Both Sides of the Table

MAY 26, 2011

This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. I have often said that what separates real entrepreneurs from pundits and bystanders is a bias towards getting things done versus over analyzing things. My credo has always been JFDI. It’s the hardest thing to teach people who come out of big companies, out of conservative jobs. At the big consulting firms, investment banks and established large technology companies we’re taught to produce long reports, make sure that every document is perfect quali

Hiring 335

Hiring Technical Review Startup Framework 335

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. How To Think About The Future. Home. About Me. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. LinkedIn: The Series A Fundraising Story. May 26, 2011. This also appears as a guest post at Fortune’s Term Sheet. LinkedIn went public last week. As a shareholder I’m obviously pleased with the investor reception LinkedIn has received, but more importantly it’s a great milestone for the company we started nearly 9 years ago.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2011

As someone who is always interested at how social technologies can be harnessed for business and enterprise use, I can’t recommend Scott Klososky’s new book “ Enterprise Social Technology: Helping Organizations Harness the Power of Social Media, Social Networking, Social Relevance &# quite enough. Unlike many of books out there, this book doesn’t attempt to preach and tout the wonderful goodness of social technologies and how they can help companies revolutionize they app

Technical Review 171

Technical Review Technology Social Media Flash 171

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 25, 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!

Social Media 86

Social Media Small Business Design Media 86

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

mashable.com

MAY 24, 2011

); // Welcome to Mashable! Sign in with Facebook or Twitter to get started! Close Mashable | The Social Media Guide Top Stories My Stories Topics People Activity Viral Topics Twitter YouTube Facebook iPhone Google Video About Mashable Company About Us Advertise Submit News Contact Us Announcements Mashable Follow Resources Guidebooks Lists How To Trending Mashable Awards Subscriptions Partners W3 EDGE Rackspace Concentric Sky Dynect DNS Intridea Welcome to Mashable!

Mobile 90

Mobile Web Social Media Software Review 90

Up and Running

MAY 26, 2011

Tweet. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico is frequently cited as one of the top ten travel destinations in the world. Expensive resorts line pristine beaches and cater to the rich and famous. Yet one of the most popular beachfront restaurants in the area isn’t associated with any of the typical tourist venues. Zipper’s Beachfront Restaurant is a little off the beaten path, and there’s nothing fancy about it other than great ocean view courtesy of Mother Nature.

Customer 74

Customer Mexico Cofounder Web Development 74

VC Adventure

MAY 25, 2011

Fred Wilson recently posted about his move to the cloud and the freedom that having his data always available has given him. More and more people and companies are freeing themselves from the constraints of desktop software and captive data stores in favor of cloud based applications and the freedom of readily (and always) available data. We recently went through a similar move at Foundry – although we haven’t completely moved to Google Apps for all of our documents and spreadsheets

Cloud 87

Cloud Turkey Denver Software Review 87

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2011

This article first appeared on TechCrunch. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the proliferation of starutps in the past 2 years. It seems almost incomprehensible that only 2.5 years ago we read the “ RIP Good Times &# presentation from Sequoia. But what does this all mean? Are we headed for a long era of innovation in which startups are the new norm?

Churn Rate 309

Churn Rate IPO Open Source PR 309

Up and Running

MAY 24, 2011

Tweet The Palo Alto Software team is at the National Restaurant Association Conference this week and Bplans is featuring articles and resources for restaurant owners. (Tim’s note: this is an excerpt from The Plan As You Go Business Plan , posted here with permission of Entrepreneur Press, the publisher. It’s here today because we are focusing on the restaurant business this week in honor of the National Restaurant Association trade show in Chicago).

Forecast 78

Forecast Sales Software Review Oregon 78

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 23, 2011

This guest-post was written by Noah Kagan, Chief Sumo of AppSumo.com , the daily deals site for web entrepreneurs. He was formerly an early employee at Facebook and Mint. I woke up and rolled over to the left side of the bed as I do almost every morning and snapped up my iPhone. My heart beats a little faster as I roll back over, my girlfriends naked back is showing and I click open the iPhone mail app.

Argentina 316

Argentina Email Web SEO 316

Steve Blank

MAY 27, 2011

Om Malik runs Gigaom , probably the most interesting and technically accurate sites on the blogosphere. He had me in for an interview. We covered a wide range of topics. 0:22 – the Entrepreneurial explosion. 1:45 – Are we in a Bubble? 3:20 - The Last Bubble. 6:30 – Rules for the New Bubble. 8:05 – Metrics for Success. 10:10 – Total Available Market in the Billions. 11:45 – Is this a Really a Bubble – the greater fool theory. 13:00 – VC’s – The Pact Wit

Silicon Valley 287

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Lean Social Network 287

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2011

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. They run into difficulty when their business reaches the $1-2 million annual sales range, or their employee count exceeds 5-10. It’s here that entrepreneurs must shift their thinking from tactical and operational, to strategic and managerial.

Management 279

Management Entrepreneur Revenue Internet 279

VC Adventure

MAY 25, 2011

Fred Wilson recently posted about his move to the cloud and the freedom that having his data always available has given him. More and more people and companies are freeing themselves from the constraints of desktop software and captive data stores in favor of cloud based applications and the freedom of readily (and always) available data. We recently went through a similar move at Foundry – although we haven’t completely moved to Google Apps for all of our documents and spreadsheets

Cloud 48

Cloud Turkey Denver Software Review 48

deal architect

MAY 25, 2011

Nick Carr raised a firestorm when he asked that question almost a decade ago. The world has moved on considerably since but Larry Dignan’s post this morning begs the question again: “Peter Thiel, an investor in such technology hits as.

Technology 225

Technology 225

Steve Blank

MAY 21, 2011

The Four Steps to the Epiphany (Les quatre étapes vers l’épiphanie) is now available in French. Order it from the Bookediton.com (Search for Les quatre étapes vers l’épiphanie). Thanks to Antoine Bruyns for making the French version happen. It joins the Japanese version (???????????? [???????????available on Amazon. Thanks to Tsutsumi Takashi for making it happen in Japanese.

Search 218

Search 218

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2011

The business world has been watching this emerging generation with trepidation, and a lot of us haven’t been sure who would be the winners, and who would be the losers. Can they survive as entrepreneurs, and do they have the passion it takes to run a startup and attract investors? My own perspective is that the recession has been good for Gen-Y (Millennials), because it has forced them to face reality, often for the first time in their life.

Vietnam 246

Vietnam Entrepreneur Restful Community 246

YoungUpstarts

MAY 26, 2011

Startup Open , has launched its search for the 50 most promising new companies with high growth potential around the world. A featured event of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) – founded by the Kauffman Foundation to spur new ideas, ingenuity and firm creation through through local, national and global activities in more than 100 countries – Startup Open invites any and every entrepreneur who have a “startup moment” to enter and compete to become one of the “GEW 50”.

Virgin Islands 217

Virgin Islands Startup Global Networking 217

deal architect

MAY 24, 2011

Two great interviewers/moderators – Dennis Howlett and David Vellante - bring out plenty of banter in these interviews about innovation and where it is coming from. Both were conducted at the SAP event, Sapphire last week but the conversations are.

Conversion 225

Conversion Technology 225

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 23, 2011

I have been getting emails and tweets all day from people upset that they cannot get into Startup Lessones Learned 2011 - either here in SF, where we're sold out, or in one of the more than 100 simulcast locations around the world, many of which are sold out, too. We struggle with this issue every year, because we strongly encourage everyone who can to participate with their local entrepreneurship community.

Czech Republic 167

Czech Republic Costa Rica Romania Brazil 167

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2011

If I had a dollar for every time someone has said to me, “One of these days, I’m going to start my own company,” I’d be rich. If this day ever comes for all these people, we will be overrun by startups. Yet I don’t lose any sleep over either of these possibilities. Most people procrastinate from time to time, but I suspect that the challenge here is somewhat deeper than that.

Entrepreneur 244

Entrepreneur Business Plan Developer Product 244

YoungUpstarts

MAY 23, 2011

Ariella Vaccarino is not only an accomplished voice teacher and opera singer over the past 18 years, she also happens to be a mompreneur. The mother of three boys started She Sings Out, Inc and created the “Voice Lessons To Go™” CD series of vocal warm-up exercises that to date has sold over 50,000 copies and downloads. She also has released “Voice Lessons To Go for Kids!

Audience 208

Audience Hiring Design Management 208

deal architect

MAY 26, 2011

on the innovation blog Google: From Paper mill to efficient data center Under Armour’s Smart Shirt The event technology at SAP’s Sapphire Toyota “Friend” 2011 Space Odyssey – the Immersive Cocoon.

Technology 210

Technology 210

ReadWriteStart

MAY 23, 2011

There's an enormous communication gap between we digital marketers and the startups that are trying to attract our dollars. Over the past several months, I have met with about four dozen emerging companies that hope to become a part of brand marketing plans. Almost to the company, they appear to think that my colleagues and I are desperate for new ways to cut prices by distributing digital coupons and free product.

San Francisco 148

San Francisco Distribution Revenue Salary 148

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2011

Every first-time entrepreneur, or even an experienced founder stepping into a new business area, needs a mentor. Nothing you have ever done raises so many questions, or has the potential to be so fulfilling, or so risky, as starting a new business for the first time. A mentor is a confidant who has been there and done that, and is willing to guide your steps.

Matching 235

Matching Leadership Entrepreneur Networking 235

YoungUpstarts

MAY 22, 2011

John Bradberry, the author of “ 6 Secrets to Startup Success “, spent over twenty years as a business advisor and strategist, and has improved the performance of more than a thousand leaders and hundreds of teams. Since 1997, he has led an independent consulting practice focused on helping businesses of all sizes elevate performance and achieve healthy growth.

Conversion 189

Conversion Startup Founder Sales 189

deal architect

MAY 22, 2011

On the New Florence blog The Pope’s call to astronauts in space Tandoor 2.

210

210

Feld Thoughts

MAY 27, 2011

I had several conversations with entrepreneurs this week who were struggling with a specific issue that had plagued them for a while. In each case these are strong, capable entrepreneurs who I’ve known for a long time. As with all entrepreneurs (and humans), they have strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots. In each case, I felt like self-doubt had crept into their brains around the specific weakness they were struggling with.

Conversion 139

Conversion Entrepreneur 139

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2011

Maybe it’s just me, but I seem to be seeing more and more parallel entrepreneurs these days. These are people who are working on multiple startups concurrently. On the surface, this seems like an extremely difficult and dangerous practice, but for the new generations which have been multi-tasking since birth, it may be just business as usual. I’m not talking here about a bit of overlap between the winding down of one venture, while already gearing up for the next.

Bandwidth 230

Bandwidth Entrepreneur Startup Portfolio 230

YoungUpstarts

MAY 26, 2011

One of these days, you might just chance across a person wearing what looks like a dead animal on their head as you pass them by along the street. The new form of headgear is not exactly a PETA protest, or the latest example of hillbilly style, but one of the latest fashion crazes to hit town – a SpiritHood. The SpiritHood is a unique, yet functional, headgear accessory to keep your head comfortably warm in cold weather (or just make a fashion statement).

Cofounder 174

Cofounder Community Design Founder 174

Rembrandt Communications

MAY 23, 2011

As Memorial Day approaches, I thought it would be nice to post a little, inspirational message. After all, it’s almost time to celebrate grads, dads and the arrival of summer. However, many of you may be dealing with tough times or financial difficulties with your business and unable to truly celebrate anything. Hang in there. [.].

SEO 124

SEO Small Business Entrepreneur 124

Feld Thoughts

MAY 23, 2011

Suddenly, title inflation is everywhere. I’ve seen more business cards or email sigs lately with adjectives like “executive&# or “senior&# or “senior executive&# or “special&# or “chief&# in front of more traditional titles (e.g. “vice president&# ). The “chief&# one is especially bizarre since it’s not always obvious whether the CSO is a “Chief Sales Officer&# or a “Chief Security Officer&# which in and of itself is a problem.

Security 139

Security Email Sales Technology 139

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2011

Online dating sites usually fail because online dating usually fails. The simple reason is that everyone expects quick results, no one can make that happen, and users get very unhappy very quickly. Even the main industry rag, Online Dating Magazine , admits that the success rate is a mere one percent, compared to an estimated fifty percent for startups in general.

Intellectual Property 229

Intellectual Property Social Network Matching Viral 229

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2011

We’ve seen how we can make a socially responsible enterprise out of a web hosting business , but what about email? The latest free email service to be launched, GiveBackMail ( www.GiveBackMail.com ), looks to do the same by donating to causes you care about every time you use email. Launched earlier this week, the free service allows you to keep your current email address and still take advantage of features including sharing large files – up to 100MB, managing multiple accounts, previewin

Email 171

Email Cofounder Social Media Hosting 171

ReadWriteStart

MAY 24, 2011

Never underestimate the power of having a good story - whether it's to pitch potential investors or customers or whether it's to share with other entrepreneurs. The importance of storytelling for entrepreneurs is the foundation for FounderLY , a project that I profiled back in April when it launched its platform. FounderLY collects video interviews with entrepreneurs as part of a media project to document their stories.

Entrepreneur 141

Entrepreneur Video Channel Founder 141

Feld Thoughts

MAY 22, 2011

I’ve been spending some time with the current TechStars Boston class. This feels to me like the strongest class we’ve had in Boston so far and might be the one of the strongest TechStars classes overall. This class of companies in Boston is thinking big and is very diverse. It’s been incredibly energizing watching each of the four TechStars cities (Boulder, NYC, Seattle, and Boston) up their game every single year.

Boston 134

Boston Angel Investor Seattle Programming 134

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2011

Cloud computing is still all the rage in the business world these days. Yet I find that most business people don’t understand and fully trust it, and I defy even the technologists to define it in ten words or less for business people. Many say it’s just marketing hype applied to old principles that have been around for a long time. A typical definition (from Wikipedia) is that “cloud computing, is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to comput

Cloud 228

Cloud Startup Security Agile 228