February, 2014

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Finding an Investor Who is in Love with You

Both Sides of the Table

'I often talk about what I’m looking for when I meet with an entrepreneur. Above all else I’m looking for a genuine passion for what the entrepreneur is doing. It’s even a direct quote in my Twitter bio. Of course passion isn’t enough. You need a set of innate skills that differentiate you from the thousands of others who set out on your similar journey.

Video 373
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Security And Privacy Are Entrepreneur Opportunities

Startup Professionals Musings

'With the Identity Theft Resource Center® reporting a 30% increase in privacy breaches in 2013, there seems to be a growing population out there worried about all the people intent on hurting them. Why is everyone so paranoid these days? My plea to entrepreneurs is to recognize these concerns as an opportunity, to make people’s life better, rather than stoke the fires.

Security 251
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Sometimes It Pays to be a Jerk

Steve Blank

'That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made. William Shakespeare Henry V | Act 4, Scene 3. The concepts in my Lean LaunchPad curriculum can be taught in a variety of classes–as an introduction to entrepreneurship all the way to a graduate level “ capstone class.”. I recently learned being tough when you select teams for a capstone class pays off for all involved.

Lean 278
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What Entrepreneurs Need to Know About Google+

YoungUpstarts

'by Alicia Lawrence, WebpageFX . Imagine that you walk into a football stadium to watch a professional football game. You are decked out from head to toe in your team’s colors. Unfortunately, your team isn’t “home.” Though you aren’t kicked out, you are treated like a pariah by everyone from the home fans to the vendors to the mascot. What does this have to do with Google+?

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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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4 steps to starting a Web business without knowing a thing about coding

The Next Web

'Eddy Lee, Ph.D, is a venture capitalist investing in Silicon Valley and Singapore. He is also a Consulting Assistant Professor at Stanford University. So you have a great idea for a new mobile app or Web service—but you don’t know anything about coding or developing. You might have started searching for a tech-oriented co-founder to help you launch your idea, only to find that your startup can’t afford the ongoing salary for a skilled software developer.

Web 160
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Finding The High Converting PPC Keywords That Are Right Under Your Nose

ConversionXL

'Note from the editor: We talk a lot about conversion rate optimization, and how it’s about showing the right people, the right thing, at the right time in order to get more out of your website. For many ConversionXL readers, PPC advertising is a big part of your business & in many ways it is just as critical to the conversion process as what’s happening on the page.

PPC 111

More Trending

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What in the World ?!?

thebarefootvc

'I gave a talk, titled “What in the World?”, almost exactly 2 years ago to this day at Bloomberg LP’s headquarters in NYC as part of Social Media Week. You can view the full presentation here. I overviewed demographic and economic trends globally and outlined the opportunity for technology companies to access growth in the emerging markets.

India 107
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Jules Watkins: Photographer, TV Producer & Director Gives It All Up To Teach Video Online (And Makes $200K+ Within Two Years)

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

'[ Download MP3 | Download Transcript | iTunes | Soundcloud ]. Jules had a previous life as a professional news photographer, then managed to find a backdoor into a career in television. He worked his way up to become a director and producer, working on such well known shows as Big Brother , My Sweet Sixteen and Pimp My Ride … Read the rest of this entry » The post Jules Watkins: Photographer, TV Producer & Director Gives It All Up To Teach Video Online (And Make

Video 91
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Startya Helps You Build Your Idea For A 30% Stake In Your Company

YoungUpstarts

'Perhaps you’re an aspiring technology entrepreneur with a great idea of a product you believe would take off, but due to the lack of technical knowledge or funds have no way to turn your business idea into reality. You could try the hard route and raise funds to put together a team. With funds you could maybe even consider outsourcing the development.

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How we built our investor presentation and raised $2 million

The Next Web

'Mikael Cho is the co-founder of ooomf , a network that connects short-term software projects with handpicked developers and designers. Mikael writes about psychology, startups, and product marketing over on the ooomf blog. If you choose to raise money for your company, you’ll inevitably need to prepare a few documents for investors. One of the most important ones is an investor presentation or a “deck.”.

Africa 157
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The Magic of the Irish – Dublin’s Resurgence on the Global Tech Scene

Both Sides of the Table

'I wrote this on my flight home from f.ounders & web summit in Dublin, Ireland late last year. I think I was too hung over to finish it, hit publish and move on. So here is attempt two now that the alcohol is mostly out of me. The Magic of the Irish. Scenes from my counter-top on my last night in Dublin. I recently returned from a 5-day visit to Ireland, my first time back in 10 years and the start of what I hope will be a more regular travel schedule there.

Ireland 392
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Want to be successful? Be willing to accept help when its offered.

Jeff Hilimire

'Sometimes people confuse accepting help with a sign of weakness. They think if they admit they need help that it means they are less capable and it will appear they are inadequate. This is the ultimate sign of a person’s ego holding them back. Recently I experienced a person like this. I was talking to a friend who works at a big company in town and they were expressing a problem they were having with a web development project.

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Discontinuing SAP coverage

deal architect

'Couple of years ago I asked SAP to take me off their events list. I kept asking questions and not really getting answers from its executives and I felt like a jerk writing lukewarm or negative blog posts after being.

Software 372
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Do You Know Enough to Securely Own Bitcoins?

Diego Basch

'[ I wrote this draft a week ago and forgot about it, but in the light of the Mt. Gox news I decided to post it because someone might find it useful ]. Over the past few months I’ve noticed a significant number of forum posts by people losing crypto coins due to their own mistakes. This happens because many do not understand the basic concept of Bitcoin/Altcoin ownership, and the implications when it comes to protecting coins.

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The Simplicity Cure: Why True Employee Engagement Lies In The Little Things

YoungUpstarts

'by Todd Patkin, author of “ Finding Happiness “ We all know that employee engagement matters. Yet again and again, studies point to a pervasive lack of it (for instance, a recent Gallup report indicates that only 13 percent of employees worldwide are engaged), as well as the incredible costs of this problem. No one can deny that disengaged employees are less productive, less innovative, less collaborative… less everything that leads to successful organizations.

Employee 248
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What we can learn from the evolution of Content Management Systems

The Next Web

'Viktor Marohni? is the CEO and co-founder at ShoutEm , a self service mobile website and mobile apps creator, a ‘Wordpress for mobile apps.’. From banking software to cell phones, as markets develop and grow, more user-friendly products with fewer but highly-polished features are winning the game. In the early stages of every technology, the market is usually dominated by products built for early adopters who are typically tech savvy – this mainly consists of developers who like to have full c

PHP 143
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How Should Business Adapt to the Facebook Paper App?

Duct Tape Marketing

'How Should Business Adapt to the Facebook Paper App? written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing By now you’ve probably at least read about Facebook’s newest app called Pape r. If you own an iPhone and live in the US it’s also possible that you’ve downloaded and experienced the new app.

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Have Entrepreneurs Become Too Informal?

Seeing Both Sides

'I love dressing informally, maybe too much. My wife frequently reprimands me for dressing down. I recently met with a US Senator in slacks and a collar shirt (which I thought was being respectfully dressy!) and he wryly cracked that I looked awfully comfortable. I sometime teach my HBS class in jeans (please don''t tell the dean). But lately, I have been wondering if entrepreneurs have taken informality too far.

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Happy Birthday, Blog

deal architect

'My blogs are celebrating their 9th birthdays – Deal Architect this month, its younger sibling New Florence in March. Together, they represent my longest “book” – 9,000 posts long. It’s been quite a run. In many ways they are ying.

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What I Learned by Flipping the MOOC

Steve Blank

'Two of the hot topics in education in the last few years have been Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC’s) and the flipped classroom. I’ve been experimenting with both of them. What I’ve learned (besides being able to use the word “pedagogy” in a sentence) is. 1) assigning students lectures as homework doesn’t guarantee the students will watch them and 2) in a flipped classroom you can become hostage to the pedagogy.

Lean 319
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[Review] Put That Cell Phone Down And Look Me In The Eye

YoungUpstarts

'You’re on what you expected to be on a romantic night out, but instead of putting his full attention on you your date has been fiddling with Facebook on his smartphone the whole night through. Or this – you’re presenting your latest proposal but you can’t seem to command the attention of your colleagues, who seem to be more interested in their mobile phones than the latest ideas you have.

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5 common mistakes to avoid in mobile commerce

The Next Web

'Matt Winn is Volusion’s Marketing Communications Manager, where he helps oversee the organization’s branding and communications efforts. Our current culture is riddled with mobile junkies addicted to their tablets and smartphones. While this newfound obsession has had quite the negative impact on dinner conversation, it does present a great opportunity for retailers to take advantage of this mobile fixation by providing a high-impact, enjoyable mobile commerce experience.

Mobile 137
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A Sneak Peak at Some LA Startup Energy

Both Sides of the Table

'Mark. You disappeared? What the fork happened to you? And what’s up with this crazy new blog design? Well … more on that next week. I will tell more. But for now … Every year we run a big VC, LP & Tech Summit in Los Angeles (this year downtown) to showcase the best of our community and invite others from around the country. Our event this year will feature many portfolio companies and also emerging LA tech companies such as Tinder & Whisper.

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Visualizing the Interactions Between CAC, Churn and LTV

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

'(Guest post by Gordon Daugherty. If you like this, go see his Shockwave Innovations blog ) Anyone that has taken an accounting class or learned basic business financials knows the interaction between key elements of a P&L (revenue, cost, expense) and a balance sheet (assets, liabilities, equity). But it’s surprising to me how many companies with recurring/subscription revenue don’t understand the interactions between the elements that make up customer acquisition cost (CAC), chu

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Everything that glitters.is not digital

deal architect

'OK, so I admit. I write books about Digital Enterprises, I prefer digital banking, mobile travel sites, GPS navigation over paper maps, self service airline check-in and grocery store check-out. I will take a digital route way before a paper/people/process.

Mobile 337
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How to Be Smarter than Your Investors – Continuous Customer Discovery

Steve Blank

'Teams that build continuous customer discovery into their DNA will become smarter than their investors, and build more successful companies. — Awhile back I blogged about Ashwin , one of my ex-students wanted to raise a seed round to build Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) with a Hyper-spectral camera and fly it over farm fields collecting hyper-spectral images.

Customer 316
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Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur?

YoungUpstarts

'By Alex Zaltsman, CEO of InnoviMobile.com and president of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization of New Jersey. Are you trying to jumpstart your career as an entrepreneur? Curious about what other entrepreneurs believe are the most important traits for starting a business? The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) of New Jersey conducted an informal survey of their 90 members to discover common traits entrepreneurs tend to have.

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Tools to help you proofread emails (so you never have to scramble to hit unsend)

The Next Web

'You can feel the temperature in your face start to rise. Maybe you were distracted, rushed, or typed the message on the walk to your car – but somehow, you’d messed up. From CC’ing the wrong person and attaching the wrong file to misspelling key words, in the world of emails, the delete button does not apply after you hit send. The first email was sent in 1971.

Email 152
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5 Questions for a CEO: Raymond King, Zoo Atlanta

Jeff Hilimire

'I love Zoo Atlanta and am currently on the marketing advisory council where I meet quarterly to help the marketing team plan their strategy. It’s an honor to be included and probably my favorite aspect of being on that council has been the opportunity to become friends with Raymond King, the Zoo’s CEO. Raymond and I are also both on the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Board and at the last meeting I was asking him about his process for staying productive and thought, I need to blo

Atlanta 60
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10 Keys To Team Motivation For A Winning Business

Startup Professionals Musings

'Sponsored by VISA Business One of the keys to maximizing the productivity and success of your team, as well as yourself, is motivation. It has been estimated that the average team member at any given time works at less than 50% of his capacity. Thus, mastering the art of employee motivation could double your chances of success over the average competitor.

Salary 272
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Way past Systems of Record and Engagement

deal architect

'InformationWeek as kindly run a column on the new book The Digital Enterprise. My basic premise was IT has become fun and profitable for most of the companies we interviewed for the book. The reason is they have moved past.

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Is This Startup Ready For Investment?

Steve Blank

'Since 2005 startup accelerators have provided cohorts of startups with mentoring, pitch practice and product focus. However, accelerator Demo Days are a combination of graduation ceremony and pitch contest, with the uncomfortable feel of a swimsuit competition. Other than “I’ll know it when I see it”, there’s no formal way for an investor attending Demo Day to assess project maturity or quantify risks.

Incubator 310
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Why Wilmington, Delaware Is The Best Place To Start Your New Business

YoungUpstarts

'by Cynthia Griffith, author of “ The Sun Village Project “. The 21 st century’s industrial revolution is upon us and totally innovative ways to make a profit are being discovered all the time. Whether you’re introducing the world to your new fashioned take on traditional cuisine or you’re building a skyscraping interactive museum, you should seriously consider starting up in Wilmington, Delaware.

Delaware 266
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How marketers can build thought leadership

The Next Web

'Brian Honigman is a marketing consultant, a freelance writer and a social media enthusiast. This post originally appeared on Adknowledge. Marketing is a highly competitive, continually changing field. Innovations in social media and mobile have cultivated an ongoing dialogue and education between consumers and businesses. In order to stand out as a marketer today, you can’t simply follow the requirements of your role at an agency or a brand.

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I answered 9 successful CEO’s favorite interview questions

Jeff Hilimire

'Business Insider had an interesting article recently entitled, “9 CEO’s Share Their Favorite Interview Questions” I thought it might be fun to try to answer these as if I was interviewing at their company. On a scale of one to 10, how weird are you? – Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. 3. Maybe 4. I’m not too weird. I’m a pretty straight and narrow guy.

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Entrepreneurs Need Experience More Than An MBA

Startup Professionals Musings

'I don’t have an MBA. I used to fear that this would put me at a disadvantage in starting my own company, but now I’m convinced that it may be the other way around. In some reputable surveys , as many as two-thirds of entrepreneurs felt that their entrepreneurial spirit was more ingrained than learned, so a specific education level is at least irrelevant.