firstround.com

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Neil Roseman is downright tired of hearing Silicon Valley companies say they “hire only the best and the brightest.” No matter how many times they say it, most still make decisions based on gut feel, basic credentials, GPAs, ivy league educations, flashy company names - even SAT scores. Roseman objects. As the former Technology VP for both Amazon and Zynga, he’s interviewed hundreds of people and believes every phase of the process needs to be meticulously designed to drill de

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Silicon Valley Leadership Naming 100

thebarefootvc

AUGUST 13, 2013

'When I invested in enterprise software in the late 1990′s, I saw a proliferation of “best of breed” solutions. These vertical solutions would focus on specific pain pain points in the enterprise, such as logistics or customer relationship management. Larger companies such as IBM and SAP that had enterprise-wide deployments would offer some solutions around these pain points, but entrepreneurs claimed that these were not sufficient, and that the emergence of the Web and server

Advisory Board 70

Advisory Board Cloud Venture Capital Vertical 70

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Within the startup realm, there is a big difference between having an innovative product versus an innovative business. Some startups have a new technology, but stick to a tried-and-true business model. Others take an existing product, and give it new life with a creative business model. The most competitive startups do both, all the time and every time.

Business Model 231

Business Model Product Metrics Global 231

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 13, 2013

'The startup world is where dreams are made – or come to a burning, crashing end. Which have been the industries that have seen the most startup action, and which are those that has too often seen the flaming wreckage of spectacular failure? The truth is, we can’t really tell. But that’s not stopped some from compiling relevant data to inform the aspiring masses.

Startup 176

Startup Social Network Acquisition Networking 176

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

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Facebook is an incredible thing in many ways. It has over a billion people on it--a reach unlike anything in the social software space we''ve ever seen. The numbers of photos uploaded, likes per second, page views, etc are absolutely staggering. Its sheer growth is truly an accomplishment. Yet, when I think about its impact on our lives and what it enables people to do, I can''t help but be underwhelmed.

Venture Capital 148

Venture Capital Dilution Internet Networking 148

VC Cafe

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Advice for job seekers in venture capital. There''s something about VC that creates this fatal attraction, but with very few openings a year (it''s a very small industry compared to banking/law/tech) landing that dream job can be harder than you think. I share the best advice out there, and some pointers for wannabe VCs out there. [[ This is a content summary only.

Venture Capital 140

Venture Capital Partner 140

Growthink Blog

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Over the past 15 years, I''ve helped over 500,000 entrepreneurs and business owners to develop their business and strategic plans. And, as you might imagine, I''ve spent a lot of time discussing business plans and strategic plans internally. Enough so that among other things, I use the acronym "BP" for business plans and "SP" for strategic plans. Now, because these terms are often used synonymously, let me explain the key difference as I see them.

Business Plan 107

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Conversion Metrics 107

SiliconHills

AUGUST 13, 2013

'By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News The founders at Co-Founders Wanted at Capital Factory Monday night were looking for everything from a biochemist to help develop a beverage that helps Asian people metabolize alcohol, to developers who could help build out an alarm system that contacts police, your neighbors and friends and family […] The post Startups Pitch for Co-Founders and Other Resources in Austin appeared first on SiliconHills.

Cofounder 118

Cofounder Austin Founder Startup 118

Mike Michalowicz

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Advertising has changed. A lot. Customer attention spans are nil. We want what we want, not what you want us to want. So how do you advertise when people want what they want when they want it, and will ignore you otherwise? You take a lesson from street signs. Provide concise, accurate information for the people who are seeking it. When I need to find a parking spot, the first sign (advertisement) that serves this need gets my attention.

Advertising 88

Advertising Marketing Customer 88

Up and Running

AUGUST 13, 2013

'So you’re starting a business…Great! But most likely you don’t start a business before thinking about it and doing some research. Did you know that you can get deductions for “startup” and “organizational” expenses related to thinking about starting a business? You do have to go on to actually start the business and earn money, but once you get your first paying customer, you’re in business.

Salary 88

Salary Finance Cost Restful 88

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 13, 2013

'This article is a good reminder of how to set metrics at startups. The choice of metric will vary depending on the business but this piece of advice is universal: My number one tip is to start simple, by developing high level success metrics that, based on your best assumptions, are the key drivers of your business. Document these and make them a part of your team and investor meetings, and focus maniacally on optimizing them one at a time.

Metrics 74

Metrics Startup Developer 74

Austin Startup

AUGUST 13, 2013

'I’m in Las Vegas this week, taking in the inaugural SXSW V2V conference. (You can follow moments from the proceedings on your social media of choice.) First things, first. I can already say: I think you need to put this conference on your calendars for next year for several reasons. Of course, there are the [.].

Las Vegas 77

Las Vegas Social Media Media Startup 77

Up and Running

AUGUST 13, 2013

'If your business is taking payments online, the importance of a secure payment portal cannot be overstated. Customers are only going to purchase from a website they view as reliable and trustworthy, meaning it is absolutely essential that you present them with trustworthy options and secure payment choices. There are a wide range of online payment systems which can be used to provide visitors to your website with secure and varied payment options, suited to their personal preferences.

Bulgaria 68

Bulgaria Security Germany eCommerce 68

Austin Startup

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Just a reminder that Austin Tech Happy Hour is this Thursday at Molotov, sponsored by our friends at Volusion! Come and hang out with your friends from the Austin tech community, and we''ll look forward to seeing you there!

Austin 63

Austin Community 63

Duct Tape Marketing

AUGUST 13, 2013

'The Problem With Inbound Marketing written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing I’ve been promoting the concept of inbound marketing for about ten years now. I certainly didn’t coin the term “ inbound marketing ,” but it’s a concept that has been the basis of my teaching and it’s the approach that I’ve used to build my business. photo credit: memories_by_mike via photopin cc.

Marketing 69

Marketing B2B Cofounder Social Media 69

Early Growth Financial Services

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Originally published in MonsterThinking. The following answers are provided by members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Startup 67

Startup Programming Video Email 67

Venture Chronicles

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Elon Musk is an enviable entrepreneur. He resides in the rarified air of a credible tech celebrity and can command the rapt attention of the tech media with little more than a 57 page term paper for something that he, in his next breath, declares he won’t build. Never mind the construction costs, rights-of-way, economic model, reliability. On the other hand there is no new science here either, he is proposing pneumatic pressure instead of vacuum pressure and that is a well understood forc

California 56

California Media Cost Entrepreneur 56

Bryce Dot VC

AUGUST 13, 2013

'“Everyone wants to build a billion-dollar company, and they think they need to go out and find angel funding. Not everyone starts with that ability. … Do what you can within your means, and just work hard. If I could go back and do it again, I totally would. It’s cliche, but money’s overrated.

45

45

Jeff Hilimire

AUGUST 13, 2013

'I love how some companies continue to evolve, especially the ones that you don’t necessarily see coming. Like Lego. Lego is killing it. Instead of just staying a toy block company, they’re in video games and movies, and they have relationships with seemingly all the major players in child entertainment (Marvel, TNMT, Lord of the Rings, etc).

Startup 41

Startup Media Video Product 41

The Startup Toolkit

AUGUST 13, 2013

'false I felt like an idiot the first time I showed up to a new city without business cards. Later, I felt like an idiot for the week we had spent designing business cards at my first company. Yet another mutated non-concern successfully invading our headspace. Arriving empty-handed, I panicked my way into a print shop to ask how quickly they could press out some business cards.

Cofounder 44

Cofounder Restful Demand Audience 44

Jeff Hilimire

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Breaking Bad Lego Lab Playset.

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YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 13, 2013

'by Joseph and JoAnn Callaway, authors of “ Clients First “ Any entrepreneur willing to endure the proverbial “blood, sweat, and tears” it takes to start a business knows how important clients are. They write the checks that pay the bills. So keeping them satisfied is rarely just lip service. In fact, most business owners believe they are putting their clients first.

Customer 150

Customer Flash Customer Development Small Business 150

The Next Web

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Editors note: this is a splendid guest post by Paul Jarvis, a web designer, author and gentleman of adventure. I used to let fear of a failed side project keep me from trying new things outside of my normal workload. Or worse, I constantly had ideas for side projects but never actually started any. My day-job was comfortable, so I didn’t want to fail at something new.

Curation 127

Curation New York Design Audience 127

Version One Ventures

AUGUST 13, 2013

'It has not been a great couple of weeks for the Toronto-Waterloo area as BlackBerry, the big anchor tech company of that region, is struggling with its turn-around and just put itself up for sale. But where a giant tech company struggles, one of the most exciting startup ecosystem in North-America has emerged over the past 5 years: 500px , Achievers , Desire to Learn , FreshBooks , Kik , Thalmic Labs , Top Hat , Tulip Retail , Upverter , Vidyard , Wattpad , and Well.ca are just some of the t

Los Angeles 154

Los Angeles North America Silicon Valley Canada 154

Spencer Fry

AUGUST 13, 2013

'When I began working on Uncover in 2012, I knew that I was entering a market that I knew little about. I naively thought to myself: “How different could it be?” Everything I’d ever done that was Web startup related, going all the way back to being a teenager, was consumer based. TypeFrag was for computer game players, Carbonmade for people needing an online portfolio, and so on.

Networking 67

Networking Sales Acquisition Portfolio 67