Sat.Nov 01, 2014 - Fri.Nov 07, 2014

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The Case for Optimism and Risk at Startups

Both Sides of the Table

'Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives.

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A Startup CTO’s Take on Early Technology Choices & Tradeoffs

View from Seed

'Isaac Cambron is co-founder and CTO of Zensight.co , whose pre-launch product enables sales reps to find and use their best content to close more deals. Below, he answers questions about developing products from scratch, as well as the difficult technology choices and tradeoffs CTOs must make. NextView Ventures: You just experienced something that most developers don’t ever see: zero code base at a company.

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More Successful New Entrepreneurs Are Baby Boomers

Startup Professionals Musings

'One of the biggest myths in the business world is that startups are no place for Baby Boomers, that aging generation born between 1945 and 1964. They couldn’t possibly understand the new social media culture, new technologies, or have the determination to beat their younger counterparts in the market. Yet credible reports on current trends tell us just the opposite.

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Pricing determines your business

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

'It’s often said that you shouldn’t talk about price during customer development interviews. The usual justification is that your goal is to uncover the details of your potential customers’ lives and pain-points, whereas a mention of price turns attention away from that topic, diverting the discussion to budgets and comparative value.

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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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Ways To Give Your Website An Additional Competitive Edge

YoungUpstarts

'by Chloe Hashemi, marketing consultant for film and video production company LAMBDA Films. As we near the end of a largely technology-centric year, it has become evident our dependence on the Internet and other digital services is not going to decrease in the years to come. At current rates, the Internet is estimated to gain six connections per second.

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6 Things That Can Kill Business Growth

Up and Running

'Want your business to flourish? Avoid these six pitfalls. Whether you’re kicking around a business idea or working through your first year, it’s never too early to start thinking about growth. After all, the goal of every entrepreneur is to grow a profitable business. What kills business growth? Marc Meyer, a business professor and startup expert, explains.

More Trending

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Twitter Link Roundup #242 – Small Business, Startups, Innovation, Social Media, Design, Marketing and More

crowdSPRING Blog

'Here we go! Time once again for our weekly roundup of the articles, videos, posts and quips that we shared with you over the past week on our very own crowdSPRING Twitter account (as well as my own Twitter account ). We like to talk about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and various random stuff!

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Test Drive Project Management Software To Know Its True Value For Your Business

YoungUpstarts

'by Sharon Thomson, Business Manager at ProofHub. It’s great you have decided to go in for a web based project management software for your business. You must have considered the views of your friends, team members and others who spoke positively about a project management solution. You are hoping that this tool is going to open a new world for you.

Software 181
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Sources of Urgency

OnlyOnce

'Sources of Urgency. Sometimes I wish we were in the hardware business. Why? It’s not the margins, that’s for sure. It’s because hardware businesses usually have externally-imposed deadlines that create urgency in an organization around deliverables. If you are making a chip that Dell is putting in all of its boxes, and your contract with Dell stipulates that the chip will be ready for testing on X Date and for shipping on Y Date, you darn well better hit the deadline.

Agile 67
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Why ADD Might Actually Benefit Startup Entrepreneurs

Both Sides of the Table

'This weekend I was reading the NY Times online and I came across this excellent piece about ADHD written by Richard Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry. In the article the author talks about the condition of the brain – which affects up to 11% of American children in which people with ADHD (or ADD, which doesn’t have hyperactivity) – in which people with ADD have a low tolerance for routine tasks and thus they seek out “novelty” The author believes this ma

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Workday Rising: Speak softly and carry big, happy customers

deal architect

'Howard Street in San Francisco on Tuesday morning looked different. The tarmac was visible and cars were actually using it. Outside Moscone Center, a local folk rock band, Blind Willies was playing. Excellent, but nowhere near the brand recognition of.

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Bootstrapping Organic Growth Makes Startup Sense

Startup Professionals Musings

'When someone asks me for the best way to fund a startup, I always say bootstrap it, meaning fund it yourself and grow organically. Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Despite all the focus you hear on external investors, over 90% of startups today are self-funded.

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Five Learnings Of Growing From A Local Online Startup To An International Business

YoungUpstarts

'By Willem Nout, project manager and Head of Search for Flipit.com. I started out working for Imbull almost four years ago. Two 28-year old founders, a friend they hired to come work for them fulltime and one intern in a nice but small office in Amsterdam. Now four years later ‘our’ office is situated in a monumental church, probably the coolest office in Amsterdam, employing a staff of sixty people from seventeen different nationalities.

SEM 244
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How Do I Know If I Have The Right Customers? 2 Minutes to Find Out

Steve Blank

'If you can’t see the video click here Filed under: 2 Minute Lessons.

Customer 289
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Is Your Social Media Working?

Rembrandt Communications

'Or are you just posting and wasting time? Recently, Copyblogger killed its Facebook page, and Bob Bly wrote this interesting article in Target Marketing, “B-to-B Insights: Return to Sender”. It’s something to think about. Are you just posting on social media because it’s there and you think you need to? Or, is it actually providing […]. The post Is Your Social Media Working?

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Disruptive Businesses Face Some Extra Challenges

Startup Professionals Musings

'How many times have investors heard startups start their pitch by touting that their technology is “disruptive?” What entrepreneurs forget or don’t realize is that most customers are wary of all technology, educating the market on new technology is expensive, takes a long time, and people buy problem solutions rather than technology. Investors will likely wait for more traction.

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MyHero Kicks Off Social Soccer Prediction App FootballHero

YoungUpstarts

'Soccer prediction mobile apps are a dime to a dozen, but what do you expect when soccer – football to the rest of the world – is such a global sporting phenomenon? But what may be a lot rarer is one that actually is based around the engine originally built for a stock trading app. FootballHero is created by MyHero, the Singapore-based makers of highly successful stock trading app TradeHero – which is ranked the No.1 finance app in over 80 countries – as a free social fo

Singapore 196
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Crowd-Funding Success Usually Brings New Challenges

Gust

'Pebble watch crowd-funding via Wikipedia. Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. Professionals maintain that there is plenty of money and equity for qualified startups, and funding marginal startups via any source will only make more people unhappy.

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How to use AngelList to win more than 30 consulting offers in 30 days

The Next Web

'Sean is the creator of The Growth List, helping you create a business around your lifestyle. This post originally appeared on The Growth List. One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome when you’re getting started as a freelancer or consultant is attracting the right clients, if any at all. It’s nothing like working the 9 to 5 where the work is there when you show up.

Web 163
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Entrepreneur-investor relationships

Version One Ventures

'The relationship between entrepreneurs and investors is never an easy one – like in a marriage, you have to work every day on making it better and more productive for both sides. So it put a real smile on my face when I got this email from an entrepreneur this morning whose company we just backed (actually our first investment in our second fund ): Thank you for the vote of confidence.

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[Infographic] Getting Hired In A Digital World

YoungUpstarts

'Thanks to the evolution of technology and the now ubiquitous social media, the world of recruitment in recent years has evolved so much so that the first impression that a candidate makes is not in the resume that’s sent to a potential hirer, but made on the Internet. Do you know, for example, that 94% of recruiters use or plan to use social media for recruiting?

Hiring 193
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Social Media Response Flow Chart for Small Businesses

Up and Running

'Have you ever discovered a mention of your business on social media and thought, “How should I respond to that?” If the post is negative, you may be especially anxious to answer that question. Should you delete negative comments, respond with a counter-argument, or ignore them altogether? The following flow chart offers a helpful way to evaluate social media posts, and provides a response strategy for each.

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Why I think about ‘Star Wars’ whenever I make a PowerPoint

The Next Web

'Seth Dotterer is the VP of Marketing at Conductor. Whenever I create a PowerPoint, I think about Star Wars. I’m a geek who grew up on the George Lucas trilogy, so yes, there’s probably some procrastination going on there. But thinking about Star Wars is an incredibly productive way for me to create a PowerPoint presentation. In fact, I learned most of what I needed to know about creating a compelling slideshow thanks to this beloved sci-fi.

Design 160
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The Thin Skin of the Venture Capital Market

This is going to be BIG.

'The other day, I saw that one of my favorite products, Slack, just raised $120mm at a $1.12 Billion valuation. The company is doing about a million a month in recurring revs. Personally, I think it was kind of a bad idea--not necessarily because of the valuation, but because it seems like $120mm is way too much money for a software company at this stage, especially one that might even be cashflow positive right now.

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Four Lessons New Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Walmart

YoungUpstarts

'With annual sales of more than $1 billion, Walmart is easily one of the largest companies in the United States. Based out of Arkansas, the company started with just one store and now has retail outlets all across the country. Though the company has its fair share of complaints, it manages to continue outperforming its previous sales records year after year.

Arkansas 176
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Top 10 Free Online Classes for Small Business Marketing

Up and Running

'A lot of small business owners know their fields and industries like the back of their hand; it’s why they are so good at what they do. But when it comes to marketing your business, there might be a few (or more than a few) gaps in your formal education or training. That’s okay, because a simple solution is literally at your fingertips.

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Peter Thiel says the Dublin Web Summit isn’t representative of ‘slacker’ Europe

The Next Web

'Following comments to the Financial Times two months ago criticising the continent, venture capitalist Peter Thiel today dismissed Dublin Web Summit with its 20,000+ attendees as “not representative of Europe”. Thiel, who was born in Germany before moving with his parents to California aged one, told the audience: “The Web Summit is not representative of Europe at all.

Europe 156
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Job creation comes from startups: new and better data

The Equity Kicker

'It’s often repeated that startups are the engine of growth, particularly in employment, but this is the best data I’ve seen backing that up (albeit still only for the US). It was conducted by the Kauffman Foundation who do a lot of great work supporting entrepreneurship and was reported on Forbes. The takeaways are: Companies under five years old are responsible for nearly all net job creation and 20% of gross job creation.

Startup 144
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[Infographic] How Secure Is Your Cloud?

YoungUpstarts

'Move to the cloud, they say. Push everything to the cloud and it will all be good, they say. It’s true – cloud computing have taken off in a very big way in recent years, so much so that vendors of cloud services are reporting growth rates of around 50% annually and already over 50% of US-based firms are using it. But the question is: how safe is the cloud, really?

Cloud 174
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Episode 1: Reinventing Yourself Profitably with Dorie Clark

Mike Michalowicz

'Show Summary. Dorie Clark, author of Reinventing You , joins Episode 1 of the Profit First Podcast. Dorie explains how reinventing your business or career does not require you to go off the financial cliff. You will discover how one individual, simply by volunteering on weekends found a new life endeavor. Dorie shares how she lived the frugal life and turned out financially winning.

Metrics 142
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‘You cut, I choose': A startup protocol for breaking up with your business partners

The Next Web

'Vlad Stan is the CEO and Founder of StartupKit. It was the winter of 2007 around Christmas time. I was about to receive one of the most beautiful presents I’d ever gotten. Many founders dream to build a company and make an exit. I was negotiating with Sanoma Hearst on an acquisition of the company I started seven years prior. The exit was a well-deserved gift after many years of hard work.

Partner 155
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Your MVP should have a minimal amount of everything

The Equity Kicker

'I saw this diagram on Twitter this morning (thanks @keiran0 ) and loved it so much I had to reproduce it here: There is a lot confusion out there as to what constitutes an MVP (Minimum viable product) and this cuts through to the heart of the matter. An MVP has to be good enough that some people will use it, which means that to an extent it needs to touch their emotions, be usable, and reliable, as well as having the minimum viable function.

Design 141
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How to Communicate Appreciation on a Tight Budget

YoungUpstarts

'by Paul White, Ph.D., author of “ The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People “ Employees in the workforce are discouraged. Many don’t feel valued for the work they are doing, and are approaching burnout. Team members are having to “do more” with less resources. At the same time, business owners, supervisors and managers are frustrated.

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The Future Will Look Different From The Present

Feld Thoughts

'I’ve been thinking about the future a lot lately. While I’ve always read a lot of science fiction, The Hyperion Cantos shook some stuff free in my brain. I’ve finished the first two books – Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion – and expect I’ll finish the last two in the next month while I’m on sabbatical. If you have read The Fall of Hyperion, you’ll recognize some of my thoughts at being informed by Ummon, who is one of my favorite characters.

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Why you self-sabotage and what you can do about it

The Next Web

'This post originally appeared on the Crew blog. Are things going relatively well for you? Have people told you, you are doing a good job? Do you want to ruin all of that? Come with me on a journey of self-sabotage… Step 1: Diminish your success Take a success you’ve had in the past, any success large or small. Now tell yourself it doesn’t matter. Make up reasons for why it doesn’t count as a real success.

Web 154
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20 Networking Tips from a PR Expert [+ GIVEAWAY]

Up and Running

'Below is an adapted excerpt from “The Little Book of Big PR: 100+ Quick Tips to Get Your Small Business Noticed” by Jennefer Witter. It was published in October 2014 and is available for purchase online and in paperback. . If you’re interested in winning a copy of this book, you can enter the competition at the end of the post. It’s quick to enter, and won’t take you more than two minutes!

PR 138