A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 9, 2010

This is Part 3 of the series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches.? Of hundreds of startup pitches at Capital Factory , almost none had unearthed 10 people willing to say, "If you build this product, I'll give you $X.". Meditate on this: Hundreds of people ready to quit their day jobs, burn up savings, risk personal reputation, toil 70 hours per week, absorb as much stress as having a baby (believe me, I've done both).

Software Review 312

Software Review Part-Time VPE Houston Cofounder 312

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2010

I was an early user of Quora and like all new technologies they take a bit of playing with them for a while, discussing them with others and reflecting on them to let them sink in. I’m no wall flower so when something doesn’t resonate I’m usually pretty vocal about it. With Quora , it was the opposite – something has always felt right but it took me a while to. really understand it.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Software Review 301

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2010

Even though 1984 passed uneventfully over 25 years ago, there is still a large population out there worried about George Orwell , and the animals taking over the farm. Why is everyone so paranoid these days? My plea to entrepreneurs and startups is to recognize it as an opportunity, and go the extra mile to make people comfortable rather than paranoid.

Technical Review 212

Technical Review Entrepreneur Internet Social Network 212

Steve Blank

AUGUST 10, 2010

“I never have let my schooling interfere with my education.”. - Mark Twain. Every time I see my graduate students try to teach for the first time, it’s usually so painful I bite my lip. Then I remember the first day I stood up in front of a classroom. You Hired. My first job in Silicon Valley was at ESL (a supplier of intelligence and reconnaissance systems,) I had managed to talk myself into getting hired as a training instructor. ( Long back-story here.

Silicon Valley 258

Silicon Valley Technical Review Hiring Programming 258

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

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 25, 2010

“Private Twitter for small groups” “BBM for every platform” “Reply-all for SMS” I could describe GroupMe in a lot of ways, but “really exciting” would have to be the most accurate one, and we’re very excited to announce it as one of our newest investments at First Round ( See the Techcrunch article here ).

Part-Time VPE 109

Part-Time VPE New York City SMS Syndicate 109

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 30, 2010

We’ve shifted into a new zone in the world of software patent stupidity. A few weeks ago, Oracle sued Google over a series of Java-related patents they got when they acquired Sun. Last week, Paul Allen sued 11 major software companies , including Google, over four patents that were granted to his now defunct Interval Research think tank. Much of the early commentary has already been said.

Software Review 132

Software Review Software Java 132

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

There is a telltale sign of an inexperienced startup entrepreneur. They get premature merge elation. You know, they get so excited about doing deals all the time instead of doing the hard work of figuring out their businesses. I understand this. I was a premature merge elater once. Here’s what I learned: 1. As a startup you shouldn’t focus on buying other companies until you’ve figured out your own business.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2010

By Ernst Gemassmer Some entrepreneurs are so caught up in their dream that they jump immediately into implementation, with no focus on strategy and tactics first. The result is that when they hit the first obstacle (and there will be many), it seems like the end of the road. They don't have any idea which way to turn. Based on my own experience, there is real value in spending time early on building the overall strategy and tactics for your business, before you charge ahead.

Technical Review 229

Technical Review Channel Partner Leadership 229

Steve Blank

AUGUST 23, 2010

One of the ways I learn is to teach. My students ask questions I can’t answer and challenge me to solve problems I never considered. At times I’ll do what I consider an extension of teaching; a two-day Customer Discovery/Validation intensive session with a large corporation serious about Customer Development at my ranch on the California Coast.

Customer Development 235

Customer Development Developer Customer South America 235

mashable.com

AUGUST 31, 2010

Top Topics Twitter YouTube Facebook iPhone Google Video Google Buzz Social media Music Business Advertise Network Blippr iPhone App Mashable France MashDeck Twitter App Mobile Site Social Media Events Twitter Guide Book Facebook Guide Book Partners App Development WordPress Experts MaxCDN Content Delivery Dynect Managed DNS Rackspace Hosting Intridea About Us Submit a Tip!

LLC 75

LLC Social Media Startup Philadelphia 75

crowdSPRING Blog

AUGUST 31, 2010

In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.

Venezuela 70

Venezuela Software Review Design Programming 70

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 29, 2010

“Some say that I’m they favorite. But I aint hearing none of that. I’m about my team ho. Young money running back”. —Drake. “Stay in your place. While I sit here and rule. I’m king of a cow. And I’m king of a mule”. —Yertle the Turtle. In my last post, I mentioned that you should strive to hire people with the right kind of ambition. Surprisingly to me, I received a large number of responses from readers questioning whether or not this was good advice.

CTO Hire 78

CTO Hire Technical Review Leadership Sales 78

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

I suffer from the “urgency addiction.&# I know it sounds like one of the falsely humble things like telling somebody in a job interview that your weakness is that you’re too much of a perfectionist. But the urgency addiction is a bad thing that I’m fortunate enough to get away with. When I first discovered the concept I found it enlightening.

China 374

China Asia Email Technical Review 374

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2010

Everyone in the business world has heard of the book by Geoffrey A. Moore titled “ Crossing the Chasm ” (1991), but most entrepreneurs have no idea how it relates to them. In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Most investors and startup professionals expand this concept of focus to apply to key issues of every aspect of strategic and tactical planning in a startup.

Startup 227

Startup Technical Review Dilution Early Stage 227

Software By Rob

AUGUST 25, 2010

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← $528 Worth of Optimization Tools for $25 Guest Post on A Smart Bear: Virtual Assistants and Outsourcing → What the Beatles Can Teach Us About Starting a Company Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

Software Review 65

Software Review Germany RSS Software Developers 65

mashable.com

AUGUST 31, 2010

Top Topics Twitter YouTube Facebook iPhone Google Video Google Buzz Social media Music Business Advertise Network Blippr iPhone App Mashable France MashDeck Twitter App Mobile Site Social Media Events Twitter Guide Book Facebook Guide Book Partners App Development WordPress Experts MaxCDN Content Delivery Dynect Managed DNS Rackspace Hosting Intridea About Us Submit a Tip!

LLC 75

LLC Ruby Social Media Startup 75

Growthink Blog

AUGUST 29, 2010

Almost completely shrouded in the anemic U.S. stock market performance and the drumbeat of negativity that passes as business reporting these days has been the massive growth in U.S. service exports – increasingly from U.S. startups and small businesses. By way of anecdote, from the time Dave Lavinsky and I founded Growthink in 1999 through 2008, more than 95% of our firm’s clients and investors were U.S. – based.

Small Business 81

Small Business South Korea South Africa Uruguay 81

crowdSPRING Blog

AUGUST 23, 2010

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 about startups, entrepreneurship and leadership.

Technical Cofounder 80

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Entrepreneur Chicago 80

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 26, 2010

There are times to fight. I must admit it’s part of my DNA to enjoy a good fight (not as much as does Jason Calacanis, mind you ahem: Facebook. Er: Comscore , Cough: Angel funding payola ). But there are times to given in and compromise. Don’t confuse the two. When you give in, do so graciously. Take the high road. Act and feel zen.

Demand 340

Demand Equity Reputation Hosting 340

Austin Startup

AUGUST 10, 2010

I’ve been tracking the progress of CallVine very closely since meeting company CEO Rudy Prince several months ago. It has always seemed to me that the capacity for my iPhone to manage group communications has always been lacking. When I saw Rudy at the most recent Austin Tech Happy Hour , I was excited to hear that the app had been submitted to the app store for review.

Technical Review 72

Technical Review Silicon Valley Austin Early Stage 72

K9 Ventures

AUGUST 13, 2010

In 1996, when I started my first company, SneakerLabs, Inc., we began by building chat servers. This was when the state of the art was click-to-refresh HTML form-based chats. SneakerLabs’ first product was a Java-based chat server and client. It worked like a charm since we could create a more interactive experience on the Web. In fact, at the time (1996-1997) we offered both a downloadable product, that our customers could install on their own servers, and a “hosted-offering”, which came to be

Revenue 72

Revenue Developer Java Customer Development 72

The Entrepreneurial Mind

AUGUST 3, 2010

The myth still exists that it takes outside funding, sometimes massive outside funding, to launch a successful high growth firm. If you have a very capital intensive or labor intensive business model you will need a large base of funding to get off the ground. But for most start-ups, you may be able to adjust your business model enough to cut the funding you need, while still making a successful launch.

Bootstrapping 75

Bootstrapping Business Model Software Review Programming 75

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 24, 2010

“Who the f@#k you think you f$&kin’ with. I’m the f%*kin’ boss.”. —Rick Ross. In all my years in business, I have yet to hear someone say: “I love corporate politics.” On the other hand, I meet plenty of people who complain bitterly about corporate politics—sometimes even in the companies they run. So, if nobody loves politics, why all the politics?

Employee 78

Employee Management Government Campaign 78

deal architect

AUGUST 25, 2010

I am grateful for plenty of positive coverage my book has received. The coverage, though, has focused mostly on all the innovators I profile in the book. That’s not surprising because the vast majority of the book focuses on innovations.

337

337

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2010

Two days ago I wrote about Quora. I’ve been loving the product even if it sucks up some of my time. I prefer my time go into a very focused Q&A website than into a more generic Facebook. What Quora has done is wrap social networking around Q&A with the more clever next-gen UX I’ve seen. But my post today is not about Quora, it’s about an answer that I wrote on Quora.

Technical Review 294

Technical Review Distribution Social Network Networking 294

Software By Rob

AUGUST 6, 2010

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Why Startup Founders Should Stop Reading Business Books Why Free Plans Don’t Work → “Start Small, Stay Small&# Now Available in Kindle and ePub Formats About this Blog , Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

Software Review 43

Software Review Chad RSS Software Developers 43

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2010

A while back, when a startup founder mentioned to me that he wasn’t sure he had the personality to be an entrepreneur, I realized how important that insight was. My first thought is that if you are more annoyed than energized by expert advice, team suggestions, and customer input, then you should probably avoid this line of work. Actually, it’s more complicated than that, but that’s a good start.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Restful Startup Business Plan 267

Pascal's View

AUGUST 28, 2010

Everybody agrees that, without meaningful job growth, America will not emerge from its current deep economic funk. There is plenty of debate, however, over what drives that job creation engine in our country. I’ve recently read several interesting reports that touch on parts of the American job growth conundrum but do not tie them together. Pooling some compelling statistics from these various sources, I believe that the following conclusions are correct and interrelated : (1) Job growth

Venture Capital 56

Venture Capital America Initial Public Offering IPO 56

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

Consumer Internet investing seems to have split off from traditional Venture Capital, and is creating a new category of VC’s: Lean VC’s. I think you can blame Customer and Agile Development for a small part of it. Here’s why. Electron-based Venture Capital. When I first came to Silicon Valley the world of Venture Capital looked pretty simple.

Lean 258

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

deal architect

AUGUST 30, 2010

Mark DeSantis in the section of “consumerization of technology” in his radio interview with me commented about someone he knew at the Pentagon, (which traditionally has had early access to emerging technology) who increasingly walks the halls of the retailer, Tags: Industry Commentary.

Technology 283

Technology 283

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2010

Around a month ago I heard people talking about Twitter’s bucket test ( definition ) of their new personalized suggested user list and this past week I actually got to experience it myself. The results for me have been excellent and in this post I’ll explain why this is critical to Twitter’s continued adoption. Twitter has implemented its recommended users on your Twitter.com home page as the “who to follow&# (see graphic above) and you have a list of two recommended peo

Algorithm 287

Algorithm Technical Review Hosting Conversion 287

Software By Rob

AUGUST 22, 2010

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Why Free Plans Don’t Work What the Beatles Can Teach Us About Starting a Company → $528 Worth of Optimization Tools for $25 Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

Software Review 42

Software Review RSS Software Developers Software Development 42

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 16, 2010

Let's get the self-aggrandizing plea for attention out of the way: Please vote for my SxSW panel entitled "A Bootstrapped Geek Sifts Through the Bullshit.". It answers questions like "How do I get the courage to just start when I know so little about what it's really like at a startup?" and "How do I balance the utility of learning from others with wanting to go my own, unique way?".

Exit Strategy 246

Exit Strategy Angel Investor Finance Incubator 246

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2010

A popular approach for aspiring entrepreneurs these days seems to be to corner anyone who will listen, with a dialogue on their current hot “idea.” The initial outburst usually ends with the question “How much money do you think this is worth?” In my humble opinion, ideas are a commodity, and are really not worth anything, outside the context of a vision and plan.

Entrepreneur 245

Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Angel Investor Differentiation 245

Steve Blank

AUGUST 26, 2010

Customer Development is a stupidly simple idea. It’s one that you can describe in 30-seconds or less. But it took me 3 years and almost 300 pages of 10-point type to describe the concept in my book The Four Steps to the Epiphany. Unlike a traditional business book, The Four Steps is more akin to a reference manual for how to “engineer&# a startup – from the initial search for a repeatable business model all the way through the management techniques to transition to a company.

Customer 232

Customer Customer Development Business Model Developer 232

deal architect

AUGUST 20, 2010

Someone at a large outsourcer shares with me an email he sent to his CEO lamenting the while the annual report repeatedly talks about innovation, there is no budget in R&D/innovation at the firm - and he has been there.

Email 279

Email 279