YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 13, 2013

'The greatest challenge of our “social age” isn’t to grow the largest fan or follower base. Neither is it to achieve the greatest reach or “virality” in one’s digital campaign. Rather, the challenge is this – how can we transform fans and followers on social networks into actual money paying customers? While Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have found ways to monetise their platforms, many are still figuring out ways to connect the social web with the corpo

Technical Review 178

Technical Review Software Review Customer Social Media 178

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2013

'Angel investors and venture capitalists don’t invest in non-profits. The simple reason is that it’s impossible to make money for investors when the goal of the company is to not make money. Yet I still get this question on a regular basis, so I’ll try to outline the considerations in common-sense terms. A non-profit organization is generally defined as an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals.

Equity 207

Equity Angel Investor Technical Review Exit Strategy 207

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 18, 2013

'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 92

Social Media Small Business Design Media 92

The Equity Kicker

OCTOBER 15, 2013

'The declining cost of solar power is one of the biggest reasons that the folks at Singularity University are optimistic about the future. You can see from the chart above that the cost of generating 1W has fallen below a dollar for the first time and is now or will soon be at grid parity (grid parity is the average cost of all inputs to the grid). Having reached grid parity the use of solar should soar and cost should fall further as more money is invested in the technology.

Cost 136

Cost Technical Review Product Development Technology 136

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

OCTOBER 16, 2013

'Traffic in Southeast Asia’s megacities can be notoriously bad – for example, traffic in central Bangkok or Jakarta can come to an absolute standstill by 6pm. In Manila, a study by the University of the Philippines National Center for Transportation Study (UP NCTS) last year placed the average annual losses incurred due to traffic congestion in Metro Manila at over P137 billion as of 2011.

Philippines 168

Philippines SMS Spain Technical Review 168

mobile.smashingmagazine.com

OCTOBER 17, 2013

'Smashing Magazine. Menu Search. × Search. × Smashing Pages: Smashing Books. Smashing Library. Smashing Events. Job Board. Categories: Coding. Design. Mobile. Graphics. UX Design. WordPress. Books. Library. Workshops. Job Board. RSS. Facebook. Twitter. Newsletter. Search. Coding. CSS. HTML. JavaScript. Techniques. Design. Web Design. Typography.

Software Review 94

Software Review HTML Mobile Web 94

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 15, 2013

'5 SEO Action Steps You Can Take Today written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing In a recent blog post I wrote about the new realities of SEO. For the most part that post revealed how the shifting form of search into a less content and more context driven world requires site owners and SEO professionals to think differently about how they approach search engine optimization.

SEO 75

SEO Software Review HTML Technical Review 75

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 16, 2013

'by Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, authors of “ The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built a Bestseller “ There are a lot of different beliefs about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. When you look at famous, crazy-successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey, maybe you feel more discouraged than inspired.

Business Plan 159

Business Plan Employee Entrepreneur Customer 159

SVPG

OCTOBER 12, 2013

'One of the things I like about a Lean Canvas is it helps to quickly highlight the key assumptions and major risks facing a startup or a significant new product in an existing business. This is a good thing. The idea is to tackle the biggest risks first. That''s the theory at least. However, the reason for this note is that in practice, I keep running into entrepreneurs and product leaders that are focused on secondary risks rather than the primary risks.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Lean Channel Restful 63

deal architect

OCTOBER 18, 2013

'As an innovation author, I generally like to look ahead. But the mysterious time machine that is LinkedIn will often bring back colleagues and friends I have long lost touch with. A recent re-acquaintance reminded me I first encountered SAP.

Software 358

Software 358

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 14, 2013

'5 New Realities of SEO written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing Back in the day, SEO was more technical and less, well, semantic. Now I realize that for most a term like semantic query relevancy might as well be the name of computer programming language, but the fact is Google’s customers, the searcher and the advertiser, are no longer content with results based on related page keyword content.

SEO 78

SEO Semantic Technical Review Algorithm 78

abovethecrowd.com

OCTOBER 17, 2013

'Early this year Amie Fineberg, who has been my amazing assistant for over 10 years, mentioned that she and several other employees at Benchmark had fallen in love with a new ecommerce service, and that I might want to check it out. The company, which the founder cleverly named “Stitch Fix,” had a remarkably unique offering compared to other women’s fashion experiences.

eCommerce 62

eCommerce Technical Review North America San Francisco 62

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2013

'Most entrepreneurs tend to avoid this area of the business, and as a result are badly surprised by cost realities, and investor expectations. They seem to think that financial projections are simply invented numbers for investors, and not useful. In reality, it’s like jumping in your car for a long hard drive with no destination in mind. Chances are, you won’t enjoy success from the trip.

Angel Investor 253

Angel Investor Business Model Revenue Cost 253

deal architect

OCTOBER 18, 2013

'Phil Fersht, Founder and CEO of HfS has invited me to a fireside chat at his firm’s event Blueprint in New York. Broadly, we will cover 5 major disruptions shaking IT and in particular, the outsourcing world: Explosion in technology.

New York 325

New York Founder Technology 325

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 14, 2013

'Long gone are the days when most files only lived on a local computer. The past several years have seen cloud-based storage come into its own in a big way. No matter what your needs, either to store and back up your own business files or to collaborate with colleagues on the other side of town (or the other side of the country), there is a cloud storage solution to suit your needs.

Cloud 178

Cloud Early Stage Security Mobile 178

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 15, 2013

'When David Cohen and I came up with the idea for the Global Accelerator Network (GAN) in 2010, we counted roughly 100 accelerator programs around the US that were founded following the Techstars model. We labeled Techstars a “mentor driven accelerator” and reached out to others who were using the same approach to create what became GAN.

Global 179

Global Networking United States Seed Money 179

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2013

'I’m sure we have all seen entrepreneurs with high levels of passion and confidence touting an idea that seems to make very little sense to us. Of course, we never see ourselves in this mode, yet we need to recognize that all humans see reality differently through a built-in set of “cognitive biases,” based on their own unique background of experiences, training, and mental state.

Founder 235

Founder Management Startup Entrepreneur 235

deal architect

OCTOBER 13, 2013

'On the anniversary of GE’s launch of the Industrial Internet, CEO Jeff Immelt presented an update last week in Chicago. You can watch his full talk here. Couple of things stood out from an outsourcing industry POV As I wrote.

Offshore 310

Offshore Software Chicago Global 310

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 15, 2013

'By Sean C. Castrina, author of “ 8 Unbreakable Rules For Business Start-Up Success “ If you’re a stay-at-home mom, there are many good reasons why you might want to start your own small business: Maybe you want to kick in extra money to the family income. Maybe you want to flex your marketable skills, talents, or creativity. Or maybe you simply have a little extra time to fill now that your kids are older and at school during the day.

Hiring 174

Hiring Operations Advertising Employee 174

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2013

'I’ve been involved with technology product design in one form or another for nearly 25 years and seen one mistake consistently repeated. The single biggest mistake most product teams make is building technology for what they believe the user would want rather than what the actual end-user needs. From the experience in my earliest days of designing products for Windows and OS2 machines in the early 1990′s I developed a product philosophy, “Design for the novice, configure for t

Product 408

Product San Francisco Green Technical Review 408

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2013

'I’m sure that every one of us who has been out in the business world for a few years can look back with perfect hindsight and name a few college courses that we should have taken. What’s more disconcerting to me is that I can name a few that weren’t even offered, and more than a few students who graduate are ill-prepared for the real world! I won’t even try to cover here the ones you didn’t find for your personal life, like managing personal finances and credit.

Dividend 234

Dividend Salary Social Network Finance 234

deal architect

OCTOBER 15, 2013

'Is a comment I have made to a few US executives recently. As part of my book project this summer I had the chance to interview several German insurance, auto, logistics and other companies. And in each case I would.

Global 270

Global Technology 270

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 17, 2013

'by Julie May, CEO of bytes of knowledge (b:ok). Too often, IT firms focus on creating a solution before understanding the problem. Without a clear understanding of the business challenge and who will be served and why, it’s nearly impossible for an IT firm to give you an honest idea of the risks or unintended consequences that may occur, and any proposed schedule, budget or resulting work will start off on the wrong foot.

Technology 172

Technology Management Business Plan Developer 172

The Next Web

OCTOBER 17, 2013

'Ilya Pozin is an entrepreneur, writer and investor. He is the founder of Open Me , a social greeting card company, and Ciplex , a digital marketing agency. He’s a columnist on entrepreneurship and marketing. The traditional 9-to-5 workweek has become a relic of the past. Today, the number of hours an employee works is no indication of their productivity level.

Employee 161

Employee Entrepreneur Product Founder 161

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2013

'Wouldn’t you like to be one of the lucky people who joined Google and Facebook when these were startups, and now be a multi-millionaire? So people ask me “How many shares should I ask for when I join a startup today?” In reality, the number of shares doesn’t mean anything – it’s your percent of the total that you need to negotiate. For example, 200,000 shares may sound like a lot, but if the startup has issued 20 million (a common starting point), that’s just 1% of the company.

Stock Options 224

Stock Options Stock Advisory Board Startup 224

deal architect

OCTOBER 17, 2013

'In one of his most famous speeches President Kennedy said “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin….” Reading this BusinessWeek story “Sorry, Nike you are a tech company now”, I think we can similarly pronounce “No.

207

207

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 18, 2013

'Here’s an interesting fact about the US job market – fully 97% of new jobs created in 2012 were part-time or freelance positions. More people are turning to freelance work as stable, permanent jobs dry up, or simply decide to turn to a more flexible working arrangement to suit their evolving lifestyles. This number is likely to grow over the next few years as the trend of remote, freelance and casual work takes off across the world, with the rise of online freelance staffing sites

Mobile 163

Mobile Marketing 163

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 14, 2013

'A few years ago, I realized that I had run out of namespace in my brain and the only way I could learn a new name was to forget one that I already knew. This notion annoyed me for a little while, then amused me, and then became my reality. I’ve always been bad at names + faces, but I have a savant like ability to remember stuff that I’ve read, especially numbers.

Naming 149

Naming Networking 149

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2013

'In the US, the holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas is fast approaching. But no matter where you live in the world, you should use the holidays to give thanks for the positives in your life and your business. Yet you can never forget the seasonal business cash flow and activity demands that are approaching, so to be prepared – you need to start the planning now.

Business Plan 215

Business Plan Venture Capital Demand Forecast 215

deal architect

OCTOBER 14, 2013

'Steve Jobs changed the music, telephony, publishing and retail industry with Apple’s products and processes. Elon Musk is changing how we drive, commute, generate power and explore space. Jeff Immelt presents with giant props like aircraft engines and blowout preventers.

Vertical 199

Vertical Engineer Product 199

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 15, 2013

'One of the areas that extremely fast-growing startups tend to forget about as they scale is customer service – we’ve heard stories of how some founders have been forced to man customer support hotlines when their services go down, which is usually a sign of how such support is lacking. But can also be extremely pricey to provide sufficient redundancy in customer service support, and outsourcing it (especially overseas) can sometimes be detrimental to the business.

Customer 162

Customer Founder Startup 162

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 17, 2013

'Time for a new Foundry Group video. If you want the backstory, go take a look at the post Foundry Group Announces Major Shift In Investment Strategy. If you just want a break from reality and hopefully a few laughs in the process, enjoy. . The video has over 100 easter eggs referring to either portfolio companies of ours or other things in our lives.

Technology 145

Technology Video Portfolio Global 145

Scalable Startup

OCTOBER 18, 2013

'[link]. via 5Q03: Puneet Agarwal (True Ventures) on pitching investors, maker culture, and big trends he’s watching. — The Orchestrate.io Blog. via 5Q03: Puneet Agarwal (True Ventures) on pitching investors, maker culture, and big trends he’s watching. — The Orchestrate.io Blog.

Hawaii 20

Hawaii PHP Angel Investor Early Stage 20

Rembrandt Communications

OCTOBER 17, 2013

'3 Ways to Create a More Successful Business I don’t know about you, but I deal with many kinds of people on a weekly basis. Some are hard-core sales people trying to push their products on me. Others are telemarketers, young interns, people who have been on the job far too long, etc. who really […].

PR 124

PR Sales Management Product 124

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 14, 2013

'Many of us have problems managing money, but the more conscious among us are turning to online and mobile tools to help keep our finances in order. Thankfully, a plethora of money management tools are now available to help us keep track of income, bills, loans and even credit cards. We’ve heard of how apps like Mint.com can help folks save both time and money , and nothing is quite indicative of a good entrepreneur than one who knows how to keep a tight hold of their personal finances (w

Bankruptcy 160

Bankruptcy Finance Mobile Web 160

The Next Web

OCTOBER 16, 2013

'Yoav Hornung is an award winning young filmmaker and entrepreneur, who mixed cocktails and managed some of the best bars in Tel Aviv. He is the cofounder and CEO of Veed.me , a video production marketplace. He’s also an avid Instagram addict. The Next Web’s Entrepreneur channel exists because there enough people like us who are tired of working dead end jobs, yearning to be our own bosses and run our own companies.

Bootstrapping 143

Bootstrapping Cofounder Silicon Valley Video 143