SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 9, 2009

I just had an all-too common conversation with the founder of a startup who had spent more than a year working with a software development company who had produced a mess. The mess really comes from a developer who was willing to get started on a product that was not fully thought out. I always take a very different approach in early conversations. If I’m being asked to do startup software development, I’m going to push fairly hard on key questions that the startup needs to have answered before

Software Developers 292

Software Developers Software Development Developer Software 292

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Home Books for Startups Secret History-Bibliography Steve Blank Startup Resources Steve Blank Entries RSS | Comments RSS Categories Air Force (9) Ardent (9) Big Companies versus Startups: Durant versus Sloan (29) California Coastal Commission (3) Conservation (2) Convergent Technologies (1) Customer Development (98) Customer Development Manifesto (22) E.piphany (6) ESL (7) Family/Career (21) Market Types (9) Marketing (17) MIPS Computers (1) Rocket Science Games (7) Secret History of Silico

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

Software By Rob

DECEMBER 9, 2009

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Micropreneur Spotlight Episode 2: Design Proposal Software Bidsketch Startup Marketing Part 1: Losing People Through the Bottom of Your Funnel → Startup Marketing Part 2: Why Focusing on Traffic Can Kill Your Startup Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

Software Review 52

Software Review Startup Fresno RSS 52

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Business Etiquette Tips for dealing with VCs and Corporates at Conferences. This is part of my ongoing series with Startup Advice. With the LeWeb conference about to start in Paris I thought the timing of this post would be appropriate. Right after Techcrunch50 Michael Arrington wrote this great post on how to interact at business events and conferences.

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Email Hosting Boston Partner 322

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

Startup

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 7, 2009

I talk to a lot of founders of startups. My initial conversations normally focus on the core of the business, important Startup Metrics , probably marketing strategy (ex. SEO for Startups and Negative Customer Acquisition Costs ) and, of course, the product itself. Normally the product is defined as a web site. Most founders are fairly passionate about the features and functions of the web site, iPhone application, Facebook application, or whatever web application represents the product.

Web 150

Web SMS HTML Distribution 150

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 10, 2009

Early on in my career I took a “we’re moving too fast to deal with lawyers” attitude to patents and Intellectual Property (IP.) That changed when I joined the board of a startup, and we sued Microsoft and Sony on the same day for patent infringement – and won $120 million. A few caveats, this post is not legal advice, it’s not even advice, and it deals with law in the United States.

Intellectual Property 213

Intellectual Property IP Software Review Non-disclosure Agreement 213

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2009

I sometimes think that certain advice is BGO (blinding glimpse of the obvious) and doesn’t warrant mentioning. But then people’s actions tell me otherwise. I wrote recently about etiquette when you meet people at conferences or events so now that I have this done I feel I need to say some words about connecting on social networks. Let’s start with a discussion of existing social networks and then how to approach people on them.

Social Network 282

Social Network Networking Warrant Conversion 282

Occam's Razor

DECEMBER 9, 2009

It is rare for me to work with a organization where the root cause for their faith based decision making (rather than data driven) was not the org structure. It is almost never tools. Not any more. Surprisingly it is often not their will to use data, that is there in many cases. Sometimes it is that they don't follow the 10/90 rule. It is always the organization structure.

Analytics 95

Analytics Framework Web Lean 95

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 9, 2009

There’s a big difference between your vision for your company, your mission and your goal. Your vision tells the world what you want to be as you contemplate in advance how you will change the world for the better. Your mission merely states who you are and what you do. It is used to limit and sift your opportunities to keep you from using resources for projects outside of your core, your mission.

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Email Employee Developer Marketing 67

Babbling VC

DECEMBER 11, 2009

Spent two days at LeWeb09 in Paris and I thought a list of my thoughts would be a sufficient summary: 1. The mood was tired and downtrodden. People weren't necessarily in a bad mood but I've never heard more "I'm tired's" than I did this year. 2. Generally people were upbeat about the start-up industry. 2010 seemed to offer good prospects when listening to people talk about their plans. 3.

Germany 69

Germany Europe Early Stage Mobile 69

VC Adventure

DECEMBER 7, 2009

I made reference to the issue of immigration policy in a post last week (see “ Want more jobs? Support Entrepreneurship ”). In that post I referenced a WSJ OpEd piece that my partner Brad Feld wrote last week with Paul Kedrosky about the Start-up Visa Movement (the idea that we should make it easier for foreign born entrepreneurs who are starting their companies and who have obtained financing to stay in the United States to build their businesses).

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United States Finance Partner Entrepreneur 48

A Crowded Space

DECEMBER 8, 2009

60

60

Spencer Fry

DECEMBER 9, 2009

Hiring 50

Hiring 50

OnlyOnce

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Book Short: Innovation and Discipline The Puritan Gift , by Kenneth and William Hopper, is a bit of a mixed bag. The authors have a wonderful point to make -- that American businesses have thrived over the centuries due to a mix of innovation and discipline that descended from the country's Puritan roots, and that when they lose their way, it's because they diverge from those roots.

Iraq 48

Iraq Technical Review Leadership America 48

VC Adventure

DECEMBER 7, 2009

48

48

market-by-numbers.com

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Market By Numbers on Twitter | Entries RSS | Comments RSS Market By Numbers High-Tech Marketing and Customer Development Home What is Customer Development? Services Marketing Help Downloads Contact Log In Your Business “Driving Force&# By brantcooper , December 7, 2009 1:46 pm In Andrew Chen’s recent post, “ Does every startup need a Steve Jobs?

San Diego 40

San Diego RSS Lean Elevator Pitch 40