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.
Growthink Blog
AUGUST 15, 2010
Last week I commented on Matt Ridley’s incredible book, “ The Rational Optimist ,” and how it represents an entirely new paradigm re the probabilities for economic growth and prosperity worldwide in the coming years. A particularly revelatory component of Ridley’s analysis revolves around what the real process of innovation is and what it is NOT. Ridley first points to what innovation is NOT.
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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.
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?".
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
Both Sides of the Table
AUGUST 14, 2010
I recently wrote a post on how to ask for help or favors from people. This is a related post that will not only help you get the results you want more effectively but will also help earn the respect of your senior people (whether management or your board). I know you think you know this already. Everybody says that. It surprising how few people actually follow through this this advice.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 19, 2010
When I heard a friend make this statement the other day, I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt it as their mantra. I certainly have. If we all do it, we can drastically improve the statistic that over half of new startups fail within five years. Nothing is more discouraging to future entrepreneurs than a failed startup. Why do most startups fail?
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
deal architect
AUGUST 20, 2010
So I was asked yesterday in Vancouver how the book experience has been and I invoked Dan Fogelberg. I should not have - that beautiful song always leaves me depressed. In contrast, the book experience has been hugely invigorating as.
Both Sides of the Table
AUGUST 15, 2010
The life of an entrepreneur is filled with 20 second opportunities. Some get converted into 5 minute opportunities or into a lifetime. Most are squandered. It starts in a crowded room at a conference or networking event. You bump into the person you’ve always wanted to chat with or your perfect business development partner who can “make” you. What are you going to say in the moment?
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 17, 2010
Investors invest in people, not ideas. Customers buy from people, not companies. Employees rally for a great leader. As an entrepreneur, you need relationships to succeed. That means relationships with team members, investors, customers, and vendors. One of the best ways to build a good relationship with anyone is to make them feel important. One of my favorite authors, Brian Tracy, in his book “ No Excuses!
Rembrandt Communications
AUGUST 17, 2010
Ok. You may think I’m nuts, but I’m writing this at 4:45 on a Tuesday morning. I just put three loads of laundry into the washing machine, and I’m now tackling several, SEO writing assignments in addition to this blog. Don’t hate me because I’m a morning person. I had to train myself to get [.].
deal architect
AUGUST 15, 2010
Back after a short break, this periodic summary of posts from the innovation blog Hurricane Drones Delta tickets on Facebook The Go Go in-flight wi-fi The Android 4G HTC EVO. Tags: Innovative Business Uses of Technology.
Both Sides of the Table
AUGUST 19, 2010
Yesterday I wrote a post about the " Urgency Addiction ” and how many people start important tasks late and then motivate with a huge wave of productivity and inspiration driven by deadlines and commitments to others. In the comments section Bill DAllesandro offered some insight that he had seen from Microsoft on "interruptions”. “A study by Microsoft showed just how lethal interruptions are to productivity.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 18, 2010
What positives does Gen-Y (Millennials) bring to your startup, and what management strategies will work most effectively and productively with them? Everyone is quick to point out their shortcomings and idiosyncrasies, but I see some attractive attributes from a business perspective, including the following: Confidence. Raised by parents believing in the importance of self-esteem, they characteristically consider themselves ready to solve the world’s problems and leap tall buildings.
Startup Lessons Learned
AUGUST 16, 2010
Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, August 16, 2010 Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium (Normally, I do not write about companies that are doing a marketing launch. But I have decided to make an exception today, for two reasons. First, SlideShare is a fantastic product (that I use on a regular basis) and an impressive company example of Lean Startup practices in action.
deal architect
AUGUST 18, 2010
from the innovation blog Fuzzing – next-gen software testing Hillsborough County Tax Collector – a Malcolm Balridge candidate A car for the blind The Science of Phiten. Tags: Innovative Business Uses of Technology.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 14, 2010
My partner Seth Levine has an outstanding post up today about the freemium model. It’s titled Pricing models, the freemium myth and why you may not be charging enough for your product and is worth going and reading right now. He covers a bunch of stuff, nicely divided into the following topics: Beware of too many pricing tiers. Have a clear delineation between product tiers.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 20, 2010
If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder "vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health. Some founders try to deflect these questions by talking incessantly, so you often need to be calm, patient, and persistent to get the answers.
Lightspeed Venture Partners
AUGUST 17, 2010
'These are interesting times in the social gaming industry. Two weeks ago Disney acquired Playdom , and last week Google acquired Slide. Just like that, two of the largest social game publishers have become part of larger companies. This activity all comes on the heels of EA’s acquisition of Playfish late last year. Social gaming, as a category, has grown incredibly quickly, becoming one of the dominant drivers of usage on Facebook , and an increasingly core component of people’s entertainme
Growthink Blog
AUGUST 20, 2010
"There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it's easy." - Author unknown By definition, as entrepreneurs, we try to achieve a lot of tasks with limited resources. And as a result, it is often imperative that we seek the easiest ways to achieve these tasks. Is that so bad? As the quote implies, it would be.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 19, 2010
Ever since I switched to the Mac, I’ve had N (where N is a suitably large number) tell me that I should switch to Gmail from Exchange. I finally decided to try it for a week and see if it works for me. Given my Mac experience – where I had to commit and really use it, I’ve decided to do the same on Gmail. For now, I’m just going to use Gmail (instead of Google Apps) because I don’t want to go through the hell of switching the feld.com domain since I’ve got a
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 15, 2010
“Will the dogs eat the dog food?” This rather crude expression weighs heavily on the mind of all good startup founders, no matter how confident they appear. We all know the products they give away, and the ones purchased by family and friends don’t count. The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy.
crowdSPRING Blog
AUGUST 18, 2010
Give Back is the crowdSPRING community’s way of helping worthy non-profit and charity causes in need. Creatives in the crowdSPRING community have agreed that for these special projects, no monetary awards will be given. crowdSPRING will waive all fees and will assist the organizations with posting their project. We will collaborate together to help those less fortunate.
Start Up Blog
AUGUST 19, 2010
I don’t have a rich Father. I wasn’t left a sum of money from my Grandma. I didn’t go to Harvard. I don’t live in Silicon valley. I wasn’t funded at Techcrunch 50 or Y combinator. I’m not technical genius. I can’t code the latest killer app. I guess I’ll just have to build my startup the old fashioned way.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 18, 2010
Ah – the joy of a meme. Today’s meme is “The Web Is Dead.&# Whatever. My favorite article about this in the past 24 hours is The Tragic Death of Practically Everything – this is basically what I would have written if I’d had time today. This latest round apparently started with the new Wired cover story “ The Web is Dead.&# Yeah, I read it.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 14, 2010
By Ernst Gemassmer Once you have succeeded in developing a solution and obtained initial funding, the next challenge is to penetrate the relevant domestic and international markets. For that, you need to implement a winning distribution channel strategy. Common channel strategies include direct to customer, distributor, and joint venture arrangements.
crowdSPRING Blog
AUGUST 17, 2010
“I’m In Logo Love” is a new series on the crowdSPRING blog. Periodically, we’ll pick a logo we’d like to take home from a bar and tell you why. And if you think it’s a bit strange to have a crush on a cleverly designed logo, get in line – my mom has already lectured me on this topic. Today, we’ll look at the logo for The Fort Worth Zoo. Fort Worth Zoo is the oldest zoo in Texas.
Start Up Blog
AUGUST 14, 2010
Yesterday I had the pleasure of being exposed to a great eco-system in someones backyard. And although it isn’t a startup business, it is one of the best startups I have ever seen. Let me explain. After seeing an idea on television, Shane decided to build a food eco-system in his small suburban backyard. The concept is simple enough. Take tank water from the roof of the house.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 20, 2010
I had a new experience today. At 7am I had my first MRI at the Boulder Community Hospital. I was a little nervous, although I’m not entirely sure why. I was in and out in 45 minutes – it was fascinating. I hurt my lower back about five months ago (actually, exactly on March 13th at about 1pm at my parents house in Dallas). I went for a two hour run and then took my dad to Fry’s for his birthday to buy him a new color printer.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 16, 2010
Mike Wolf is a mentor of mine, and a role model for many technology entrepreneurs and investors in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. He is a 26-year software veteran who has survived both startups and big companies. More recently, he has invested in numerous local startups, while mentoring and advising hundreds of young entrepreneurs. He was recently nominated for this year’s Arizona Governor's Celebration of Innovation Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors an individual who has greatly impacted th
OnlyOnce
AUGUST 17, 2010
Investment in the Email Ecosystem. Last week, my colleague George Bilbrey posted about how (turns out – shocking!) email still isn’t dead yet. Not only is he right, but the whole premise of defending email from the attackers who call it “legacy&# or “uninteresting&# is backwards. The inbox is getting more and more interesting these days, not less.
The Startup Lawyer
AUGUST 18, 2010
I’ve noticed a lot of recent articles promoting that a startup can “ skip the lawyer &# and incorporate via an online service. These sites typically list about 20 incorporation tasks they’ll do for your startup for around $250 plus the applicable state filing fees. Sounds like a great deal, but there is more to a proper startup incorporation than simply filing the articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 19, 2010
I get a lot of inbound resumes from folks looking to relocate to Boulder. I also get a lot of requests from local CEOs for candidates for various positions. I do my best at connecting folks, but I’m sure plenty of connections slip through the cracks. So – David Cohen of TechStars (who has the same thing happening to him all the time) and I have created a new private email list for CEOs of Boulder-based companies.
VC Adventure
AUGUST 19, 2010
My last post with some thoughts on product pricing has received a ton of traffic, comments and email. Clearly this topic is one that a lot of entrepreneurs care about (and struggle with). A few people pointed me to a great post by Ruben Gamez of Bidsketch on the Software by Rob blog that talks about freemium plans and why, in Ruben's view, they aren't always drive the results companies are looking for.
Life Beyond Code
AUGUST 16, 2010
What is that stumbling block that prevents you from getting started on your pet project (seriously)? When I say seriously, I mean you put something of value at stake – typically money. The other soft items that you may not notice are something like time, energy, mindshare and opportunity cost for engaging with this project. But money is something simple to track.
crowdSPRING Blog
AUGUST 15, 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.
Growthink Blog
AUGUST 18, 2010
Most of you came to this blog post from an email I sent you. The email read as follows: Subject Line: The Most Important Email You'll Ever Read Body: I have an ultra-important message to share with you. Visit my blog to read it. Dave PS. It will only take about 3 minutes to read this. And you'll benefit for a lifetime. Visit my blog to read it. So why is this the most important email (or blog post) you'll ever read?
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