View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Step one in building a new company is the YC adage: “Build something people want.”. But how do you go about figuring out what people want? The obvious answer we all give (and receive) in the startup community is to talk to people. “Customer development” has become its own skill and body of knowledge, and there are some crucial nuances to understand up front before beginning your customer dev discussions.

Customer Development 253

Customer Development Developer Customer Seed Stage 253

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2015

This morning Clutter.io announced they raised $9 million from Sequoia , arguably the best venture capital firm that exists. Congratulations. Sincerely. Conventional wisdom says I shouldn’t tell you this because I invested in their main competitor, MakeSpace. I know my MakeSpace friends will forgive me because I just don’t believe the conventional wisdom is right.

Cofounder 298

Cofounder Venture Capital Differentiation Holding Company 298

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

In a world of pre-seeds , seeds, seed extensions, super-seeds , and more, figuring out the right amount to raise for a startup’s seed round can seem like a moving target. And if you do land on a “right” amount, is that the actual best number for the “ask” in a pitch deck ? Conventional VC wisdom says entrepreneurs should raise 18 months of runway. This rule of thumb is directionally correct.

Seed Capital 239

Seed Capital Seed Stage Demand Finance 239

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 22, 2015

by Bill Carey , Vice President of Marketing & Business Development at Siber Systems Inc. . Passwords have been the first line of defense for cyber security since the earliest days of the Internet, but predictions that new technologies will make passwords obsolete have been around almost as long. Despite that, passwords continue to confound expectations, showing surprising staying power as other options emerge.

Security 155

Security Government Advertising Technology 155

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

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Often when thinking of what’s next, personally or at work, we tend to delay an actual step forward and instead labor over mapping the path we should take. A collection of well-worn avenues that others – bosses, parents, heroes – have taken before us forge this potential path, the details of which we agonize over. This is one part human nature and one part a damning effect of expecting results from a practiced action which secondary education engrains in us — we seek proven endeavors

Equity 196

Equity Security Community Conversion 196

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 22, 2015

For companies around the world, it is clear that innovation is the key to long term survival. Without new ideas, businesses die. And unless such innovation occurs regularly, there will be no predictable path for companies to build from. Despite this knowledge, Accenture found that only 18% of businesses felt that their innovation process was working.

Mobile 152

Mobile Employee Management Marketing 152

The Next Web

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Chief Executive Officer? Chief Visionary? Chief Cheerleader? Chief Salesman? Chief Funding Officer? Chief Communications Officer? Chief Team Builder? Chief Lightbulb Changer? Chief Coffee Maker? Yup, all of these titles apply to the role of a startup CEO. It is perhaps one of the hardest jobs to do in the business world, given the wide range of skills required to excel.

Startup 128

Startup Web Entrepreneur 128

YFS Magazine

OCTOBER 22, 2015

One thing many entrepreneurs want is to build an influential and irresistible brand. That is where intentional branding comes into play.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Sales Marketing 108

The Equity Kicker

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Sometimes a picture tells a thousand words and this one shows how eSports have exploded in the US over the last four years. For those that don’t know, eSports are sporting events where the protagonists play video games against each other in front of paying audiences. In many ways this is becoming like traditional sports, with the athletes training multiple hours per day and big prize pools.

Acquisition 89

Acquisition Audience Video Marketing 89

YFS Magazine

OCTOBER 22, 2015

In business, nothing is more frustrating for a customer (or internal team members) than to be unable to communicate an efficient manner.

Customer 98

Customer Mobile 98

SiliconHills

OCTOBER 22, 2015

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News During the last seven years, Dell spent $14 billion to acquire more than 30 companies to reinvent itself into an “end to end solutions company.” “We have developed this real muscle around taking in companies, integrating companies and incubating companies,” said Steve Price, Dell’s senior vice president […] The post The Cultural Fit Between Dell and EMC appeared first on SiliconHills.

Incubator 78

Incubator Developer Austin 78

Mike Michalowicz

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Be careful about accepting things the way they are, simply because it has always been that way. The world was flat, until someone finally thought otherwise. The earth was the center of the universe, until someone finally thought otherwise. Just because the world says it so, does not mean it is. Challenge the axioms. Find new answers. And then shout it out to the world.

69

69

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 22, 2015

The first rule for raising money is to do it on good news – right when sales are increasing at an increasing rate. Or when a major customer signs a significant deal. Or when something happens that makes an investor think this company is about to break out. Unfortunately, the longer you wait without significant upward news, the harder it is to get attention.

Dilution 65

Dilution Strategic Investors Early Stage Cost 65

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 22, 2015

12 Tips to Improve Your SEO Ranking written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing. You could do several things if you want to improve the search engine rankings of your website. Below are some of the more important Do’s and Don’ts that you should consider if you want to improve the rankings on your website. DO’s. Write content that people find interesting and want to share.

SEO 60

SEO Engineer Audience Search 60

Up and Running

OCTOBER 22, 2015

This is the phone call you’re trying to avoid. The old adage says “you can’t please everyone.”. However, when it comes to customer complaints, this is often one time you should try to set things right. Not only that, but a customer complaint can be an excellent way to make your product or service better next time. While the truth is that the customer may not always be right, a customer issue is almost always a chance to improve your business.

Customer 107

Customer Social Media Reputation Software Review 107

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Marketing Metrics – They Will Make You or Break You written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing. photo credit: StockSnap. Your business’ lifeblood is its customers. In order to gain enough customers to keep your business growing, you need to attract people’s attention; this requires a solid marketing campaign. However, we regularly see marketers making the mistake of thinking that a “good” marketing campaign means flooding various channels with clever adv

Metrics 51

Metrics Lead Generation Marketing Campaign 51

Early Growth Financial Services

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Your average small business owner is not a seasoned recruiter. No surprises there, but finding and nurturing talent is one of the key determinants of any successful startup. So how do you go about attracting and retaining the right people to grow your business? Paul Slezak of RecruitLoop outlined a strategy for making the right hires on our Hiring Strategies for Small Businesses webinar.

Small Business 35

Small Business Hiring Employee Startup 35

Brandanew

OCTOBER 22, 2015

I connect with a lot of entrepreneurs and Startups on an everyday basis. Many of them are often struggling with funding, user engagement and discoverability, if I had to name the top three concerns. The Internet also seems to have gifted us with lower barriers to entry. It is possible for everyone to hustle and create small projects that can make a difference.

Hiring 135

Hiring Social Media Marketing B2C 135

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Hey hey, check it out , we recently launched our new NextView website and did a refresh on our brand. The home page and the NextView blog are good starting points to explore. We also now have a dedicated page for exploring our platform of resources focused on helping startups gain traction, found here. Below are a few reflections about having gone through this process, but please, please let us know what you think!

Seed Stage 261

Seed Stage Startup Portfolio Institutional Investors 261

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 22, 2015

The startup world can be rather enigmatic and mysterious to those who aren’t familiar with its numerous and constantly evolving businesses in that entrepreneurship space. And who’s to blame them? There is at least a handful of startups being launched across the world every single day, and just as many get acquired or perish into the ignominious dead-pool that very day.

Nigeria 162

Nigeria Indonesia Italy Germany 162

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

One of the things we frequently discuss with founders is how to interpret and manage their dialogue with VCs when raising capital. We’ve written before on how to research partners , how to pitch the right investor at a given firm, and how to raise seed capital , generally speaking. But it’s also useful to try and understand where exactly you are in the process with a particular investor.

Term Sheet 203

Term Sheet Due Diligence Seed Stage Seed Capital 203

SVPG

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Most of us are working on solving some pretty hard problems, and it usually ends up taking some fairly complex systems in order to power these solutions. As such, for most teams there are two very significant challenges to tackle: First, discovering , in detail, what the customer solution needs to be. That includes everything from making sure there’s enough customers that even need this solution (the demand) and then coming up with a solution that works for our customers and our own compan

Engineer 64

Engineer Dilution Software Early Stage 64

Rob Go

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Hey hey, check it out , we recently launched our new NextView website and did a refresh on our brand. The home page and the NextView blog are good starting points to explore. We also now have a dedicated page for exploring our platform of resources focused on helping startups gain traction, found here. Below are a few reflections about having gone through this process, but please, please let us know what you think!

Seed Stage 36

Seed Stage Portfolio Institutional Investors Later Stage 36