Wed.Aug 27, 2014

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10 Calculated Risks That Lead To Startup Success

Startup Professionals Musings

'There is an old saying that good lawyers run away from risk, while good businessmen run towards risk. Entrepreneurs see “no risk” as meaning “no reward.” In reality, all risks are not the same. Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure.

Startup 283
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Tale of Two Valleys: LA and the Bay Area from an Investor’s Perspective

Mucker Lab

'Almost 30 years ago, my father decided to uproot the entire family from Taiwan to the United States so that his academically “inconsistent” son could have an education tolerant and perhaps even encouraging of his idiosyncrasies. As an entrepreneur himself, founding and operating printed circuit board factories in Taiwan, my father was debating between two places to immigrate to and build his next new venture: Los Angeles (“The Valley” aka San Fernando Valley) and Santa

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Hey Buddy, Can You Spare a Vote? My SXSW Panels.

Hunter Walker

'As many know, SXSW uses a group voting process to help influence what panels are selected for their event. There are four panels that I’m part of for 2015’s event and if you had a moment to click on over and vote for our submissions, it would be great. And also groovy to see everyone in Austin! 1. Building Gender Balanced Startups. Everyone in tech wants more gender balance in the startup ecosystem, but the practical challenges to implementing that goal are complex, and involve man

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7 Steps For Building Strong Startups In The Highly Regulated Biotech Industry

YoungUpstarts

'by Kevin Xu , CEO of MEBO International. Transforming an innovative idea into a commercially viable business is no small feat for any startup — let alone one competing in the biotechnology industry. Although it’s a tightly regulated field with high barriers to entry, current market trends give a promising prognosis for startups probing this field.

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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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How our traffic generation strategy made more than $100,000 in crowdfunding

The Next Web

'Johnathan Leow is the author of “The Crowdfunded Kit.” This post originally appeared on Crowdfund Insider. If there’s one big lesson about crowdfunding I’ve learnt in the past eight months, it is that pre-launch marketing can make or break your campaign. I’ve gone from knowing next to nothing about crowdfunding, to running a successful Indiegogo campaign at a previous startup that raised $106,830.

Campaign 166
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Ideas And Tips On How To Start A Home Business

YoungUpstarts

'Did you know that many of the entrepreneurs when they start their business, they decide to turn their home into an office? In order for your business to start with the right foot from offices installed in your house we share the following recommendations: Define a space for your office. Empty the space you will use as your office, as you need to avoid distractions.

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How To Manage Your Time More Effectively

YoungUpstarts

'by Ian Cowley, managing director of www.cartridgesave.co.uk. Becoming the master of your time is vital to running a successful business. Sometimes it can seem like there are not enough hours in the day to finish your workload. Following our six top tips will not only improve your efficiency in your workplace but help reduce the stress in your life: 1.

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Dealing with fear in the business world: Lessons from fighters

The Next Web

'The original version of this article was published in Lantern, a publication that examines the business of living. As workers in fast-paced, high-pressure, scenarios (entrepreneurs, aspiring business leaders, many folks in technology or a competitive corporate field), a lot of us have to deal with fear. Pitching rich people on ideas that we’re not certain will work out.

Web 139
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[Event] FOCUS100

YoungUpstarts

'As the issue of diversity in the workplace continue to rage in the business world, recent startling news that African-Americans and Latinos account for just around 1-4% of the global workforces of several major tech corporations shows the harsh reality and the immediate need to rectify the imbalance. As such, upcoming technology conference FOCUS100 intends to make diversity a key theme in its third annual edition.

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As a new independent angel investor, how will I find new companies to invest in?

Gust

'The two sites you mentioned are both secondary listing services, for later stage companies. For a new angel investor, by far the best thing to do is to join a local angel investor group that belongs to the Angel Capital Association. There are hundreds of them, with at least one in every state. Major metropolitan areas typically have more than one. Some groups specialize, investing primarily in life sciences or tech companies or women-led ventures or other areas.

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How to Write a Company Overview

Up and Running

'You want to be able to proudly present your business plan. A company overview (also known as company information or a company summary) is an essential part of a business plan. Your company overview should be exactly what it sounds like: an overview containing all of the most important points about your company. It usually appears after the executive summary.

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SaaS + Marketplace

A Crowded Space

'One of the hardest things about marketplaces is that you typically only get a very small rake. 10% of services is common. After transaction fees, you may be left with just 7% of gross services. So, even if you’re doing 100M in gross services, you’re really still doing less than 10M in net revenue. Some marketplace businesses have started monetizing at least in part through higher-margin software fees. .

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Gandhi on customers: this dude was way ahead of his time

The Equity Kicker

'I came across this quote at the weekend: A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.

Customer 109
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How to solve the busy problem

Start Up Blog

'I feel like no one should be permitted to call ‘busy’ anymore. If everyone is busy, then it is as if no one is busy. In classic algebraic form, we can strike it from both sides of the equation and just call it equal. But it does surprise me that people don’t employ the oldest rule in economics when they get too busy: Put the price up.

Demand 103
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The Right Place At The Right Time

Mike Michalowicz

'Chances are your business is like a gumball machine. Your clients aren’t strategically planning to buy from you. They aren’t spending years evaluating and weighing each option. They aren’t thinking about the consequences a year from now. Let alone a day from now. They simply pass by your gumball machine. You are at the right place, at the right time and it becomes a no brainer.

Sales 93
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Compare Metrics Rebrands and Launches as Edgecase

SiliconHills

'Compare Metrics, which makes retail analytics software aimed at improving the online shopping experience for consumers, announced it has rebranded as Edgecase and officially launched its shopping platform. The Austin-based company, founded in 2012, has created shopping software that allows people to browse online easily for clothes in a natural way, similar to window shopping […] The post Compare Metrics Rebrands and Launches as Edgecase appeared first on SiliconHills.

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What Does Charm Have To Do with Business?

Duct Tape Marketing

'What Does Charm Have To Do with Business? written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing podcast with Jordan Harbinger. My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Jordan Harbinger – cofounder of an amazingly successful business called The Art of Charm – a business with the tagline – where ordinary guys become extraordinary men.

Jordan 62
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Routines and Rituals

Bryce Dot VC

'Last week I slept in my own bed for seven days straight. That’s the first time I’ve done so in months. Over that time there was lots of planned and unplanned, work and fun, related travel. And as much as I’d like to think nothing slipped through the cracks, I know some did. Despite closing rounds for old companies and leading rounds for new ones, I’m sure there were opportunities to help the old and meet the new that were missed without the structure of a daily routine.

Cloud 45
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Top 10 Landing Page Features

Scalable Startup

'I’m a bit tired of these Top 5, Top 10 etc. lists, just used as click bait. But… I am doing this anyway for a new site, so I thought I’d ask the community what you think. Here are mine, pretty much in order: Short and Sweet – no scrolling, hovering required. Less Is More. One click to the lower area – I do this on tomnora.com to reveal a “matrix” mesmerizing animation.

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Hiring Writers at Your Startup? Scrap Your Usual Approach

View from Seed

'The best writer I ever hired at a startup wasn’t a former journalist. He wasn’t a former marketer or a former teacher or even a former liberal arts major. The best writer I ever hired at a startup didn’t have a resume. He didn’t have a LinkedIn profile or Google+ account or even a Twitter handle. The best writer I ever hired at a startup is trying to work at your startup all the time, but 99 out of 100 times, you pass.

Hiring 335
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Invest in Karma for Above Market Returns

This is going to be BIG.

'Yesterday, I took my 96 year old Nana to Atlantic City. As you can see from the photo, she didn''t win, but I did. Almost $200. Still, she had an awesome time and was thrilled to go. Protip: Don''t bother with the valet at the Taj Mahal. By the time they get to you, you could have walked over, gotten your car yourself and come back to the front. Just this morning, someone on a rec sports team that I play on just told me that they lost their job and couldn''t pay for softball anymore.