Sat.Sep 27, 2014 - Fri.Oct 03, 2014

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What is the Right Burn Rate at a Startup Company?

Both Sides of the Table

'I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. ” I highly recommend reading it. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Danielle goes through some commentary from Bill Gurley, Fred Wilson and Marc Andreessen about burn rate and then goes on to discuss her own burn rate and others publicly weigh in.

Burn Rate 383
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3 Major Product Fails, And How To Avoid Their Mistakes

YoungUpstarts

'By Malcolm Stewart, CEO of YouEye. Green ketchup, bottled water for pets, airport security “action figures”, yogurt shampoo – there have been some pretty epic product failures over the years. From our vantage point decades later, it is easy to wonder “what were they thinking?”. However the reality is that a significant majority of products don’t succeed.

Product 222
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Entrepreneurs Need To Reality Check Their Ideas

Startup Professionals Musings

'In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. But how does any entrepreneur know which ideas to implement, and which ones are best left behind? After all, most great breakthroughs, like a computer in every home, seemed like a crazy idea before Steve Jobs and Bill Gates made it happen.

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Unique ways to solve today’s talent crunch

Version One Ventures

'Finding the right engineer, UX designer or marketer can make all the difference for your start-up. After all, the caliber of talent makes or breaks a company, no matter its size. But recruiting is hard, particularly in these bubbly times when top tech talent can pretty much go wherever they choose. This hiring challenge has pushed several startups to get creative and take an innovative approach to recruiting.

Canada 153
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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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What are the most valuable recommendations in order to raise money from VCs connected via Gust?

Gust

'To begin with, it is important to understand some basic facts about the world of entrepreneurial finance: There are many more entrepreneurs than there are investors, with the result that only one company out of every 400 that seeks venture funding actually receives it. As such, the competition from an entrepreneur’s standpoint is very, very tough.

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5 Things Every Small Business Should Know About Payroll

YoungUpstarts

'By Shrad Rao, CEO of Wagepoint. Managing payroll, and ensuring all the relevant taxes are paid, is a key part of the responsibility that comes with having staff. Employees want a paycheck on time. The government wants its money. And at the end of the day, all you want to do is catch up on your sleep! But making a mistake, especially when it comes to government taxes and regulations, could land you in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

More Trending

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Twitter Link Roundup #237 – Small Business, Startups, Innovation, Social Media, Design, Marketing and More

crowdSPRING Blog

'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!

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The Five Most Important Decisions of My Life Thus Far

Hunter Walker

'I visit Facebook.com each morning to type “birthday!” onto friend’s profiles as appropriate. Earlier today I also noticed a post from a friend celebrating his 5th wedding anniversary. “One of the best decisions I ever made” was a partial description of the nuptials. Made me think – what are the most important decisions I’ve made in my life thus far?

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The Future Of SEO And Online Visibility

YoungUpstarts

'by Jennifer Sultzaberger, founder of #vidit. If you want to be found online today, you need to be thinking in terms of online visibility not traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In the past, the focus was on getting a high ranking on page one of Google as it was the most popular destination for website surfers and a high ranking on Google would have a huge effect on your business.

SEO 160
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How Green Initiatives Can Benefit Your Business

Up and Running

'Okay, this isn’t exactly what we mean, but it sure is green! In operating your own business, determining your “return on investment” is always top of mind when making decisions. One big decision for your company is whether to implement green initiatives, and that includes everything from reducing energy consumption to wasting less paper. “When considering the decision to “go green,” look at both the short and long term results of green initiatives and, chances are, you’ll disc

Green 115
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Not All Hot Startups Live Up To Their “Change The World” Billing—And We Have Data

ReadWriteStart

There has never been a better time to be an engineer, with companies feverishly competing to recruit the best and brightest. But while some engineers may be motivated to work for the highest bidder, most are driven by something more intangible, according to VisionMobile survey data: They want to change the world. Each year LinkedIn measures the most in-demand Silicon Valley startups , a window into the employers that engineers think can do more than help them pay their mortgage.

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Unique ways to solve today’s talent crunch

Version One Ventures

'Finding the right engineer, UX designer or marketer can make all the difference for your start-up. After all, the caliber of talent makes or breaks a company, no matter its size. But recruiting is hard, particularly in these bubbly times when top tech talent can pretty much go wherever they choose. This hiring challenge has pushed several startups to get creative and take an innovative approach to recruiting.

Canada 68
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How To Have A Future-Proof Mobile Strategy For Your Business

YoungUpstarts

'by Vishal Gumber , founder of Appsquare. The world of mobility is changing at a rapid pace – from new devices to new technology, it is ever expanding in scope as adoption rates continue to climb. In 2014, most businesses have realized the need to adopt a mobile strategy, be it in the form of mobile apps, mobile marketing or even just having a mobile website.

Mobile 157
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How to Add Serious Value to Your Online Community

Duct Tape Marketing

'How to Add Serious Value to Your Online Community written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. It’s guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest post is from Jamie Thomson – Enjoy! . photo credit: Flickr – Andrew Becraft. According to research carried out by social media experts, Socialnomics , 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations, whereas only 14% trust advertisements.

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Modi and Ma

thebarefootvc

'The last 2 weeks were notable for the world’s two most populous countries. If there was any doubt that the 21st century will be “The Asian Century” Jack Ma and Narendra Modi, an unlikely pair, lay those doubts to rest. On September 19, Ma led Alibaba to the largest IPO in history, listing the company on the New York Stock Exchange.

India 85
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What I Hate About Selling Companies

Both Sides of the Table

'By all measures the past year has been successful. Teams that I’ve backed have sold their companies to Disney, Apple and AOL for substantive amounts of money. Founders have done very well, our fund has done well. Exhibit: Champagne and celebrations. But the truth is that selling a company doesn’t always feel like a celebration as a VC. Not being a baby about it – my job is to return money to LPs.

Cofounder 306
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Oracles Modern Apps

deal architect

'Steve Miranda led an excellent session this morning on Oracle’s growing hortizontal apps empire. Set on a stage with a sweeping view of downtown San Francisco and the Bay it reflected the expansive portfolio it has built and acquired. The.

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Watching My Students Grow

Steve Blank

'“You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself.”. Galileo Galilei. One of the great things about teaching is that while some students pass by like mist in the night others remain connected forever. I get to watch them grow into their careers and cheer them on. — Its been three and a half years since I first designed and taught the Lean LaunchPad class and lots of water has gone under the bridge since then.

Lean 272
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Leadership Principles To Move Up A Level From Smart

Startup Professionals Musings

'Most of the entrepreneurs I have met are smart, but many are not always wise. That means they may show great insights into a new technology that has marginal business value, their passion may motivate team members more than customers, or they may allow themselves to be pulled over the ethical line in their success drive. Wise leaders are authentic, timeless, and enduring.

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Modi and Ma

thebarefootvc

The last 2 weeks were notable for the world’s two most populous countries. If there was any doubt that the 21st century will be “The Asian Century” Jack Ma and Narendra Modi, an unlikely pair, lay those doubts to rest. On September 19, Ma led Alibaba to the largest IPO in history, listing the company on the New York Stock Exchange.

India 40
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Its good to be the King!

deal architect

'I know many analysts feel sorry for customers who appear trapped in their on-premise cages – PeopleSoft, Siebel, JD Edwards etc. Actually, they are in the driver’s seat a) Oracle keeps supporting them as part of its Apps Unlimited initiative.

Software 255
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Founder Suicides

Feld Thoughts

'I know this post is going to be a downer but I think there is a lot more to be talked about regarding depression, mental health, and entrepreneurship. I recently heard a terrifying stat about founder suicides recently. A friend told me that he’d heard of over a dozen suicides from entrepreneurs in the past few years. I didn’t press him for the specific data because I didn’t want to struggle through it, but I personally knew of three so I expected that it would add up to a doze

Las Vegas 195
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Smart Entrepreneurs Learn The Most From Their Team

Startup Professionals Musings

'Starting and running a company is a team effort. Yes, it takes a leader (entrepreneur), but you can’t do it alone, without a team. Maybe only you and a co-founder comprise the team at first, to provide key skills, back you up, and test your ideas. As the startup grows, the team has to be able to really push you in making growth decisions, rather than you pulling them along.

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How To Use Video Content To Boost Your Marketing

YoungUpstarts

'by Markus Wilson, co-founder of Phink TV. Video content is in demand and the rising amount of videos viewed by people every day means that this type of content is becoming an ever increasing effective tool to stand out in search engines, engage social audiences, and sell products and services. It is, however, a noisy environment out there, so you are going to need a good idea that’s well executed if you’re to make the best impact!

Video 178
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Follow up from Larry Ellison OOW Talk

deal architect

'I have written before Oracle’s biggest cloud differentiation is it can play in all three layers – application, platform and infrastructure –as-a-service. Larry Ellison’s talk last night expounded on that as he spent time on each layer. But in many.

Cloud 220
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PayPal Unshackled – Now Is the Time

Agile VC

'eBay announced today plans to separate itself into two companies, one the core eBay marketplace business and the other is the PayPal payments business. This is a move that’s been contemplated by folks both inside the company and outside for many years. Recently prominent activist shareholders have also been “encouraging” eBay management to spin off PayPal as a way to maximize shareholder value.

Mobile 157
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Future Business Growth Drives A New Partner Paradigm

Startup Professionals Musings

'Business partnerships have traditionally been agreements to drive more transactions than either company could do alone. The new paradigm, driven by disruptive technologies, cloud-served supercomputing, and the new generation of young adults with global empathy, is partnering and giving something now for a competitive advantage in the future. An excellent example is the initiative by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors to give away all their patents, to infrastructure providers and even competitive car m

Partner 251
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The Cashless Future

YoungUpstarts

'by Mark Latham, Product and Innovation Director of Handepay . How much cash have you got on you right now? £10? £20? Probably no more than that. Your customers are more than likely to have exactly the same. The British Retail Consortium discovered that cash use has dropped by 14% in the past five years and experts are predicting the end of physical currency inside 20 years.

Mobile 176
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Apply Lessons Learned To Gain From Startup Failure

Gust

'Crossroads: Success or Failure by StockMonkeys.com, on Flickr. Your startup is gone, it’s never coming back, and you are in mourning. An entrepreneur whose business fails grieves similarly to anyone who has lost a loved one. The pain of losing a business is not only about a significant loss of income, but can send your entire identity into turmoil.

Startup 165
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Are you making these 5 common user onboarding mistakes?

The Next Web

'Samuel Hulick is a long time UX consultant with an intense focus on user onboarding. This article originally appeared on the Help Scout blog. Getting people to sign up for your software is tough. It requires a lot of time, energy, and money, yet many companies are losing most of those hard-won users immediately after their first-run experience. Don’t let your company be one of them!

Web 166
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The Tucked And The Untucked

Feld Thoughts

'Last night I gave the kickoff talk to the West Michigan Policy Forum. I did my riff on Startup Communities and followed it up with a short Q&A on issues specific to Michigan’s entrepreneurial scene. Afterwards, Amy and I went for a walk to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to buy a Lighting to HDMI adapter so we could watch Print the Legend on the TV in our hotel room.

Las Vegas 151
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Social Media Policy Tips For Small Businesses

YoungUpstarts

'by Peter LaMotte, Senior Vice President at LEVICK. Social media has become an inextricable part of everyone’s life — both personally and professionally. The good news is, for most small businesses, sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp can dramatically increase the size of their target audience almost overnight. These sites also serve as an invaluable venue for collecting customer feedback – both good and bad – and present a great opportunity to build brand awareness and brand loyalt

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Is Your BtoB Content Scaring Customers Away?

Rembrandt Communications

'5 Frightening Tips to Avoid at All Cost It’s October, and that means everyone will be talking about haunted houses, scary stories and Halloween fun. With this in mind, are you scaring customers away with your BtoB content and marketing? It’s a busy time of year so it can be easy to forget some simple, […]. The post Is Your BtoB Content Scaring Customers Away?

Customer 133
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Why offering employee equity is crucial for your startup

The Next Web

'Andrej Kiska is an associate at Credo Ventures. Dealing almost exclusively with first time startup founders, we tackle the following question with nearly all of our CEOs: How much equity should they give to the employees? During the first conversation with a given founder about employee equity, it is not uncommon for the CEO to fire back with the following question: Why would I give any equity to my employees?

Equity 154
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There is No Such Thing as a Great Team, Only Great Habits

This is going to be BIG.

'Sometimes, an investor gets lucky. They invest in a company with an idea that doesn''t go anywhere, the company pivots, and you wind up in the next big thing. In hindsight, an investor will tell you that they knew they had backed a great team and that was the key to the investment. It''s never luck. I have a lot of trouble with the "great team" scenario, because it just doesn''t seem to play out in real life.

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Seven Questions To Help You Attract Your Ideal Clients

YoungUpstarts

'by Mark Satterfield , author of “ The One Week Marketing Plan: The Set It & Forget It Approach for Quickly Growing Your Business “ If someone were to ask who your ideal client is, you might jokingly respond, “Anyone with a wallet!” But most business owners know there are very real dangers associated with trying to be all things to all people.

Dilution 168