Sat.Mar 13, 2010 - Fri.Mar 19, 2010

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Twitter Networks are Different than Social Networks

Both Sides of the Table

If you use Twitter and think it is a valuable service then you’re probably tired of the steady stream of your friends who tell you it’s just a fad and they don’t feel compelled to join. They “don’t care what people ate for lunch.&# They’re fine on their existing social networks, which these days mostly means they’re happy with Facebook.

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Symptoms of a Weak Development Team

SoCal CTO

This question came up last week. I am hearing from my project management team a bit of distrust in the technical capacity of our web development team. I think we suffer because of the distance and culture but the project management team takes every late delivery or small bug as evidence that the development team may not be capable. My quick response was that this was likely some combination of: Weak development team Poor communication, especially around requirements and expectation setting Past

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Why some smart people don’t take action?

Life Beyond Code

Why some smart people don’t take action? I mean “action&# that will lift them to a whole new level in life and in business. This is a question that has haunted me for a while. I meet so many smart people during my travels and speaking engagements. when I hear what these people are involved with and think about what they “could be&# actually involved with, it is not difficult to see the “gap.&# They could be doing much more but it seemed like they have resigned to be just

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Twitter Link Roundup #32 – Design, Copywriting, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media And More

crowdSPRING Blog

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 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! Ultimate Roundup of Free User Interface Icons - [link].

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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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Launchpad LA – More Details Revealed

Both Sides of the Table

Today we announced Launchpad LA V2. Full press release with more details is here. We will be selecting 10 startup companies to participate. There is no cost but you must physically be based in or move to Los Angeles for the 6 months of the program. Applications are due April 6th, 2010, the form is on the website and the Twitter address is @launchpadlad.

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Digital Revenue Expert – Vince Thompson

SoCal CTO

More Visible Networking? this time with Vince Thompson. You’ve got a REALLY diverse background. What’s the short version? Vince: I’m an author, speaker and management consultant with a special expertise in online media sales. I started out as screenwriter, went into local television, ran ad sales in the west for AOL and joined Facebook in the companies very early days.

More Trending

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Shimel Blogs on Open Source

Feld Thoughts

My long time friend Alan Shimel has been blogging up a storm on Network World (if you want to hear any amusing story, ask him about the first time he met me.) When Alan started writing his column for Network World he asked me for introductions to a bunch of our portfolio companies that were using open source. Alan is a tough critic and calls it like he sees it so while I knew there was no guarantee that he’d go easy on the companies, I knew that Alan would do an even handed job of highlighting t

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3 Things I Look for in Angel Investing

Up and Running

I’m actively reviewing more than three dozen submissions as a member of the Willamette Angel Conference. I participate in the investment and I get one vote. Our group is reviewing companies and will award a six-figure investment in May at an event held May 13 in Eugene, Oregon, my home town. Our behind-the-scenes process to review companies, and particularly our discussions, are confidential.

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How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents?

Startup Company Lawyer

After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source&# equity seed financing documents: TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document).

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Want to Start a Technology Company in LA?

Both Sides of the Table

Los Angeles. People either love it our hate it. All the stereotypes and caricatures are overblown. And we’re left with a city with idyllic weather, major commerce, the media center of the world, and a great emerging technology scene. We have an abundance of ethnicities, culinary options, music and culture. Randy Newman said it best, “ I love LA &# (Worth a 2 minute watch for pure nostalgia.

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Joel on Software is Shutting Down. Long Live the King.

Software By Rob

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Free Website Feedback, Custom Card Designs, Finding Good Domain Names, and more… Paying the Price of Success → Joel on Software is Shutting Down. Long Live the King. Cool News, Links & Reviews If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

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The true meaning of common idioms

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Non-native speakers of English tell me that the basic rules of grammar aren't too hard to learn, but the idioms are murder. (Ok, not literally "murder," that's just an expression. nevermind.). Idioms are used by many of God's great creatures, not just humanoids, as I learned from The Oatmeal : So to help all of us understand better understand American business vernacular or, as our UK brethren like to say, the American bastardization of the rich, beautiful language you so unashamedly defiled, I'

Agile 266
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IT Expansion in China

Venture Chronicles

Last week I wrote a post that covered many of the observation I made on my recent trip to mainland China. Given my background in IT, a natural area of interest for me was the build out of IT in China businesses that are not directly aligned with U.S. or European counterparts… in other words, what are the independent businesses doing when left on their own.

China 38
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A thousand curses on Google!

deal architect

So, I have roughly a week to go through the copy-edit of my book and slip in any updates since I filed the manuscript in January. And I find I have to mention Google’s broadband plans in the chapter on. Tags: Industry Commentary.

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Paying the Price of Success

Software By Rob

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Joel on Software is Shutting Down. Long Live the King. Recent Podcast Appearances → Paying the Price of Success Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

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Mentors-Plus-Capital Programs – Intense Incubation

Startup Professionals Musings

By Jim Flowers A few months ago, Marty invited me to comment on business incubation and what a startup company ought to expect from an incubator. Relationships , I said back then. And I stand by that assertion. At VT KnowledgeWorks we screen prospective clients for their Market opportunity, for the Magic that they offer to their prospective customers, and for the Moxie displayed by the start-up team.

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VC Governance FAQ: (9) Does an anemic IPO market deter VC investing?

Pascal's View

This is the ninth in our series of ten frequently asked questions from investors in venture capital partnerships. Susan Mangiero , CEO of Investment Governance’s Fiduciary X , asked me the following: Question: Do you think than anemic IPO market will remain a deterrent to VC investing? Yes I do. I believe that an entire generation of American innovation is at risk as a result of the lack of IPO’s.

IPO 28
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More book excerpts

deal architect

From upcoming book - The New Polymath Consumerization of Technology - highlights the trend of the last few years where we have given the consumer unbelievable access to technology – and how that empowered consumer is changing every aspect of.

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On Blog Vacation

Steve Blank

I’m off the web for the next week or so. I’m in a place with no cell or internet coverage. Back blogging by the end of March. steve.

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Entrepreneurs Should Team With Smarter People

Startup Professionals Musings

In my view, one of the most important aspects of being a successful entrepreneur is surrounding yourself with people smarter than you. Top entrepreneurs spend more time putting the right team in place to accomplish their objectives than they spend on many other components of their job. Some entrepreneurs are so in love with themselves (narcissistic) that they insist on answering every question, and making every decision.

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VC Governance FAQ: (7) How should institutional investors contact VC funds?

Pascal's View

This is the seventh in our series of ten frequently asked questions from investors in venture capital partnerships. Susan Mangiero , CEO of Investment Governance’s Fiduciary X , asked me the following: Question; How should institutional investors contact VC funds? Directly or via an investment consultant? Do the traditional investment consultants have the background to conduct due diligence on the VC fund(s)?

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It’s Time for PR Action!

Rembrandt Communications

Even if things are still rough with the economy, this is not the time to sit around and get depressed by the latest news. Instead, it’s time to take action. Do you want some free publicity within the next two weeks? Here’s what you can do right now: Research. If you don’t already have it, find [.].

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TechStars Data from 2007 to 2009

Feld Thoughts

One of our internal mantras at TechStars is to “publish your data.” We encourage every team to do this starting very early in their life. To this day, I still get daily performance reports (I refer to them as TPS reports) from many of the companies that have gone through the program. Last week, David Cohen published all of the historical TechStars data. 39 companies have gone through the program to date (30 through Boulder and 9 through Boston).

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Ten Steps to Survival by Innovation

Startup Professionals Musings

Continuous innovation is required to survive in business, beginning with your startup, and increasing in importance as your business matures. Technologists often insist that new things can’t be invented on a schedule, but successful companies seem to be able to do it. Many people have tried to define a process for innovation, but most are too abstract for me.

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If I Launched a Startup

The Startup Lawyer

Here’s what I’d do in the beginning: Incorporation. (1) Entity Choice: Corporation or Corporation. (2) State of Incorporation: Delaware. (3) Authorized Shares in Charter: 10,000,000 Shares. (4) Type of Shares: Common Stock. (5) Par Value of Common: $0.0001. (6) Initial Founders Issuance: 8,000,000 Shares. (7) Founders Equity Split: Depends on the Team, But Quickly and After the Awkward & Difficult Conversations. (8) Vest Founders Shares?

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It’s Time for PR Action!

Rembrandt Communications

Even if things are still rough with the economy, this is not the time to sit around and get depressed by the latest news. Instead, it’s time to take action. Do you want some free publicity within the next two weeks? Here’s what you can do right now: Research. If you don’t already have it, find [.].

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Gist Acquires Startup Weekend Project Learn that Name

Feld Thoughts

Gist just announced that they have acquired Learn that Name and incorporated it in the Gist iPhone app. There are a lot of fun connections here for me. For starters, as many of you know, I’m an investor in Gist. If you haven’t tried it – or haven’t played with it for a while – give it a shot. The evolution of the product over the last six months has been remarkable as it gets better every two weeks (the Gist teams’ release cycle).

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Managing a Startup Prereqs Managing Yourself

Startup Professionals Musings

People who can’t manage their own lives don’t make good entrepreneurs. Small businesses require multi-tasking, work prioritization, and decision-making, with no entourage of assistants and specialists. That’s why Fortune 500 executives usually don’t survive as startup CEOs. First you have to learn to accept total responsibility for things that happen to your business, just like you are responsible for everything in your personal life.

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If I Launched a Startup

The Startup Lawyer

Here’s what I’d do in the beginning: Incorporation. (1) Entity Choice: Corporation or Corporation. (2) State of Incorporation: Delaware. (3) Authorized Shares in Charter: 10,000,000 Shares. (4) Type of Shares: Common Stock. (5) Par Value of Common: $0.0001. (6) Initial Founders Issuance: 8,000,000 Shares. (7) Founders Equity Split: Depends on the Team, But Quickly and After the Awkward & Difficult Conversations. (8) Vest Founders Shares?

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Entrepreneur State of Mind: “The New Dork”

VC Cafe

T he team at Grasshopper.com, a virtual phone system for entrepreneurs (a-la Skype and Gizmodo), created this fun viral video titled “THE NEW DORK – Entrepreneur State of Mind&#. It’s a spoof of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, worth a watch. My favorite line “This VC Money is brand new, the geek is now damn cool&# – let’s hear it for “New Dork&# : Social web is what dreams are made of… The team at Grasshopper.com, a virtual phone system for entrepreneurs (a

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MIT Entrepreneurship Review

Feld Thoughts

A week ago the MIT Entrepreneurship Review launched. Today it’s up on MIT’s home page. The MIT Entrepreneurship Review is a new online publication about entrepreneurship that is produced and written by MIT students dedicated to analyzing trends in entrepreneurship at MIT and beyond. I’ve been involved with some of the folks behind this and I think they are doing an outstanding job.

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International Cultures are Key Business Challenges

Startup Professionals Musings

By Ernst Gemassmer Most of us have travelled abroad and experienced challenges and frustrations of getting what we want without being laughed at or insulting our hosts. Similar issues prevail when doing business in other countries, cultures and languages. With the advent of the Internet, it’s easy to think of the world as one locale for your business.

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Don’t Build a Content Ghost Town

This is going to be BIG.

When a reader lands on my blog, they’re going to run into a lot of people. First off, there’s me. I am front and center when it comes to being in close proximity to what I write. Not only is my e-mail address on my blog, but I even have a live Plugoo widget that you can type into and send me a message on AIM. Sometimes I’m not there or I’m busy, but I’m generally pretty responsive, since I spend a disproportionate amount of my day in front of the computer with a chat client open.

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Magento Keeps Going from Strength to Strength

VC Cafe

W ith the explosion of ecommerce, open source ecommerce solutions such as Varien’s Magento, are gaining the attention of startups and established industry players. According to this SEC filing , Varien has raised $22.5 million in an equity deal to an undisclosed investor. According to TechCrunch , it may very well be Paypal, who has been collaborating with Magento on product development since 2008.

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Standing Cloud Launches Trial Edition

Feld Thoughts

Not long after I posted about Dave Jilk’s experience with the Pogoplug , he started using the phrase “Pogoplug Simple&# to describe one of the goals of Standing Cloud. The idea is that technology products should be so easy to set up and use that the experience is vaguely unsatisfying – you feel like you didn’t do anything. Standing Cloud – a company we provided seed funding for last year - is launching publicly this week with its Trial Edition and I think they

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Poor Business Records Cost More Money

Startup Professionals Musings

I’ve noticed a great tendency among startup founders to ignore the essentials of business accounting in the early stages of their startup. Just because you are not profitable yet, doesn’t mean you can skip the record keeping. In fact, just the opposite is true. When you anticipate losses for the first year or two, it is more important to properly document all expenses, including tricky ones like business travel, business meals, and your home office.

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