Sat.Oct 17, 2015 - Fri.Oct 23, 2015

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2 Challenges of Startup Customer Development & How to Get Great Feedback Instead

View from Seed

Step one in building a new company is the YC adage: “Build something people want.”. But how do you go about figuring out what people want? The obvious answer we all give (and receive) in the startup community is to talk to people. “Customer development” has become its own skill and body of knowledge, and there are some crucial nuances to understand up front before beginning your customer dev discussions.

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10 Ways An Entrepreneur Can Build A Winning Culture

Startup Professionals Musings

If an entrepreneur can’t build a culture of excitement and commitment at a startup, the chances of long-term success are negligible. It simply doesn’t matter how great your solution is. Every investor knows this. That’s why they insist on spending a day with your team as part of the due diligence process. A winning culture is easy to see, and a culture of fear and desperation is hard to hide.

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Pros and Cons of Being Your Own Boss

Up and Running

One of the more common half truths of startups and entrepreneurship is the one about being your own boss. I’ve called it a myth before, but half truth is better because there are some real positives with being your own boss, but there are negatives too. I’ve spent a lot of years as theoretically being my own boss, including more than 10 years as sole proprietor business planning consultant, working on my own with clients; and more than 10 years building a company, as founder and owne

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The Advanced Guide to Qualitative Research

ConversionXL

You spend most days analyzing and interpreting numbers, right? You’re constantly sifting through Google Analytics dashboards, Formisimo reports, Mixpanel data – the list is endless. When you spend so much time focusing on the numbers, it’s easy to forget about the people generating those numbers. That’s where qualitative conversion research comes into play.

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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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Boston’s WebInno Is Now BIG

Genuine VC

Back in June, the local Boston tech community together celebrated the ten year anniversary of the Web Innovators Group, affectionately known as “WebInno.” Now Boston’s largest regular tech conference, every few months it draws hundreds of attendees from the entrepreneurial ecosystem – including founders, software engineers, startup executives, and investors.

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8 Myths Technologists Believe That Sink Businesses

Startup Professionals Musings

Most technologists have little interest in the mechanics of starting and building a business. That’s why I recommend that they find a co-founder who loves business challenges, including marketing and finance. I usually envision a 50-50 ownership split for their efforts, but every engineer believes the technology side deserves the majority share. In fact, an entrepreneur friend of mine, who made millions on her marketing expertise, asserted recently that most inventors fail in business because th

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GTK’s and Pillsbury’s Internet of Things Executive Event - 2015 Edition

Growthink Blog

I had the good fortune to attend and participate in GTK Partners and Pillsbury's Internet of Things (IoT) Executive Event in Palo Alto last week. It was business star-studded affair - 150 Silicon Valley technology executives and investors gathered together to network and brainstorm on IoT - described by many as fundamental a technology shift as the emergence of the Internet itself was in the 1990's.

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What To Do When Your Competitor Gets Funded?

Both Sides of the Table

This morning Clutter.io announced they raised $9 million from Sequoia , arguably the best venture capital firm that exists. Congratulations. Sincerely. Conventional wisdom says I shouldn’t tell you this because I invested in their main competitor, MakeSpace. I know my MakeSpace friends will forgive me because I just don’t believe the conventional wisdom is right.

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5 Ways To Safely Sample The Entrepreneur Lifestyle

Startup Professionals Musings

If you think you are the perfect fit for the entrepreneur lifestyle, but you’re not yet sure if you’re ready to start your own, then I recommend that you take a job with an existing startup first to validate the culture realities against your dream. Without risking all your life savings, you may find that corporate desk you have as an alternative is a lot more satisfying.

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How Much Seed Capital Should You Actually Raise?

View from Seed

In a world of pre-seeds , seeds, seed extensions, super-seeds , and more, figuring out the right amount to raise for a startup’s seed round can seem like a moving target. And if you do land on a “right” amount, is that the actual best number for the “ask” in a pitch deck ? Conventional VC wisdom says entrepreneurs should raise 18 months of runway. This rule of thumb is directionally correct.

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5 Old Brand Ad Campaigns We Still Love

Brandanew

There are many ad campaigns from the yore that nobody remembers now although they might have worked back then. But then there are some classics that are still remembered due to their sheer creativity, execution and impact. They were so successful that they became a part of the branding pop culture. Here are a few great campaigns that are our favorites.

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The HRO as CDO?

deal architect

Many HCM professionals are headed to HR Tech this week. I would urge them to also consider going to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics event even if they are not big sports fans. For a decade, that event has cataloged.

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8 Practices to Promote Urgency Within Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

The business world is changing ever more rapidly these days. If you see a need or a big opportunity but don’t act fast enough, the opportunity will pass or a competitor will get there before you do. Customers and opportunities don’t wait. If your startup culture doesn’t include a sense of urgency, your probabilities of long-term success are miniscule.

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Walking Before Knowing the Path

View from Seed

Often when thinking of what’s next, personally or at work, we tend to delay an actual step forward and instead labor over mapping the path we should take. A collection of well-worn avenues that others – bosses, parents, heroes – have taken before us forge this potential path, the details of which we agonize over. This is one part human nature and one part a damning effect of expecting results from a practiced action which secondary education engrains in us — we seek proven endeavors

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6 TED Talks All Entrepreneurs Should Tune In To

YoungUpstarts

by Fabiola Stein, Sage’s Global Head of Marketing for Sage One. It’s a hectic Tuesday morning — you’re scheduling meetings with investors, emailing the new marketing assistant, and trying to figure out how to improve the way you run your business. Being an entrepreneur means you’re on top of everything your startup needs—even though at times it may not feel like it—but are you taking the time to learn new things so you can recharge and grow, too?

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More on S/4HANA at TechEd?

deal architect

Apple announced the iPhone 6s on September 9. It went on sale couple of weeks later and 3 days later it announced it had sold 13 million units – the strongest weekend sales of any product in Apple’s history. All.

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6 Critical Marketing Metrics To Nail Today’s Buyers

Startup Professionals Musings

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Even those things that worked yesterday may not work tomorrow, as the market matures, the culture changes, and competitors appear with new solutions.

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Exploring the NextView Platform? Start Here

View from Seed

One of the best and most positive movements proliferating around the tech community is what Product Hunt founder and CEO Ryan Hoover calls “building in public.” Because of both lean startup principles and a thriving community of pay-it-forward individuals, we can all now build a little, learn a little, and then repeat. You’re able to deliver some level of value to an audience, then step to the sidelines to study what’s working and what’s not while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with your audience

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Customizing Marketing Strategies According To Your Business Needs

YoungUpstarts

by Brian Zeng, owner and the chief marketing officer of OwnOnly. Every business needs to market, no matter how good they are. What sets you apart, and determines your success graph is how well you reach out to your consumers. Whether you are an established businessman or have just boarded the train of entrepreneurship, knowledge and understanding of marketing principles is a must.

Customer 169
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Do You Need a BtoB Content Strategist or a Copywriter?

Rembrandt Communications

There’s a big difference depending on your goals Potential, BtoB clients contact me on a regular basis looking for help. They have big sales-goals and know they need some copywriting done… but that’s about it. Well, if you are trying to boost sales, awareness, credibility, and more, it’s time to get specific. You may just […]. The post Do You Need a BtoB Content Strategist or a Copywriter?

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2015 Pacific Crest SaaS Survey – Part 1

For Entrepreneurs

For the fourth year in a row, we worked together with Pacific Crest Securities, an investment banking firm with a specific focus on SaaS, to survey 305 SaaS companies. This survey represents deep benchmarking data and insights on the growth and operations of the companies in this space. I want to extend my personal thanks to the […].

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So you’re a startup CEO, what do you do all day?

The Next Web

Chief Executive Officer? Chief Visionary? Chief Cheerleader? Chief Salesman? Chief Funding Officer? Chief Communications Officer? Chief Team Builder? Chief Lightbulb Changer? Chief Coffee Maker? Yup, all of these titles apply to the role of a startup CEO. It is perhaps one of the hardest jobs to do in the business world, given the wide range of skills required to excel.

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Austin Texas – A Booming Hub For Creatives And Entrepreneurs

YoungUpstarts

One of the most popular and desirable places to live in America is Austin, Texas. In fact, the city is first in domestic migration since 2010, beating out neighboring cities like San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston. Austin’s population is on the rise for other reasons, but in the end, it’s one of the fastest growing destinations for young people. What follows are some other reasons why Austin is the place to be for young entrepreneurs.

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Challenges and Rewards for Angel Investors

Gust

One of the most common questions we get is: What are the biggest challenges and rewards of angel investing? High net worth individuals become angel investors for a number of reasons, but the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs and provide guidance to founders is typically high on the list. In this video, angel investor Chenoa Farnsworth explains why, interestingly, both the biggest Read more >.

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Every founder and startup investor should be contrarian

The Equity Kicker

It follows that the average investor will make average returns. In the world of startups and venture capital all the money is concentrated in a small number of winners and average returns are probably below zero. Certainly they aren’t sufficient to compensate for the high risk and long lock up inherent in startup investing. The venture industry is highly secretive and I don’t have good stats, but I do know that only a very small percentage of VC funds make carry and that investors in

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A Conversation With Jerry Colonna About Life

Feld Thoughts

Of all the podcast interviews I’ve done over the years, I think the one I recently did with Jerry Colonna on his Reboot podcast series is my favorite. In the podcast show notes, Jerry links to a fun post by Fred Wilson titled Sixteen Years Ago (which is now 19 years ago…) We’ve known each other for a very long time and I treasure Jerry as one of my best friends on this planet.

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3 Tips For Hiring Managers On How To Recruit Veterans

YoungUpstarts

by Justin Constantine , founder of The Constantine Group. It’s great that so many businesses are saying they want to hire veterans. But it’s not enough to just say it. You have to do some legwork to meet them halfway, but for some hiring managers they might not know where to start, especially if they don’t have a military background. Members of the military have very different experiences, job titles and ways of talking about work.

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How to secure VC money in 3 weeks or less

The Next Web

Raising venture capital is a daunting process. You’ve spent months, if not years, working to turn your dreams into a reality, and now it all hinges on finding that one investor who believes in your company and team as much as you do and if you’re lucky, also brings value to the table. So you pack up your bags and head to Silicon Valley for your weeks-long gauntlet of in-person meetings with investors, often infamous for their candor and ease with which they crush or create startup dreams, to see

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Email is still king

The Equity Kicker

Email has become a drag on everyone’s lives, and it’s no surprise that people have jumped to Slack as an alternative (although I wonder what stops Slack becoming overloaded just like email), but the numbers show that email is still a great way to reach new customers. Arguably the best way. A recent McKinsey report found that email is 40x as effective as Facebook and Twitter combined, and featured this chart: Growth channels are best for startups because where there’s growth the

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Tips To Win Customers Over (And Keep Them From Leaving)

YFS Magazine

Every customer you retain generates profit for your bottom line. Every sale you make to an existing customer comes at a much cheaper investment, when compared with acquiring new customers.

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Telecommuting On The Rise

YoungUpstarts

Recently, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported that 38% of US employees were allowed to telecommute on a regular basis — a 15% increase since 2008. As the telecommuting trend continues, companies are finding new ways to manage and communicate with remote employees. Regardless of their location, telecommuters are considered to be part of a company’s labor force.

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When “Free” Converts (and When It Doesn’t)

ConversionXL

If I asked you, “what’s the most persuasive word in the English language,” what would you say? Many would say “free” – and that may or may not be accurate. It’s one of those CRO ‘best practices’ that is often repeated but rarely discussed in detail. There are studies that support its power, but there is also plenty of data that supports the idea of ‘free’ being detrimental to optimization.

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Musings on Twitter, networks, and mission driven businesses

The Equity Kicker

I read a very interesting and typically well written post from Umair Haque over the weekend titled Why Twitter’s Dying (And What You Can Learn From It). Everyone seems to be writing about Twitter at the moment, but this piece doesn’t mention Jack Dorsey or Twitter’s product challenges per se. Umair goes deeper. As he sees it Twitter’s challenge is that low level abuse and snarkiness is undermining the experience for most users and they are walking away.

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3 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Get More Out Of Their Workout Routine

YFS Magazine

Sam Altman, President of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, tells company founders to “work on their product, talk to users, exercise, eat and sleep, and very little else.”.

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Passwords Are Here To Stay

YoungUpstarts

by Bill Carey , Vice President of Marketing & Business Development at Siber Systems Inc. . Passwords have been the first line of defense for cyber security since the earliest days of the Internet, but predictions that new technologies will make passwords obsolete have been around almost as long. Despite that, passwords continue to confound expectations, showing surprising staying power as other options emerge.

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Keep Your Startup Safe from Legal Trouble

Up and Running

When you’re starting your business, it’s natural to want to focus on the things that you want to do and accomplish and put some of the more tedious chores to the back-burner. You are the innovator, the dreamer, and what creative wants to be bogged down with the nitty-gritty of paperwork, forms, and contracts? But in ignoring these details at the outset of your business, you could be placing your company’s long term future in jeopardy.