Sat.Apr 06, 2013 - Fri.Apr 12, 2013

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Selecting a Web Development Company

SoCal CTO

'I''ve written before about finding Web Development Firms in Los Angeles. What I didn''t discuss was how you should go about selecting the right company. I just got an email asking about exactly this: I''m with a new company that needs some software built, but doesn''t need (or have the resources for) a large staff of software developers. They''ve been in talks with some consulting companies, but don''t quite the know the criteria for evaluating them and things like references(and where to get t

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Startup Accelerator The Brandery Opens Applications For 2013

YoungUpstarts

'Cincinnati, Ohio-based startup accelerator the Brandery is currently accepting applications for its 2013 edition of its four-month acceleration program for brand-driven consumer Internet startups. A founding member of the Global Accelerator Network, the Brandery has been ranked as one of the top accelerators in the United States by the Kellogg School of Management/Kauffman Fellows/Tech Cocktail rankings.

Ohio 161
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Talking Lean Analytics With Alistair Croll

Up and Running

'When launching a new company or marketing campaign, your major concern shouldn’t be whether or not you can execute on the plan. It should be whether the idea is worth investing in at all. This was the major theme behind a discussion my company hosted recently with “Lean Analytics” author Alistair Croll. He suggests that instead of believing the mantra “if you build it, they will come,” companies should instead say, “if they would come, you should build it.

Lean 71
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What One Man Learned Leaning In With Sheryl Sandberg

ReadWriteStart

I readily admit what many men might be afraid to say: I fundamentally do not understand women. Not on a personal level, a professional level, a relationship level or really any level. The more I learn about women, the less I actually understand. I think most women who know me would agree with this statement. I know things. I know, for instance, that women on average make 77 cents to every dollar a man makes.

Lean 60
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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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Mobile is hot. Somebody better tell enterprise vendors.

deal architect

'Salesforce.com pre-briefed me on their refreshed mobile SDK which will be generally available this summer. This should allow developers to more easily link their CRM data to mobile applications, whether native, HTML5 or hybrid. As they were presenting, it occurred.

Mobile 310
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8 Last Minute Tax Tips For Small And Medium Businesses

YoungUpstarts

'by Rohan Mathew, co-founder and executive director of The Intersect Fund. We are just days away from the tax deadline and for small business owners, it’s not just a matter of filing properly, they are also working to make sure they are working all of the tax codes to their advantages. However, there are some simple and timely tips that can help out any small business owner in this tax-time crunch!

More Trending

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Gen-Y Should Thank Gen-X For Social Media Today

Startup Professionals Musings

'What happened to Generation X? They are generally defined as anyone born between 1965 and 1980, sandwiched between 80 million Baby Boomers and 78 million Gen-Y (Millennials). Gen-X has just 46 million members, but they continue to lead the way and set the standards in the startup world. Gen-X is the group that will bridge the two larger generations of Boomers and Gen-Y.

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Screaming from our silos

deal architect

'I had a drink with my former Gartner colleague, Erik Keller and I was describing the stack of OnStar FMV rear view mirrors I saw at BestBuy this week. I was describing how OnStar, with massive GM investment was meant.

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[Review] Tell To Win

YoungUpstarts

'Imagine watching a magical performance by David Copperfield. Rather than dazzle you with his breathtaking acts, Copperfield regales you the audience with his childhood story. He relates how his grandfather – a crusty old man – never gave Copperfield or his father the approval they craved. Suddenly, the room goes quiet. As Copperfield shares how his father’s early dreams of acting were dashed, replaced with becoming a lingerie salesmen, you’re transported inside the story

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The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital – (Part 3 of 5)

Steve Blank

'I just spent a few weeks in Japan and China on a book tour for the Japanese and Chinese versions of the Startup Owners Manual. In these series of 5 posts, I thought I’d share what I learned in China. All the usual caveats apply. I was only in China for a week so this a cursory view. Thanks to Kai-Fu Lee of Innovation Works, David Lin of Microsoft Accelerator, Frank Hawke of the Stanford Center in Beijing , and my publisher China Machine Press.

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10 Surprising Assertions From Elite Entrepreneurs

Startup Professionals Musings

'Most people agree that entrepreneurs have to think differently and take risks to have much chance of building a successful business. Yet I have found that serious entrepreneurs usually go way beyond these platitudes in their actions and thinking, and often won’t volunteer their real views, for fear of alienating “regular” people, and being branded a fanatic.

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More New Florence

deal architect

'on the innovation blog Sports: Big data gets bigger 4K is coming home SAP’s Sports Apps CeBIT chugs along Watch 2.0 Next-gen digital signage in retail Technology at the Gym High-speed High-Rise.

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Making Green From Green

YoungUpstarts

'By Bruce Hodes, author of “ Front Line Heroes “. Let’s start this article with a disclaimer: I do not consider myself an expert in business sustainability. However, I probably know enough to be dangerous. In my view, sustainability means your business is conducted in such a way that it can exist without being environmentally destructive. At the very least, environmental neutrality is what your company wants to achieve.

Green 127
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China – The Sleeper Awakens (Part 1 of 5)

Steve Blank

'I just spent a few weeks in Japan and China on a book tour for the Japanese and Chinese versions of the Startup Owners Manual. In these series of 5 posts, I thought I’d share what I learned in China. My post about Japan will follow. All the usual caveats apply. I was only in China for a week so this a cursory view. Thanks to Kai-Fu Lee of Innovation Works, David Lin of Microsoft Accelerator, Frank Hawke of the Stanford Center in Beijing , and my publisher China Machine Press.

China 207
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How Entrepreneurs Can Push Through Procrastination

Startup Professionals Musings

'One of the toughest challenges of an entrepreneur in building a startup is the fact that there are so many things that you don’t know how to do, or don’t like to do. Things like raising money, building a business plan, or hiring and firing people. These aren’t fun, especially for a visionary. That’s when the curse of procrastination steps in. The result is that certain things just never seem to get done.

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More New Renaissance

deal architect

'on the innovation blog Trends in wearable technology Xerox: rebirth as a vertical BPO provider The vibrant medical apps market A remote control for your life An early-warning system for the social web SUNY Albany’s Nanotech complex Coke’s CIO and.

Vertical 207
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The Next Generation Of Funding For The Next Generation Of Entrepreneurs

YoungUpstarts

'By Ingrid Vanderveldt, Dell’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence. It’s the paradox of the modern startup. Startups are hungry for credit, but banks and other financial institutions have never been stricter with their financing parameters. They’re using metrics that are often unworkable in the current business environment, causing growing businesses to look elsewhere for capital and increasingly towards alternative forms of financing.

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The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital – (Part 3 of 5)

Steve Blank

'I just spent a few weeks in Japan and China on a book tour for the Japanese and Chinese versions of the Startup Owners Manual. In these series of 5 posts, I thought I’d share what I learned in China. All the usual caveats apply. I was only in China for a week so this a cursory view. Thanks to Kai-Fu Lee of Innovation Works, David Lin of Microsoft Accelerator, Frank Hawke of the Stanford Center in Beijing , and my publisher China Machine Press.

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7 Keys to Good Team and Customer Vibes In a Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

'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!

Customer 257
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The SMB security threat

deal architect

'While most of the attention goes to concerns about cyberwar and high profile attacks by groups like Anonymous, the really big risk may lie with SMBs with inadequate security staff and solutions.

Security 191
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[Infographic] Manners Matter: Be A Better Digital Citizen

YoungUpstarts

'Contrary to belief, there really is proper etiquette – even if it is unspoken – on the Web. As far as you can, mind your manners on the Internet because what you do or say online has a way of coming back and biting you in the rear. We’ve read of how some people have gotten into hot soup from a careless tweet, such as losing their jobs or getting censured by others.

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Calling the Bitcrash the end for Bitcoin is like calling Facebook a failure because of the IPO

Lightspeed Venture Partners

'This week, the price of Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $266 and then a “flash crash” brought the price tumbling down to $105. What happened? The largest exchange Mt. Gox reported that it had seen dramatic increases in new account creation and executed trades, leading to long system lags. At its worst, orders were taking more than an hour to execute, and panic led people to sell Bitcoin en masse.

IPO 160
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How to Set a Growth Culture in Your Startup Early

Startup Professionals Musings

'One of the big advantages of being an entrepreneur and starting your company from scratch is that you get to set the culture, which is much easier than changing the culture of an existing business. The challenge is how to do it, and how to do it right. Why not learn what you can from companies like Apple, who are leading the way with great growth and a great culture?

Startup 252
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If you need to pivot, pivot hard

Version One Ventures

'Left or right? For many startups, there comes a time when it becomes clear that things are not going exactly as you planned. You can read the writing on the wall that you haven’t found a product-market fit, and you’ve run out of ideas on how to get there. Typically, if you don’t see signs of traction after six to nine months with a SaaS or e-commerce model, it’s time to reassess your market or model (note: a marketplace-based business often requires a longer time table ).

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[Singapore] Fifteen Startups Awarded Grants Totalling $6 Million Under SPRING Singapore

YoungUpstarts

'SPRING Singapore , the country’s agency responsible for helping Singapore enterprises, also has a charter that looks at helping bring disruptive technologies into the market through its Technology Enterprise Commercialization Scheme (TECS). Today the agency announced that it has awarded fifteen Singapore-based startups - covering a wide spectrum of technology areas including medical devices, electronics, engineering, water and environment, as well as infocomm – with grants totaling

Singapore 154
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Help Support Immigration Reform In The US

Feld Thoughts

'With the immigration debate in Washington heating up, Americans across the country recognize that we need smart and practical solutions to help reform our country’s broken immigration system. Our immigration laws haven’t been significantly updated in almost 50 years, while other countries are implementing immigration programs to lure entrepreneurs, innovators, skilled workers, and other valuable potential employees.

Widget 153
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Great Startups Sell Around Gartner Hype Predictions

Startup Professionals Musings

'The Hype Cycle was a concept put forward by Gartner, Inc. back in 1995 meant to apply to technology product evolution and acceptance. As I was reading about it a while back, it occurred to me that the concept relates directly to how investors see startup opportunities and potential success as well, at least those with technology in their offerings.

Startup 244
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Why Isn’t Your SEO Working?

Rembrandt Communications

'Are you making this one big, search engine optimization mistake? By Melanie Rembrandt Does this sound familiar when it comes to your SEO, or search engine optimization, efforts? You added a bunch of keywords to your site but haven’t seen an increase in site rankings. You paid a big, SEO company to help you, but [.].

SEO 138
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The End of Fierce Individualism: Why Teams Matter More Than Ever

YoungUpstarts

'by Bruce Piasecki, author of “ Doing More with Teams: The New Way to Winning ”. America loves a fierce individualist. And yes, there is something inspiring about the lone enterpriser and large business executive blazing a path into the valuable future. And yet, while our culture will always celebrate the individual, the business world must acknowledge the truth behind the (alleged) Aristotle quote: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

New York 151
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The Lean Analytics Cycle: Metrics > Hypothesis > Experiment > Act

Occam's Razor

'This should not be news to you. To win in business you need to follow this process: Metrics > Hypothesis > Experiment > Act. Online, offline or nonline. Yet this structure rarely exists in companies. We are far too enamored with data collection and reporting the standard metrics we love because others love them because someone else said they were nice so many years ago.

Metrics 156
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Business 2013 - Optimism, But Check Your Strategy

Startup Professionals Musings

'Even though it has been a long haul, it’s nice to see some optimism surfacing in 2013. Earlier this year, a new study “ 2013 Business Outlook Survey: A New Reality Of Cautious Optimism ” was published by EKS&H. It shows a return to cautious optimism despite growth lower than expected in 2012, and much improved perspective from the record-high pessimism of the last few years.

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Take care of your brain like you would take care of a muscle

The Equity Kicker

'This TEDx video from Daniel Amen gives a great explanation of how to take care of your brain. He has taken over 63,000 brain scans over the last 20 years and has found that the brain scans of people with bad habits are all gnarly and horrible. A gnarly scans mean a physically unhealthy brain which means thinking, judgement, personality, interaction with others and ability to innovate will all suffer.

Restful 141
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[Asia] Lots of Buttons Sews Up Startup Asia’s Startup Arena Competition

YoungUpstarts

'E-commerce in Asia is big , and rapidly growing. And judging by the newly announced winner of Tech in Asia ‘s Startup Arena winner Lots of Buttons , it can also grow in pretty quirky ways. Hong Kong-based Lots of Buttons beat out 19 other impressive (mostly Asia-based) startups with a business model that revolves around buttons. No, not the buttons you press (like on your keyboard), but those you sew on your shirts.

Asia 150
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The Incredible Unevenness of Internet Connectivity

Feld Thoughts

'I’m at the The Athenaeum at Caltech which is the alumni club / hotel on Caltech’s campus. I’m on Caltech Guest WiFi and am getting speeds of between 2 and 10 Kbps (e.g. miserably slow). My Verizon phone has one bar and is flickering between 3G and LTE, but is mostly 3G. I have no expectation that I get a certain level of infrastructure and connectivity in my life, so this isn’t a rant about that.

Internet 135
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The Small Business Butterfly Effect: 3 Small Ways to Get Found

Up and Running

'Customers find businesses in all sorts of ways, and you never know what ad or flier is going to draw them in. There is a great story that I’ve told many times about how a small bit of marketing led to me moving to Amherst, NY for an international outreach position at the headquarters of an educational non-profit. The lesson of the story illustrates how even the smallest advertising can have an amazing effect on your business, sometimes in ways you never could have imagined.

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5 ways to advance your term sheet: AKA “How to think like an investor”

The Next Web

'My daily work consists of connecting innovative A round startups with potential investors or strategic partners. One thing I repeatedly see are on the one hand, talented entrepreneurs frustrated by the failed attempts of securing funding for their startups and on the other hand, investors often shaking their heads that entrepreneurs haven’t fully explained their value proposition.