Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 22, 2010
On why you should be an entrepreneur, “A lot of people do what they have to do. You want to get yourself to a position where you can do what you want to do&# (Chamillionaire). Last night I co-hosted a dinner at Soho House in Los Angeles with some of the most senior people in the media industry with executives from Disney, Fox, Warner, media agencies and many promising tech & media startup CEO’s.
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 18, 2010
Everyone is talking about how social media can help you jumpstart your business at no cost, and experts are springing up on all sides to help you do it at a high cost. So who do you believe, and what are the keys to success for your startup? I’ll put my money on one of the originals in the social media marketing game, my friend Lon Safko, who just published his Second Edition of the bestselling book, “ The Social Media Bible.
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crowdSPRING Blog
OCTOBER 20, 2010
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!
mashable.com
OCTOBER 16, 2010
Top Topics Twitter YouTube Facebook iPhone Google Video Google Buzz Social media Music Business Advertise Network Blippr iPhone App Mashable France MashDeck Twitter App Mobile Site Social Media Events Twitter Guide Book Facebook Guide Book Partners App Development WordPress Experts MaxCDN Content Delivery Dynect Managed DNS Rackspace Hosting Intridea About Us Submit a Tip!
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
Growthink Blog
OCTOBER 20, 2010
A fantastic October 2010 survey of 363 emerging technology company CEOs by the law firm Dorsey and Whitney is a fantastic snapshot of how the “old Silicon Valley boys club” world is gone forever. Highlights: The Super Angel Funds Are Coming. While individual angel investors still account for the largest percentage of funding for startup entrepreneurs, the new portfolio-based funding models – either in the form of incubators like Y Combinator and Techstars or in the form of Super Angel funds like
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 22, 2010
After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process. For no good reason, this process seems shrouded in mystery, when in fact it is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
mashable.com
OCTOBER 16, 2010
Top Topics Twitter YouTube Facebook iPhone Google Video Google Buzz Social media Music Business Advertise Network Blippr iPhone App Mashable France MashDeck Twitter App Mobile Site Social Media Events Twitter Guide Book Facebook Guide Book Partners App Development WordPress Experts MaxCDN Content Delivery Dynect Managed DNS Rackspace Hosting Intridea About Us Submit a Tip!
VC Adventure
OCTOBER 22, 2010
Forbes published an article yesterday by Maureen Farrell stating that there’s a “signaling problem” for TechStars Boulder companies who don’t raise money from Foundry Group. . . “… one byproduct of [Foundry Group’s] generosity for any young Boulder company is that, if it hasn’t been funded by The Foundry Group, it must explain why. Otherwise it has a signaling problem, something that happens when a VC invests in an early round but doesn’t show up for later rounds.”. .
Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak
OCTOBER 20, 2010
If you’re a regular podcast listener you may have heard of the Sterling and Jay show , which like this blog, covers Internet marketing and entrepreneurship. Co-host of the podcast Jay, or aka Jason Van Orden , just released a new video as part of his launch of “Traffic Attraction Formula&#. You can watch it here after you opt-in and confirm your email – Traffic Attraction Formula Jason made a big claim, stating that he has a traffic generation method that doesn’t require
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 17, 2010
Anyone who works in the venture business or frankly just lives in Silicon Valley will be used to hearing a buzz word rise up out of nowhere to capture the technology zeitgeist and find its way into every entrepreneur’s product development plan or every aspiring entrepreneur’s pitch deck. I call this “the puck at your feet&# because it’s not where the industry is heading but rather where the industry is today.
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 18, 2010
And, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of Heaven so fine. That all the world will be in love with night. And pay no worship to the garish sun. William Shakespeare. Last week I had my “public servant” hat on in my official capacity as a California Coastal Commissioner. Walking out after a 13-hour hearing, one of my fellow commissioners asked, “Why on earth do we do this?
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 16, 2010
Startups are tough. For every entrepreneur and every gold prospector, there are more opportunities to fail than to succeed. Yet experts say that quitting too soon is a prime cause of failure in both endeavors. No one knows how many business founders quit digging when they are only three feet from the gold. Way back in 1937, an author name Napoleon Hill first released a classic book called “ Think and Grow Rich ,” which started with a real story of a man named Darby prospecting for gold, who gave
Campus Entrepreneurship
OCTOBER 20, 2010
The more time I spend researching American research universities, the more I realize that they are consistently under attack. A new book, The Lost Soul of Education , by a history prof at Yeshiva U, Ellen Schrecker, clearly wants the ‘old days’ where life was stress free and lazy around the university? As they came to rely ever more heavily on tuition payments, they diverted resources to whatever would attract and retain students — elaborate recreational facilities, gourmet din
ReadWriteStart
OCTOBER 16, 2010
Startup School is an annual event co-sponsored by Y Combinator and BASES , Stanford University's Business Association for Entrepreneurial Students. Today's Startup School, now in its sixth year, was a day full of speakers, imparting their knowledge to a packed auditorium of entrepreneurs. The topics at Startup School ranged from the history of Silicon Valley innovation and the history (and future) of startup funding, to testing your hypothesis, pivoting, and optimizing for happiness.
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 21, 2010
The Kauffman Foundation is the leading private funder of economic research related to growth and innovation in the United States. (Translation: They write checks for $100 Million dollars a year.) The Churchill Club , Silicon Valley’s largest public affairs organization, invited Carl Schramm , president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation and I to talk about entrepreneurship.
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 20, 2010
Every investor is looking for the “dream team” of executives to put his money on. Often I find that experienced investors flip to the management page of a business plan, even before they read the product description. That’s how important the people are. What are investors looking for in the CEO and the rest of the top executives? Been there, done that, and won.
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 22, 2010
I love my partners at Foundry Group. They keep me humble. Very humble. I speculate that the following video is the work of Jason Mendelson. Payback will be sweet. On a more serious note, Andrew Warner has a great interview with my co-author and TechStars CEO David Cohen up on Mixergy. Oh – and if you haven’t already, go buy a copy of Do More Faster.
ReadWriteStart
OCTOBER 20, 2010
Featuring entrepreneurial communities outside Silicon Valley is a topic close to our hearts, particularly if they're outside the U.S. Our " Never Mind The Valley " series challenges perceptions about locations for startups, and "entrepreneurial density" is an intriguing topic for VCs and entrepreneurs alike. Think you live in a startup hotspot? If you're reading this, you probably do - but you may not be visualizing just how hot (or not) your location is.
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 21, 2010
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
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 21, 2010
In today’s business startup environment, if you don’t move fast, you get run over. Without a sense of urgency, people and businesses just can’t move fast enough. Speed is the driver because customers have a zero tolerance for waiting, and there are always competitors gaining on you. John P. Kotter in his book, " A Sense of Urgency ," delves into the how-to required of entrepreneurs on that first step, avoiding pitfalls along the way.
BeyondVC
OCTOBER 20, 2010
I remember when we hired a new CEO for one of our portfolio companies and my tip to him was to overcommunicate. We had a few large VCs on the board and a number of high-profile angels that could also help in various ways. His job was to keep everyone up-to-date but also to know how to get help when he needed it and from whom. Given today's excitement over seed investing it is not uncommon for many of today's entrepreneurs to have 5-15 investors in any given round.
ReadWriteStart
OCTOBER 22, 2010
One major problem in Nigeria is the lack of employment; many people go to school with the belief that it's all they need to succeed in life only to get out of school and stay at home for years looking for the right job. This can be improved, and the best way is for Nigerian universities to encourage startups. One major problem Nigerian students have is the lack of a entrepreneurial mindset.
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 17, 2010
David Cohen and I were interviewed on KRON Channel 4 in San Francisco for Do More Faster. It was our first TV interview around the book and was fun. It’s a good example of giving more than you get and letting the universe do its thing. Gary DiGrazia, the CEO of Mindjamz , emailed me with some questions about his startup. I didn’t know Gary but as is my habit I gave him some quick feedback.
Rembrandt Communications
OCTOBER 18, 2010
Do you need publicity right away to build some buzz for your products and services? Well, here are three things you can do right now that will help you get the word out… fast: 1. Write to your local paper. Check your local paper to see if they have an “Opinions” or “Letters to the [.].
BeyondVC
OCTOBER 20, 2010
I remember when we hired a new CEO for one of our portfolio companies and my tip to him was to overcommunicate. We had a few large VCs on the board and a number of high-profile angels that could also help in various ways. His job was to keep everyone up-to-date but also to know how to get help when he needed it and from whom. Given today's excitement over seed investing it is not uncommon for many of today's entrepreneurs to have 5-15 investors in any given round.
ReadWriteStart
OCTOBER 19, 2010
Conventional wisdom dictates that existing customers are valuable, but sometimes that wisdom becomes the baby tossed out with its bathwater when customer acquisition hikes its way up the priority list. Social media marketing service Flowtown ( our review ) thought it would be interesting to see just how valuable those customers are, so they put together some noteworthy data summaries.
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 17, 2010
I’m officially in the daily deal business. Check out my new “ Brad Feld’s Amazing Deals ” store and shop online for some outdoor gear from Giantnerd.com. Rather than simply observe new things, I like to use them. I’ve been keeping an eye on the daily deal phenomenon and have had an opportunity to explore it in more detail mentoring Deal Co-op , a TechStars Seattle team.
OnlyOnce
OCTOBER 18, 2010
Why CEOs Shouldn’t Mess with Engineers. I went to the Vasa Royal Warship Museum in Stockholm the other day, which was amazing – it had a breathtakingly massive 17 th century wooden warship, which had been submerged for over 300 years, nearly intact as its centerpiece. It’s worth a visit if you’re ever there. The sad story of its sinking seems to have several potential causes, but one is noteworthy both in terms of engineering and leadership.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 21, 2010
If you live in New York City, one of the skills you hone over time is avoiding people who approach you on the street trying to hand you a flyer, distract you for a bump and run pickpocket scheme, or tell you their life story for some change. It’s not because you’re mean or unsympathetic—it’s just that there are so many of them, that if you stopped and gave everyone their due time, you’d never get anywhere, and you’d wind up with a fistful of random coupons you
ReadWriteStart
OCTOBER 22, 2010
Piles of data, piles of dough, right? Not so fast. Despite an increasingly urgent, broad range of needs around processing data juggernauts, we're seeing just as many startups go *poof* when it comes to turning Big Data into Big Money. Or Mini-Money, for that matter. Data-driven startups should know by now that out of the gate, transforming data into cold hard cash requires a lot more than just showing up with a great team and a great idea.
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 19, 2010
Andy Sack , who runs TechStars Seattle, has been all over the Seattle entrepreneurial scene in the past few years. I’ve known and worked with Andy since 1995 (I was on the board of his first company – Abuzz – which was acquired in 1999 by the New York Times) and am awed by the amazing things he’s doing in Seattle these days, including Founder’s Co-op , RevenueLoan , and of course TechStars Seattle.
crowdSPRING Blog
OCTOBER 18, 2010
Einstein once said, “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.&# Common sense, Einstein was arguing, can often be the enemy of rationality, science, and fact-based decision-making. We are all guilty of this; every day our decisions are tinged by favoritism, rules of thumb, partiality, heuristics, predilection; call it what you will but our biases come into play with every decision we make and every tactic we execute.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 19, 2010
Attending a FOO Camp last week that focused on the open web got me thinking a lot about data and interoperability. This came up again yesterday when discussing the network effects of a business. I realized that network effects are inherently the products of closed systems--a setup whereby being the 100,000,000th user of one service provides more utility than being the 10th user of another, even if the latter is an otherwise superior.
ReadWriteStart
OCTOBER 21, 2010
While social news site Digg is struggling these days, quieter competitor Reddit is still going strong. Co-founder Steve Huffman, who sold the site for millions to publishing company Conde Nast four years ago this month , now says he wishes he still owned the site. In an interview yesterday on the podcast Mixergy (which is highly recommended, by the way), Huffman told host Andrew Warner "I wish I still owned Reddit now".
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 18, 2010
Well, week 1 of the Do More Faster book tour was a blast, but I’ve contemplated renaming it the “Do More Faster And Then Sleep All Weekend to Recover Book Tour&# based on the empirical data from my 24 hour sleep session from Saturday at noon to Sunday at noon. The book tour is in Boulder on Monday and Tuesday, then Denver on Tuesday night, and then Boston on Thursday.
Growthink Blog
OCTOBER 18, 2010
This two-and-a-half-minute video has had 4.5 million views on YouTube so far. My sister had to stop watching it half way; it made her anxious. I looked at it VERY differently -- from the perspective of an entrepreneur. Here it is: As an entrepreneur, watching this video made me think of the great quote from Samuel Goldwyn: "The harder I work, the luckier I get.
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