Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

As part of our Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and for the National Science Foundation, students build a startup in 8 weeks using Business Model Design + Customer Development. One of the problems they run into is building a web site. ——— If you’re an experienced coder and user interface designer you think nothing is easier than diving into Ruby on Rails , Nodes.js and Balsamiq and throwing together a web site.

Lean 333

Lean Web Coder Business Model 333

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

By now you probably know that Netflix is splitting its business into two parts: its digital streaming business (retains the name Netflix) and its DVD mailing business, which was its original business (to be called Qwikster). If you haven’t read Reed’s explanation of this split make sure you read it (of course, after you’re done with this post ) —> here.

Los Angeles 329

Los Angeles Revenue Retention Acquisition 329

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? Lots of thoughts here. First, if your idea really is something that a couple programmers can whip up in a few weeks, then you may not have much of a business here.

NDA 211

NDA Stealth Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement 211

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Maybe it’s time to look harder at the mantra of a new breed of gurus and successful entrepreneurs, including Steve Blank and Eric Ries , called “nail it then scale it” (NISI).

Startup 286

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 286

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

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

by Don DeBolt, Total Defense, Inc. It’s hardly a stretch in this day and age to say that everyone in the corporate workforce has a mobile device, whether it is company issued or personal. Mobile devices have helped revolutionize the way people do business by facilitating instant communication and enabling us to store, send and receive documents right from our smartphones, anytime, anywhere.

Security 160

Security Mobile Software Review Technical Review 160

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

I recently wrote a post about why I didn’t think early-stage startups should have COOs. I expected it to be controversial and it was. To be clear, I said that most companies I see pitching have COOs & I don’t have a rule against it. I’ve had several COOs at companies in which I’ve invested. In bringing up the issue I wasn’t “hating on COOs&# – I’m just challenging you to think about whether your CEO + COO structure really provides the right amo

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. Yet, according to many sources , over 90 percent of all businesses are started and grown with no equity financing, and many others would have been better off without it.

Sweat Equity 255

Sweat Equity Technical Review Entrepreneur Bootstrapping 255

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

I have thought a lot about the issue of how to stimulate a region's entrepreneurship over the years. Today, at the roundtable, we had a discussion around the topic, especially in the context of specific geographies that were represented at the session: Dublin, Ireland, and Kolkata, India. Today, building Internet businesses, or businesses that are primarily marketed through the Internet, is viable for entrepreneurs all over the world.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Ireland India Entrepreneur 124

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Techventure 2011 – one of Asia’s topmost events for the venture capital community to engage with the latest technology entrepreneurs organized by Asiasons WFG and presented by National Research Foundation (NRF) and Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCA) – will celebrate its 15th year on October 13 and 14. The event will also see the introduction of the inaugural Techventure Asiasons Innovation Awards this year.

Singapore 162

Singapore Private Equity Asia Venture Capital 162

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I've posted quite a few things on the topics associated with being a Startup CTO. I've tried to collect them together here as a starting point for this topic. Technology Roles in Startups Visualization of Startup CTO Equity and Salary Data Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data Hiring a CTO for Your Startup Startup Founder Developer Gap Startup CTO or Developer Part-Time CTO Technology Advisor CTO Founder Acting CTO Start-up Advisors CTO Equity - Negotiation After Funding Equity-Only CTO and Equity-

CTO Hire 175

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Equity 175

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

cdixon.org - chris dixons blog. Follow @cdixon. About me. cdixon.org contents. Twitter: @cdixon. My posterous blog. rss. Hunch! hunch.com. Hunch API. Twitter predictor game. My Hunch Recommendations. Friends with websites. Eric Paley. David Frankel. Tom Pinckney. Caterina Fake. Zach Klein. Bill Trenchard. Elena Silenok. Rob Stavis. Matt Gattis. Bill Trenchard.

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

Growthink Blog

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Over the years, I've had the pleasure of helping thousands of entrepreneurs develop their business plans. In fact, when you look at the number of business plans that Growthink has written for our clients, the number of entrepreneurs who have purchased our business plan templates, and the number of entrepreneurs who have downloaded our business plan guides, the number exceeds half a million.

Business Plan 67

Business Plan Revenue Entrepreneur Management 67

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

There is an old management adage which says that “you cannot manage what you cannot measure” This saying may be true in all parts of a company, but is especially pertinent in finance. We’ve read so much about companies and businesses going under due to poor financial management. By chasing after relentless growth – at all costs – they have gone beyond their abilities to pay spiraling bills to suppliers, employees, and financiers.

Cost 154

Cost Management Balance Sheet Software Review 154

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? Lots of thoughts here. First, if your idea really is something that a couple programmers can whip up in a few weeks, then you may not have much of a business here.

NDA 198

NDA Stealth Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement 198

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Business & Small Business. Follow Entrepreneur on Facebook Follow Entrepreneur on Twitter Follow Entrepreneur on LinkedIn Subscribe | Mobile. Entrepreneur Homepage Startups Starting a Business Home How-To Guides Startup Basics Business Ideas Business Planning Startup Financing Success Stories Home-Based Business Starting a Business Play Video How to Take a New Product from Just an Idea to a Business (Video).

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Fred Wilson wrote a blog post yesterday called “Real Names” in which he talked about a commenter on his blog who preferred not to comment because he didn’t want to use his real name. It’s all told through a graphic & very short so worth your having a quick read. It’s a powerful concept. The idea of not using one’s real name is something I’ve had to come to understand better through other people providing context.

Social Network 329

Social Network Iran Naming Networking 329

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Many entrepreneurs forget that their success is more about helping other people than about personally becoming famous, or overcoming the odds and getting rich. A successful business has to satisfy customers with a strong team, by helping them solve problems, save money, or experience more pleasure. That means more focus on helping others achieve their goals.

Sweat Equity 256

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Early Stage 256

deal architect

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

Last week I blogged on the New Florence innovation blog about the Startup Genome Project, a benchmark of hundreds of startups and why they fail or succeed. One of their findings was “Most successful startups pivot at least once. Startups.

Startup 199

Startup 199

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Musings of a VC in NYC. Home. MBA Mondays Archives. Video. Radio. About. Next Post Prev Post. Nov 22 , 2010. Employee Equity: How Much? The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. I am going to try to address that question in this post.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

BSAK Errors. I always loved the term … ”Between seat and keyboard.” Normally it was my tech team just being cheeky with me about my withering technology chops. But … … was thinking about a very common BSAK error that I see committed – the “flaming email.” Or when I worked at Accenture we called these “CLMs.” (career limiting maneuvers).

Email 292

Email Campaign Conversion Partner 292

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

Behind most great startup success stories is a long list of mistakes! Unfortunately, for every success story you see, there is an even longer list of failure stories with mistakes that you don’t see. But rather than dwell on the failures, I’ve tried to extract from them a list of practical action items that will improve your survival probability. Every startup mentor has his favorite list of basic strategies to avoid pitfalls, and I’m no exception.

Intellectual Property 251

Intellectual Property Startup Social Network Naming 251

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

How a country values its people (and its future) can sometimes be told by the percentage of the country’s government expenditure that goes towards education.Here’s an infographic that shows you how six different countries – the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany and Japan – compare when it comes to education, in terms of factors such as government expenditure, hours of instruction per year, class size and student/teacher ratios, etc.

United States 214

United States Russia Germany France 214

www.ericsink.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Home. About Eric. twitter.com/eric_sink. Version Control by Example. The Business of Software. Marketing for Geeks. Software Development. Laughs. RSS. 2004-07-08 15:59:32 Hazards of Hiring. Summary : Eric offers guidelines for handling tough hiring decisions in a small ISV. Several months ago, I wrote an MSDN column entitled Make More Mistakes. This column was one of the most popular things I have ever written.

Hiring 40

Hiring Software Review Coder Illinois 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

I had the pleasure of sitting down for an hour with Dmitry Shapir o of AnyBeat this week. The last startup he did raised $70 million for the online video space before being sued for more than $1 billion by Universal. He won the battle (the lawsuit) but lost the war (went bankrupt, with pending litigation he couldn’t get funded. He’s back in the game as an entrepreneur and this time he wants to take on Facebook.

Algorithm 269

Algorithm Social Network Video Networking 269

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

We can all dream about what it takes to make our startup a success. From recent survey feedback, it seems evident that the urban legends leading to success are wrong. The average entrepreneur is not the one who dumped a promising career, sketched his idea on the back of a napkin, and accepted millions from an investor to make billions of his own. I was just perusing a more realistic report from the Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship, titled “ Making of a Successful Entrepreneur.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Founder Networking 248

deal architect

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

on the innovation blog Next-Gen ATM? Google Catalogs Technology at the 9/11 Memorial Google’s Energy Patterns.

Technology 220

Technology 220

dashes.com

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

Anil Dash. A Blog About Making Culture. About Anil Dash. Best Of. Most Popular. More Info » One More Time: No NDAs. May 7, 2010. By unusual coincidence, this week I had a number of different folks ask me to sign NDA s about the new projects theyre working on. Its great that were in such a fertile phase for the tech industry that lots of people have new ideas, and Im very flattered that people value my input or ideas enough to want to share their projects with me.

NDA 52

NDA Technical Review Non-Compete San Francisco 52

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

Location-based, check-in type mobile applications have all been the rage recently, but intrepid developers are still coming up with interesting ways to find niche uses or audiences. The latest one we’ve heard about mashes up check-ins with corporate social responsibility – Truismo ( www.truismo.com ) is an app that allows users to discover socially responsible businesses around them, as well as the causes they support.

New York 204

New York Green Campaign Business Model 204

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

By Bob La Loggia, CEO StormSource Software I enjoy the ride on a good commercial airline flight. It’s time that I can use to catch up on tasks that require focus. I throw the headphones on, listen to the best music ever created by mankind (70s music - as if I needed to spell that out), and get to work on the laptop. Nary a thought is given to the route the plane will take to get from point A to point B.

Cuba 245

Cuba Los Angeles Startup New York 245

deal architect

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

The “second great renaissance in baseball” Doorbell of the future? Mirror, mirror on the wall… Rocket Lawyer.

Technology 220

Technology 220

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

One of the jokes in my little universe is that “every time I hear the word ‘marketing’ I throw up a little in my mouth.” I’ve been joking about this long enough that it’s become conventional wisdom that I hate marketing. Yet, if you look at many of our successful investments, they are extraordinarily good at marketing and some people suggest we (Foundry Group, me) are also good at marketing.

Marketing 171

Marketing Portfolio Leadership Community 171

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Online commerce is thriving – it’s growing about five times faster than traditional retail – not only because consumers are finding it convenient but also because it’s so much easier for merchants to set up shops online. With the plethora of online software-as-a-service e-commerce platforms like Singapore’s Jipaban or Ottawa, Canada-based Shopify , it’s downright simple for entrepreneurs to get onto the e-commerce bandwagon and peddle their wares on the web.

San Francisco 196

San Francisco New York City Entrepreneur Singapore 196

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

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.

Entrepreneur 243

Entrepreneur Internet Restful Security 243

For Entrepreneurs

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

The goal of a SaaS CEO should be to increase the profit they make from each customer (LTV), and lower the costs in sales and marketing that it takes to acquire each customer (CAC). Measuring Customer Engagement is a key tool that will help you achieve that goal, as it will allow you to increase [.].

Customer 167

Customer Conversion Cost Sales 167

Venture Chronicles

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

25 Useful Q&A and Tutorial Sites for Computer Programmers » Masters in Computer Science. tags: Blog. Planning a Customer Self-Service Community Using Distributed Leadership. tags: Blog Customer community. Social objects as explanation of the E20 significance of social messaging. tags: Blog e2.0. Continuous Partial Employment. Bryce is raising a provocative insight into the future of employment. tags: Blog culture.

Silicon Valley 28

Silicon Valley Social Media Asia Analytics 28

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

We’ve seen earlier two infographics from Silicon Valley technology startup accelerator Blackbox’s Startup Genome Report that showcase the various stages of the startup life cycle as well as the profile the different kinds of Internet startups and their success factors. The third (and final) infographic of this series from Blackbox and web analytics services company KISSmetrics shows us exactly how important an openness to learning and mentorship really is to an Internet startup.

Internet 180

Internet Silicon Valley Startup Metrics 180