Sat.Jul 04, 2015 - Fri.Jul 10, 2015

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10 Ways For Entrepreneurs To Meet Cash Flow Peaks

Startup Professionals Musings

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. I often get asked about the real alternatives to bridge this valley, and there are some good ones I will outline here.

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Hear how the Lean Startup began — and helped one company find success: Episode 2 on Sirius XM Channel 111: Eric Ries and Jon Sebastiani

Steve Blank

My guests on Bay Area Ventures on Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM Channel 111 were: Eric Ries , entrepreneur and author of the New York Times bestseller, The Lean Startup. Eric was the very first practitioner of my Customer Development methodology which became the core of the the Lean methodology. Jon Sebastiani , founder and CEO of KRAVE Jerky , a company that got its start in my class at Berkeley back in 2011 and was recently acquired by Hershey.

Lean 207
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How Many Angels is the Right Amount for a Startup to Have?

Both Sides of the Table

If you follow the Twittersphere you may have noticed several people weighing in on this recent piece by Mike Isaac of the NY Times, asking “ How Many Angels is Too Many? ” I found myself nodding through all of it with quotes like, “Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley,” said Sam Altman. I myself coined the term ENIFA (everyone now is a f **g angel) in 2011 but it didn’t stick as well as the term Unicorn did.

Cap Table 265
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4 Ideas For Getting Your Business Idea Off The Ground

YoungUpstarts

Having a good idea for a business is the easy part. Trying to get it up, running, and off the ground? Well, that’s another thing entirely. However, there are several ways that you can start developing your idea for relatively little cost. We’re going to have a look at some suggestions for you, so give them a look over and see if they help start turning your imagination into a genuine business opportunity.

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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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4 tips to make any team agile

The Next Web

The goal of agile programming is to provide early and continuous delivery of valuable software. But it’s not so easy to implement methodologies that can deliver on the agile promise, and the blame typically lands on people: they’re just not the tech elite. Agile is an iterative software development methodology, as opposed to the more linear traditional methods.

Agile 131
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How to scale a marketplace

Version One Ventures

As a marketplace figures out how to bring buyers and sellers together and builds liquidity, the virtuous cycle starts kicking in. The growth of sellers and buyers quickly accelerates. The ultimate goal is that a successful startup grows into a big company. But as you begin to scale, there are new considerations and strategies to keep the forward progress going.

eCommerce 124

More Trending

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Twitter Link Roundup #277 – More Resources for Small Business, Startups, and Design!

crowdSPRING Blog

At the risk of freaking out certain people in our office (no names mentioned; OK, hi Bianca!) I shared this video which is in turns creepy and incredibly beautiful. Not to mention an object lesson in the wisdom of staying away from shiny objects! Not to worry, though: this roundup may glow in the dark, but is definitely NOT laced with cyanide! And with that, it’s time once more for our weekly Roundup!

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Manufacturing: The STEM cells of the enterprise

deal architect

I am always invigorated when I spend time with Plex executives and customers as I did at its PowerPlex event in Nashville last week. There was a blue collar excitement to the event. Accounting had an industrial engineering flavor with.

Nashville 277
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Accidental VC: When Should Startups Announce Seed Funding?

View from Seed

Accidental VC is a series of short posts written by me, Jay Acunzo. Though I never planned it, I somehow wound up working in VC as NextView’s VP of platform. As an operator, not an investor, I’m amazed at how many casual, throwaway comments that happen inside a VC’s office would be genuinely useful to entrepreneurs building their businesses. So this series is my attempt to share that knowledge beyond our walls … one overheard lesson at a time.

Startup 259
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10 Startup Practices That Usually Lead To Disaster

Startup Professionals Musings

Starting a new business is a serious undertaking. Yet many aspiring entrepreneurs I know approach it as a fun project, get-rich quick scheme, or perhaps an expensive hobby. Others quit their day jobs and commit everything to their new passion, without regard for their own well-being, or the welfare of others around them. Neither of these approaches bodes well for success.

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5 Tips For A New Business Startup

YoungUpstarts

by Solomon Thimothy, founder & Chief Executive Officer of Clickx. When you’re starting out a business, it’s difficult to keep up with everything. From day-to-day operations to growth strategies, it’s difficult to know what the next move is for your business. Listening to advice from colleagues, employees and other industry professionals can be helpful but oftentimes confusing.

Startup 213
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Branding For Startups: 6 Ways To Create Awareness (At A Shoestring Budget!)

Brandanew

Today, there are zillions of startups across the digital space struggling to create a significant online presence. Sure, company websites are bound to give you a digital footprint but where is the audience to show off your management skills with? Even though businesses across the world are accepting brand awareness generation as a part of their marketing strategies, there are a still a lot many startups that shy away from doing so or make a ‘just for the heck of it’ attempt at it.

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The Story of a Google-Spurning, Cancer-Beating, Bowtie-Wearing, Bootstrapped Founder [Traction Podcast #6]

View from Seed

To our listeners: THANK YOU! We recently learned that Traction was featured on the iTunes New and Noteworthy list, and it’s all thanks to your ratings, listenership, support, and feedback. For those new to the show: Traction shares the incredible stories of the creative and unusual things entrepreneurs do to make initial progress. You can listen on iTunes or SoundCloud.

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7 Ways To Balance Business Versus Personal Goals

Startup Professionals Musings

I know some entrepreneurs with successful businesses, and others who seem to have a great relationship with their family, but I can’t think of many who have both. Some people would argue that these two successes are mutually exclusive, but I’m not convinced. Individually, they both take focus, commitment, and a variety of skills, all the strengths of a good entrepreneur.

Demand 212
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7 Ways To Create Your Own Success

YoungUpstarts

By Rob Nelson, founder and CEO at Grow.com. Most entrepreneurs do not start out with millions in venture capital funding or advice from Mark Cuban sitting in their inbox. Entrepreneurial success is achieved after years of problem solving and hard work. Here’s what you can do to create your own opportunities instead of waiting for them: 1. Just get started.

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5 Reasons Why Content Marketing Is Getting Harder And Why You Need Experts

Brandanew

Tim Berry recently wrote a great post on why content marketing is getting harder from a very personal and a business focused perspective. With many small businesses and Startups getting into the Content Marketing fray- along side the big brands, it is getting crowded indeed. Here are some of the reasons why I believe it’s getting tougher and also, why you need experts before you jump in!

Marketing 189
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How to travel and build an online business

The Next Web

In the past 12 months, I’ve traveled to over 20+ countries in Europe, Asia, North, Central, and South America, and I did it while running a business online. There seems to be a trend of online entrepreneurs who are advocating this travelpreneur movement of being able to run your business online, while you travel. I’ll be honest, it’s not as easy as it looks.

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8 Business Name Mistakes That Investors Hate to See

Startup Professionals Musings

Every new baby gets a name before it is introduced to the world, and yet some entrepreneurs continue to send me business plans with TBD (to be determined) in place of a business name on the front page. They don’t realize that the name they choose, or lack of it, sets an initial perception of the business that may override all of its value. Your business name will have the same impact on potential customers.

Naming 211
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5 Entrepreneurial Lessons I Learned From Failing Fast In My First Venture

YoungUpstarts

by Chris Thornham, co-founder of FLO Cycling. You have a brilliant idea for a new business. You love it, and you think other people will, too. So you take the plunge headfirst, right? Not so fast. My brother Jon and I started our first company with a similar mind-set, and it failed in a matter of months. We created Painting With Purpose, a charitable organization that sold digital copies of paintings created by children with special needs.

Cofounder 189
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5 Inspiring Quotes On Branding And Identity

Brandanew

Creating remarkable brands has a big impact for Startups and businesses of all sizes. With the proliferation of social media platforms, every individual and business is a publisher with their own brand to promote. Understand what branding truly entails and how it differs from marketing as such, is a tough ask for most product owners. Not just because it’s subjective but also because it’s an art as much as it is a science.

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8 components of branding your startup

The Next Web

There is no instruction manual for building a brand. A brand position and reputation is something that is slowly built up and earned over time. That said, as you are planting the early “seeds” of your brand, the actions you take from the start of your business, will dictate where your brand is heading long term. It is important you get this right, as it is often more difficult to change a tarnished brand image, than it is to start from scratch.

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How To Make Money Like Facebook With Online Ads

Startup Professionals Musings

One of the most popular and least successful models I see in new business plans for startups is the so-called Facebook model, providing free services to users while collecting revenue from ads to offset costs and grow the business. To make this work, you need heavy traffic on your site -- probably at least a million page views per month -- which most sites never achieve in their lifetimes.

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Should Startups Hire Consultants? 7 Benefits To Hiring Consultants

YoungUpstarts

Consultants may not be right for every company, but the proper expert can be ideal for many purposes within a small company. Startups can benefit especially well from a consultant’s ability to determine unmet needs and proper direction through at least seven practices. Accomplishing Specific Tasks. It can be very helpful for a company to get something big off of its plate by using a consultant for a very specific task, so that there is a clear goal and a way to determine failure or success

Hiring 162
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Branding Your Startup- Monthly Round Up, June 2015

Brandanew

The month of June just ended, and was full of wonderful energy and creativity at Brandanew. As usual, here’s a round up of all the content we shared with our partners in the last month. The tips are summarized here for all the readers to have a quick overview of various topics and themes. This month we worked a lot with Startups and also shared our own stories.

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The dog ate my homework

Startup Lessons Learned

A quick update for those of you following the Kickstarter campaign to launch my new book The Leader's Guide (and good news for those of you who missed out): For those of you who backed the campaign: Keep an eye out for an email which includes a link to a very short survey where you can confirm your shipping information and purchase additional items.

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How I grew a startup the hard way

The Next Web

When I founded Datto in 2007, I didn’t really know what I was getting into. I had a simple product idea, and I wanted to take a chance, even knowing that most startups fail. I wanted to deliver insurance against downtime to small businesses that couldn’t afford traditional enterprise backup products. Whether it’s your local dentist’s office or a mid-size business, they need to stay up and running just as much as large enterprises.

Startup 128
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3 Things To Do Before Creating An Online Form

YoungUpstarts

by Chad Reid, Director of Communications for JotForm. 2015 is a renaissance of sorts for do-it-yourselfers, with web forms right in the thick of it. For many years, the only way you could have an online form embedded on your website was if a developer put it there. Now? Anyone can build their own contact, survey, application or event registration form without knowing a lick of code.

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See, Think, Do, Care Wining Combo: Content + Marketing + Measurement!

Occam's Razor

There have been tons and tons of implementations around the world of my wonderfully profitable See-Think-Do-Care business framework. This is immensely gratifying. Over the last year, I've also worked with many companies to drive new and rapid innovation in their digital strategies using the framework. In the process, I've learned a whole lot more, evolved my thinking and refined the nuances.

Marketing 125
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Live In My Kansas City Fiber House For Free For A Year

Feld Thoughts

I’m running another competition for a startup to live for a year for free in my Kansas City FiberHouse. When I bought my house in Kansas City in 2013 , I announced my intentions clearly. “I’m not going to be living in it. Instead, I’m going to let entrepreneurs live / work in it. Rent free. As part of helping create the Kansas City startup community.

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What’s wrong with the lean startup methodology?

The Next Web

For the uninitiated, the Lean Startup methodology is a practice for developing products and businesses based on ‘validated learning’, getting customer feedback quickly and often. The process was proposed by Eric Ries in 2011. The objective is to eliminate uncertainty in the product development process. This practice has transformed the way companies are developed.

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[Infographic] Understanding And Targeting The ‘Always-On’ Consumer

YoungUpstarts

It goes without saying that technology has changed the world, but what’s really unprecedented is the digital lifestyle that people have developed especially with their devices. From the first, second and third screens that people use – whether at home, at work or on-the-go – the lines between the physical and digital worlds have really blurred.

Mobile 151
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The 7 Deadly Healthcare Startup Sins

Steve Blank

Todd Dunn is the Director of Innovation and runs the Intermountain Healthcare Transformation Lab , which is working to foster innovation in the healthcare industry. He’s now run several Lean LaunchPad classes and has seen a ton of healthcare startups. Here’s his advice for startups in this space. ——— I have spent the last 10 years in the Healthcare space.

Startup 254
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What Acquihire Really Means

Feld Thoughts

I hope you had a nice 4th of July yesterday. Amy and I hid out all day in Longmont, playing with the dogs, napping, and reading. As a result yesterday was a three book day. One of them was Semi-Organic Growth: Tactics and Strategies Behind Google’s Success by George T. Geis. If you are a Google watcher, aspire to have you company acquired by Google some day, or just want to understand Google’s approach to acquisitions (which Geis calls “semi-organic growth”) this is a mus

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ProtoHack Co-founder Prioritizes Social Good Over Profit—Here’s Why

YFS Magazine

When you’re looking to launch a startup centered on social good find out what you’re passionate for it and run with it.

Cofounder 129
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3 Things You Need To Do Before Launching Your Online Start-Up

YoungUpstarts

by David Jinks, Public Relations Manager and Publisher at ParcelHero.com. Kicking off your own online start-up can seem daunting to a budding young entrepreneur, but if you have the product then you are already half way there. Fortunately, the internet caters to both those with money and those without, so here are three things you need to do before launching your online start-up: Who are you selling to?

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Free Webinar: Why Your Business (and Personal) Credit Matters

Up and Running

Did you know that there’s a difference between personal credit and business credit? Both can help you become eligible for funding, but business credit can help you gain capital and save money for your business. Join Creditera’s Tim Graczewski on Wednesday, July 22 at 4pm EST for a free webinar that will teach you proven tactics for building a stronger business credit profile.