Sat.Jan 11, 2014 - Fri.Jan 17, 2014

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Why The Haters are Wrong About Growth Hacking

Both Sides of the Table

'There’s an article making the rounds in tech circles titled “ Growth Hacking is Bull ” written by Muhammad Saleem. I’d like to make the case that the article is wrong. I’d strongly encourage you to read it. I actually really enjoyed many of the points Muhammad made about marketing in general and I found myself nodding through the entirety of the article except for it’s core premise.

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How to build an agile and scalable SaaS for long-term success

The Next Web

'James Kenigsberg is the Chief Technology Officer and a founding team member at 2U , an educational technology company that partners with universities to offer online degree programs. The most amazing outcomes start as lofty ambitions. The idea of changing someone’s perspective — or even life — is a notion that many of us aspire to in building our career path.

Agile 131
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Twitter Link Roundup #208 – Small Business, Startups, Innovation, Social Media, Design, Marketing and More

crowdSPRING Blog

'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!

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Should I Lower My Prices To Compete?

ConversionXL

'Most people shop online to find lower prices, right? I mean, let’s look at the research. A study from eMarketer.com suggests that 38% of people shop online because of lower prices. Forrester also found that 27% of consumers will sacrifice their shopping cart in the name of a better deal. If competitor’s prices have been dropping & your cart abandonment rates have been getting higher, don’t panic.

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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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Understanding the Underbelly of Online Marketing & Why You’ll Lose if You Don’t

Both Sides of the Table

'Yesterday I wrote a post about “ growth hacking ” and why I thought it was wrong that people were hating on the term unnecessarily. It’s worth a quick read. My argument is pretty simple. If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group.

SEM 379
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Think you’ve got a strategy to enter the Chinese market? Think twice

The Next Web

'Yu Yongfu is the chairman and CEO of UCWeb , whose mission is to provide a better mobile Internet experience to billions of users around the world. Earlier in his career, he was a VP at Legend Capital. Yu graduated from Nankai University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Whenever I visit the US, one question mobile entrepreneurs always ask me is ‘How can my startup break into China?’.

China 128

More Trending

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Don’t Be Afraid to Hire Your Critics

Hunter Walker

'Myopic groupthink kills more companies than constructive criticism ever will. When Facebook acquihired the Branch team on Monday there were some gasps because Branch founder/CEO Josh Miller had been outspoken re: Facebook’s challenges. “Awkward first day at the office,” one chuckled. Unless you picture Zuck as some nefarious King Joffrey who intends to crossbow Miller , bringing smart dissenting voices into your team is a show of strength, not weakness.

Hiring 95
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Why Am I So Lucky?

Both Sides of the Table

'I’m a cynic by nature. And I think it pays to be so. I sometimes wish I were an unbridled, happy-go-lucky, assume-the-best-in-everybody sort of chappy. Sadly, I’m not. You know the old Groucho Marx saying, “I would never join a club that would accept me as a member.” I always loved that line. So whenever I get a deal sent my way that is from out of town and seems amazing but seems almost too good to be true, my first thought is always, “Why am I so lucky?

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Coffee vs. beer: Which drink makes you more creative?

The Next Web

'Mikael Cho is the co-founder of ooomf , a network that connects short-term software projects with handpicked developers and designers. Mikael writes about psychology, startups, and product marketing over on the ooomf blog. I didn’t know what I was going to write about today. When this happens, normally I grab a coffee to help get the ideas flowing, but for the last few days in Montreal, no one’s been allowed to drink the water due to a bacteria leakage, which also means, no coffee.

Java 168
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The Real Deal: Jon Reed on Young Technologists in a changing Man-Machine world

deal architect

'This continues a series of columns from practitioners I respect. The category "Real Deal" describes them well. From Google’s driverless cars to Amazon’s delivery drones, it would be silly to pretend machines are not taking over many activities humans have.

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3 Questions That Can Make or Break Negotiations with a Potential Superstar

Hunter Walker

'The email lands in your inbox and your heart starts racing. “Hey, are you still looking for a marketing lead? I know a great woman over at Facebook who is thinking of leaving. Do you want an intro?” As a startup CEO, one of your greatest responsibilities is to hire the best talent. So the opportunity to bring on a superstar… wow, this could change everything.

IPO 86
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Why Most of Your Assumptions About Phone Calls are Wrong

Both Sides of the Table

'If you follow the tech media you would be subject to a lot of narrative biases that are completely off base – and this includes the value of email and phone calls. TL;DR. Tech news keeps proclaiming “phone calls are dead,” which is useful except that the data suggests the exact opposite. Calls are changing but not dying. All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey).

Mobile 339
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Do Pivots Matter?

Steve Blank

'There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure?’ Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings. Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven. In late 2013 Cowboy Ventures did an analysis of U.S.-based tech companies started in the last 10 years, now valued at $1 billion. They found 39 of these companies. They called them the “Unicorn Club.”.

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We Need Entrepreneurs Who Can Drive Global Change

Startup Professionals Musings

'By most definitions of the term, an entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business, incorporating innovative changes to existing products, services, business models, and creating new markets. Yet very few achieve that great aspiration of really driving economic, social, and environmental changes on a global scale. What does it take to get to that level?

Global 287
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3 Reasons High Schools Should Teach Entrepreneurship

YoungUpstarts

'by Wheeler del Torro. High school students have always been informal entrepreneurs, but they’ve moved on from mowing lawns and babysitting to creating products and services that can compete in the open market. The economy has also changed. No longer does a college education guarantee a secure, well-paying job, so students need to be equipped with the skills to be self-sufficient in this new marketplace — no matter what their post-graduation plans may be.

Demand 253
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The growing maturity of crowdsourcing

deal architect

'On the New Florence blog, I have tracked the steady growth of crowdsourcing. For the longest time it was about bite size tasks which could be sourced through Amazon Mechanical Turk or contractor sites like eLance. But you can see.

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The VC Fundraising Timing Paradox

Genuine VC

'I’ve commonly heard entrepreneurs recite some version of “I don’t want to waste too much time fundraising because it will distract me from building my business, so I’ll only talk to a few potential funders.” The idea is that a couple of highly-qualified VC conversations will follow the 80/20 rule of a “good enough” financing in a relatively short amount period without taking the time of an extended process to truly optimize the funding outcome.

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How Entrepreneurs Get Out Of Their Comfort Zone

Startup Professionals Musings

'Change is about the only thing constant in the world of startups. Despite their own focus on changing the world, they often forget that they too have to change rapidly and often as the market evolves. Too many find that out too late, and are left chasing a rabbit that is long gone. The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness.

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Knowing When To Outsource Your Customer Service Department

YoungUpstarts

'By Gabriel Bristol, President/CEO of Desert Call Connection. New entrepreneurs very often have to wear many hats, they may be the person unlocking the office and making coffee in the morning, holding important sales and marketing meetings in the afternoon, and then sweeping the floors in the evening. For many entrepreneurs they become so accustomed to being all things to all people that they find it difficult to know when to let go.

Customer 181
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Marco Polo 2.0

deal architect

'First entry this year in a series on innovation from places you do not typically expect much innovation from The Invisible Bike Helmet – Sweden Big Data of International Technology Patents – Washington, US TGVLabs – France Florida Poly Futuristic.

Sweden 191
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Gust Quarterly Startup Map

Gust

'If you could pick the top five countries with the most newly created startups, which countries would you choose? The United States? What about India, or Brazil? With thousands of new entrepreneurs creating startup profiles on Gust each month, we’re excited to share with you some of the major findings that are happening in the startup world. To capture the global reach of startup growth, we’ve put together the Gust quarterly startup map.

Brazil 175
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A Valid Business Model Requires Real Customer Sales

Startup Professionals Musings

'“Will the dogs eat the dog food?” This rather crude expression weighs heavily on the mind of all good startup founders, no matter how confident they appear. We all know the products they give away, and the ones purchased by family and friends don’t count. The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy.

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[Singapore] MyRepublic Launches MyGigNation Developer Initiative

YoungUpstarts

'Singapore-based upstart broadband provider MyRepublic has made waves since they entered the competitive market back in 2012 ; its most recent industry disruption was its announcement last week for its plan to provide a 1 Gbps broadband service package at an extremely aggressive price of S49.99 per month. Today, the service provider upped the ante by announcing MyGigNation, an initiative to attract and entice local independent developers to create, build and test Gigabit-level applications.

Singapore 169
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How Much Should You Pay For Content?

Rembrandt Communications

'3 Quick Tips to Find the Right Writer How much should you pay for someone to write your content? Many business owners ask me this question, and there are three, main things you should consider to find the right writer. 1. Specify Your Goals. What are your overall goals for this content? Do you want […].

Web 149
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Entrepreneurs Must Not Confuse Action With Results

Gust

'Image via CEOAfterLife.com. Too many entrepreneurs confuse actions with momentum and results. We all know someone who repeatedly tells us how “busy” they are, when it’s hard to see what they get done. Momentum is moving things forward (mass x velocity). Founders or employees in constant motion, but with no momentum, will never get off the ground. It is true that motion in any direction is often better than no motion at all.

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How To Balance Business Risk Versus Opportunity

Startup Professionals Musings

'There is no real business opportunity without risk. Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive dream of a get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active Angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk or no competition. My conclusion either way is that there is no market, or they haven’t looked.

Burn Rate 234
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Start It Up: Five Surprisingly Great Times To Launch Your Business

YoungUpstarts

'By Sean C. Castrina, author of “ 8 Unbreakable Rules For Business Start-Up Success “ Do any of these scenarios hit home? • A lot of pink slips have been showing up within your company recently. And you’re afraid one of the next ones will land on your desk. • You’re struggling to make ends meet as you work your way through school (or you’re waking up in cold sweats as you imagine the bills you’ll be getting once your children hit college campuses). • Your daughter is planning a weddi

New York 164
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What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get? Probably not a very high one

The Next Web

'If you’re a startup founder, how much should you pay yourself? Not very much, according to data that Compass has shared with The Next Web. The company collected salary data from 11,160 startups around the world that use its benchmarking tool. In Silicon Valley, 75% of founders pay themselves less than $75,000 per year and 66% pay themselves less than $50,000 per year, according to the data.

Salary 167
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Jelly app: the challenge of immediate primetime

Version One Ventures

'When Jelly launched a week ago, it was amazing to see how quickly the app got traction – over 100K questions were asked during the first week. Certainly, Jelly’s high profile team (co-founder Biz Stone , and individual investors like Jack Dorsey , Bono, and Al Gore ) helped spark widespread speculation and buzz leading up to the launch. In addition, Jelly leverages users’ existing social graphs on Twitter and Facebook , so it immediately overcame the cold-start problem most platforms and market

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FullContact Makes Its First Acquisition – Acquires Cobook

Feld Thoughts

'I love playing offense. FullContact is officially in this mode and today announced that they have acquired Cobook with with Pot, Ski Passes and Dogecoin. Kaspars Dancis – the awesome CEO of Cobook – has a more seriously titled (and equally serious post) up at COBOOK + FULLCONTACT. One of my basic strategies as an investor is to use targeted small acquisitions throughout the life of a company.

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Tips For Business Growth In 2014

YoungUpstarts

'By Nell Merlino, CEO of Count Me In. Economists are predicting a year of economic growth for the U.S. economy but competition is tough for American businesses, especially for small businesses competing against a sea of big box competitors. It’s important to note that many of today’s small businesses are owned and operated by women. They represent nearly 50% of privately held companies but only 2.6% of their businesses generate more than $1 million in revenue.* So how can female entrepreneur

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Are you smarter than a kindergartener? Why entrepreneurship lessons should start in preschool

The Next Web

'George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures , a startup consulting and financial advisory firm based in Chicago. . I recently had the honor of presenting to my son’s kindergarten class. His teacher invited me to come tell the kids what I did for a living. When I showed up, 16 eager students quietly listened to my story of starting and running businesses, and helping other entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground.

Chicago 155
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Don't be undressed on the internet

This is going to be BIG.

'Someone dropped the phrase "Rollover App" to me the other day--referring to the first app you open up when you wake up. It was funny and true.and kind of sad. I realized the other day that the very first thing in the morning that I do is check various things on the internet--and it''s because my phone is my alarm. That alarm clock is the trojan horse that the internet uses to sneak into my day.

Internet 123
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How do I get to the top of the search results in Gust?

Gust

'The page rank algorithm for Gust is a deeply held secret so that people won’t game the system (they even won’t tell ME how it works! , but I do know that it is intended to surface both “investable” companies and companies that are willing make available to serious investors all the information they need to make at least a first-pass decision.

Search 122
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Deal Or No Deal: Top Four Tips For Finding Great Deals When Buying Electronics

YoungUpstarts

'The brand new LED television is calling your name, begging you to take it home with you. You can hear the brand new video gaming consoles whispering in your ear from within their boxes. You can hear the music coming from the unplugged surround sound systems that are on sale. This is the same experience that millions of other consumers go through when simply “browsing” through an electronics store or website, which is why global sales for this overall industry exceeded in $1 trillion in 2012 , a

Search 157
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Mind reading 101: The 10 questions you need to ask your team every week

The Next Web

'David Hassell is the CEO of 15Five. This post was originally published on the 15Five blog. I am not a mind reader, but I’ve tried playing one at work. I think we all have. I used to imagine that I could peer into the silent void of a discussion with an employee and their thoughts and feelings would magically pop in my head. It never happened. We are in the feedback business.

Employee 152