Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 17, 2011
This post originally ran on TechCrunch. Startups. We know the mantra: Team matters. Is this philosophy exaggerated? Overrated? Cliché? No. Team is the only thing that matters. Whatever you’re working on now, the half-life of innovation is so rapid now that your product will soon be out-of-date. Your existence is irrelevant unless you continue rapid innovation.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 16, 2011
Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. Don’t believe the urban myth that you can sketch your idea on a napkin, and professional investors will throw money at you. In reality, only 3 out of 100 companies who apply are successful with Angels, and the success rate with VCs is even lower. A large percentage of startups never apply to either.
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ReadWriteStart
MARCH 17, 2011
For this week's One Million by One Million roundtable, we turned the spotlight on Latin and Central America. One of the things I have enjoyed tremendously about 1M/1M is its distinctly international nature. Over the years, we've had entrepreneurs from all over the world attend and pitch, and I'm delighted to see that we're propagating the methodology and the platform far and wide. 1M/1M and ENTREPRENEUR JOURNEYS represent my attempt to capture the tribal knowledge accumulated in the private live
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 16, 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!
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
OnlyOnce
MARCH 14, 2011
As I mentioned in a previous post , I’ve recently started writing a column for The Magill Report , the new venture by Ken Magill, previously of Direct magazine and even more previously DMNews. I share the column with my colleagues Jack Sinclair and George Bilbrey and we cover how to approach the business of email marketing, thoughts on the future of email and other digital technologies, and more general articles on company-building in the online industry – all from the perspective of an entrepre
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 13, 2011
Every entrepreneur is flooded with information from all directions, but despite their best efforts to absorb it, they likely miss the information really needed to start a business. These days, we all have to rely on a few trusted sources to digest and filter information, net out the relevant messages, and steer us with links to accurate details. These trusted sources are a new breed of professionals who may soon carry the new title of “information curator,” evolved from the “museum curator” role
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 16, 2011
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
Growthink Blog
MARCH 14, 2011
The saddest lament of entrepreneurs and owners of private companies seeking to sell and exit their companies is that they want their businesses to be valued on their future potential , and not its CURRENT profitability. Given that the typical, offered purchase multiples for smaller businesses – as in those with less than $5 million in earnings – can be as low as 1 or 2 times last year’s tax return profits, this is understandable.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 14, 2011
Traditional marketing says you have to “push” your message out to customers, over and over again, to get it remembered. A more effective approach in today’s Internet and interactive culture is to use “pull” technology to bring customers and clients to your story. You pull people in by providing new content with real value on your website at least every few days.
SVPG
MARCH 17, 2011
In my last article I discussed the role of the leader of the product organization. I heard back from more than a few product leaders that it served to remind them that they weren’t doing as much as they knew they should be doing to build the strength of their product team, and I was asked if I could share some of the tools I use to help with this.
The Entrepreneurial Mind
MARCH 14, 2011
The music industry has been going through pretty rough times over the past several years. The disruption that has occurred is due to the Internet and other technological breakthroughs, fundamental changes in customer behavior and a chronic recession. It has been beating down the leading companies that once dominated every aspect of the music we heard and how we heard it.
Steve Blank
MARCH 18, 2011
Carpe Diem. We’re now in the second Internet bubble. The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. The rules for making money are different in a bubble than in normal times. What are they, how do they differ and what can startup do to take advantage of them?
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 12, 2011
At some point in their life, hopefully everyone strives to be the best in their chosen profession. Most people think that being the best requires more intelligence, more training, and more experience. In reality, in business or even in sports, the evidence is conclusive that it is as much about how you think, as what you do. I saw this illustrated well recently in a sports excellence book called “ Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Everyone Else ”, by Jon Gordon.
deal architect
MARCH 18, 2011
Last week I wrote “After Sunday night with home based technologies, it is quite a let down to go in to work technologies on Monday morning.” This week I read about a Unisys poll about bringing the Sunday night experience.
Software By Rob
MARCH 17, 2011
How to Talk to Your Kids About Star Wars – A must see if you have kids and like The Trilogy. “Jar Jar only kicks the puppies he doesn’t eat, Junior!&#. Roll Your Own Linkbait Tech Headline – I never tire of these phrase generators. Some of my favorites from this one include: 5-Year-Old Makes 110K On an Annual Holiday With Clever E-Trade Hack.
Steve Blank
MARCH 15, 2011
Our new Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment in a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. This post is part two. Part one is here. Syllabus here. By now the nine teams in our Stanford Lean LaunchPad Class were formed, In the four days between team formation and this class session we tasked them to: Write down their initial hypotheses for the 9 components of their company’s business model (who are the customers?
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 18, 2011
Prior to the recession, many companies and even startups were acclimated to prosperity, maybe too comfortable. We have now been through some turbulent times, but has your strategy really changed? All too many have simply hunkered down to wait out the economy. Smart entrepreneurs are making changes now, to be more agile in defining strategy, making organizational changes, and analyzing markets for change.
deal architect
MARCH 15, 2011
I ran into Don Tapscott, the best selling author, in the hallways. He had just finished a presentation at the Community event in Orlando yesterday. I shared power outlets and exchanged small talk with someone who turned out to be.
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 14, 2011
Today Senators Kerry (D-MA), Lugar (R-IN) and Udall (D-CO) unveiled the Startup Visa Act of 2011. This is an updated version of the Startup Visa bill from last year that is aimed at making it much easier for foreign entrepreneurs who want to start a company in the US to get a visa. Today, this process is incredibly difficult and has been stifling the creation of new companies and the corresponding job creation that these companies provide.
Lightspeed Venture Partners
MARCH 16, 2011
'As an entrepreneur, your time is a very valuable asset. It takes as much time and effort to build a business whether you’re attacking a small market or a big one. But the rewards for success in a big market are much greater, so it makes sense to attack big markets. For the same reason,VCs are often very focused on market size. But there is is a lot of confusion about how to estimate market size.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 15, 2011
Most entrepreneurs expect to face the “normal” challenges of starting a business, which include finding the right opportunity, building and executing a winning plan, and financing their venture. But many forget the pitfalls associated with traditional business jobs which can apply even to the smartest and most dedicated people running their own business.
deal architect
MARCH 17, 2011
on the innovation blog Hotel Guest Room Technology Innovations Technology at the Strawberry Festival Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) Alcatel-Lucent’s Tiny Cell Tower The Adidas virtual shoe wall.
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 16, 2011
I was at lunch at Japango with some of my Foundry Group gang yesterday. When I went to my house in Alaska last July, I took a Mac with me but left my PC at home. Ross bet me $100 that before the month was out I’d beg him to fedex my PC to me. He lost and I decided to use my winnings to take whoever was around yesterday out to lunch. We were enjoying our sushi and talking about random things, like what our family restaurant was when we were growing up (Godfathers, Pizza Hut, Burger King wer
Rembrandt Communications
MARCH 14, 2011
Have you been ripped off by a search engine optimization copywriter (SEO)? Well, I just heard from another entrepreneur who hired a big, SEO research firm. Unfortunately, things did not go well, and this new business owner needed some help. With this in mind, I thought it was time for a quick review so here [.].
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 17, 2011
Startups provide business leadership with new products, services, and new revenue models, but leadership startups can only be built by entrepreneurs who are leaders themselves, and incent leadership in the people around them. Leadership which incents other people to be leaders is called “contagious leadership.” John Hersey, in his book “ Creating Contagious Leadership ,” describes nine required habits for inspiring a contagious leadership culture within a startup, as well as within other types o
deal architect
MARCH 13, 2011
On the New Florence blog Japan’s earthquake and tsunami innovations Tsunami forecasting Google’s self-driving cars The poor man’s tablet? Accessories get smarter with iPad2.
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 12, 2011
I’ve started a new category on my blog called “Best Practices.&# These are going to be posts inspired by my experiences with various companies that I feel are above and beyond the normal activities you’d expect. The first one comes from Matt Blumberg , the CEO of Return Path. Earlier this week the board received an email from him that included the following: “Although [our CFO] approves my expenses in our accounting system, inspired by Mark Hurd, I decided it would be a g
This is going to be BIG.
MARCH 18, 2011
I have to move my flight back to NYC on Sunday, so I called them today to cancel and try to recoup the fare, at least as credit. The fare cost $199 one way. First thing I have to deal with is the automated computer IVR that spends ten minutes trying to understand my confirmation number. Then, when it finally gets it right, a real human tells me the cancellation fee is going to be $150.
ReadWriteStart
MARCH 16, 2011
There are any number of places where first-time entrepreneurs can go to ask questions from others - Hacker News , StackOverflow , Quora , for example. As useful as Q&A sites can be, it's also helpful to have resources gathered together in one place. That's what Songkick 's Ian Hogarth did by creating a Startup Tools Wiki. Built to save others from "re-inventing the wheel," says Hogarth, the wiki gathers useful tools that startups have found and come to rely on.
Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook
MARCH 14, 2011
It occurred to me that as a cultural trend spotter and scanner, I’ve not posted about current trends in my own field of Innovation. No time like the present! Like any industry or concept things fall in and out of fashion. This is just my view, but a fairly well informed one. So, here are [.].
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 12, 2011
My friends at Orbotix are hiring. Following is the list of open positions. If you fit the description, like playing with robots, want free beer all day, and live in Boulder, email them a note with a resume. - Game Designer : Are you passionate about gaming and have a deep understanding of game design and game mechanics? This isn’t a programming job but you will need to be able to create wireframes and rough graphics for games that bridge the gap between the virtual world on your phone wit
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 18, 2011
Three years ago, Google launched Google for Non-Profits to help non-profits raise money and operate more efficiently. Among other things, that portal offered tips and tutorials on ways that non-profits could leverage Google’s tools and services. Google also historically offered Google Checkout for free to non-profits who accepted donations on their site, and has allowed qualified non-profits to participate in Google Grants – free advertising via Google’s Adwords network.
ReadWriteStart
MARCH 18, 2011
It's that time of year again, when college seniors start thinking about the next phase of their lives. In other words, that means it's time to start looking for a job, polishing up the resume, and hitting the campus career fairs. As we've discussed here before in relations to internship programs, many campus events and recruitment efforts still cater primarily to large, established companies.
Up and Running
MARCH 17, 2011
Finally, small business owners everywhere realize they need an online presence if they are going to compete in today’s world. Small business owners who just a year ago adamantly argued that their customers aren’t using the web are now jumping on board and admitting – yes, indeed they are. But slapping up a website just for the sake of having a website can defeat the purpose – and can even harm your image if it isn’t done right.
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 13, 2011
I love Fitbit. The product is great, the team is great, and I’m psyched to be an investor. I’ve been a user for a while – my data is public – but I just recently started using the food tracker which is superb. The only thing that was missing for me was an API. Fitbit released the Fitbit API quietly a month or so ago. I’ve encouraged them to make more noise as some great applications are coming out.
Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak
MARCH 15, 2011
Late to Bed, Early to Rise, Makes an Entrepreneur, Happy, Cheerful & Nice! What gets you so excited you can’t wait to begin working on it today? Think about it while you read the rest of this post. In 1997, I got married. It was barely two weeks later that my wife and I had our first serious argument. The reason? I kept my computer turned on, working late into the night, while she wanted to sleep and couldn’t stand the flickering monitor screen disturbing her.
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