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7 Likely Criticisms Every Founder Needs To Anticipate

Startup Professionals Musings

In my role as an advisor to entrepreneurs, I often find founders who have such conviction and passion for their new idea, that they can’t believe anyone could challenge it. They bristle quickly when investors or even potential customers raise issues with real value, competition, risk, and sustainability.

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Founder-Investor Fit

VC Cafe

A couple of weeks ago I was did a fireside chat with Alon Grinshpoon, founder and CEO of Echo3D , a CDN and CMS for 3D content in the cloud and a Remagine Ventures portfolio company, as part of an entrepreneurial finance MBA class in Tel Aviv University. We were discussing both sides of the table and the relationship between founders and VCs.

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How To Survive The Loss Of A Main Customer

YoungUpstarts

by Zain Jaffer, serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Zain Ventures. In the early stages, it isn’t uncommon for businesses to bank their earnings on a handful of customers (or sometimes, just one). The loss of these major customers can have a dramatic impact on both internal (employees) and external contributors (investors).

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10 Leadership Traits To Inspire Every Startup Founder

Startup Professionals Musings

Every new entrepreneur has to initiate the right actions to be perceived as a leader in their chosen business domain by their team and by their customers, or the road to success and satisfaction will be lost along the way. Don’t wait for competitors to force the need for better products, lower prices and better customer service.

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Why Founders Should Know How to Code

Steve Blank

I was driving home from the BIO conference in San Diego last month and had lots of time for a phone call with Dave, an ex student and now a founder who wanted to update me on his Customer Discovery progress. Customer Discovery. He worked hard to deeply understand the customer problems of these two customer segments.

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Like Their Customers, Tech Startups Will Weather the Storm

ReadWriteStart

The Macro Factors Driving Volatility For tech startups, this new environment is obviously challenging: Business customers are cutting costs and hunkering down as the Fed enacts aggressive measures to combat inflation, and consumers are simultaneously feeling the pinch from both inflation and high borrowing costs.

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How To Find the Right Co-Founders?

Steve Blank

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. Trying to figure out what the right set of co-founders isn’t so clear.

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