Sat.Feb 28, 2015 - Fri.Mar 06, 2015

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Marketing Your Startup: A Billion-Dollar Company’s First Marketer Reflects Back

View from Seed

'Ellie Mirman was the first marketer hired by the CMO of HubSpot, the Boston-based marketing software startup that IPOed in 2014. Below, she shares lessons learned from the earliest days of marketing the company and how this has translated to her second startup role as VP of Marketing at Toast. NextView Ventures: Thinking back to before anyone knew HubSpot or the company was headed towards an IPO, where did you even start to market the company?

Marketing 263
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Blowing up the Business Plan at U.C. Berkeley Haas Business School

Steve Blank

'During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, science and engineering at both Stanford and U.C. Berkeley were heavily funded to develop Cold War weapon systems. Stanford’s focus was Electronic Intelligence and those advanced microwave components and systems were useful in a variety of weapons systems. Starting in the 1950’s, Stanford’s engineering department became “outward facing” and developed a culture of spinouts and active faculty support and participation in the first wave of Silicon Valley

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Los Angeles CTO / VP Engineering Job Searches

SoCal CTO

'As the organizer of the LA CTO Forum , I get lots of inquiries by job seekers and people looking for CTO / VP Engineering talent. I’ve written quite a bit about aspects of this topic, especially from the perspective of startup founders looking for talent – you can find these in: Startup CTO. This includes links to CTO Salary and Equity Trends, Technology Roles in Startups , Initial Conversation with a CTO or Technical Advisor , Finding a Technical Cofounder for Your Startup , Hiring a CTO for Y

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Why Everyone Wants To Be Agile

YoungUpstarts

'by Rob Bellenfant, founder and CEO of TechnologyAdvice. If you keep up with the news on project management and business strategy, you’ve probably come across the buzzword “agile” more than a few times. You may have also noticed that agile methodology — which was once thought to be only for software developers — is now being used just about everywhere, from construction to marketing, human resources, manufacturing, and even wedding planning.

Agile 172
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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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8 Steps For Entrepreneurs To Avoid The Ego Trap

Startup Professionals Musings

'In my years of mentoring entrepreneurs, a problem I have seen too often is low self-esteem, and over-compensating through arrogance and ego. These entrepreneurs find it hard to respect customers or team members, and their ventures usually fail. As a team member, low self-esteem leads to low confidence, poor productivity, and no job satisfaction. Fortunately, both can be fixed.

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Can’t Decide What Business to Start? No Problem, We’ll Tell You

Up and Running

'Every month over 1 million people visit Bplans. Most of those people are at the very early stages of starting a business and as such, are looking to see what others have done. Some have already decided and are in the process of writing a business plan. They’re asking questions: What should a tutoring agency include in their business plan? How do you write an executive summary for a car washing business?

More Trending

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6 Ways OKRs Can Help Your Startup Achieve World Domination

YoungUpstarts

'By Kris Duggan, CEO of BetterWorks. It’s no secret that setting goals is critical to achieving any kind of success, and making sure they’re realistic and measurable is vital to maintaining momentum and motivation, especially in the startup game. After all, dangling a carrot is only effective if at some point you actually get the satisfaction of enjoying the carrot.

Agile 173
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How the Seed-Stage VC Trend Began, The Downsides of Unicorns & Much More

Both Sides of the Table

'*. If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. It is, of course, a very recent phenomenon. Let me take you back just 10 years ago to 2005 in Silicon Valley where I returned after 11 years of living in Europe. I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000.

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Why You Should Care about the Name You Give Your Company

Up and Running

'Is your company name hurting your business? When company names go bad. There’s a whole heap of problems that can scupper a business in its plans to develop and grow: poor sales, an interrupted supply chain, industry price-cutting or new competition, a marketing strategy that didn’t quite go to plan, HR issues, sudden increases in overheads, late payments—the list of potential pitfalls is long, and the cause of many sleepless nights.

Naming 101
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The spotty technology globalization record

deal architect

'I read a few tweets today about how SAP does “global well” and how SuccessFactors reflects it. My reaction was technology vendors, not just SAP, are actually inconsistent when it comes to global matters compared to companies like Unilever or.

Global 230
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4 Ways To Adopt A Learner Mindset And Become A Stronger Leader

YoungUpstarts

'by Farbood Nivi, CEO of Learnist. Are you a knower or a learner? Knowers solve problems by pulling entirely from their experience, whereas learners take time to study a problem before prescribing a solution. As a former educator, I understand the importance of a formal education. But learning should not end when you leave school. Letting your curiosity fizzle out and settling into the debilitating knower mindset can put your business at risk of plateauing.

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10 Guidelines For An Entrepreneurial Strategic Plan

Startup Professionals Musings

'Deciding to be an entrepreneur is a lifestyle move, and should be part of a long-term strategic plan. You shouldn’t be making this decision just because you are mad at your boss, you would like to be rich, or someone else thinks it’s a good idea. In these changing times, if you already have a startup, with no plan, maybe it’s time to think ahead for a change.

Demand 221
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I’m on the Air – On Sirius XM Channel 111

Steve Blank

'Starting this Monday, March 9 th 4-6pm Pacific Time I’ll be on the radio hosting the Bay Area Ventures program on Sirius XM radio Channel 111 – the Wharton Business Radio Channel. Over this program I’ll be talking to entrepreneurs, financial experts and academic leaders in the tech and biotech industries. And if the past is prologue I guarantee you that this will be radio worth listening to.

Channel 209
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The Devils Square

deal architect

'Michael Krigsman at ZDNet and others like to use the term “Devil’s Triangle” to explain how software buyers, vendors and systems integrators are all to blame for failed ERP projects. In SAP Nation, I dedicated a chapter to the stunning.

Software 226
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Founders: Here’s the Most Powerful Way to Align with Potential Investors (Hint: It’s Not About Sector)

View from Seed

'When entrepreneurs think about approaching VCs to cultivate a relationship for a round, they often try to match their company with the sectors in which the VC has invested in the past. That’s pretty rational. The investor likely knows more about the sector than the next person and theoretically has an inclination to invest in that sector again.

Founder 204
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Subscription Business Models Are Startup Favorites

Startup Professionals Musings

'Every new business quickly realizes that revenue coming in every period on a committed basis is the Holy Grail to survival and growth. According to many experts , getting new customers is five to ten times harder than getting additional revenue from existing customers. Thus the subscription model (low fixed monthly payments), is rapidly becoming the norm for new products and services.

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Product Knowledge And Savvy Salesmanship Not Enough When Selling Internationally; Overcoming Cultural Differences Is Essential

YoungUpstarts

'By Martin Limbeck, “ NO is Short for Next Opportunity: How Top Sales Professionals Think “. Perhaps you’re the number one ranked sales professional in your company for selling domestically. Congratulations! However, when the boss says he is going to let you take the lead on the European account, don’t think the same old sales tactics you use to wow your American customers will work in Europe.

Austria 188
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Enterprise Software Churn: E2Open Ring Fence

deal architect

'When I was researching SAP Nation, I was impressed with how many customers are swapping out software, moving to third party maintenance, “ring fencing” the core solution with specialist tools, and implementing two and three tier strategies – different solutions.

Software 221
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Founder Leadership Models

Seeing Both Sides

'There are a number of founder leadership models that can work well as a startup evolves. I have lived a few as an entrepreneur and worked with many as a board member. Getting the founder model right is critical because the founder is the soul of a company. If you can navigate a leadership model that keeps the founder involved and engaged in the business as it scales, it meaningfully improves your odds that startup magic will happen.

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Add Real Value To Your Startup With A Financial Model

Startup Professionals Musings

'If you think that financial modeling for a new business is arcane magic, limited in value to financial wizards and professional investors, then you have been listening to the wrong advisors. In reality, a simple Excel spreadsheet model customized around your assumptions can save you hours and avoid a wasted expense in validating alternative vendor and marketing decisions.

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4 Tools Every Multichannel Seller Needs To Succeed

YoungUpstarts

'by Jake Gasaway, co-founder of Stitch Labs. While the post-holiday detoxes are ending, it’s likely that multichannel retailers are just now getting started on their 2015 goals. It’s officially time to dust off the thinking cap and come up with new ways to increase revenue and market opportunities before it’s too late. Some of these goals may include enriched customer service, identifying new market opportunities, or streamlining internal operations and inventory.

Cofounder 172
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The End of the Beginning, and the Beginning of the End

deal architect

'I enjoyed this interview with Zach Nelson where he says we have come to the end of the beginning of the move to cloud computing. I also hope we are seeing the beginning of the end of a dark era.

Cloud 207
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VC Ground Game

Genuine VC

'Conventional wisdom says that the best way to meet with a venture capitalist is to get a warm introduction. (While it’s a good rule of thumb, it’s not entirely true, which I’ve blogged about previously.) However, there’s another way that I’ve seen entrepreneurs use mutual connections that’s even more impactful than a warm introduction: a proactive inbound reference.

Finance 146
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How To Deal With Email After A Long Vacation

Feld Thoughts

'Since I’ve had dealing with email on my mind recently, I thought I’d write about how to deal with email after a long vacation. Over the years, I’ve heard over and over again from people who never going on vacation or getting off the grid explaining that they can’t imagine doing this because they would be more stressed out when they return to all the email they have to respond to.

Email 135
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Finding Your Work–Life Balance

YoungUpstarts

'by Charles A. Archer, co-founder and CEO of Evelyn Douglin Center for Serving People In Need, Inc. There are countless stories of individuals who succeed through perseverance, hard work, and positive attitude. Impact, influence and success follow creating, providing and presenting something the world needs, desires or should know about. Whether you are a business owner, entrepreneur or operator, company success is achieved in productive environments where Everybody Matters.

Cofounder 168
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Enterprise Software ChurnRimini Street keeps rolling

deal architect

'The general presumption in the enterprise software marketplace is customers stay loyal for lifetimes – the more realistic thinking, of course, is they stay loyal for long periods, but not that long. When I was researching SAP Nation, I was.

Software 207
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11 problems to anticipate before your next website redesign

The Next Web

'A great website is the cornerstone of your business. If users can’t easily navigate it or see where you add value, you’re already losing money. But when it comes to updating your site, there are a lot of hidden pitfalls to be wary of. Curious how those who have “been there, done that” and emerged with beautiful websites fared, I asked 11 successful entrepreneurs from YEC the following questions: What is one overlooked problem I should anticipate when getting my entire business website redesigne

Web 131
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Who’s On First, What’s On Second, I Don’t Know’s on Third

Feld Thoughts

'My mom sent me this today. It’s still possibly one of the funniest comedy routines I’ve ever seen. I saw it for the first time as a little kid and I remember rolling on the floor laughing. A brilliant demonstration of how complicated the English language can be, even in its simplicity. By about minute six, my guess is Abbott is feeling like most entrepreneurs do when they are tangled up in something.

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Tips For Handling Money As A Startup

YoungUpstarts

'by Kristen Gramigna, Chief Marketing Officer for BluePay. You may be well versed in the industry you’ve chosen to pursue as a business owner, but less confident about how to manage finances. Here are some simple tips for handling money as a startup: 1. Keep an eye on cash flow. Dun & Bradstreet estimates that 90 percent of small businesses fail for financial reasons, most notably, cash-flow problems.

Startup 164
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For National Reading Month

deal architect

'March celebrates reading. Can I recommend for your reading list the book on left which is a comedy, a tragedy, action genre title about the technology business? Seriously, not every one is a book reader, but in the spirit of.

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What stops your apps from becoming financially successful?

The Next Web

'Rahul Varshneya is the co-founder of mobile app growth marketing agency Apprise, focusing on building distribution for startups and enterprises. Subscribe to his free email series on mobile app growth hacking. Less than 1 percent of consumer mobile apps are financially successful, according to a report by Gartner. Do you see this as disheartening news or as an opportunity?

Cofounder 131
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How to Create a Productive Office Space

Up and Running

'A recent analysis from the World Green Building Council concluded that there is “overwhelming evidence” linking office design with productivity and wellness. But that’s nothing new, right? There has long been evidence to suggest that this is the case. We all know that our productivity levels drop when we feel uncomfortable—whether it’s the temperature, the atmosphere, or the noise levels, we need to be relaxed and comfortable to work at our best.

Product 124
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The Crazy Marketing Campaigns That Actually Worked

YoungUpstarts

'One of the big challenges for many new start-ups is separating themselves from the competition and spreading awareness of the brand/product/service. Unusual, unique and eye-catching marketing campaigns are often pursued in an attempt to become separate from the herd. Treading new marketing ground can be risky with no previous evidence or case studies to research – however sometimes it does pay off.

Campaign 154
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Mentors 10/18: Hold Information In Confidence

Feld Thoughts

'As we continue deconstructing the Techstars Mentor Manifesto , today’s item is about keeping information confidential. Techstars operates on a FriendDA concept. It’s not official, but it’s understood that the entrepreneurs are going to bare their soul, be completely open and transparent, and not ask anyone to sign anything. In exchange, mentors will hold information in confidence.

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Menorca Millennials hopes to set a new bar for startup retreats

The Next Web

'Would you like to participate in a startup retreat on a scenic island? This is the opportunity Menorca Millennials is providing with its new program, a 20-day quarantine experiment for second-time entrepreneurs with disruptive projects. As its name suggests, it will take place in the Balearic island of Menorca, off the coast of Barcelona. According to Ricard Garriga, co-founder of the initiative, the inspiration for Menorca Millennials was its founders’ personal experience with the island.

Europe 121
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18 Affordable Marketing Tactics Restaurants Can Use to Bring in More Customers

Up and Running

'Okay, having a funny chef statue isn’t on the list. The restaurant business will see an uptick in sales this year—according to the National Restaurant Association, sales are expected to hit $709.2 billion in 2015. The report indicates that the recovering economy is making it easier for people to eat out more frequently. See Also How to Start a Successful Restaurant.

Customer 117