YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

by Bruce Cleveland, Founding Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners and author of “ Traversing the Traction Gap “ As we continue our exploration of the Traction Gap Framework® – a step-by-step approach that startup teams can use to go from ideation to preparing to scale – I will walk you through the principles.

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127

VC Cafe

JANUARY 22, 2021

A few months ago, VC Cafe launched a series on startup engagement and outreach programs of large tech companies. After covering Google startup outreach and support (from first hand experience), today I’m happy to add Amazon and AWS, by looking into the variety of ways startups can engage with the commerce and cloud giant.

Technical Review 174

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Incubator 174

Women Entrepreneurs Can

JUNE 3, 2021

Business success requires a range of skills and talents and it often makes sense to have a business partner rather than going solo. There are several things that determine startup success such as having the right product market fit, having a product that the market needs, having the right team and having enough cash.

Partner 52

Partner Technical Review Cofounder Georgia 52

VC Cafe

JULY 21, 2020

If you’re a startup founder, you’re probably looking at Google in some way, maybe in terms of partnership or acquisition, but maybe some level of suspicion and fear. In this post, I’ll try to organise the various startup engagement and outreach programs at Google. How can startups engage Google (credit: VC Cafe).

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Startup Early Stage Cloud 131

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

by Bruce Cleveland, Founding Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners and author of “ Traversing the Traction Gap “ As we continue our exploration of the Traction Gap Framework® – a step-by-step approach that startup teams can use to go from ideation to preparing to scale – I will walk you through the principles.

Framework 113

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 113

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

One of most critical things you should consider before jumping into a co-foundership is partnering with someone who can make up for the qualities you lack. For example, Artem is an expert in software engineering, product development and all things tech. This, in turn, can lead to failure.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Engineering Startup 217

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

I strongly recommend a dramatic departure from this model, called “planned iteration” or Lean Startup methodology, where you assume you won’t get it right the first time, so you launch with a minimum viable product (MVP). With a minimum viable product, your startup remains much more agile. Find customers, partners and channels early.

Agile 253

Agile Startup Social Network Software Developers 253

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

“It kinda sucks to be engineer #1.”. That’s what a couple of my friends – engineers at Google and Bloomberg who have been following the rise of startup culture with intrigue – told me recently. They were referring to non-founder engineers, most commonly the first hire for technology businesses. Engineer #1?

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2013

I strongly recommend a dramatic departure from this model, called “planned iteration” or Lean Startup methodology, where you assume you won’t get it right the first time, so you launch with a minimum viable product (MVP). With a minimum viable product, your startup remains much more agile. Find customers, partners and channels early.

Agile 263

Agile Startup Social Network Software Developers 263

The Equity Kicker

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Last week friend of Forward Partners Douglas Squirrel published a post about Sustainable engineering on The Path Forward in which he advises founders on how to scale their engineering effort.

Engineer 60

Engineer Framework Software Developers Software Development 60

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

None of that can compare with being the CEO of a startup facing a rapidly diminishing bank account, your best engineer quitting, working until 10pm and rushing to the airport and catching a redeye for a “ Hail Mary ” close of a customer, with your board demanding you do it faster. we have a partner-track associates program.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

One of my favorite events last year was attending Startup Grind where I got to interview Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma. And of course we talked about many of my views of building startups. You didn’t join startups then. You joined a startup if you couldn’t get a real job.

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

Building a startup business is not the same as corporate executive experience, so prior titles in a big business may actually be seen as a negative. On the other hand, having failed in an earlier startup may be an advantage, if positioned properly, and some learning is evident. Focus on prior results, not titles.

Sweat Equity 152

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Software Review 152

mashable.com

MAY 5, 2011

But a new angel fund is hoping that they’ll do the same in exchange for engineering talent. That company, which now has a client list of more than 200 companies and additional offices in the Philippines and New York, takes on the startup projects that Kayweb Angels selects. Have an account?

Equity 74

Equity Engineer Technical Review Social Media 74

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 31, 2023

Whether it’s marketing yourself as an expert, writing Shopify-specific content, or partnering with other Shopify Partners, fitting into the Shopify Partners and Ecosystem is one of the crucial steps. The Shopify Experts marketplace operates with the Shopify Partner program — the actual site and community management system.

Curation 140

Curation Portfolio eCommerce Programming 140

David Teten

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Blue Future Partners, a venture capital fund of funds, recently interviewed me on ESG in venture capital. I’m also incubating a startup, Action Tank , to help other NGOs accomplish their goals using their supporters’ unique expertise. Concentration in consumer/branded products startups. Why is that?

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Partner Technical Review Cofounder 60

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

You need to build business relationships with partners, team members, investors, and of course customers. This message, usually called your elevator pitch, should be a short and compelling description of your your startup, that can be delivered with conviction in the time it takes to ride up an elevator with a potential investor or partner.

Entrepreneur 261

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Incubator 261

Gust

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Eric Ries on Lean Startup methodology, via Wikipedia. I strongly recommend a dramatic departure from this model, called “planned iteration” or Lean Startup methodology, where you assume you won’t get it right the first time, so you launch with a minimum viable product (MVP). Find customers, partners and channels early.

Agile 163

Agile Startup Lean Social Network 163

VC Cafe

MARCH 4, 2024

Since I’ve started writing about Israeli startups in 2004, there has never been any event like October 7 and the war that followed. Now, 150 days after October 7th, the Israeli startup ecosystem is once again in a tough spot. Creating companies, raising funding, completing multi million M&A deals.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital 78

VC Cafe

APRIL 26, 2023

It’s a global phenomenon, but to be successful in AI, startup hubs require a density of AI engineers, access to data and compute power and access to capital. But it’s not only the AI startups that are active in the generative AI space. We published the first version of the landscape in February 2023 , which included 40 startups.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence ChatGPT 78

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, September 7, 2008 Customer Development Engineering Yesterday, I had the opportunity to guest lecture again in Steve Blank s entrepreneurship class at the Berkeley-Columbia executive MBA program. Can this methodology be used for startups that are not exclusively about software? Talk about waste.

Customer Development 131

Customer Development Engineer San Francisco Developer 131

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 6, 2013

Once again, along with my partners at 500 Startups, we are proud to present the most substantive track at SXSW: [link] There was a running joke last year that "the Lean Startup track was the only place at SXSW you couldn't get out of the building." 1,000 startup founders, investors, and press! We're back! See you there!

Lean 165

Lean Cofounder Startup Software Engineering 165

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 28, 2019

A systems-wide approach to operationalize diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the startup ecosystem is required and must be built from the ground by communities of color with the support and investment of all. Each year, major corporations, tech companies, startups, ecosystem builders, influencers and foundations sponsor HBCU@SXSW.

Partner 55

Partner Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity 55

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 18, 2019

When looking for an accounting firm , make sure to choose one that has experience working with startups or small businesses. Marketing agencies have many areas of expertise, from search engine optimization, to branding, affiliate marketing and lead generation. Accounting means more than just tax preparation and bookkeeping.

Software Developers 185

Software Developers Software Development Startup Affiliate 185

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

A common pain of startups after an exhilarating first surge of early adopters is a long and frustrating plateau of slow growth, where it seems like nothing you do will get your business to profitability. Continually add new marketing and distribution partners. Real growth always requires real marketing.

Startup 335

Startup Social Media Metrics Viral 335

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

How do you figure out what’s the right mix of skills for the co-founders of your startup? I was having breakfast with Radhika, an ex-grad student of mine who wanted to share her Customer Discovery progress for her consumer hardware startup. I told Radhika this is a perennial question for startups. ——-.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Founder Intellectual Property Business Model 335

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 1, 2019

by Bruce Cleveland, Founding Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners and author of “ Traversing the Traction Gap “. This is the second in a three-part series that aims to help you understand the Traction Gap Framework® – a step-by-step approach that startup teams can use to go from ideation to preparing to scale. Go-to-Product.

Cleveland 150

Cleveland Framework Marketing Early Stage 150

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Security will shift from defensive to predictive AI-powered security (Norwest Venture Partners). Since AI and ML startups cut across verticals (analytics, fintech, health, adtech, security, etc), it’s easier to group them under the “machine intelligence” umbrella, coined by Shivon Zillis , a partner at Bloomberg Beta.

Artificial Inteligence 122

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Startup 122

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

success story Blackboard and veteran entrepreneur who’s held several COO and president roles at various startups. Many startup CEOs hire COOs or launch companies with a co-founder carrying the title. But what do COOs actually do for startups? Do you need highly skilled functional managers or do you need a true partner?

Hiring 336

Hiring Cofounder Startup Technical Cofounder 336

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

Want to Know Difference Between a CTO and a VP of Engineering? I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. A few people asked me to try and define the perfect startup organization chart. But I do have more insight into understanding your startup team. Every great tech startup needs one.

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89

Up and Running

AUGUST 30, 2021

Your startup becomes irrelevant. One way to do this before starting your own business is by working for a startup or small fast-paced company in your field. Work at a startup before building your own. It can be a small and nimble startup like Origin, or a company with 50 employees and hiring more every quarter.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Lean Colorado Engineer 132

Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

This post originally appeared in TechCrunch back in 2015, written by our co-founder and managing partner Erik Rannala. Like a teenager with a million-dollar allowance and an identity crisis, a startup with too much capital and no product-market fit will become capable of making larger mistakes. As an investor, I root for startups.

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

The Forrest Four-Cast: February 21, 2019 Fifty diverse startups will aim to impress a panel of judges and a live audience with their skills, creativity and innovation at SXSW Pitch Presented by Cyndx. Tell us about the startup ecosystem there. Genetic engineering (CRISPR) and the neural link. Good ideas are a dime a dozen.

Technical Review 71

Technical Review Startup Software Review Florida 71

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 3, 2022

Search engine optimization (SEO) promises many benefits, enabling you to increase traffic to your website, improve brand visibility, and set a course for long-term growth. You probably already know that most people rely on search engines to answer their questions, research new topics, and gather information. The short answer is no!

SEO 190

SEO Search Engineer Employee 190

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Businesses may benefit from India’s talent pool and technical advances by partnering with them. They are good at building websites and mobile apps, as well as product engineering. Techno proves to be a valuable partner due to its expertise and reliability. Their highly qualified workforce guarantees excellent results.

India 130

India Software Review Software Technical Review 130

David Teten

DECEMBER 2, 2019

You’ve decided to launch a technology-enabled startup with a positive social impact! Now the bad news: some venture capitallists have a bias against startups with an explicit positive social impact, on the grounds that they have a smaller addressable market, and that the founders are not sufficiently focused on creating shareholder wealth.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review SBIR Dilution Silicon Valley 60

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 23, 2019

Austin Startup Week , spanning from September 22–26, flourished with learning opportunities and thought-provoking discussions that left us wanting more. From tips on international expansion strategies to using XR as a musical instrument, these sessions at Capital Factory showcased some amazing innovation in Austin’s startup community.

Fractional VPE 49

Fractional VPE Austin Artificial Inteligence Fractional CTO 49