Sat.Oct 18, 2014 - Fri.Oct 24, 2014

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A Seriously Great Story and Why We Funded Them

Both Sides of the Table

'We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. I think this is a Seriously great example of how this process works for at least one VC – Upfront Ventures. But I’m guessing the narrative is similar elsewhere. I first met Andrew Stalbow , the founder & CEO of Seriously in August of 2013.

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Make Every Member Of Your Startup Act Like An Owner

Startup Professionals Musings

'Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. Then they are surprised to see productivity and creativity take a big dip. What they should be doing is hiring only “entrepreneurs,” meaning people who think and act as if this is their own business.

Startup 262
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The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Software Patents

Gust

'Image via Flickr by Joshua Gajownik for opensource.com. I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The good news is that a patent can scare off or at least delay competitors, and as a “rule of thumb” patents can add up to $1M to your startup valuation for investors or M&A exits (merger and acquisition).

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30 Compelling Reasons to Start a Business

Up and Running

'Are you toying with an idea for a business? A lot of people think about starting a business, but for whatever reason the idea never becomes a reality. If you’re an entrepreneur who is on the fence about starting a business, we have the encouragement you need to take the first step. We asked 30 business owners to offer persuasive reasons for entrepreneurs to launch a business.

Cofounder 165
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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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Not All Startup and Venture Experience is Equal #getoffmylawn

This is going to be BIG.

'I probably do some kind of speaking event at least every other week. This week, I''ve got three things on the docket. Needless to say, I have a fair amount of startup event experience. What I find a bit frustrating is how easily some people get onto panels and are put up in front of an impressionable crowd of new entrepreneurs as "experts". You''ll get a venture capital analyst from a brand name firm who has just recently taken his job talking about what makes a company successful.

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How To Recognize The Greatest Boss You Never Had

Startup Professionals Musings

'Everyone can recognize a great boss a mile away, so why is it so hard to find one? We all remember a few that are “legends in their own mind”, but that doesn’t do it. In fact, the clue here is that the view in your mind is the only one that matters, rather than the other way around. Almost every one of us in business can remember that one special manager or executive in their career who exemplifies the norm, who commanded our respect, and treated us like a friend, even in the toughest of person

More Trending

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Ten Tools You Can Start Using Today to Maximize Your Productivity

Up and Running

'Add these to your tool box. Everyone wants to be productive. In fact, most people are looking for ways to become more productive than they already are. Just this morning, we posted about ways to be productive even during your down time and I have to say, having tried the Pomodoro Technique myself, I can vouch for the efficacy of that method. The basic premise is that you can get yourself to focus on even the most strenuous or boring task for 25 minutes at a stretch.

Product 127
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When Should Startup Founders Discuss Valuation with Seed VCs?

View from Seed

'As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging. In short, more and more entrepreneurs are signaling their price expectations earlier in their seed fundraise process.

Valuation 336
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The Business Model Canvas Gets Even Better – Value Proposition Design

Steve Blank

'Product/Market fit now has its own book. Alexander Osterwalder wrote it. Buy it. —— The Lean Startup process builds new ventures more efficiently. It has three parts: a business model canvas to frame hypotheses, customer development to get out of the building to test those hypotheses and agile engineering to build minimum viable products.

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Have you hugged an Enterprise Blogger today?

deal architect

'Enterprise conference season is in full swing and it gives you a chance to catch up with so many smart people who make this industry a reality – Stan Swete at Workday, Charles Phillips at Infor, Mike Ehrenberg at Microsoft, Industry analysts (Gartner, Forrester, AMR, others) Industry Commentary'

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Right Entrepreneurs In The Right Place Get Funded

Startup Professionals Musings

'I’m a strong believer that investors invest in people, before they invest in a business plan, or an idea. But I continue to learn that there are a host of other factors, maybe not even related to you or your business, that could keep you from getting the funding that you need. You may not have control over many of these, but it helps to know, for planning purposes, what is really happening.

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Stubborn Visionaries & Pigheaded Fools

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

'Scenario 1 (S1). At time (A) you start an AdWords campaign. At time (B) it’s obviously not working; a waste of time and money. But you keep trying, and by time (C), you’ve figured it out; it’s working! Scenario 2 (S2). At time (A) you start an AdWords campaign. At time (B) it’s obviously not working; a waste of time and money.

Campaign 269
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How We Used to Give Startups Very Bad Advice. 2 Minutes to See Why

Steve Blank

'If you can’t see the video click here Filed under: 2 Minute Lessons , Big Companies versus Startups: Durant versus Sloan , Customer Development.

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Omni-channel this!

deal architect

'We are one step closer to release of my book on the SAP economy. The edit is done, the next steps are the inside layout, eBook conversion and prep for printing. Assuming all moves well, the media review PDFs should.

Channel 247
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Ideas Are Only The Beginning Of Startup Innovation

Startup Professionals Musings

'Most people think innovation is all about ideas, when in fact it is more about delivery, people, and process. Entrepreneurs looking to innovate need to understand the execution challenge if they expect their startup to carve out a profitable niche in the marketplace, and keep innovating to build and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. Everyone thinks they know how to make innovation happen, but I can’t find much real research on the subject.

Startup 269
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Maximizing Your Workplace Productivity

YoungUpstarts

'Whether you’re just starting out in your first job or you’re a veteran employee, everyone gets behind every once in a while. Thankfully, it isn’t too hard to get yourself back on track and primed for success in the workplace. To stay productive in the office, all you need is a little motivation and some organizational strategies to help you out. And hey, if you’re interested enough to be reading how you can improve that productivity, you’re on the right track to success already.

Product 247
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Victims and Leaders

Feld Thoughts

'In a recent board meeting, at a particularly challenging part of the conversation, I did a retrospective of the past five years as a lead up to making a point. I prefaced it by saying “I need you to take a leader approach, not a victim approach.” I realized no one knew that I meant by this, so I told a quick story, which I first heard from Jeremy Bloom, the CEO of Integrate , retired pro-football player, retired Olympic skier, and someone I adore.

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Microsofts Connected Tissue

deal architect

'Mike Ehrenberg, CTO for Microsoft Business Solutions was describing his new CEO Satya Nadella’s management style – the senior leadership team meets twice a week. “It plays havoc with planning international trips, but allows us to iterate rapidly as a.

Cloud 207
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Announcing Version One Fund II

Version One Ventures

'On behalf of our team at Version One, I am incredibly excited to announce that we have just closed our second fund. Version One Fund II is $35M, slightly larger than our initial fund. In many ways, Version One Fund II is identical to Fund I. It’s the same investing team (myself in Vancouver and Angela in the Bay Area), roughly the same areas of focus, and the same commitment to being the most active and value-add investor at the table.

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Top 5 Mistakes Businesses Make When Purchasing Energy

YoungUpstarts

'By Nate Kessman, Vice President of Business Development, Great Eastern Energy. Taking your passion and turning it into a successful business is the gold rush of our generation. Endless opportunities await entrepreneurs and business owners of all sizes who are willing to stake their claim and convert their passion into a virtual goldmine. Whatever your passion is, there are seemingly endless ways to convert that passion into a community either online or in a brick and mortar business.

Green 233
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The content marketing trends your business should be implementing

The Next Web

'JT Ripton is a business consultant and freelance writer. Through proper content marketing, businesses can build their brand, raise awareness, and engender trust. This type of marketing positions businesses as credible and reliable information sources. Sharing and promoting content related to your particular industry attracts people to your social media and digital platforms as well as your product lines.

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10 Business Books Every Savvy Entrepreneur Should Read [+ GIVEAWAY]

Up and Running

'Below we’ve compiled a list of books that you’ll find particularly helpful if you’re starting a business. That said, even if you’re already in business or not planning to get into business anytime soon, these are all excellent reads that will teach you how to do things better, faster and more efficiently , and they’ve all been handpicked by our team.

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2014 Pacific Crest Saas Survey- Part 2

For Entrepreneurs

'Last week I shared the results from Part 1 of our survey in which 300+ SaaS companies shared data on their growth and go-to-market strategies. This week we dive into the results from Part 2 of the survey where we compare application delivery methods, operational costs and gross margins, contract terms, churn rates, capital requirements and accounting […].

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Best Practices For Developing A Mobile App For Your Startup

YoungUpstarts

'Okay, so you’ve embodied a bold mindset in your startup. The company has enjoyed its initial success because you have managed to maintain this approach: bold, simple, cost effective and, most of all, humble. It’s time for you to consider taking a leap in your industry by creating a mobile app for your startup. With branded mobile-business apps in today’s marketplace to achieve recognition and customer engagement, some startups might not be able to gain a competitive edge without one.

Mobile 213
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The perfect workspace: How to design an office that boosts productivity

The Next Web

'This post is brought to you by Staples - We have everything your business needs to Make More Happen every day, including furniture and décor to boost productivity. We’re all looking for quick ways to intuitively boost productivity. Today, there are many apps and services to help keep you organized and stay on task. There are books, articles and entire websites that focus on helping you change how you work.

Design 167
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3 Tricks to Provide Valuable Content Fast

Rembrandt Communications

'(That will be a treat for customers!) You know you need to provide valuable content to your customers on a regular basis, but as a small business owner, you’re busy. You give a big sigh just thinking about all of the time it will take to write a new blog, article or Website page. And […]. The post 3 Tricks to Provide Valuable Content Fast appeared first on SEO Content Strategy and BtoB Public Relations.

SEO 124
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Should I give my seed investors anti-dilution protection?

Gust

'What this investor is seeking is called “permanent, full-ratchet, anti-dilution protection”, and that is neither (a) in line with the market, nor (b) practical. Even if you were willing to give it to him, it is highly, highly unlikely to stand up beyond the next financing round, because there’s no way your next investor is going to take a dilution hit for this first one.

Dilution 137
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[Event] Hackatron Asia Singapore 2014

YoungUpstarts

'Do you have 32 hours to spare? If you do – and would like to showcase your coding chops to the world – you may want to participating in Hackatron Asia Singapore , and one and a half day hackathon that will bring brands, technologies and developers together to see what technological magic can ensue. Held on 6-7 December, the event will feature various challenges fielded by companies with real technology offerings (APIs and SDKs) for developers to hack on, with mentors roving on-site

Asia 211
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How side projects saved our startup (and how to do them right)

The Next Web

'Mikael Cho is the co-founder of Crew, a network that connects short-term software projects with handpicked developers and designers. This post originally appeared on the Crew blog. We had no money. We changed our business model and had three months worth of cash left to turn things around. If we didn’t we were toast. Done. We needed to find customers.

Cofounder 167
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The Calloway Way Book Tour – 10/28 and 10/29, Boston

Feld Thoughts

'Next week, I’m spending some time in Boston with my uncle Charlie Feld talking about his newest book, The Calloway Way: Results & Integrity. Alongside some private events with EMC, MIT, HBS, and the N2 Conference, we’re doing a few public events which I would like to invite you to. On Tuesday night (10/28) we’ll be at Techstars Boston and on Wednesday night (10/29) we’ll be at Yesware. 10/28 - RSVP for the Techstars Boston event. 10/29 – RSVP for the Yesware event.

Boston 128
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More big IoT numbers: 33bn connected devices by 2020

The Equity Kicker

'33bn connected devices in the next six years, up from 12bn predicted at the end of this year. That will be four for every person on the planet. As others have said before me, our grandparents could count their electric motors, our parents could count the things they owned with a chip inside, and we can count our connected devices… Here’s a quick list off the top of my head of inventions enabled by integrated circuits and/or electric motors.

Internet 121
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How To Save The Life Of Your Startup With Proper Financial Planning

YoungUpstarts

'Every startup has its ups and downs and only someone who has never tried to start a business can say that it is not difficult to make something work in the beginning no matter how small or huge the business idea might be. Startups are difficult especially when those handling them have never worked in the business environment before. Hard truth time: Most Startups Fail !

Forecast 199
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Lessons from David Ogilvy’s contrarian management advice

The Next Web

'Gregory Ciotti is Help Scout‘s resident content marketer. He also gets nerdy about behavioral psychology at Sparring Mind. This post originally appeared on the Help Scout blog. A true leader is one who inspires loyalty with no regard to rank or position. David Ogilvy, the vaunted “Father of Advertising” and legend among the marketing community, has surely earned the designation of leader.

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A New Look for Feld Thoughts

Feld Thoughts

'Every few years I update the look and feel of my blog. This year is a significant upgrade, both on look and feel as well as the entire back end infrastructure. In the past six months, I’ve started to notice complexity creep into everything in our world. While design is still front and center for many developers and entrepreneurs, I’ve gotten tired of the overwhelming UIs, confusing UXs, and immense complexity under the hood.

Design 124
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Tips for companies attending office hours

The Equity Kicker

'Every month we run an open office hours. It’s a great way for us to meet with lots of founders, improve our deal flow and hopefully give a little back to teh community. Many other VCs do something similar. We’ve just had our October office hours, and we’ve now met with approaching 100 founders through this programme. Most entrepreneurs come here to pitch us.

Deal Flow 120
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Five Expert Tips To Build An Online Travel Business

YoungUpstarts

'by Bob Diener, co-founder of Getaroom.com. At first glance, the online travel business would seem to be conquered by entrenched players that have their reach into several aspects of travel, including overseas markets. Despite the competition, there is always room for innovation, especially in such a varied and large market as travel. Companies that can find a profitable niche and offer a clear and sustainable value proposition will be able to thrive.

Cofounder 182