Thu.Aug 28, 2014

article thumbnail

Last Chance for Summer Sale Prices

Startup Lessons Learned

'Post by Sarah Milstein & Eric Ries, co-hosts for The Lean Startup Conference At this year’s Lean Startup Conference , we seek to answer the difficult questions you face as an entrepreneur. To give you a sense of how we’ll do that, we’re introducing you to three of our speakers—all of whom are appearing for the first time at The Lean Startup Conference, and all of whom have advice you can put to work today.

article thumbnail

The 5 Best States In America For New Business

YoungUpstarts

'by Lewis Robinson. Looking to start a business? Prospective business owners must make a myriad of choices before even opening up shop. One of the most important is where to locate the business. The United States is not uniform in its friendliness toward small businesses, and some states make operating a business easier than others. There are many factors to consider in determining which state is the best to locate a new business.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Being Adult In A Relationship

Feld Thoughts

'I was with my close friend Jerry Colonna for dinner last week. We sat outside at the Boulder Teahouse , our favorite place to eat together, and shared a meal, some heavy conversation, and some love. I love Jerry. I learn something every time I’m with him. He’s one of the first VCs I ever worked with and is my favorite other than my Foundry Group partners.

article thumbnail

3 Considerations Before Deciding To Hire Or Outsource

YoungUpstarts

'By Hunter Hoffmann, Head of US Communications at Hiscox Small Business Insurance. At some point in their journey, most entrepreneurs will reach a tipping point where they need to grow from a one-person shop into a small business with extra help on board to really expand and reach their goals. If you’re reaching the point where there just aren’t enough hours in the day, should you hire some employees and create an in-house team, or outsource as many roles as possible as you work to get your bus

Hiring 189
article thumbnail

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

article thumbnail

Why you should do customer interviews (even if you don’t think you need to)

The Next Web

'Tlacael Esparza is the co-founder and CTO of Sensory Percussion. This post is part of the Lessons Learned series featuring NYU entrepreneurs’ first-hand accounts of challenges faced in starting a business and the lessons learned along the way. I admit to a considerable amount of hubris before entering the Summer Launchpad program nearly three months ago.

Cofounder 159
article thumbnail

Lack Of Access To Bank Loans Prompts Increase In Alternative Finance Sources

YoungUpstarts

'by Kathryn Donovan. One key parameter the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards wished to improve was businesses’ access to bank loans, yet two years after its establishment, only ten percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) believe sourcing bank loans has become easier. This is in stark contrast to 50 percent of bankers who believe SMEs’ access to bank loans has improved.

Finance 162

More Trending

article thumbnail

4 Tips On Opening A Brick-And-Mortar Retail Business

YoungUpstarts

'So you’re considering opening a physical retail business? Congratulations, you have a tough ride ahead. While it may seem like every other day there’s a new store is being opened in town, the fact that many others are closing down – at the same time – is cold harsh reality. The retail industry is facing many challenges now, especially in the face of slowing consumer spending and the rise of online shopping.

article thumbnail

Pause: 10 Quotes on Why You Should Take Breaks, Relax, and Play

Up and Running

'Small business owners and entrepreneurs are almost always working, whether they’re in the office or not. But is it possible that taking time off and resting is better for your business? Here are 10 quotes from famous authors, poets, and speakers on why time away from work could be just as important to your bottom line. Featuring quotes from Mark Twain, Maya Angelou, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Plato, and more.

Restful 127
article thumbnail

Answer the Damn Question

David Cohen

'An investor asks you a simple, direct question: “Have you ever lost a customer because they couldn’t figure out how to install your product?”. Your answer might be: “No, that has never happened.”. Or maybe: “Yes, that has happened once.”. It was a short answer, but you answered the damn question. This is where it often goes wrong. Then comes the dreaded pause.

Customer 117
article thumbnail

What we get paid for

Start Up Blog

'What we actually get paid for is all the work we did yesterday, and the day before that, and the year before that. In fact, what we get paid for is the work we did when no one was watching and no one was paying.

Revenue 101
article thumbnail

Change Someone Else In These 6 Ways

Mike Michalowicz

'You know those movies where the guy says, “I could tell ya, but if I told ya, I’d have to kill ya.”? My second company, the one that did computer crime investigation, had that sort of atmosphere. The problem was, I had a fantastic employee, who was great, except he was a loud talker. In a company where total security matters, loud talkers aren’t good to have around talking about your confidential cases.

article thumbnail

Texas A&M Looks to Partner with Tech Entrepreneurs

SiliconHills

'BY LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Roy Truitt, founder of Austin-based startup, ScanSee, wants to tap into Texas A&M’s rich engineering resources. Truitt, serial entrepreneur who founded Truco Enterprises, which makes the On the Border brand of chips and salsas, created ScanSee four years ago. It has created an app, HubCiti, which can […] The post Texas A&M Looks to Partner with Tech Entrepreneurs appeared first on SiliconHills.

Texas 90
article thumbnail

Physical Therapist or Chiropractor?

OnlyOnce

'Physical Therapist or Chiropractor? I was talking to a good friend the other day who is an executive coach. He was telling me that his clients are all over the map in terms of role (CEO or functional senior exec), need (small issue to large issue), company size and stage. But most important, he noted that his clients have different ways of leaning, and that he has to tailor his coaching style to the client.

Lean 85
article thumbnail

Ice bucket challenge

The Equity Kicker

'The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has been amazing, both as a money raising phenomena and a case study in how quickly memes spread these days. And so perhaps inevitably my turn came around. I was challenged over the weekend and did it on Tuesday. Watch it below. I tweeted the video out yesterday to keep the momentum going but I wanted to put it here for posterity.

Video 76
article thumbnail

SXSW Eco Announces Finalists for Startup Showcase and Place by Design Competitions

Austin Startup

'South by Southwest Eco (SXSW Eco), a conference connecting the urgency of global sustainability challenges with the opportunity for breakthrough solutions, today announced the finalists for its third annual entrepreneurial pitch and and second annual public space design competitions, the Startup Showcase and Place by Design. SXSW Eco will take place October 6-8, 2014 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

Design 70
article thumbnail

Use video whenever possible.

Berkonomics

'Ninety percent of all traffic on the Internet is in video form. Yes, most of that is from NetFlix and YouTube and others delivering entertainment content. But an increasing amount is now coming from web sites and YouTube videos created by companies looking for an edge in their marketing efforts. The average time spent on a static website, one without videos linked to the home page, is under a minute.

Video 66
article thumbnail

Entrepreneur Helps Brings Clean Water

The Entrepreneurial Mind

'Entrepreneurial Profile : Kathy Ku: SPROUTS of Water. Kathy Ku, a graduate from Harvard University, applied the knowledge she gained during her college education to solve a pressing social problem. Uganda has more than 10 million people without safe water to drink. Ku launched SPROUTS of Water to provide affordable clay water filters to improve water quality and thereby help reduce waterborne illness, which is the leading cause of death among Ugandan children.

Uganda 67
article thumbnail

Badmouthing and Bashing

Babbling VC

'It''s been an interesting year so far. I think we all concur that there is a lot of hype at the moment in our startup world. I presume there is more to come as I don''t see any kind of downturn in the next 12 months or so. Nevertheless, one thing has been really annoying me recently. The amount of badmouthing and bashing I hear is excessive. . It all came to a head for me with the Samwer " Reportage " a couple days ago.

article thumbnail

December 26th 2013, this Kickstarter campaign limped towards a.

Bryce Dot VC

'December 26th 2013, this Kickstarter campaign limped towards a looming deadline to reach their goald of $125,000. They failed and that campaign was never funded. Fast forward 8 months. The same product, with the same name, by the same inventor, with an eerily similar promotional video has become the most successful project in Kickstarter history. So what changed?

article thumbnail

Stop Bad-mouthing the Millenial Generation and Read the Facts

Up and Running

'While there may be generational gaps about fashion or social conventions, millenials are often at the forefront when it comes to technology. At the end of June, U.S. employers listed more available jobs—4.7 million—than at any point since 2001. Unemployment is also falling, while consumer confidence has stabilized. By multiple measures, the economy is in better shape now than at any point over the last few years.

Las Vegas 113
article thumbnail

A Look At Seed Funding Options for Your Startup

Early Growth Financial Services

'Among the earliest decisions you have to make when you’re getting your startup off the ground is how to fund it. Whether you intend to go it alone for as long as possible, or line up funding right away, the earlier you decide on a strategy, the better. Our Seed Funding Your Startup webinar with Kristine di Bacco, Associate Attorney at Fenwick & West and Sirk Roh, EGFS’ Chief Operating Officer, was a dive into the ins and outs of early-stage financing and a look at some of the key vehicles.

article thumbnail

Think Big, Start Small: The Story of a Startup

Up and Running

'A couple of weeks ago, when I interviewed Tim Richards, ReefCam’s CEO, I had no notion of where our conversation might go. I was simply interested in the business because it was different; because it was young, and because it has the potential to do real good. Since then, I have come to believe that ReefCam is a great company for aspiring entrepreneurs to look to and to learn from.

article thumbnail

Why Your A/B Tests Are Failing

ConversionXL

'In a 2013 study by eConsultancy & RedEye , surveying almost 1,000 client-side & agency marketers, it was found that 60% found A/B testing to be “quite valuable” to their business. Yet, only just over a quarter (28%) report being satisfied with their conversion rates. What’s interesting is that another study by VWO found that only 1 in every 7 A/B tests is a statistically significant winning test.

Analytics 104
article thumbnail

A Visual Guide to Local SEO for Small Business Websites

Duct Tape Marketing

'A Visual Guide to Local SEO for Small Business Websites written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. It’s guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest post is from Justin Sturges – Enjoy! How to Build a Perfectly Optimized Local Website by Following the Google Guidelines! Building a winning local website is no simple task.

SEO 75
article thumbnail

When it comes to your job, passion should trump money every time

Jeff Hilimire

'I went to visit a friend at his new job recently and he seemed like an entirely different person. He lit up when he talked about the business and the work that he’s doing. Heck, I wanted to work there after hearing him talk about it! I felt like high-fiving people on the street after I left, I was so pumped up. And he had a really great job before, but I can now tell – and so can he – that it wasn’t fulfilling him.