Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2013

'Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a few years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth.

Viral 249

Viral Marketing Entrepreneur SEM 249

The Next Web

AUGUST 14, 2013

'Editors Note: This is a guest post by Slava Akhmechet, founder of RethinkDB. You can follow him on Twitter here. There are already very good lists of startup lessons written by really talented, experienced people ( here and here ). I’d like to add another one. I learned these lessons the hard way in the past four years. If you’re starting a company, I hope you have an easier path.

Startup 161

Startup Ruby Technical Review Vesting 161

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 12, 2013

'Crowdfunding platforms have been used by cash-strapped startups as a way to not only raise fund for ideas, but also to test if there’s a market for such ideas. The makers of the Klick Stylus , Morrison Innovations , earlier in June this year successfully used Kickstarter to raise enough funds to go-to-market with the capacitative and analog pen combination.

Technical Review 197

Technical Review Social Media Campaign Cost 197

crowdSPRING Blog

AUGUST 15, 2013

'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!

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

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

David Teten

AUGUST 15, 2013

'How can a tech startup engage with a Fortune 500 company for mutual benefit? Fortune 500 corporations are stressed about where they can get growth and how to plug into the innovative and nimble entrepreneurial ecosystem. The chasm between the typical Fortune 500 company and a startup is typically too vast for a standard partnership. So the large company needs to build the equivalent of a standard API to handle the significant number of startups with which any given large company can work.

Startup 114

Startup Technical Support Venture Capital Balance Sheet 114

The Next Web

AUGUST 12, 2013

'Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Christian Reber, CEO and co-founder of Berlin-based 6Wunderkinder. It’s part three of a series, cross-posted from his own blog , in which he draws on his experience to offer advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in Europe and beyond. You can follow him on Twitter, where he is @ChristianReber. So far I have shared with you 6 simple steps to start your own tech business (don’t miss part 1 and part 2 ).

Cofounder 119

Cofounder CTO Hire Startup Europe 119

Berkonomics

AUGUST 15, 2013

'From sports car to aircraft to super tanker, successful operation depends upon the pilot’s understanding and urgent timely use of a dashboard. Real time information is critical to real time decision-making, and increasingly in the modern business world, decisions are made by management without extended meetings or discussion with others. And with the rise of modern technology-driven businesses, the same is true of management in the business world.

Japan 73

Japan Software Review Metrics Technical Review 73

firstround.com

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Neil Roseman is downright tired of hearing Silicon Valley companies say they “hire only the best and the brightest.” No matter how many times they say it, most still make decisions based on gut feel, basic credentials, GPAs, ivy league educations, flashy company names - even SAT scores. Roseman objects. As the former Technology VP for both Amazon and Zynga, he’s interviewed hundreds of people and believes every phase of the process needs to be meticulously designed to drill de

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Silicon Valley Leadership Naming 100

The Next Web

AUGUST 10, 2013

'Perfecting your product’s user experience (UX) means creating something that people truly enjoy using, be it an app, gadget or multifaceted service. Look no further than below and you’ll find a list of 13 excellent UX tips from startups like Square, Path, Uber and more. 1) Embrace guerilla usability testing. “Many startups don’t test their product at all or only after release because they fear it would be too expensive and would take too long.

Cofounder 157

Cofounder Guerilla Startup Analytics 157

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 14, 2013

'Can you make money on social media? That is probably the most asked (and least answered) question in the digital age. While everybody (and their dog) are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest, few businesses are able to tap onto this huge reservoir of commercial potential. Until now, perhaps? Backed by fascinating case studies like Etsy , Gilt , Starbucks, Hallmark , and of course, Apple and Amazon, “ The Social Commerce Handbook: 20 Secrets for Turning Social Media int

Technical Review 145

Technical Review Social Media Curation Mobile 145

thebarefootvc

AUGUST 13, 2013

'When I invested in enterprise software in the late 1990′s, I saw a proliferation of “best of breed” solutions. These vertical solutions would focus on specific pain pain points in the enterprise, such as logistics or customer relationship management. Larger companies such as IBM and SAP that had enterprise-wide deployments would offer some solutions around these pain points, but entrepreneurs claimed that these were not sufficient, and that the emergence of the Web and server

Advisory Board 70

Advisory Board Cloud Venture Capital Vertical 70

Up and Running

AUGUST 12, 2013

'As an entrepreneur, you wear all the hats of a business, even when it’s not necessarily your strong suit. If you’re not sure where to start with bookkeeping and financial management, here are some recommendations for best practices, tools and resources for financial management of large or small companies in any industry. Keep It Separate. Separate your personal expenses from your business expenses.

Management 76

Management Technical Review Finance Matching 76

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2013

'I’ve done a lot of video interviews. This is one of my favorite if not my favorite outright. It’s only 12 minutes long and if you’re a first-time entrepreneur (or second time, frankly) I encourage you to watch it if for nothing else than to get a sense that your struggles are universal. TechCrunch interviewed me and asked me to talk about failure.

Startup 412

Startup San Francisco LP Bankruptcy 412

Steve Blank

AUGUST 12, 2013

'Asking, “Can I have coffee with you to pick your brain?” is probably the worst possible way to get a meeting with someone with a busy schedule. Here’s a better approach. —— Jason, an entrepreneur I’ve known for over a decade, came out to the ranch today. He was celebrating selling his company and just beginning to think through his next moves.

Silicon Valley 335

Silicon Valley Deal Flow Customer Development Stock 335

Diego Basch

AUGUST 14, 2013

'Yesterday I was reading this Hacker News thread about the Common Crawl, and one comment caught my attention: Common Crawl is awesome. I wonder how complex it would be to run a Google-like frontend on top of it, and how good the results would be after a couple days of hacking… I wondered why it wasn’t obvious to this person that it would be very complex to do that, and that the result would not be great.

Search 61

Search Technical Review Finder Engineer 61

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 14, 2013

'by Robert V. Taylor, President of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and author of “ A New Way to Be Human: 7 Spiritual Pathways to Becoming Fully Alive “ Difficult co-workers add to your workplace stress and the happiness you experience in your work. You are not alone. Surveys reveal that 70 percent of American workers find their jobs stressful.

Incubator 269

Incubator Naming Conversion Product 269

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2013

'The ultimate compliment that any entrepreneur can get is that they can “see around corners.” This is a statement that they are willing and able (and successful) at projecting market and technology turns, not just straight-line innovations. They have the courage to make bold decisions, often contrary to conventional market research. Steve Jobs of Apple has been maybe the most visible example of this phenomenon, but others often mentioned include Richard Branson (Virgin Group), Joe Costello (Cade

Entrepreneur 256

Entrepreneur Marketing Design Sales 256

deal architect

AUGUST 14, 2013

'Bill Kutik announces IBM''s Watson will be at his HR Technology show. It is positioned thus in a LinkedIn update he posted: "Watson is not connected to the Internet. It does not research the questions. It’s been taught the domains.

Software 191

Software Internet Technology 191

Rembrandt Communications

AUGUST 14, 2013

'It’s not too late to grow your business with SEO Content Strategy Summer is fading fast. Did you see business growth or stale sales these past few months? If you saw an increase in revenue … Congratulations! If not, don’t despair. Here are three things you can do right now to boost sales fast: 1. […].

Sales 171

Sales SEO PR Engineer 171

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 15, 2013

'By Lucy Bartlett, marketing manager at VigLink. For bloggers just starting on the road of content creation the good news is there are easy ways to help fund your passion. The even better news is that you can earn revenue through the content itself using a style of affiliate marketing called native advertising. Rather than having to rely on old fashioned and ugly banner ads that merely act as a distraction for your readers, native advertising encourages your audience to delve deeper into your f

Affiliate 245

Affiliate Social Media Audience Revenue 245

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2013

'If your startup is looking for an Angel investor, does it makes sense to present your plan to flocks of Angels, and assume that at least one will swoop down and scoop you up? In reality, hitting large numbers of Angels in multiple locations with a generic pitch is one of the least productive approaches. Here are five key things you need to know to quickly find the right Angel for your startup: Angels invest in people, more often than they invest in ideas.

Angel Investor 252

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital 252

deal architect

AUGUST 12, 2013

'Final post in a series by Ben Pring who co-leads Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work. In laying out how “Code Halos” – aka our digital fingerprints –are changing the competitive rules in fast digitizing markets worldwide, we have.

Marketing 170

Marketing 170

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 16, 2013

'Matt Blumberg’s new book, Startup CEO: A Field Guide to Scaling Up Your Business , is about to come out. If you are a CEO and haven’t preordered it, I recommend you go get it right now. I had a chat with a CEO I work with who has had a challenging year scaling up his company. He – and the company – have made a lot of progress after hitting a low point this spring.

Framework 182

Framework Conversion Operations Hiring 182

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 13, 2013

'The startup world is where dreams are made – or come to a burning, crashing end. Which have been the industries that have seen the most startup action, and which are those that has too often seen the flaming wreckage of spectacular failure? The truth is, we can’t really tell. But that’s not stopped some from compiling relevant data to inform the aspiring masses.

Startup 196

Startup Social Network Acquisition Networking 196

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2013

'Many investors will assert that company culture trumps strategy every time in predicting the long-term success of a new startup. Obviously, both are important, so it behooves every entrepreneur to start early in setting the right tone for his own company, and every new team member should be gauging both of these relative to their own interests, prior to signing on.

Founder 249

Founder Startup Matching Leadership 249

Mike Michalowicz

AUGUST 10, 2013

'One of the more frequent questions I am asked about entrepreneurship is how to prepare for it. You do it. You just start doing it. Doing is the best way – the only way – to prepare.

Entrepreneur 167

Entrepreneur 167

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 14, 2013

'Last night at dinner I got into a conversation with Greg Gottesman about the trillion dollars of student loans outstanding in the United States. Greg pointed me to this awesome TEDx Talk that he did recently on the topic. I just watched it – if you are interested in higher education in any way it’s worth 12 minutes of your life to watch it right now.

United States 164

United States Cost Finance Conversion 164

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 12, 2013

'If you’re a huge fan of the humble coffee bean, you must have wondered why nobody out there has come up with a great mobile application that allows you to find the best java joints in town. Sure, there are many applications focused around coffee , or services such as location-based social network site Foursquare and review sites like Yelp , but none that lets you review, rate, and share about your favorite coffee places.

Java 190

Java Social Network Database Mobile 190

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2013

'Potential startup founders are always looking for ideas to implement, when they should be looking for problems to solve. Customers pay for solutions, but there is no market for ideas. I’m often approached by people with a “million dollar idea,” but I haven’t seen anyone pay that for one yet. Equally often, I see startups who are on the road to implementing an idea, but haven’t figured out what problem it solves – the business plan waxes on eloquently for 20 pages about how great this product an

Startup 248

Startup Internet Business Plan Global 248

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 14, 2013

'Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference, who has created content for a number of startups. In our ongoing exploration of how people actually implement Lean Startup methods in their workplaces, we’re asking practitioners to share their techniques. We’re starting here with a conversation about content with Stephanie Hay , the leading voice behind Lean Content , which she describes as “finding the ‘right’ words to acquire customers before building products.

Lean 167

Lean Conversion Audience Design 167

The Next Web

AUGUST 10, 2013

'Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Ilya Pozin , the founder of Ciplex , and a columnist on entrepreneurship and marketing. It’s a myth that managers and leaders are the same thing. While every leader may not be a manager, every manager should be a leader. A manager who lacks effective leadership traits will drive a business into the ground faster than you can count to 10.

Management 167

Management Leadership Employee Founder 167

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 15, 2013

'by Brian P. Moran, co-author of “ The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months “ Did you know 61 percent of employed Americans expect to have to do some work while on vacation? According to a recent survey , it’s true. This reality is why so many of us approach vacation with mixed emotions. You’re excited about the quality time with your family and hopeful that this will be the year you’re able to truly unplug.

Restful 170

Restful Cofounder Social Media Demand 170

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2013

'Within the startup realm, there is a big difference between having an innovative product versus an innovative business. Some startups have a new technology, but stick to a tried-and-true business model. Others take an existing product, and give it new life with a creative business model. The most competitive startups do both, all the time and every time.

Business Model 231

Business Model Product Metrics Global 231

Lightspeed Venture Partners

AUGUST 12, 2013

'Growth without retention leads to the dreaded sharksfin curve. If you’re not retaining your users, then it doesn’t matter how quickly you add new users to your product. You have a leaky bucket. Sooner or later, when you saturate your market of users and your new user growth slows, the rate of your existing user loss will outpace your new user growth and you will see overall usage fall.

Retention 161

Retention Metrics Conversion Media 161

Mike Michalowicz

AUGUST 14, 2013

'If you think I’m great, it’s not me. It’s you. If you think I’m great, it’s not me. You don’t see me. You see you in me. If you think I’m great, it’s not me. I’m simply a reflection of you. If you think I’m great, it’s not me. It’s something about me that has reminded you what is great about you.

157

157

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 16, 2013

'Most entrepreneurs I know struggle to manage their workloads – if you’ve ever missed an appointment, constantly finding yourself fighting against that email inbox taking over your whole life or dealing with that never ending to-do list, you’d know what I mean. The incessant, tough demands of both work and personal lives can take an especially heavy toll on those of us who just aren’t too good at managing our time and dealing with the nitty-gritty.

Management 150

Management Demand Finance Email 150