Steve Blank
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
The Customer Development process is the way startups quickly iterate and test each element of their business model , reducing customer and market risk. The first step of Customer Development is called Customer Discovery. In Discovery startups take all their hypotheses about the business model: product, market, customers, channel, etc. outside the building and test them in front of customers.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 7, 2010
This is the final part of my series on Entrepreneurial DNA that was originally published on VentureHacks. OK, it’s not really my final part. I started with a Top 10 list for Nivi (at VentureHacks), but I couldn’t cram it into 10 so it became a Top 11 list. I originally conceived it as the Top 11 things that I believe “all entrepreneurs need to succeed.&# If it stuck to this theme then I would stand by my top 11.
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Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 10, 2010
If your startup is looking for an angel investor, it makes sense to present your plan to flocks of angels, and assume that at least one will swoop down and scoop you up. Or does it? I’ll come back to that later. One of the most common questions I get is “How do I find angel investors?” With today’s access to the Internet, and Google searches, it really isn’t that hard.
crowdSPRING Blog
FEBRUARY 9, 2010
In Part 1 of this blog series, I presented a rather dysfunctional conversation going on between software consultants and you, their client. I explained what consultants mean when they use the word “productivity,” why it gets convoluted, and how understanding this can lead you to making better choices for your company. I originally promised that in Part 2 I would go into some specific software products.
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
Start Up Blog
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
I recently saw a job posted on a web developer recruiting website. It involved some people looking for coders to make a copy of my web business and livelihood www.rentoid.com. What was interesting was the lack decorum shown in the coder recruiting process where the person said – build me a replica of this website. Here’s a screen print of it below.
Austin Startup
FEBRUARY 8, 2010
The fourth annual Relationship and Information Series for Entrepreneurs (RISE) returns to Austin, Texas, March 1-5, 2010 with five full days of free sessions covering a wide range of topics of interest to aspiring, new and established entrepreneurs in all industries. If you’re interested in becoming a host or participant, you can register online at www.riseaustin.org.
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 12, 2010
Like many of you I’ve sat through my fair share of Board Meetings over the past decade. For the most part I’d call them Bored Meetings. The first 7 years I was running them and the past 3 years I’ve been attending them. Most board meetings aren’t as effective as they could be. Everyone has their own opinion on board meetings so you’ll get conflicting advice.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 7, 2010
I was in a session last year with Dave Girouard of Google, when I asked him if he still believed in the statement he made 3 years prior about enterprise software. Without batting an eyelid, he asked me “Are you. Tags: Enterprise Software (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP).
Steve Blank
FEBRUARY 8, 2010
One of the hardest problems for engineers in founding roles in a startup is interacting with customers up close and personal. Over the years I’ve found the best way to learn to do this is by emulating empathy. The Problem. I was having dinner in Palo Alto with some of my Stanford engineering students and one of the subjects they were most interested in talking about was “how do you really get out of the building and talk to customers.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 9, 2010
By Evan Britton Each day, millions of internet users post updates on a variety of social networking sites. People make these updates to post what they are observing right now or give their opinion on something that is currently happening. Because of all of these updates, there is a wealth of real-time information on the web. This information is often relevant and useful for entrepreneurs and startups - so you need to understand the alternatives and implications.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 8, 2010
This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. I often tell people that raising money is worse than getting married. I have to be careful in how that sounds because I love my wife and am happily married. But the truth is that in marriage if you’re unhappy you can at least get divorced (in most countries). Not so in venture capital.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
Fellow EI, Dennis Moore, ex SAP and Oracle, has a survey running on when SAP will be acquired and who will do the acquiring. My vote – hopefully never. SAP has plenty of challenges to conquer as I have been. Tags: Enterprise Software (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP).
A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
FEBRUARY 8, 2010
I guest-post on other blogs fairly regularly, but it was pointed out to me by rising blogging star Ash Maurya that I don't usually share these with you! So here's a selection of articles I've published elsewhere. Four ways to get automatically rejected by an Angel investor. (VentureBeat). Advice on pitching Angel investors who often have different criteria than the typical VC.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. This one had better grab their attention, or they won’t look further. You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary.
Genuine VC
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
If you ask any VC what they look for in an investment opportunity, they’ll tell you that the people are at the top of their list. Extraordinary companies can’t be built without extraordinary entrepreneurs, especially at the earliest stages. I’d argue that successful founders must actually possess real a superpower to make the nearly impossible task of getting a startup off the ground become a reality.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 10, 2010
Best piece of advice Bob at Information Week gives Hasso Plattner in an “open letter” is quit the asinine focus on Oracle as “primary competitor”. That is aiming way too low. He says: “Rather, SAP's top competitor is cloud computing. Tags: Enterprise Software (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP).
Feld Thoughts
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
My long time friend Warren Katz pointed me out to an event on March 3, 2010 called EO Boston Accelerator Shark Bowl 2010. It’s a competition for entrepreneurs under 40 with businesses between $100k / year and $1m / year in revenue. You present to a group of judges including Warren (MAK Technologies), Rich Farrell (Full Armor), Clark Waterfall (Boston Search Group), and Michael Hackel (DiningIN) who are all EO Boston members.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 6, 2010
If you are just plain tired of working so hard, or your startup is not getting the traction you expected, should you shut down cleanly, or just file for bankruptcy and walk away? For those who think that bankruptcy is the easy way out, think again. Bankruptcy should always be the absolutely last resort. The best alternative is always to get the business back on track, and sell it at a reasonable value, or do a normal closedown with full payout to vendors and investors.
Startup Lessons Learned
FEBRUARY 8, 2010
Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, February 8, 2010 Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Review) The next article in my series on entrepreneurship for Harvard Business Review is live today. Once again, we revisit the topic of Actionable metrics and their nemesis: Vanity metrics. Any entrepreneur with a decent reality distortion field can find metrics that make it look like theyre being successful.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 9, 2010
There was another flurry of media/analyst/blogger activity around SAP yesterday as Dr. Hasso Plattner explained the way forward after Leo Apotheker resigned. I did not attend that press conference. Just like I did not the 5+ hour media circus around. Tags: Enterprise Software (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP).
Feld Thoughts
FEBRUARY 10, 2010
Scott Kirsner had a fun article in Boston.com today titled The Red Line Tour of Innovation in Boston. Several of the stops were regularly hang outs of mine between 1983 and 1995 most notably #10 (Miracle of Science) and #11 (Toscanini’s) but also including #5 (MIT Media Lab), #6 (Muddy Charles Pub), #7 (MIT Lobby 7), and #8 (Central Square and the Necco Factory – back when they made Necco wafers.).
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 12, 2010
If you are going to be a real entrepreneur, it’s important that you know yourself well. After all, you won’t have a direct manager charged with giving you feedback, and your direct reports probably will be afraid to tell you what they really think. In any case, your skills, talent, knowledge, personality, and strengths are your best assets as an entrepreneur.
Genuine VC
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
If you ask any VC what they look for in an investment opportunity, they’ll tell you that the people are at the top of their list. Extraordinary companies can’t be built without extraordinary entrepreneurs, especially at the earliest stages. I’d argue that successful founders must actually possess real a superpower to make the nearly impossible task of getting a startup off the ground become a reality.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
Tom Raftery interviews Guerry Waters of Oracle on smart grids. I wish he had asked him early on not in the last question – where exactly does Oracle add value? And how much cost does its billing and other back. Tags: Industry Commentary.
Startup Lessons Learned
FEBRUARY 7, 2010
Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, February 7, 2010 Tell your Startup Visa story Ive been promising big Startup Visa -related news on Twitter for a few weeks. There is news, its very exciting, and I still cant share it. Soon, I promise. But in order for this idea to progress into legislation, we need your help. Whether youre a US citizen or an immigrant, entrepreneur or investor, founder or employee, theres something you can do.
Feld Thoughts
FEBRUARY 7, 2010
When I wrote my post titled An Angel Investor Group Move That Makes Me Vomit I expected to write my little rant and be done with it. A month or so later Jason Calacanis picked up the mantle and started a Jihad against the idea of angel groups charging entrepreneurs to pitch to them. The result is the Open Angel Forum. I participated in the second event last week in Boulder.
crowdSPRING Blog
FEBRUARY 10, 2010
“Write without pay until someone offers to pay&# – Mark Twain. Since May 2008, the crowdSPRING community (now over 50,000 creatives, from 170+ countries!) has helped thousands of entrepreneurs, small businesses, startups, agencies, and Brands (from over 70 countries), with graphic, website, and industrial design projects. We’ve paid millions of dollars to designers and want to provide similar opportunities – and a level playing field – for writers.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 9, 2010
This continues a series of columns from practitioners I respect. The category "Real Deal" describes them well. This time it is Peter Brudenall, who is a partner in the London office of Hunton & Williams LLP. He is a member. Tags: Outsourcing Negotiations/Best Practices.
Startup Lessons Learned
FEBRUARY 6, 2010
Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, February 6, 2010 Speaking 2010: Webstock, GDC, Web 2.0, and more Ive been trying hard to cut back on travel in 2010 so as to have more time for writing. I started to feel like my blog became too much of a travel diary last year - and I still have many videos and presentations from last fall that I havent shared yet.
Feld Thoughts
FEBRUARY 12, 2010
I’m doing another Beers with Brad – this time in Boulder on next Thursday, February 18th from 6pm to 8pm at Twisted Pine Brewery (3201 Walnut Street). Lest you think this will be one of those boring events where a bunch of smart, interesting people stand around and drink beer and talk for a few hours, I promise I’ll spice this one up. I’m going to tell three entrepreneurial stories I haven’t told in public before in Boulder.
Start Up Blog
FEBRUARY 7, 2010
In business, demand is invariably more important than supply. If demand doesn’t exist, supply is irrelevant. If demand exists, supply will eventuate. I happened upon a quote from one of the greatest inventors / entrepreneurs in history Thomas Edison. Despite the simplicity of the idea, it’s very profound. “I find out what the world needs, and then I proceed to invent it.&#.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
The first one is welcome. Google is potentially disrupting the broadband market of telcos and cable cos. I sense an opportunity for communities like Lafayette, LA to step forward and work with Google. Lafayette profiled in my upcoming book on. Tags: Industry Commentary.
crowdSPRING Blog
FEBRUARY 8, 2010
crowdSPRING is a B2B venture tapping into the ever-fragmented SMB market. This presents us with some specific challenges, including how to better convert the curious first time visitor to the site into a customer and how to continuously deliver value to existing customers to build long-lasting relationships. We use a “micro-conversion&# approach that we believe is a powerful strategy for attracting and retaining customers.
Feld Thoughts
FEBRUARY 8, 2010
Lots of little things go into building a great company over the long term. Rally Software is one that I’m proud to have been involved in from the beginning. I remember when Ryan Martens, the founder, would sit for entire days in a small conference room near my office covering the white boards on the walls with his scribblings. Today Rally is a 150 person company that plans to add another 75 people in 2010 on the heels of Rally’s $16 million financing led by Greylock.
This is going to be BIG.
FEBRUARY 10, 2010
As you can see, things are looking quite different around here. I'm in the middle of porting my blog over to SquareSpace. I have *most* of the comments moved over with the most excellent help of Daniel Ha and fellow Regian Paolo DeDios. They would have ported fine, but SquareSpace and Typepad don't have the same URL creation syntaxes and that's the only way Disqus can tell what set of comments to post, so we have a few missing ones here and there that should get fixed soon.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 10, 2010
So, they finally run a Super Bowl ad which costs zillions to air and end it with the phrase “Search On”. The ad showcases maps, voice, flight tracking, translate and other Google services and everything is clubbed under “Search”? 2. Tags: Industry Commentary.
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