Gust

JUNE 10, 2012

Use the Internet and social networking instead of public relations companies and advertising agencies. New cost equations brought about by the Internet and social networking are causing a revolution, and a new age — the age of the entrepreneur — is dawning. Sales and marketing costs. Savings can be huge in these areas.

Cost 139

Cost Burn Rate SEM Startup 139

Gust

JANUARY 19, 2014

Follow up online with social networking to make contact, dig deeper, and maybe even line up a mentor. Most successful entrepreneurs have been written up on the Internet, or in magazines, or books. Spend some time with these biographies and soak up the insights and inspiration. Adopt a mentor.

Entrepreneur 172

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Social Network Restful 172

Gust

MARCH 9, 2014

Despite the fact that social networking and other online processes are essentially free, good marketing still costs money. Good marketing often is the only thing that separates the successful startup from the not-so-successful startup.

Marketing 146

Marketing SEM Viral Social Media 146

Gust

JANUARY 13, 2013

Business networking is key. These days, every student has his social network of peers. Plug yourself into a new network of business people. Most schools have business plan competitions, and even give out seed money to winners. Once you graduate, you can’t take that course you need, and even the advisors are gone.

Entrepreneur 180

Entrepreneur Seed Money Social Network Business Plan 180

Gust

AUGUST 24, 2014

This doesn’t work well with “nice to have” offerings, like social networks, but does work for new drugs and medical devices that solve critical health problems. If you can quantify a large value or cost savings to the customer, charge a price commensurate with the value delivered. Subscription model.

Revenue 184

Revenue Startup Retention Business Model 184

Gust

DECEMBER 16, 2012

Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. In today’s world, if you don’t have a web site up and running, you will not be perceived as a real company. Investors routinely go to candidate web sites to get a feel for the tone and scope of the company, as well as its maturity and offerings.

Angel Investor 179

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 179

Gust

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

You may have great credentials as a public servant in your home town, but that won’t get you money to build a social network on the Internet, or start a software company. Fortune 1000 CEOs usually don’t make good startup CEOs, and vice versa. Experience and expertise in this business area.

Startup 147

Startup Bootstrapping Social Network Internet 147

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2011

Check track record on the Internet and social networks. Ask the investor for “references,” meaning contacts at companies where previous investments were made. Don’t just call, but personally visit these contacts. Do a simple Google search like you would on any company or individual before signing a contract.

Due Diligence 119

Due Diligence Entrepreneur Offshore Angel Groups 119

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. This is how you will make money, who pays you, and gross margins. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. There are two problems with this assertion.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Gust

JANUARY 19, 2014

Follow up online with social networking to make contact, dig deeper, and maybe even line up a mentor. Most successful entrepreneurs have been written up on the Internet, or in magazines, or books. Spend some time with these biographies and soak up the insights and inspiration. Adopt a mentor.

Entrepreneur 70

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Social Network Restful 70

Gust

DECEMBER 16, 2011

The division manager at Google who’s tasked with driving more mobile ads can drop $17 million on your social network that makes it happen. That translates into something very, very important: relatively low level executives who can write good-sized checks without insane internal approval processes.

IPO 87

IPO .Net Social Network Mobile 87

Gust

JANUARY 6, 2013

On the Internet, I would add new social networking sites, and new matchmaking sites. Certain business sectors have historical high failure rates and are routinely avoided by investors. These include food service, retail, consulting, work at home, and telemarketing. Dependent on government regulations.

Russia 186

Russia Startup Software Review Government 186

Gust

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

It’s a bad risk to count only on word-of-mouth and viral social network buzz for marketing, as I see in many business plans today. Once you have established your credibility and value, a strategic partnership may lead to other business relationships or a funding source. Plan to spend money on marketing.

Forecast 188

Forecast Viral Social Network Business Model 188

Gust

DECEMBER 12, 2011

The cool kids are off doing that new social network, the one that alerts you when there’s someone within 50 feet who shares your EYCL1 gene. Sorry, yes, I know how retro this sounds. And after everyone on the planet joins it, a monetization scheme will emerge, certainly.

IPO 70

IPO Social Network Revenue Aggregator 70

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

He has founded 7 startups to date, including sixdegrees, the first social network, and he advises many others. If you can build an audience to watch you rack up those 7-minute miles, you’ve got a good chance that somewhere along your run, some of them will be willing to bet on an amazing finish time for your marathon. _.

Venture Capital 163

Venture Capital Finance Early Stage .Net 163

Gust

JULY 27, 2014

Social and business networking sites. Just for starters, Wikipedia now lists about 200 sites by name (once over 300), which they claim is just some of the more notable social networking sites. If you must do one of these, skip the “me too” and focus on a niche, if you can find an unoccupied one.

Entrepreneur 182

Entrepreneur Aggregator Engineer Social Network 182

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

another me-too social network? A given business starts with an idea, and while the idea may (and likely will) change over time, it has to be good on some basic level for it to be able to succeed in the long run. How excited am I likely to be when I see a plan for a 2008-model buggy whip?

Coder 147

Coder Web Startup Salary 147

Gust

OCTOBER 28, 2012

An old Harvard Business Review article, “ Competent Jerks, Lovable Fools, and the Formation of Social Networks ,” looks at how people choose those they work with. Stay open to the possibility that results may take time, and come in ways not obvious today. One is job competence (Does Joe know what he’s doing?).

Startup 157

Startup PR Demand Social Network 157