View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

This is the first of several blog posts discussing pre-seed rounds. To ensure you receive the rest, subscribe here. In this post, I want to answer the question, “What are pre-seed rounds?” I’ll also address why they’ve become fairly common. In the next post, I’ll talk about how we think about pre-seeds at NextView. It’s become increasingly common for startups to raise several seed rounds, and this has led to a bifurcation in the seed stage between what are kn

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Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 218

Steve Blank

JANUARY 26, 2016

Introducing Hacking for Defense – Connecting Silicon Valley Innovation Culture and Mindset to the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. Hacking for Defense is a new course at Stanford’s Engineering School in the Spring of 2016. It is being taught by Tom Byers, Steve Blank, Joe Felter and Pete Newell and is advised by former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry.

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Silicon Valley North Korea Agile Lean 176

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 26, 2016

There is no denying that the construction industry is once again experiencing growth ! It seems that we’ve got over the worst of our economic woes and are enjoying a growing economy. Without the construction industry, nothing would ever get built. It’s a crucial industry that will remain regardless of trading conditions. Of course, it makes sense to run a company in such an industry when people are spending money!

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Architecture Hiring Demand Employee 130

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 26, 2016

When’s the last time you sent out or requested a CV? Chances are it was quite awhile ago. In today’s reputation economy, we evaluate one another based on what people have done and how we’re connected. What you’ve built is becoming more important than where you’ve worked and the school you attended. If you’re a professional applying for a job or an entrepreneur applying for funding, here’s how the typical evaluation process looks today.

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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

Startup

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 26, 2016

by Emma Rosser of Publicize. 87% of top level executives network 2-3 times every week. 90% increase their business opportunities through taking part in these events, according to National Networking Statistics. Whilst communications today rely heavily on technology, nothing beat good old fashioned face-to-face networking. Whether you jump in guerrilla style, or equipped with a team of marketing pros your experience will undoubtedly rely on the same fundamental core strategies.

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Networking Colombia Founder Elevator Pitch 122

YFS Magazine

JANUARY 26, 2016

Apparently, this is a mistake a lot of new entrepreneurs make, and of course it’s hard when you don’t have the experience to know what you will like (and not like) doing.

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Entrepreneur Sales Customer Marketing 93

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 26, 2016

The current grant cycle for the Techstars Foundation is now open. We are providing grants, scholarships, and sponsorships to underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship, including women and minorities. Apply here. And, if you want to contribute financially to support the mission of the foundation (a 501c3) – donate here. The post Apply For Grants From The Techstars Foundation appeared first on Feld Thoughts.

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YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 26, 2016

There are a number of variables you need to consider as a business owner, and storage space is one of the most important. On the face of it, storage space may not seem too important as it comes across as insignificant. But, when you delve deeper into the subject you start to realize that without the space to move your business is going to suffer. If you are a non-believer, take a look at the reasons outlined below.

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Affiliate Employee Security Product 100

K9 Ventures

JANUARY 26, 2016

“ US Navy Sea Shadow stealth craft ” by US Navy employee – [link]. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons. I’ve tweeted this before…. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Stealth is overrated. Startups should use every opportunity to get their name out. — Manu Kumar (@ManuKumar) May 29, 2010. …and I’ve said it to founders on more occasions than I can count: For startups steath is overrated.

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Stealth Silicon Valley Cofounder Portfolio 76

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 26, 2016

I wonder if history will look back on Netflix’s 2013 screening of House of Cards as a watershed moment. It was an incredibly brave bet at the time – an investment of $63m in production costs from a company whose previous success had principally come from re-running TV shows that had premiered on traditional TV channels. Netflix was following a formula that had worked well at cable and satellite companies around the world – buy exclusive content to drive subscriptions – b

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Audience Channel Networking Cost 70

Up and Running

JANUARY 26, 2016

Blue Origin’s reusable rocket, the New Shepherd. Video is a unique medium for inspiration; there’s something about watching things literally happen that just motivates and moves us like nothing else. 2015 was a pivotal and eventful year in many ways: new technology butting heads with tradition, social media amplifying previously marginalized voices, and innovators and change-makers in tech, the arts, and beyond sharing their visions of the future.

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Video North America Redemption Social Media 69

SiliconHills

JANUARY 26, 2016

The Zebra, which created an auto insurance aggregation and comparison site to save consumers money, has raised $17 million in Series A funding. The Austin-based company’s investors included Silverton Partners, Daher Capital, Ballast Point Ventures, Mark Cuban and Mike Maples Jr. “Insurance shopping is a major pain point for the 250 million-plus U.S. drivers on […] The post The Zebra Raises $17 Million in Venture Capital appeared first on SiliconHills.

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Venture Capital Aggregator Austin Partner 66

YFS Magazine

JANUARY 26, 2016

You can never know everybody, but solid business relationships will allow you
 to find the people you need in little more than one or two connections.

Networking 62

Networking Developer Leadership 62

crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 26, 2016

There is a famous Chinese saying: If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody. Many people become involved with efforts to help the environment, cancer research, and other big causes. Those efforts are worthy and important.

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Video Entrepreneur Startup 57

Start Up Blog

JANUARY 26, 2016

Yes, your startup is pretty much a restaurant. Which means there are a few things you should know about new restaurants: A domestic kitchen is different to a commercial one. A successful dinner party does not translate into a successful restaurant. Most restaurants can’t afford a janitor, a book keeper, advertising or… A restaurant can never please all tastes.

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Startup Advertising Revenue Customer 52

crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 26, 2016

When perusing our galleries here on crowdSPRING, we see some amazing work submitted in the projects. Today, we noticed this gem submitted in this logo project. Let us start the slow clap for kokoyangkoo. Check out more great work on kokoyangkoo ’s profile page. Nicely done, kokoyangkoo, nicely done! Related posts: Fresh from the SPRING: uniquemind. Fresh from the SPRING: ReesQ.

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Design Community Marketing 49

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 26, 2016

The Hierarchy of Metrics written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. I spent this past weekend with a group of Duct Tape Marketing Consultants determined to gain a better understanding of how to use metrics to guide our own business and increase the value we bring to client engagements. Perhaps the greatest discovery for me was that while there are many things we can and should measure, there’s a hierarchy to how we approach what gets measured and like any hierarchical structure if

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Metrics Retention Analytics Sales Cycle 37

Early Growth Financial Services

JANUARY 26, 2016

If you are a company with a subsidiary here in the U.S. or abroad, you may very well be familiar with transfer pricing. For the uninitiated, a transfer price in general is the price charged between related parties (i.e., a parent company and its controlled foreign corporation) in an intercompany transaction. If you are new to transfer pricing, it’s important to know that transfer prices directly affect the allocation of taxable income between related entities.

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SEC 30

ConversionXL

JANUARY 26, 2016

A good user experience equals more money. But how do we measure user experience? How do we know if it’s getting better or worse? What is User Experience? There are many definitions for “user experience.” To keep things concise, NN/g defines it like this : “’User experience’ encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.”.

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Metrics .Net Software Review Technical Review 62

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 26, 2016

By Lea Schneider. Small business owners tend to make instant business decisions that they probably wouldn’t make otherwise. At home, you wouldn’t hand your credit card to someone working around the house and tell them to go get whatever they needed. At home, you wouldn’t feel as though you must do every single chore on your own. Yet these things often happen at a small business.

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Small Business Social Media Employee Media 109

crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 26, 2016

Working in a cubicle is my worst nightmare. The idea of being confined in such a small space with little variation for many hours a day sounds unbelievably boring. Thankfully, I am fortunate to work in an open, flexible environment. Unfortunately, most offices aren’t built with our well-being in mind (or for getting actual work done). The typical full time employee spends eight hours a day sitting at a desk away from sunlight, in an environment that is almost always too noisy or quiet.

Product 73

Product Illinois Lean Architecture 73

Eric Friedman

JANUARY 26, 2016

Things get done when the people who can affect change experience pain. What I mean by that the people that are most able to fix problems are the people in an organization who probably have no idea that it is happening. Therefore I believe every Founder or CEO should contact their customer service centers, as if they were a customer, immediately. I recognize that a call to have CEOs dial their support lines may not happen by the likes of the Fortune 500, but my hope that one person who reads this

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Customer Metrics Channel Restful 60

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 26, 2016

by Gareth Wilson, Head of Marketing at Fog Creek Software. Follow the leader in business and you’re almost certainly doomed to fail, especially when you consider that 90% of new companies go under. Those that end up in that successful 10% follow a less obvious, even counterintuitive trajectory. Although it’s key for every business to forge its own path, there are certain non-obvious hacks any entrepreneur or small business can take on board to swing the odds in their favor.

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Software Review New York City Salary Employee 100

The Entrepreneurial Mind

JANUARY 26, 2016

Here is a recent conversation I had with Henri Rose founder, Taylor Allen. TweetFacebookLinkedInTumblrStumbleDiggDelicious. The post Social Enterprise Helps Victims of Sex Trafficking appeared first on Dr Jeff Cornwall.

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