Sat.Jun 25, 2016 - Fri.Jul 01, 2016

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Why Raising Too Much Money Can Harm Your Startup

Both Sides of the Table

Amongst the most often asked questions I get from founders is, “How much money should I raise?” Reflexively founders want to raise as much money as they can because they figure it will give them more resources, better chances of competing and a longer runways before they have to do the often painful job of asking, yet again, for money. Every time you ask for money you’re faced with the possible of feeling literally and figuratively like a failure.

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What It Means To Be A Professional

YoungUpstarts

By Vadim Kondratiev, Head of Sales at Anadea Inc. When a project owner seeks for a software development company, they often mention in their inquiries that they want to deal with a very professional developer. They want their project to be cared of properly. But what kind of service do they actually want their developers to provide? What is the difference between a professional and an amateur attitude?

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Checklist For Becoming A More Effective Team Leader

Startup Professionals Musings

Entrepreneurs need to be effective team leaders, since no one can transform an idea into a product and a business without some help. Unfortunately many founders I work with as a mentor are experts on the technical side, but have no insight into leading a team. But fortunately, team building is a skill that can be learned and practiced, for those willing to put in some effort.

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Why Your Brand’s Social Media Impact is Low

Brandanew

I was recently talking with a prospective client and we talked through the challenges they were facing. The client had just finished their “father’s day campaign” and the social media impact on sales seemed a little disappointing. She wasn’t sure why this was the case. The gut decision to “do something on social” seemed right, but the results seemed questionable.

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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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Self-Driving Vehicles: The Future Always Takes Longer to Arrive (Part 1)

Agile VC

Preface: As a consumer, I am excited by the prospect of autonomous vehicles and the individual and collective benefits they can provide. As an investor, I am also bullish about the innovation wave already in its early innings around mobility and autonomy. But a realistic understanding of the potential timeline for autonomous vehicle adoption is vital to decision making as a startup entrepreneur or investor in this area. . ==.

Virginia 100
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Finding The Right HR Tech Solution For Businesses

YoungUpstarts

by Ashley Walsh, Director of Marketing for Formstack. Human resources management is a key component in any successful business, no matter the size. All companies have fundamental human resources tasks, including payroll, benefits, and taxes. All those tasks can seem overwhelming, but if you have the right human resources technology solution, those tasks suddenly become significantly simpler.

More Trending

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Book: Where The Jobs Are

Feld Thoughts

A few weeks ago I had lunch with John Dearie to discuss a new non-profit he has started called The Center for American Entrepreneurship. Several friends and people I respect a lot are on the board , including Lucy Sanders (NCWIT), Troy Henikoff (Techstars Chicago), Bob Litan (Brookings Institute), Rebecca Lovell (Seattle’s Office of Economic Development), Monisha Merchant (formerly Senator Bennet’s Economic Advisor), Jonathan Ortmans (Global Entrepreneurship Network), Jason Seats (Techsta

SBA 102
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15 Entrepreneurs Explain What They Love About Being An Entrepreneur

Hearpreneur

Share Being in love is great. Being in love with your business, when you’re an entrepreneur, is even better. Waking up each morning knowing you are getting to do exactly what you love is more than most people could ever say about any “job” they have had. Although there are days when tossing in your hat seems like a viable option, remembering how much you love your “job” can quickly snap an entrepreneur out of that mentality.

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What Sort Of Career Can You Have If You Study IT At College?

YoungUpstarts

Information technology (IT) is a job field which offers plenty of opportunities. If you enjoy IT, and would like a change of career, the maybe you want to find yourself a job in this area. The good news is that you can complete any required study you might need to change jobs, with an online provider. This means that you can still keep your current job and fit studying in around it.

Database 100
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What Marketers Can Learn From Kim Kardashian

crowdSPRING Blog

We’ve got some bad news. Your customers are probably ignoring you. Sure, there are an infinite number of YouTube commercials, product placements, sponsored blog content, and a whole cacophony of other messages being thrown into the interwebs by companies trying to get some brand attention on the daily, but is their target audience really seeing all of these marketing messages?

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I hope this is not SAP Nation 3.0

deal architect

Nucleus Research just issued a report which will make SAP wince SAP’s new marketing tagline – run simple – is not only grammatically incorrect, it’s grossly inaccurate. Nucleus analyzed the experience of SAP customers and found varied – at best.

Customer 258
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Using Artificial Intelligence to Humanize Management and Set Information Free

Reid Hoffman

This essay originally appeared on MIT Sloan Management Review as part of their Frontiers Essay Series. Each essay is a response to this question: “Within the next five years, how will technology change the practice of management in a way we have not yet witnessed?”. • • •. Artificial Intelligence is about to transform management from an art into a combination of art and science.

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6 Principles for Personal and Business Success

Startup Professionals Musings

The startup lifestyle is known to be stressful and challenging, but it’s also meant to be satisfying and fulfilling, with you as the entrepreneur in control of your own destiny. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way, based on my many years of experience with entrepreneurs and advising startups. The business can be successful, while the entrepreneur feels like a failure.

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The Problem is the Advertising, Not the Ad Blocker

crowdSPRING Blog

Media companies and publishers are mad. Like, really mad. Well, maybe more nervous than mad, but certainly angry enough to sound a lot like digital geriatrics shaking their fists at the ad blocking kids running up and down their site. Their agitation is understandable. After all, the clever little extensions that give the rest of us a faster, cleaner, less irritating web experience are eating away at ROI for advertisers and revenue for publishers.

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Globalization 2.0Taking it Global

deal architect

I know a lot of people are upset with the UK. Lots of wealth destroyed around the world, Young Brits mad at older Brits, Scots mad at the English, Europeans upset with the Brits. It’s important to not forget something.

Global 210
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Top 3 Ways To Own The Boss Role

YoungUpstarts

By Arvind Parthiban, CEO of Zarget. The startup bug has reached epidemic proportions. In the U.S., nearly half a million new startups were launched every month last year, according to the Kauffman Index. And all of those new businesses will need more than a viable value proposition to survive; they’ll also need competent management. Some people are born leaders, but even for those with innate leadership skills, making the transition from employee to boss takes planning and effort.

Cofounder 170
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Bold Entrepreneurs Now Create New Market Categories

Startup Professionals Musings

Have you noticed that the really big startup wins in the last couple of decades have come from creating and dominating new market categories, more than just new solutions? Steve Jobs was a master new category king, by preaching the need for new thinking as he introduced the iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch. Uber and Airbnb did the same for transportation and hospitality.

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SlideShare: The Atomization of Seed Venture Capital

View from Seed

Recently, I shared a two-part essay on the atomization of seed venture capital rounds. You can find both posts condensed into one essay on our Medium publication, Startup Traction, here. Below, we wanted to share a high-level SlideShare with the major points. After much discussion on social following the series, we felt it was useful to underscore the major trends and takeaways.

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Summer Reading List: My Top 7 Books For Creative Inspiration

Brandanew

Inspiration for your businesses and brands can come in many forms. Whether, like Steve Jobs, you move to Nainital and get your special idea. Or you sit on your couch, reading books for creative inspiration that change you life. It’s true, getting insights from people who’ve managed to see the world differently allows you to question your own stand.

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3 Things Every Startup Should Know

YoungUpstarts

Startup businesses are a major player in today’s economy. These exciting businesses are changing the way we do business and interact with technology. While running a startup may be one of the most exhilarating things in the workplace there are many mistakes made by startup beginners. Here are 3 things every startup should know (and established startups wish the had known!

Startup 145
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You Need A Motivated Startup Team To Change The World

Startup Professionals Musings

I was shocked to read an old Gallup study that indicates only 13 percent of employees worldwide are actively engaged at work, and more recent data shows only a small change in the right direction. In my own experience as a startup advisor and mentor, I find that entrepreneurs who can’t attract and maintain a highly motivated team rarely even get off the ground.

Startup 147
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Q&A: “Is it normal to hate working on the company you’re building?”

The Startup Toolkit

I’d distinguish between hating your current role at your startup vs. hating the startup you’re building. The former is normal, temporary, and has a solution. The latter is a problem. My dad used to say that the founder is the janitor. You’re liable to do your fair share of unpleasant work over the years. That’s to be expected, and it’s totally fine as long as the business is moving forward.

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The Responsibility Glitch

Feld Thoughts

On Tuesday, Jerry Colonna and I had a fireside chat hosted by the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network titled Making Mental Health a Priority. We did it at DU in partnership with Project X-ITE and had a powerful afternoon. Last night I had dinner with a CEO I like a lot where we talked about some of the things he was struggling with. I used a concept with him that I’d been mulling about and tried out publicly at the event with Jerry.

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Digital Marketing Made Human

YoungUpstarts

by Nick Maglosky, CEO of ecomdash. One of the reasons why I watch Netflix so much more often than I watch traditional television is because Netflix doesn’t have commercials. Seriously, if it’s not a sporting event, I don’t turn on my television unless it’s On-Demand. I don’t want my entertainment interrupted by someone trying to sell me something. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who feels that way.

Marketing 133
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5 Reasons Startups Need Revenue As Well As Users

Startup Professionals Musings

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Both have worked. Google reached $1B in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $400B. Twitter showed no focus on revenue in the first five years, but was able to parlay 500M users into a $22B public company, now growing revenue.

Revenue 145
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Company building: how to transition from short-term survival to long-term sustainability

Version One Ventures

About two to three years post launch, companies typically undergo an interesting transition: they’ve made it through the survival phase and are maturing. It’s time to focus on building a company long term. For most companies, this is a hard transition to make. In the early days, the goals were crystal clear: Survive! Find product-market-fit! Get to the next funding round!

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Sanebox: Make Email Great Again

Feld Thoughts

Unlike the person with a similar slogan, this one is highly accurate. Sanebox does indeed make email great again. I’ve been using email since 1983. I started with MH and Rmail, then cc:Mail, then Microsoft Mail, with Compuserve mixed in. Eventually I ended up using Pine for non-Windows stuff and Outlook for Windows stuff. For a while. About seven years ago I switched to Gmail and never looked back.

Email 99
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Ultimate Guide To Health & Safety For Small Businesses

YoungUpstarts

As a small business owner, you are likely to have a lot on your mind. There’s product development, marketing, sales, and plenty of admin tasks to do to make sure your company survives. However, many small businesses forget about the importance of health and safety. It’s no real surprise. After all, when you start a company and build it from scratch, it might not seem as if you need to worry about such issues.

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An Advisor Equity and Advisor Pool Breakdown

Eric Friedman

I have been sharing the below with folks via email and privately, but realized I should do so publicly**. (also a huge shout out to Ben Alden , GC at, Betterment for contributing heavily, and encouraging me to post – go follow him on Medium @BenAlden ). Regarding some of the plans I have seen work well — I am going to give you two answers; one wearing my advisor hat for the company, and one wearing my non advisor hat.

Equity 98
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VC Cold Email Outreach: “The Only Winning Move is Not to Play”

K9 Ventures

Every few weeks one of the founders of K9 Ventures’ portfolio companies forward over an email they’ve received from a “Partner” at a VC firm. And every time I go through the same ritual, explaining to the founder when to respond, when not to respond, and how to respond to such emails. So I figured I would just explain myself in this blog post and then that way, I’ll save myself time by just sending them a link to this post.

Email 96
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When to hire big company people into your startup

The Equity Kicker

Investors often put pressure on startups to hire senior people from big companies. Sometimes that’s for good reasons, but sometimes it’s because it gives them good sound bites and the illusion of progress. When VCs can say “Our investment just hired the product manager for ‘XYZ important product’ from Facebook” it makes them feel better and look good at cocktail parties.

Hiring 87
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Top Three Ways To Help Your Startup Run Smoothly

YoungUpstarts

When you take the brave decision to run with that start-up idea that has been burning at the back of your mind, you don’t want anything to ruin it. Knowing ways that you can minimize risk and keep things running smoothly is hugely useful to any new business owners. With this in mind, here are the top three suggestions for improvements you could make to your business, keeping it going from strength to strength. 1.

eCommerce 113
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The ideal email deck

Hippoland

Check out my side project Hustleathon , which helps founders get over their fear of rejection. The event is on July 17, 2016 in the Bay Area. Since I wrote a post on how you’ll need multiple pitch decks , I’ve gotten a number of questions around what should go into them. Today I want to spell out the ideal email deck – at least, ideal if you’re sending it to me. :) Short & sweet ~5 slides is sufficient Should be skimmable in 10-30 seconds; E.g.

Email 91
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10 Resources to Help You Grow Your Clothing Company

Up and Running

Running a successful clothing company isn’t just about dreaming up new designs. If you want your business to flourish, you’ll need to keep up to date with the industry, learn the ins and outs of sourcing and manufacturing products, and turn to other successful clothing designers for inspiration. To help your clothing business reach success, here is a list of 10 varied resources, guaranteed to make the process of starting and growing your clothing company easier and more enjoyable.

Design 82
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Are those people idiots? How to think about competition.

This is going to be BIG.

A lot of founders who pitch me tell me that they're the only ones doing something. They're in the same ballpark as a major player, doing something just one tiny bit off from what they are, and they expect this company to get their lunch eaten over the next seven years while an IPO-sized company is grown right under their noses. So, the people who work at your competition.

IPO 79
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Sensational Ways Of Saving Yourself Money In Business

YoungUpstarts

The secret to success in the business world is all about how you manage finances. You need to do whatever you can to ensure you take care of your company’s funds. That means taking a look at these points and using them to help save your business money: Outsource. Outsourcing is a vital business tool, and you need to embrace it. You can save the company a lot of money by outsourcing projects and services.

Green 113