on SiliconHills.

Texas 60
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University of Minnesota Commencement speech – May 10th 2013

Steve Blank

'I am honored to be with you as we gather to celebrate your graduation. This school has a distinguished roster of graduates… Earl Bakken, the founder of Medtronic , was an Electrical Engineering grad, and Bob Gore of Gortex , and your current president are both alums of your Chemical Engineering program. In fact, I feel very connected to another one your grads.

Minnesota 227
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Your Design Sucks. And Copy. And Your Idea is Wrong (or Why You Need Continuous Optimization)

ConversionXL

'How often does this happen: A company budgets for a website. It’s built according to the budget. And then it’s done – hooray! – and everybody moves on to other important things. Unfortunately too often. Declaring it done is a waste of money. Your website is not done. Declaring it done is arrogant, stupid and will cost you a lot of money.

Design 121
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Crowdfunding: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Version One Ventures

'Generally speaking, I’m a huge fan of crowdfunding. I’m an investor in one of the major platforms, Indiegogo. Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are helping fill the financing void for startups that struggle to find traditional financing. For example, I recently wrote about crowdfunding being a viable option for hardware startups who notoriously have a tough time attracting funding from VCs.