Steve Blank
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. Mark Twain. Venture Capitalists who are serious about turning their firms into more than one-fund wonders may want to have their associates actually start and run a company for a year. Running a company is distinctly different from simply having operating experience – (working in bus dev, sales or marketing.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from Gust (formerly AngelSoft), only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. The Gust Deal Funnel from the last 12 months indicates is that 70% of the interested companies never make it past the initial screening process.
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YoungUpstarts
NOVEMBER 3, 2011
Encino, California-based technology and online sampling company uSamp just introduced SurveyBuilder™ ( www.surveybuilder.com ), an online self-service solution that provides online survey authoring tools that allows small to medium businesses, non-profits and academia to create and populate online surveys. Instead of paying for subscription fees, SurveyBuilder is free to use – you only pay-as-you-go when you implement a campaign aimed at uSamp ‘s database of vetted, targeted responde
Gust
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
We recently started a series of posts on establishing the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue startup companies for purposes of investment by seed and startup investors. The Venture Capital Method (VC Method) was first described by Professor Bill Sahlman at Harvard Business School in 1987 in a case study and has been revised since. It is one of the useful methods for establishing the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue startup ventures.
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
crowdSPRING Blog
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
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!
ConversionXL
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
This post will make you money. It will teach you about conversion optimization – how exactly to do it, based on all the best research and experiments. Why do conversion optimization? It is the cheapest, quickest way to increase sales online. Think about this: if you’re currently converting at 1% (1% of your visitors buy your stuff), but can increase that to a mere 2%, you’ve doubled your sales.
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Gust
NOVEMBER 2, 2011
We recently started a series of posts on establishing the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue startup companies for purposes of investment by seed and startup investors. Dave Berkus is a founding member of the Tech Coast Angels in Southern California, a lecturer and educator. He has invested in more than 70 startup ventures. Dave’s valuation model first appeared in a book published by Harvard’s Howard Stevenson in the middle nineties.
crowdSPRING Blog
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
Don’t worry, I’m not turning the crowdSPRING blog into smut. This sounds dirtier than it is. If you’re disappointed, you probably know where to turn on the internet to get find what you were looking for. If, dear reader, you find yourself not discouraged, read on. Juicy Bits , quite simply, creates awesome apps for iOS (iPhone, iPad and iTouch) systems.
Andrew Payne
OCTOBER 30, 2011
Unless you’re a software developer, you’ve probably never heard of Git. If I told you it’s a source code version control system, you’re might then think, “who cares?”. Occasionally, a tool comes along that quietly but powerfully changes the way things are done. Git is one of those tools. Developed out of necessity by Linus Torvalds in 2005 to host the Linux kernel, it’s recently exploded in popularity.
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 3, 2011
I will be giving a speech today on The Future of Television at the PaidContent conference in LA. I will write way more details about this in the coming months but I thought I’d give you a sneak peak at my presentation for today. Future of TV. Feel free to leave comments and we can have a discussion about the topic in the Disqus comments section.
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 31, 2011
Almost every startup is a virtual team these days, since most don’t start out with dedicated office space, and some or all members of the team work part-time or out of their own home. It’s a small world, so these team members may not even be in the same town, or the same country. Outsourcing is just another extension of the virtual team concept to people you don’t even know.
deal architect
NOVEMBER 3, 2011
In a touching scene in the movie, a much older James Ryan asks his wife “Tell me I have led a good life”. “Tell me I am a good man”. Earlier in the movie, when Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) is.
YoungUpstarts
NOVEMBER 2, 2011
Deals89 ( www.deals89.com ) is a Singapore-based daily deals site by social commerce startup Storepair , and revolves around the idea of using social networking and crowdsourcing to offer consumers amazing local and overseas experiences. All the deals are uniquely priced with an ending notation of ’89′ cents, hence the name of the site. Deals89 is founded by four 22-year olds – Eason Chan, Yugene Lee, Felix Tioh and Chew Choon Keat – who are still studying, the former thr
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 31, 2011
This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I haven’t had too many board meetings lately so I want to get this timely post out now lest somebody think I’m talking about their company or board in particular. This is a post about ALL boards. Back when I ran board meetings as a CEO, the biggest annoyance was Blackberrys. You would always be able to tell what was going on by seeing the unhealthy infatuation board members had with staring at their crotches.
Seeing Both Sides
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
Scott Kirsner of The Boston Globe called them the startup equivalent of the Justice League of America. Seven superhero CEOs gathered on Friday afternoon at the Mass TLC Unconference to discuss the challenges of scaling their young companies. The CEOs on the panel were (from left to right): Michael Simon, CEO/founder of LogMeIn (2009 IPO) . Scott Griffith, CEO ZipCar (2010 IPO).
deal architect
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
Nice earnings call yesterday – record numbers across 8 metrics Just as good was the mainstream publicity through the movie Moneyball which was released in most US and Canadian cities on September 23 and which features the Oakland A’s stadium.
YoungUpstarts
OCTOBER 30, 2011
Making mistakes may be your best way to learn , but learning from someone else’s mistakes is probably a lot less painful. And if you’re an entrepreneur and need advice about your small business, “ The Big Enough Company: Creating a Business That Works for You ” by Adelaide Lancaster and Amy Abrams uses plenty of case studies, success stories and personal anecdotes to dispense advice on how you can find the best way forward for your company.
Feld Thoughts
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
Next week at Defrag I’ll be giving a talk titled “Resistance is Futile” I’ll be talking about my premise that the machines have already taken over. A few days ago a friend of mine emailed me a perfect image to summarize where we are today. Ponder and enjoy.
The Startup Toolkit
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
You’re facing two term sheets and have boiled them down to the most relevant facts, listed below. Which do you choose? Deal 1. $1mm total. $500k now, plus commitment to help close $500k more from other angels. Roughly 33% dilution for full round ($2mm pre-money). Deal 2. $1.25mm total. $250k now, plus 2 tranches for another $1mm based on performance goals. 40% dilution for full round (roughly $2mm pre-money).
deal architect
OCTOBER 29, 2011
Since Apple introduced the Siri personal assistant with the new iPhone 4S I have read several blogs how much better it is compared to Google Voice Search or to GPS and other voice recognition products. How about compared to IBM.
YoungUpstarts
NOVEMBER 2, 2011
by Betsy Kruger, author of “ Top Market Strategy: Applying the 80/20 Rule ” In business, the squeaky wheel almost always winds up getting the grease. Customers tend to be rewarded for complaining, but that strategy leaves money on the table. No one likes hearing a complaint, so when a customer complains, a business quickly and resoundingly rectifies the complaint.
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 30, 2011
Recently, two bills have been introduced into Congress that – if passed – will do irreparable damage to the Internet, entrepreneurship, free speech, and job creation as a result of the continued entrepreneurial activity around the Internet. Fred Wilson has a strong post up titled Protecting The Safe Harbors Of The DMCA And Protecting Jobs that explains the situation.
A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
OCTOBER 31, 2011
(Powered by LaunchBit ). Tweet. --> It’s one of the hardest steps in a startup, getting that first rube to part with their money over your barely-minimum barely-viable product. Here’s an email I got last week: Hello Jason, I am a big fan of your advice and wanted to see if you could offer any advice for marketing my start-up XYZ. I was totally product focused for the last year and now it’s live, so I need to start thinking about finding some customers.
deal architect
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
On the New Florence blog Popular Mechanics Breakthrough awards The Android Barometer Walt Isaacson’s Steve Jobs Dennis Howlett’s kitchen upgrade.
YoungUpstarts
OCTOBER 31, 2011
Run a small business and need help to manage your appointments and marketing efforts? You may want to consider GoSuite , a cloud-based business management and marketing software being offered for free by GramercyOne. GoSuite comprises of two components. GoBook provides service businesses with an online appointment book and the ability to offer online, mobile and Facebook booking to consumers.There are tools for managing customer records and profiles, as well as a real-time dashboard for trackin
Rembrandt Communications
OCTOBER 31, 2011
Happy Halloween! Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is essential if you want to get the most traffic possible to your site. However, you may be a little fearful of spending too much and seeing little results from your efforts. To avoid any scary surprises, here are three tips to help you keep your SEO program [.].
Gust
OCTOBER 31, 2011
Many writers have outlined the critical success factors for product companies, like sell every unit at a profit, patent the design, and continuous product improvement. But recently I was asked about success factors for services startups, and I quickly realized that there is very little published to help the thousands of startups that fall in this category.
deal architect
OCTOBER 31, 2011
on the innovation blog The next, safer Indy Car – which Dan Wheldon helped test Why computer voices are mostly female The “Fab Four” threaten every industry Visa’s Tier 4 Data Center.
YoungUpstarts
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
If you loved the emerging startup vibes of the DEMO conference, Asia will be getting its very own version with DEMO Asia 2012 slated for February 29 to March 2 in Singapore next year. Organized by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) subsidiary and events company Sphere Exhibits and IDG Enterprise , DEMO Asia 2012 looks to gather Asia’s brightest innovators and budding entrepreneurs into one place, giving them the opportunity to debut, pitch and showcase breakthrough ideas and products to corporate ac
Feld Thoughts
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
There was a huge kerfluffle over the weekend about racism in Silicon Valley which tried to end when Michael Arrington wrote a post titled Oh Shit, I’m A Racist. But it didn’t end – on Monday there were stories by CNN reporter Soledad O’Brien defending herself with an article titled Michael Arrington is right (about one thing) and then a well reasoned post by Mitch Kapor titled Beyond Arrington and CNN, Let’s Look at the Real Issues.
David Teten
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
Sometime prior to the 4th Century BCE, the Greeks invented democracy. They were a model for the world. Unfortunately, I think the Greeks are well on their way to being a model for the world again. In their inability to plan for the future, their incompetence in delivering basic government services (like tax collection and land registry), and their lack of courage in confronting established interests, they are providing a brutal foreshadowing of the fate of other poorly-managed European countries
Up and Running
OCTOBER 31, 2011
People are always asking for a list of fundamentals, a checklist they can use to start their own businesses. From your business type to your business model to your physical location, there are so many variables it’s not easy to come up with a list that will work for everybody. The key, regardless of what type of business you’re starting, is to be flexible!
YoungUpstarts
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
Retail is tough business, and even more so during a depressed economy when everyone’s careful about every dollar they spend. But even in times like this, there are those who seek to continually innovate the retail experience. And one Phoenix, Arizona-based company, ExTreme ReTrailers™ ( www.extremeretrailers.com ), aims to solve the age-old retail challenge of “location, location, location” – they customize and design an entire 7-foot by 14-foot trailer for use for any ki
Feld Thoughts
NOVEMBER 2, 2011
On a daily basis I get an email from someone, either in Boulder, or considering a move to Boulder, who asks how they can best get involved in the Boulder entrepreneurial community. My response is simple – get involved, show up, and participate. I then list a set of regular activities that exist, with my favorites being: Boulder Open Coffee Club.
Occam's Razor
OCTOBER 31, 2011
Data analysis is not easy. It takes years to get good at it, and once you get good at it you realize how much more there is to learn. That is part of the joy. You are always learning. You are always growing. This blogpost is a collection of tips I share with my friends who are just starting out. Each tip is a "simple" mistake that is easily avoided.
Life Beyond Code
NOVEMBER 3, 2011
I was at the store today when I met my friend with her year old son. The young boy hesitated a bit before coming to me and within a few minutes we were friends. Within a few seconds he was laughing and giggling away to glory. It didn’t take much to make him laugh either. The other day I was sitting in front of the library thinking about something and there were small kids playing at the water fountains – running and jumping every time the water fountains started.
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