Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 19, 2013
This article initially appeared on TechCrunch. The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. “We want low-touch or zero-touch businesses” was the mantra. I believe it’s flawed.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 24, 2013
Someday you will be able to ask your browser or smart phone open questions like "Where should I take my wife for a good movie and dinner?" Your browser would consult its intelligence of what you and she like and dislike, take into account your current location, and then suggest the right movies and restaurants. If you are the first to deliver this, your startup might be the next Google!
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YoungUpstarts
MARCH 22, 2013
Crowdfunding, the new in-thing in micro-financing that’s taken the world by storm thanks to the likes of Kickstarter , takes a twist with new crowdfunding site CrowdIt. CrowdIt ( www.crowdit.com ) aims to take a different approach to crowdfunding by building an online community, as well as incorporating elements of mentoring, peer review and business networking for inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs and other associated dreamers.
Startup Lessons Learned
MARCH 6, 2013
We're back! Once again, along with my partners at 500 Startups, we are proud to present the most substantive track at SXSW: [link] There was a running joke last year that "the Lean Startup track was the only place at SXSW you couldn't get out of the building." That's because the room we were in was so packed, the only way to stay for the next session was to refuse to give up your seat.
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
The Next Web
MARCH 10, 2013
This is a guest post by Chris Hollindale, co-founder and CTO of Hasty. Hasty is a seed-funded stealth startup whose mission is to improve the health of humanity. If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably measuring everything you possibly can about your business and your product. It’s how you improve things – you build, you measure and you learn. Why then, should you not take this same approach with yourself?
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 8, 2013
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 21, 2013
Many professionals in business, from startups to multi-nationals, assume that team leader or executive is an appointed position, and the skills come with the title. In reality, leadership is best demonstrated while not in a position of authority, and is a skill that must be sharpened every day of your life. Most experts agree that leadership, as perceived by people around you, is more about behavior than it is about specific skills or knowledge.
YoungUpstarts
MARCH 12, 2013
by Garrett Heath. In the age of the advertiser supported social network, one person is trying to flip the script and create a paid social network. Dalton Caldwell, founder of App.net spoke at SXSW with a session called “ Is There An Alternative To Ad-Supported Social Networking? “ From the onset of the session, Caldwell emphasized that App.net is an experiment without a clear answer if it will work or not.
Aymeric Gaurat-Apelli
MARCH 25, 2013
I am working on the weekly planner called Week Plan and I decided I needed someone to help me develop it while I focus on the other tasks of the business. Many people resist the idea of outsourcing so I thought I would show how I went through the process myself and found a great web developer. 1. Post the job on oDesk. Title: The title should be as descriptive as possible to attract the right people.
The Next Web
MARCH 30, 2013
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Jason Cartwright , the founder of Potato , a 65-person Web development agency headquartered in London. He’s previously worked for a variety of startups, as well as larger organisations such as Volvo, the BBC, and Google. . Hiring developers for your tech company undoubtedly involves making some of the most important decisions you’ll reach for your organisation.
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 22, 2013
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 9, 2013
I believe that groups coming together to make tough decisions driven by consensus tend to make poor decisions. This is especially true in startups where speed matters and where there is a need to constantly calibrate direction and where these decisions can have existential outcomes. Should you increase your burn rate by adding 2 senior hires who will help you ship faster or sell more but then have less time for fund raising?
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 22, 2013
Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. In fact, businesses need to adapt just as completely to the changes in the buying and social behavior of consumers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Today’s customer buying dynamics are all about “user experience,” according to Brian Solis, in his new book “ What’s the Future of Business?
Ben's Blog
MARCH 4, 2013
I move onward, the only direction. Can’t be scared to fail in the search of perfection. —Jay-Z, On to the Next One. As CEO, you know that you cannot build a world-class company unless you maintain a world-class team. But how do you know if an executive is world-class? Beyond that, if she was world-class when you hired her, will she stay world-class?
Diego Basch
MARCH 14, 2013
Whether I like it or not I’m an angel investor , even though I prefer a different label. I don’t want to picture myself as a has-been who doesn’t have the fire to build another company. A lucky bastard who plays Fantasy Football with money that other people would use to educate their kids, buy a car, pay debt. While that may be true, I invest in startups because I need to feel useful.
The Next Web
MARCH 24, 2013
I’ll admit it, the title of this article is downright curmudgeonly. But between visioning sessions, collaborative software development and Linus’ Law of bug detection — we’ve been taught to accept the wisdom of crowds as necessary to most startup decision-making. In our world, consensus is treated as a type of quality control and our success as leaders depends on a culture of listening and openness.
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 10, 2013
Many smaller companies that provide creative services struggle every day to manage their capacity and their overhead. Because, as in many other industries, business is cyclical, these smaller agencies, design shops, and marketing firms tend to exist on boom/bust cycles throughout the year. In the creative industries this is an everyday fact of business: overhead is constant, but revenue ebbs and flows throughout the year; some months there are so many clients and so much business that these serv
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 14, 2013
This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches?
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 25, 2013
Every engineer who has invented some new technology, or is adept at creating solutions, believes that is the hard part, and it should be a short step to take that solution to market as an entrepreneur. In reality, that short business step embodies far more risk, and a poor technology solution is not near the top of most lists of common reasons for business failures.
deal architect
MARCH 11, 2013
I think about getting to Austin for SxSW each year. I have many friends in that city – Bill Hopkins, Hank Jones, Charlie Wood – that I don’t see for years. And of course to rub shoulders with some of.
Ben's Blog
MARCH 4, 2013
'I move onward, the only direction Can''t be scared to fail in the search of perfection —Jay-Z, On to the Next One. As CEO, you know that you cannot build a world-class company unless you maintain a world-class team. But how do you know if an executive is world-class? Beyond that, if she was world-class when you hired her, will she stay world-class?
The Next Web
MARCH 11, 2013
This post is presented by FedEx. Congratulations! If your startup has made it far enough to expand and still keep its doors open, then you have already passed one of the biggest entrepreneurial challenges that exist. However, the success of your company is not set in stone, so it’s best to not rest on your laurels and expect all of the growth you’ve experienced to continue exponentially.
YoungUpstarts
MARCH 18, 2013
by Marcela De Vivo. Social media presents a range of possibilities for growth for small businesses — for some, it’s a necessity. A recent study found that small businesses benefit the most from social media marketing, in that 72 percent of small business that implemented social media strategies found a boost in website traffic. Increase in traffic can lead to new customers and greater sales.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 12, 2013
It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce that we have added Greg Bettinelli as a partner at GRP Partners. If you don’t already follow him on Twitter please click link and follow. You won’t regret it. The guy has knowledge. It is the first time in 6 years that we’ve expanded the partnership. So why Greg and why now? I first met Greg about 4 years ago or so.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 17, 2013
Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. Professionals maintain that there is plenty of money for equity in qualified startups, and funding marginal startups via any source will only make more people unhappy.
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 1, 2013
I’ve had a shitty morning. After a really fun day yesterday in Waterloo at Communitech , which is really impressive, I woke up at 4:30am to make my 6:30am flight from Toronto to Chicago on my way to Little Rock, Arkansas where I’m speaking at the launch of Startup Arkansas. I was going to run the Little Rock Marathon on Sunday but I’m undertrained and – while I could get it done – decided I wasn’t ready to deal with the physical and emotional recovery cycle gi
TechEmpower
MARCH 27, 2013
The following post is a comprehensive summary of the developer-facing changes coming in Java 8. This next iteration of the JDK is currently scheduled for general availability in September 2013. At the time of this writing, Java 8 development is still very much in progress. Language features and APIs may still change. I'll do my best to keep this document up to date.
VC Cafe
MARCH 7, 2013
It used to be hard to find information about early stage startups. Team members (and their background), funding to date, metrics (not just the vanity metrics shared by management). VC Cafe collated the top startup intelligence tools for 2013. These include startup research, market size for startups, competitive analysis, startup maps. [[ This is a content summary only.
YoungUpstarts
MARCH 7, 2013
By Robert D. Smith, author of “ 20,000 Days and Counting: The Crash Course For Mastering Your Life Right Now ” Warning: This article is not for the faint of heart. 1. This job is rough, tough, and most likely not for you. The vast majority of people I talk to who want to become an entrepreneur are 100% certain they can leave their job, create something out of nothing, and be financially self-reliant within a short time.
Version One Ventures
MARCH 4, 2013
I’ve noticed a common theme carries across most of the advice I’ve given to entrepreneurs lately, and that’s to s-i-m-p-l-i-f-y. For example: 1. Simplify your vision. If you find yourself rambling for minutes on end, it’s time to reign in your mission statement. Nobody will remember a 2 or 3 paragraph description, but they will remember a simple statement that’s been distilled down to one powerful sentence. 2.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 4, 2013
Great entrepreneurs have long been the epitome of people with a great work ethic. But many complain to me that it is becoming harder and harder to find team members and employees who demonstrate and live the same culture. Somewhere along the way, work ethic seems to have been replaced by a pervasive sense of entitlement, especially in the younger generations.
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 25, 2013
I’m not religious but I’ve always liked the idea of the Sabbath. One day a week of rest and reflection. I spent the weekend with Amy in San Diego and in addition to a Digital Sabbath (no electronic devices from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown) I took off all day Sunday off from electronic devices, only opening up my laptop on Sunday night to start editing the latest draft of Matt Blumberg’s book Startup CEO.
Mike Michalowicz
MARCH 6, 2013
Surfside Bagels was wiped out by Hurricane Sandy. The MSNBC Your Business Rescue Team was called into action. In this episode we share recommendations and strategies for recovering from the devastation.
VC Cafe
MARCH 5, 2013
In his talk at London Web Summit, David Tisch, a New York based super-angel with more than 90 portfolio companies, founder of the Box Group and formerly TechStars NY, was asked by David Rowan, "You pretty much see everything in New York. What do you look for in startups you invest in?". [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more!
YoungUpstarts
MARCH 5, 2013
by Daniela Baker. With the ongoing credit crunch, especially for small businesses, angel investors may well be your best hope of getting your startup off the ground. According to the Angel Capital Association , in 2008, angel investor groups put, on average, $1.77 million into 6.3 investments. But when you ask investors for money, you have to pitch to them directly, and you have to do it right.
Version One Ventures
MARCH 13, 2013
Photo credit: Wade Brooks Repeat usage is one of the most important success factors for building a large, stand-alone company. It’s hard to grab people’s mindshare and create a loyal user base when people only need to use your product or service occasionally. One of the best metaphors I’ve come across to describe this reality is Google’s “ toothbrush test ” – where Larry Page insists that new products must be important enough that people will use them at least twice a day.
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