YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'by DJ Miller. From 2010 to 2012, the percentage of Americans following brands on social media jumped from 16 percent to 33 percent. That’s a significant increase, but it also means two-thirds of local social networkers aren’t following brands. Start-up companies have much work to do to make meaningful social network connections. Read on to discover how to foster these bonds and brand your business online: Make Facebook Part of Your Sales Staff.

Social Media 246

Social Media Media Tampa Social Network 246

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. A question I get all the time is “Can I ever expect any backing from my bank for a great opportunity?” The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework.

Silicon Valley 187

Silicon Valley Equity Entrepreneur Finance 187

Mike Michalowicz

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'The first time you went to Starbucks, words like Tall, Venti, and Macchiato may have confused you. That was by design. Star Bucks knows that loyalty is formed out of belonging. When a group can distinguish itself with its own internal language, the loyalty only strengthens (and so. Of course, the trick is getting new folks quickly acclimated to the language so that they feel like insiders and not outsiders.

Customer 145

Customer Demand Design 145

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'Our new video is almost out. Let’s do over / under bets on whether it’ll be here before Twitter goes public. In the mean time, enjoy the teaser. If you’ve forgotten what you are in for, or never saw the first video, take a look at I’m A VC. The post The Worst of Times Is Just Around The Corner appeared first on Feld Thoughts.

Video 133

Video 133

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

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'Jeff Richards of US VC fund GSV Capital has a good post up today: Content, Community and Commerce: Why Verticals Win. His investment thesis is that vertical platforms combining content, community and commerce will make great investments over the next period, and he cites existing portfolio companies including Houzz as good examples. The strategy of blending content and commerce has been around for a while now and underpinned the success of companies like ASOS and Net-a-porter , but it’s

eCommerce 109

eCommerce Community Silicon Valley Vertical 109

Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'I was doing a training session this past week and I was confronted by one of my students. I was giving an overview of CPS * which is a framework for structured creative problem solving. Someone asked the obvious, and in a somewhat confrontational way — Can this really help our business? The implication was that learning a structured creative process was a waste of time.

Framework 106

Framework Channel Naming Marketing 106

SiliconHills

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Five nonprofit teams pitched their ventures at the Nonprofit Technology Summit Friday at Rackspace. The teams went through a 3 Day Startup program at Geekdom to prepare their presentations. Patrick Currie with Boy With a Ball San Antonio pitched a youth mentorship program to reach young people […] The post Five Nonprofit Organizations Pitch Startups at Tech Summit appeared first on SiliconHills.

San Antonio 90

San Antonio Startup Programming Technology 90

ithacaVC

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'One of my favorite aspects of both my jobs (VC and Cornell) is making connections with people. Real, in person connections that last. I also find that using the connections is satisfying. But perhaps the biggest reward is when using a connection results in something very unexpected. Here is an example (and I am keeping names fictitious as this deal is not done yet).

Term Sheet 72

Term Sheet B2C Angel Investor Email 72

SiliconHills

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Teaching nonprofit organizations to pitch, craft brands, harness social media, create effective presentations and use video to influence emotion and create action. Those are a few of the strategies people learned Friday at the fourth annual Nonprofit Technology Summit at Rackspace. The daylong event is focused on […] The post Crafting Brands and Pitching at the Nonprofit Tech Summit appeared first on SiliconHills.

Social Media 65

Social Media Austin Video Media 65

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'by Nicole Gravagna and Peter K. Adams, authors of “ Venture Capital For Dummies ® “ You’ve managed to get the attention of well-established venture capitalists. You’re finally meeting them face-to-face, and everything seems to be going great. But then disaster strikes. You present your estimate for your company’s projected earnings and you see the VCs’ faces drop.

Venture Capital 180

Venture Capital Technical Cofounder Milwaukee Valuation 180

VC Adventure

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'You may have seen the video that Foundry Group produced a few years ago – a hard hitting glimpse into the life of a VC told in SNL style. The video (and more importantly the song) was written and directed by my very talented partner Jason Mendelson. That’s his voice. That’s also his playing every instrument you hear on the track. Awesome.

Video 61

Video Partner Technology 61

SiliconHills

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'Team Chaos in Austin launched Dragon Academy, a puzzle adventure game, available on multiple formats including Apple iOS, Android and Facebook. The free game adds role playing elements to a format similar to Candy Crush Saga and Bejeweled. Team Chaos released the game last week. It’s available in the Apple iOS App Store and in […] The post Team Chaos Launches Dragon Academy appeared first on SiliconHills.

Austin 54

Austin 54

Jeff Hilimire

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'To say its been a strange few weeks for me would be an understatement. Excellent, exciting, invigorating…but yeah, strange. While I’ve started this new chapter with Dragon Army and I’m having a blast already, a part of me is also still coming to terms with the fact that the company that I started with Raj Choudhury over a dozen years ago is no longer a part of my life.

Partner 60

Partner Charlotte Atlanta Merger 60

VC Adventure

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

You may have seen the video that Foundry Group produced a few years ago – a hard hitting glimpse into the life of a VC told in SNL style. The video (and more importantly the song) was written and directed by my very talented partner Jason Mendelson. That’s his voice. That’s also his playing every instrument you hear on the track. Awesome.

Video 48

Video Partner Technology 48

Scott Edward Walker

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'Welcome to our weekly series “ Motivational Clips for Entrepreneurs.” Each week, we share a favorite video clip to inspire and motivate entrepreneurs. Why? Because we know how tough it is being an entrepreneur; and whether you’re just getting started or you’re trying to execute on your business model or you’re raising funds, you need a little juice to help you push the ball forward.

Entrepreneur 49

Entrepreneur Business Model Video 49

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

Massachusetts needs money. These days, every state is looking for ways to scrape out more revenue for failing budgets and costly infrastructure projects. But Massachusetts looked at its burgeoning technology sector and thought that it could squeeze at least $160 million a year out the Commonwealth’s startups and established technology firms for funding of a transportation bill.

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Massachusetts Technology Boston San Francisco 60