Wed.Sep 10, 2014

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Size Up Your Investors Before Accepting Their Money

Startup Professionals Musings

'Even though the color of their money is always green, all startup investors are not the same. Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels.

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How to Raise Startup Funding from Unlikely Angel Investors

Up and Running

'Angel investors come from a variety of ages, backgrounds, and professions. I’m not your average angel. I’m a mom, a full-time sales manager, and recruiter. I’m not active in an angel group. I don’t have an MBA and I don’t live in Silicon Valley. I live in a small town surrounded by farms and I made my first angel investment at 29 because my dad said it was a good idea.

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With The New iPhone And The Apple Watch, Apples Delivers On High Expectations

YoungUpstarts

'by Ezra Gottheil, principal analyst at Technology Business Research. Apple’s Sept. 9, 2014 event was the largest its recent history, raising expectations and questions about how the company was going to deliver on its promises of new products. TBR believes Apple succeeded in developing a new model iPhone that will enhance its position as the premium smartphone provider, and the release of the Apple Watch (not an iWatch) elevates the smartwatch category to that of a major mobile device.

Bandwidth 164
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7 Bookkeeping Habits Every Entrepreneur Should Adopt

Up and Running

'Good bookkeeping is essential to keep your business thriving—not just surviving. Badly tracked finances can cause your business a world of problems—from poor cash flow to improper tax filings and beyond. These kinds of problems can put a young business at serious risk. Good bookkeeping habits, on the other hand, can help a business thrive—and not just survive.

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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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I sense a disturbance in the enterprise Force

deal architect

'Starting next week I will get briefings from a wide range of enterprise players – Infor, Workday, Oracle, Rimini, Salesforce and Microsoft among them. Conference season is in full swing. I have not been so excited in a long time.

Software 296
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5 Ways To Protect Your Startup From Copycats

YoungUpstarts

'By Danielle Tate, CEO of MissNowMrs.com. Whoever said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery clearly did not have a startup. The fact is, when you have a good idea the copycats will come out of the woodwork to steal it. To keep competitors on their toes and your startup from becoming one of too many, here are several ways that you can protect your startup from pirates and avoid costly legal battles: 1.

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4 Ways An iPad POS Could Benefit Your Small Business

YoungUpstarts

'by Andy Lim, CEO and co-founder of Lavu. Opening a new small business or restaurant is stressful, there’s no denying that. With a to-do list a mile long and an impending grand opening, business owners need all the relief they can get. An iPad POS solution can help new business owners start off right, and find a point of sale that will benefit their restaurant as a short and long-term investment.

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The Pixar Way: 37 Quotes on Developing and Maintaining a Creative Company

Up and Running

'In his book, Creativity, Inc., Ed Catmull shares his experience as a manager of Pixar, one of the world’s most famous creative animation studios. More than that, Ed offers a number of starting points to help those that wish to work in an environment that fosters creativity and problem solving, to create it. We’ve collected 37 choice quotes from the book that demonstrate how to develop and maintain a creative company, and paired them with images from Pixar’s award-winning films and t

Developer 143
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The Most Rewarding Marketing Mistake I Ever Made

YoungUpstarts

'By Marsha Friedman, CEO of EMSI Public Relations and author of “ Celebritize Yourself ”. Recently, a colleague asked me, “What was the most rewarding mistake you ever made in business?”. It’s a great question, and I quickly had an answer for him because it was an incredibly painful mistake. However, it proved to be an invaluable lesson that has served me well in the years since.

Marketing 171
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How long does it take for investors to approve the idea and to grant the necessary investment?

Gust

'The question is based on a misunderstanding of how venture capital investment works. First of all, VC funds do not invest in ideas. What VCs invest in are operating companies that are ready (or almost ready) to scale. There are many wonderful ideas, all of which are not fundable. Only companies get funded. Next, VCs don’t have an unlimited amount of money that is given to companies as long as they deserve it.

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Are You Suitable For The Human Services Industry?

YoungUpstarts

'Someone who wishes to pursue a career in the human services industry – defined the objective of meeting human needs through an interdisciplinary knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of service populations – needs to possess certain qualities in order to be successful in this type of work.

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Trend in mobile – towards big screen phones

The Equity Kicker

'Mobile analytics firm Flurry released some interesting data yesterday showing a clear trend towards bigger screen phones. They define phablets as devices with 5-7″ screens, and that includes devices like the Nexus 5 (that I own) Samsung Galaxy S4 and now the iPhone 6 Plus. Tablets are flat to down. These bigger screen devices are much easier to use – e.g. for reading, email and shopping – and that comes through in the app usage stats below.

Mobile 96
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Who Passes Bad Credit Along?

YoungUpstarts

'by Blair Thomas , co-founder of eMerchantBroker.com. Dealerships are expected to receive fallout from the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) for its consent order with the First Investors Financial Group. Many experts agree that indirect implications are needed for the dealerships. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau charged auto lenders approximately $2.75 million because its vendors allocated customer data to many credit agencies.

Warrant 133
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How Can You Recognize Your Talent?

Mike Michalowicz

'It’s a pretty common question. Afterall we are often blind to our talent, because what comes easy to you (ahem – your talent) you think comes easy to everyone else. With that the vicious ‘I have no talent’ cycle begins. So to break out of that cycle of being blinded to your own talent simply do this self evaluation: 1. Identify the things that you enjoy doing most. 2.

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DreamIt Ventures Accepting Applications for its Next Austin Program

SiliconHills

'DreamIt Ventures is now accepting applications for its DreamIt Austin 2015 class. This will be the third year for the DreamIt Ventures program in Austin. DreamIt Ventures offers a three-month accelerator program that helps startups to build strong business plans, develop strategic relationships and acquire customers. So far, DreamIt Ventures has helped to launch 157 […] The post DreamIt Ventures Accepting Applications for its Next Austin Program appeared first on SiliconHills.

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A Phone System for your Startup is Finally Cheap and Easy

Austin Startup

'In the process of starting and growing several companies over the past 25 years, one of the things I always dread is finding a phone system. Historically it involves some kind of PBX or switch, which has to go in a phone closet somewhere, phone wires, buying phones, long term contracts, plus a monthly service contract for when things go wrong, or something needs programming.

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WigWag Begins Taking Pre-Orders for its Smart LED Light Bulb Sets

SiliconHills

'WigWag hit a nerve with consumers last year when it launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 for a device to connect and control everything in the home from lights to temperature to soil moisture for watering plants. The Austin-based startup ended up blowing way past it goal and raising more than $454,000 from 1,694 […] The post WigWag Begins Taking Pre-Orders for its Smart LED Light Bulb Sets appeared first on SiliconHills.

Austin 72
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Whole Foods Mobile Payment Saga

Austin Startup

'There is one awesome thing about having a really hip grocery store headquartered in your city; you get to be the test bed for new technologies. Especially if you are downtown at the flagship Whole Foods store.

Mobile 66
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I was blown away when I visited the Center for Civic Innovation!

Jeff Hilimire

'I get to hear about a lot of great non-profit / community efforts in Atlanta. One thing I love about this city is it really embraces “giving back” This week I met with an amazing guy ( Rohit ) who has started The Center for Civic Innovation , and I was BLOWN AWAY. Freaking awesome concept. According to the website, it is: A physical space in Downtown Atlanta to regularly bring together leaders in government agencies, nonprofits, corporations, technology, arts, and community to addre

Atlanta 43
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Steve Jobs enduring legacy

deal architect

'With the largest single day product launch ever in Apple history – multiple iPhones, Watch, Mobile pays – Tim Cook will likely quiet a number of his critics who have been harping Apple has forgotten how to innovate. The Watch.

Mobile 223
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Two Overlooked Aspects Of Your Site Design That May Be Hurting Conversions

ConversionXL

'Normally, I dig into massive amounts of data, but today, I think we should talk about something that’s a little bit more subjective & open to interpretation – design. Specifically, your design’s first impression, how long it takes to make that impression, and whether or not that impression is communicating the right things (or anything for that matter) about your brand. .

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Improve Your Job Search With Social Media

YoungUpstarts

'Did you know that your social media page can cost you your job or the opportunity to be hired for a position you have been waiting for? If you plan on looking for work online, you can definitely use social media networks to connect with recruiters and find opportunities that you would not find elsewhere. But you need to be sure that your pages are displaying your persona in the most positive way possible.

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How to Create Ridiculously Good Content

Duct Tape Marketing

'How to Create Ridiculously Good Content written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Ann Handley. The simple answer to the promise of contained in today’s title is this – get Ann Handley’s latest book – Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content.