Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 11, 2016
Many aspiring entrepreneurs are looking to the Internet as an opportunity to get rich quick, instead of a place where you can start a business you love, for very little capital and minimal technical expertise. The reality is that if you build a business you love, you may in fact make big money, but if you start a business to get rich, you will probably fail.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 14, 2016
You may have one or more ideas about how to make life easier or how to improve upon an already existing technology. Yet, you may have found that moving forward with that idea takes more than wishful thinking. Many entrepreneurs have used InventHelp to turn their imagined opportunities into real businesses. InventHelp allows you to discover and nurture the entrepreneur inside you.
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Up and Running
DECEMBER 14, 2016
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Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 14, 2016
Today is amongst the proudest days I’ve had at Upfront Ventures — getting the chance to announce that Kevin Zhang has been promoted to Partner. Watching him develop over the past 4.5 years at Upfront has been both a pleasure and also has taught me a lot about venture capital. Kevin joined Upfront in 2012 as an Associate. We generally look for associates who are deeply quantitative, have great research & analytical skills and often have the tool kit for framing and making complex decisions.
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
Version One Ventures
DECEMBER 14, 2016
This has been an important year for us as a firm, as well as the market in general. We couldn’t begin any recap of 2016 without focusing on the bubble we hear so much about. The industry entered the year bracing for an apocalypse. Every announcement – whether it was a funding round, exit or layoffs – was analyzed within the context that the tech bubble has definitely burst or that we’re still in the bubble.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 12, 2016
by David Estrakh, Senior Vice President at Express Trade Capital. Even though your manufacturing facility is up and running, that doesn’t mean you can forget about it and turn your attention to other aspects of your business. Manufacturing requires constant attention to ensure that costs remain low and quality and productivity stay high. Here are a few ideas for keeping your operation running smoothly: Manage the Product Lifecycle.
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Street Smart Product Manager
DECEMBER 12, 2016
One of the biggest lies in product management is agile. That may sound like heresy, but hear me out… I actually love agile. It’s a great approach to reducing the risk of developing and shipping software. It’s a better software development methodology. But on its own it doesn’t solve the problem of providing a capital […]. The post As a product manager, you need to do just two things appeared first on Street Smart Product Manager.
Duct Tape Marketing
DECEMBER 13, 2016
Page One on Google Is Your New Business Card written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Do a search for your name, your company name, your product or service names. Whatever you find on page one in the Google SERPs amounts to a significant collage of how your brand is seen in the wild today. See, it doesn’t matter if your best client tells their best friend you are the most awesome thing since people started using the word awesome – Google you they will and what they find is all p
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 14, 2016
by Jeff Stark, Audit Partner at Sensiba San Filippo. In the current economic landscape, it’s common for startups and businesses to seek a buyout or acquisition — in fact, it’s frequently the goal from the start. Preparing for an acquisition as early as possible can help alleviate the stress of an unplanned opportunity as well as put your company in the best situation for the strongest offer when the decision is made to sell the enterprise.
deal architect
DECEMBER 12, 2016
I enjoy spending time with Jason Blessing, CEO of Plex. We share a passion for automation and other manufacturing technology and we enjoy sharing notes on outstanding plants and facilities we get to visit. With a new President about to.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 12, 2016
Why is it that only the most successful entrepreneurs , including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson, admit to having a mentor and actually use them? Starting a new business is tough, and the last thing you need is to suffer the same mistakes that have killed businesses like yours before you. Yet many entrepreneurs I know are too proud or too shy to even ask for advice.
Duct Tape Marketing
DECEMBER 15, 2016
Inspire Positive Conversations Behind Your Back written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Today everybody can publicly give a thumbs up or down to each customer experience. Whether you’re an Uber driver or a brain surgeon, you have to accept that online reviews are now built into the buying process. While negative reviews can certainly impact business, it’s second only to having none at all.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 14, 2016
by Lewis Robinson. Cloud technology has become a huge topic in the IT industry, and even more so for small businesses who may are working to stay on top of technological advances while often not having an in-house, dedicated IT staff. Cloud computing offers specific advantages and disadvantages over traditional site-based server rooms. Here are five misconceptions about cloud computing technologies clarified for small businesses to make the choice to migrate simple: 1.
deal architect
DECEMBER 14, 2016
More from my conversation with Jason Blessing What other trends excite you in terms of manufacturing technology? I think the other interesting thing that is emerging in manufacturing from a technology perspective is 3D printing and how that's affecting how.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 16, 2016
Every business needs that ultimate leader and decision maker at the top, commonly given the title of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Sometimes it’s the business founder, and in other cases the CEO is recruited by the founder or investors to complement the skills of the technical team. Everyone recognizes that even the best idea needs a great execution to assure success.
View from Seed
DECEMBER 14, 2016
NYTech does not mirror the diversity of its host city… Today on Gotham Alpha, I talk to Alex Qin, Skillshare engineer and founder of Code Cooperative, about the reality of New York Tech’s diversity gap…what factors actually reinforce hiring prejudice here…and how we can all start to fix this problem, right now. Follow me and Alex at twitter.com/tdevane and twitter.com/alexqin.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 15, 2016
By John Canfield, VP of Risk for WePay. A prospective client contacts you via email or your website, seeking your services on a big, new job. He mentions that the job also involves a third party, so he wishes to pay you for the whole job if you can then pay that other party involved. Sounds a bit dubious. But he’s got a good explanation. He’s seen your design portfolio online and wants to contract for your services to design his new business website if only you can pay his photographer so it’s a
deal architect
DECEMBER 13, 2016
Part 2 of my conversation with Jason Blessing Jason, there are three myths that I have seen in the last year, which I call toxic, because they dampen the national mood. One is the myth that automation is leading to.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 14, 2016
Too many aspiring entrepreneurs I mentor can talk at length about their innovative ideas and passions, and ask lots of good questions, but never make much progress in building a real business. In my experience, building a business is much more about getting things done than having great ideas. The challenge is to move from ideas to specific goals, to delivered solutions.
Transformify
DECEMBER 15, 2016
Giving what is required. FADE IN. EXT. ST PAUL’S AVENUE ABA – MORNING: It was a warn and easy morning in the heart of Aba Abia State and the sun rises with each second. DESOLVE TO: INT. MERILENE LODGE – SECOND FLOOR – DAY. The sound of a TV adverts coming from the sitting room. BUCHI, 31, is a motivational speaker and an inspirational stalwart.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 12, 2016
by Dario Senko, co-founder of Diversis Digital and Point Visible. In this digital age where the world has been transformed into a global village, you cannot wish away the need to get your business online. It thus goes without saying that a website is one of the first things you need to invest in when setting up a business. When your site is up and running, the next challenge that comes your way is how to attract quality traffic without any added costs.
deal architect
DECEMBER 14, 2016
I asked my wife, Margaret that question recently. She rattled off an unqualified “yes” – we are more mobile, we have more occupational choices, we have way more choice in products and services, and one that really resounded – “we.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 10, 2016
Most entrepreneurs start their company with the highest of ideals, and wouldn’t dream of building one with a culture of indifference or downright unethical behavior. Yet all too many succumb to the pressures of survival, driven by demanding investors or a cutthroat competitive environment. How does a Founder recognize the warning signs, let alone know what to do about it?
Rob Go
DECEMBER 14, 2016
This is something that isn’t that obvious to founders, so I thought I’d write a quick post. When a VC invests in a startup, the two parties usually sign a term sheet that lays out the major terms of the investment round. This is usually followed by several weeks or longer of legal due diligence. 90%+ of term sheets result in a closed deal that is more or less equivalent to what was discussed.
Feld Thoughts
DECEMBER 13, 2016
December is a tough time of year for a lot of people. While the holidays are awesome for some, they are really hard for others. I know a lot of people around me who are anxious, upset, stressed, or some other version of “not in a good place.” Some of it is the holidays, some is the end of the year, some is the outcome of the US election, and some is other things.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 13, 2016
by Kenan Pala. Earlier this year, I found myself needing to assemble a small team for the biggest task I’ve ever taken on. Actually, it was the biggest task in the world. I was aiming to break the Guinness World Record for the largest cardboard box mosaic. The main goal of the project was to raise awareness of homelessness and hunger in San Diego, so I thought it would be a good idea to use cereal boxes to build the mosaic and donate them to a local shelter afterward.
Steve Blank
DECEMBER 16, 2016
We’re holding our 2 nd Hacking for Defense, Diplomacy,… educators and sponsors class January 17-19 at Georgetown University. The class is for: educators who want to learn how to teach a Hacking for Defense, Diplomacy, Development, etc. class; problem sponsors who want to learn how to get the most out of their interaction with student teams and how to use the teams to help accelerate their problem. government organizations who want to a more efficient way to deliver needed solutions with speed an
A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
DECEMBER 14, 2016
We love stories more than science. A good story causes us to see patterns in noise. Maybe that’s the case with the idea that all manner startup phenomena conform to a sort of “10x Rule.” But I think it’s actually true, or true enough that it’s an excellent rule of thumb that should be assumed until proven false. Here’s a slew of examples to guide you: Business models change based on pricing in roughly 10x increments.
Feld Thoughts
DECEMBER 15, 2016
I had lunch recently with a founder. We were talking about current and future board configuration for his company and he said “Up until this point, all my board seats were simply for sale. Whenever a new investor showed up, they wanted – and got – a board seat.” I loved the phrase “board seat for sale.” It’s exactly the opposite of how I think about how to configure a board of directors, but I recognize that it’s a default case for many VCs and, su
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 12, 2016
The sharing economy is big news right now. From Airbnb to Boris Bikes, sharing often makes more sense than buying or renting. It’s a growing economy in the UK, Europe, and in the US. A study undertaken for the European Commission indicates that the sharing economy is expanding much faster than economists predicted back in 2014, in 2015, it generated almost four billion Euros.
Steve Blank
DECEMBER 16, 2016
We’re holding our 2 nd Hacking for Defense, Diplomacy,… educators and sponsors class January 17-19 at Georgetown University. The class is for: educators who want to learn how to teach a Hacking for Defense, Diplomacy, Development, etc. class; problem sponsors who want to learn how to get the most out of their interaction with student teams and how to use the teams to help accelerate their problem. government organizations who want to a more efficient way to deliver needed solutions with speed an
This is going to be BIG.
DECEMBER 11, 2016
Over the last couple of weeks, I've been to a couple of tech events that were sparsely populated by straight white men. Yeah, can you believe it? One was a careers panel aimed at women in tech held at Flatiron School and the other was Alterconf. The goal of Alterconf is to provide safe opportunities and spaces for marginalized people in tech and those who support them by highlighting positive initiatives of local community members.
Feld Thoughts
DECEMBER 11, 2016
As we get to the end of 2016, I’m in many conversations about 2016 performance and 2017 budgets. While 2016 isn’t over yet, most SaaS companies know how things are going to end up within a few percentage points. As a result, their focus on 2017 is an extrapolation from how they have been doing in 2016, typically building on month over month activity.
YoungUpstarts
DECEMBER 16, 2016
Influencer marketing is a great tactic that you can use to promote your business, along with social media marketing and modern content marketing techniques. It’s a form of marketing that focuses on utilizing leaders who can drive your company’s message into a larger marketplace. So instead of simply promoting yourself directly to a big group of customers, you can hire, inspire, and pay talented influencers who can help get the word out on your behalf.
Street Smart Product Manager
DECEMBER 12, 2016
One of the biggest lies in product management is agile. That may sound like heresy, but hear me out… I actually love agile. It’s a great approach to reducing the risk of developing and shipping software. It’s a better software development methodology. But on its own it doesn’t solve the problem of providing a capital […]. The post What a product manager really does appeared first on Street Smart Product Manager.
The Next Web
DECEMBER 12, 2016
While the World Economic Forum suggests that we may lose roughly five million jobs to robots by 2020, what does that actually mean for today’s workforce? Will they be out of work entirely, or will they simply need to learn new skills? To find out more about what this means for your average small business, I polled nine business owners from YEC on the following question: How do you see the rise of the robot affecting your company?
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