Feld Thoughts

MAY 1, 2019

The second one is on Validating Your Startup Idea which based on the book Startup Opportunities: Know When to Quit Your Day Job which I wrote with Sean Wise. Evaluating your startup idea from Brad Feld on Validating Your Startup Idea by Brad Feld.

Venture Capital 111

Venture Capital Startup Finance 111

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Almost every entrepreneur and new business owner I mentor is certain that his/her idea has a very high probability of success, and all find it hard to believe that ninety percent of startups ultimately fail. Look for validation from your mainstream customers. Even non-profits need income to run a business.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Merger Software Review Acquisition 329

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Hiring in any new venture needs to be a structured and high priority task, not the ad hoc informal process I see in many startups that are struggling to grow: Crisis mode hiring rather than planned team growth. I’m not suggesting executive search firms for every startup position, but national recruiting organizations will get better results.

Cost 260

Cost Hiring Matching Internet 260

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2021

Use that same technical and business expertise that served you well on this startup to find the next opportunity. I’m sure you have seen many new ones, and now understand even better the due diligence required to validate the opportunity, and the executions steps required to make it happen. Ignore the voices of dissent again.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Institutional Investors 417

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Startup studios continue to grow in popularity as incubators for new businesses. Rather than simply launching one startup, the startup studio model creates an organization whose business is launching startups. These can then be repeated and improved on with each successive startup.

Incubator 188

Incubator Startup Software Developers Software Development 188

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? There was no money train.

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

YoungUpstarts

MAY 21, 2020

So you’ve just had a lightbulb moment and stumbled across the perfect business idea, one that is going to revolutionise the world and disrupt the market. You envision your business as the next Uber or Spotify, yourself as the next Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, reaching that prestigious ‘unicorn’ startup status in record time. It’s genius!

Product 264

Product Cofounder Audience Product Development 264

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Every aspiring entrepreneur I know is talking about the fact that there are over 2,000 billionaires in the world today, and how their innovative idea could make them one of the next ones. Most of you prefer to ignore the feedback from analysts that your chances of creating the next unicorn startup may be as low as one in five million.

Merger 386

Merger Software Review Acquisition Social Media 386

YFS Magazine

MARCH 14, 2018

Launching a startup idea without validation is like roasting an expensive, 20-pound organic turkey for a dinner party, only to find out the guests are vegans.

Turkey 108

Turkey Startup Customer 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2022

Once you have clarified your personal definition of startup success, examine where you currently are relative to where you want to be. Your sense of worth should not be determined by other startups, or what you think peers expect of you. From a rational point of view, berating ourselves for past startup failures makes no sense.

Entrepreneur 253

Entrepreneur Developer Startup Product 253

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2020

It’s no wonder that 45 percent of startups fail in the first five years, and an even smaller percentage ever see a return for their years of effort. I’m not suggesting executive search firms for every startup position, but national recruiting organizations will get better results. Poorly defined and executed hiring process.

Hiring 339

Hiring Matching Cost Internet 339

NZ Entrepreneur

JUNE 19, 2023

A new batch of enterprising New Zealanders are being given the opportunity to fast track their ventures from idea through to startup, thanks to an online education initiative backed by Callaghan Innovation and entrepreneur education platform Startup NZ.

New Zealand 98

New Zealand Technical Cofounder Early Stage Entrepreneur 98

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Most startups equate the process of fundraising to dating – founders have to typically kiss a lot of frogs until the find the right fit. Climate tech – We have a fair chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change if startups offer commercial solutions to decarbonize society or remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

His basic point was: If someone, including me, tells you something isn’t a great idea and there’s no market for it there are only two acceptable responses. I’m going to take that thought out into the field and validate it with my customers." " Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ).

Customer 227

Customer Fractional CTO Viral Lean 227

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 20, 2020

I’ve long been an advocate of using Lean Startup principles to advance non-profits and philanthropic organizations, whose work is so urgently needed at this moment in history. Its creation was a chance to see how Lean Startup principles can be applied to philanthropic work as well as high-growth startups.

Lean 128

Lean San Francisco Technical Review Software Review 128

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

In the past, if your startup had a website presence, the company was credible by definition. Dreamers and gamblers have found out that if the website isn’t validated as credible, it’s probably a scam, and everyone loses. What validates credibility and makes your site memorable in the minds of consumers, and how much does it cost?

Affiliate 221

Affiliate Advertising Technical Review Social Network 221

Steve Blank

MARCH 12, 2014

We realized that past K-12 Entrepreneurial classes taught students “the lemonade stand” version of how to start a company: 1) come up with an idea, 2) execute the idea, 3) do the accounting (revenue, costs, etc.). Our students first worked with two local startups who agreed to be their clients, on real-problems.

Lean 334

Lean Customer Development Startup Silicon Valley 334

The Next Web

AUGUST 17, 2014

Ariel Rosenthal is a co-founder at Xprt, a new startup looking to save people the hassle and the headache of doing extensive research before buying a product. I don’t know if you ever experienced a eureka moment - a second when everything comes together and an amazing idea pops into your head. It is very.

Cofounder 164

Cofounder Startup Web Founder 164

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 27, 2020

The most successful entrepreneurs have always used the realities of the environment around them as a basis for exploring opportunities and developing new ideas that actually provide value for people and are structured to create profit. New business realities present unique opportunities for startups. Healthcare.

Entrepreneur 246

Entrepreneur Technical Review Startup LLC 246

Steve Blank

APRIL 16, 2024

One of the most exciting things a startup CEO in a business-to-business market can hear from a potential customer is, “We’re excited. It all depends on one question every startup CEO needs to ask. It all depends on one question every startup CEO needs to ask. If they did, I had no idea of their timeline for a decision.

Founder 325

Founder Engineer Sales Conversion 325

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. It’s time for a new startup model. How far behind is your startup? Nail the business model. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

Once you have clarified your personal definition of startup success, examine where you currently are relative to where you want to be. Your sense of worth should not be determined by other startups, or what you think peers expect of you. From a rational point of view, berating ourselves for past startup failures makes no sense.

Entrepreneur 247

Entrepreneur Developer Startup Product 247

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2011

I’m sure you all realize that there could be quite a distance between a great idea and a great startup. Maybe the solution hasn’t yet been commercialized, but a patent has been submitted by someone else, putting your idea in jeopardy. No idea is worth that. But many people don’t have a clue on how to bridge the gap.

Due Diligence 235

Due Diligence Startup Search Engineer 235

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

As a small business and startup advisor, I find that entrepreneurs often love to talk about their latest idea, but not their execution. Like most investors, I’m convinced that success in business is more about the plan and the person than the idea. Ideas can’t be tracked, and tend to only morph into other ideas as time passes.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Technical Review Metrics Restful 266

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

AI startups: Sell work, not software [Sarah Tavel/Benchmark] – Like many of us Sarah writes in spurts, so I’m always excited when there’s a burst of stuff from her. You’re going to be successful bringing this idea to life, no matter what. “So, my main takeaway for nontechnical founders: Don’t wait.

Technical Cofounder 79

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Coder Canada 79

The Next Web

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Hailing from the Lean Startup Machine , The Validation Board is a deceptively simple, free tool for testing out your latest startup and product ideas. The board is based on Eric Ries’s Lean Startup methodology, and according to LSM, it was developed by studying the processes of over 500 startups.

Lean 130

Lean Startup Product Design 130

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2023

Investors will tell you that they love to put money into startups that are scalable, and ready to become the next unicorn. Investors don’t invest in services startups. Here are some pragmatic tips on how to make your startup more scalable and investable: If you need investors, start with a scalable idea.

Hockey Stick 339

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Non-Compete Business Model 339

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

Almost on a weekly basis, I meet new aspiring entrepreneurs looking to execute on their ideas. In both scenarios, it seems that startup venture initiation and idea validation are strictly dependent on the app. Early stage idea validation can be accomplished without building an application.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2012

It’s a long way from an entrepreneur’s “idea” to a working product with a real market and paying customers. Building a prototype should be an early and high priority task for every startup. Test your idea early in a form that is easy and inexpensive to modify. Demonstrate to you and your team that your idea is implementable.

Startup 242

Startup Database Early Stage Distribution 242

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

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2022

These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, pitching their latest and greatest new idea, and looking for someone to give them money. Talk is cheap, but entrepreneurs who show you a working model of their idea know how to execute. Many ideas I hear sound great, but I have no idea if they can be implemented.

Angel Investor 276

Angel Investor Database Cofounder Distribution 276

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2013

In the past, if your startup had a website presence, the company was credible by definition. Dreamers and gamblers have found out that if the website isn’t validated as credible, it’s probably a scam, and everyone loses. What validates credibility and makes your site memorable in the minds of consumers, and how much does it cost?

Startup 263

Startup Affiliate Advertising Technical Review 263

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2020

The classes are built on the Lean Startup methodology: Customer Discovery, Agile Engineering and the Business/Mission Model Canvas. How do should startups do it? Talking to customers seems like a simple idea, but most founders find it’s one of the hardest things they have to do. finding product/market fit).

Customer 413

Customer Business Model Restful Video 413

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2019

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have no idea how dramatically your own role has to evolve as you develop a solution, start a business, and expect it to scale into a successful self-managed company. For example, I knew Bill Gates back in the early startup days of Microsoft.

Leadership 248

Leadership Technical Review Cofounder Social Media 248

The Equity Kicker

MAY 8, 2013

There is a good post up today on Segment.io describing how they used Kickstarter as a lean startup tool to validate demand. First the background: Kickstarter is the perfect way to validate an idea. Startup general interest' Segment.io’s Kickstarter campaign was for a Python web development course.

Demand 156

Demand Campaign Web Development Lean 156

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 11, 2012

Earlier this year in February, the Startups in Asia conference in Singapore saw Singapore-based social collaborative learning platform Teamie emerging victorious from a pool of nineteen regional startups pitching in a ‘Startup Arena’ to win a US$10,000 prize.

Indonesia 171

Indonesia Asia Singapore Startup 171