A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 12, 2010

This is part 1 of the series: 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches. Between this blog and reviewing applications to Capital Factory I see hundreds of pitches a year. That's what you sound like when you claim that getting a software patent will protect you from competition. Passion is necessary but far from sufficient.

Intellectual Property 319

Intellectual Property Bootstrapping Software Review Open Source 319

Software By Rob

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Making Open Source Convenient: JumpBox – A startup focused on making it dead-simple to get started with open source applications, they create virtual machines completely pre-configured to just start and go (including versions that runs on Amazon EC2). Know Thy Audience – And look at creative funding sources.

Open Source 37

Open Source Technical Review Software Review EC2 37

Software By Rob

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Business of Software is a conference organized by Neil Davidson and Joel Spolsky , and was held this year in San Francisco. The speaking line-up is a who’s who of software bloggers and authors, including Geoffrey Moore, Paul Graham, Dharmesh Shah and Joel Spolsky. There were several great presentations during the conference.

Software Review 47

Software Review Software San Francisco RSS 47

Software By Rob

NOVEMBER 21, 2008

The Startup Success Podcast – After the demise of The Micro-ISV Show, Bob Walsh is back discussing issues affecting software startups. Open Source, For-Profit Startups – “FairSoftware is the place to start and grow your online business. Join nearly 6,000 startup entrepreneurs by subscribing to my RSS feed.

Open Source 27

Open Source Software Review Startup RSS 27

Software By Rob

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

A few weeks ago a Micropreneur Academy member asked about getting started as a freelance developer since freelance development can be more conducive to getting started as a Micropreneur. In addition, freelance development requires a lot more mental energy than being a salaried employee.

Software Review 53

Software Review Developer RSS Software Developers 53

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory. Evan and I met regularly over a three year period from the time he was running Flux, which he sold to Viacom ( who was his strategic investor ). Enter Burstly.

Mobile 282

Mobile Management Southern California Application Development 282

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

Like a financial debt, the technical debt incurs interest payments, which come in the form of the extra effort that we have to do in future development because of the quick and dirty design choice. But there is more to technical debt than just the interest payments that come due. This happened quite often in the early days of IMVU.

Technical Review 168

Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

www.readwriteweb.com

MAY 10, 2012

Thanks to Apples iOS and Googles open source Android OS, smartphone and tablet apps have enjoyed a period of astounding success over the past few years. Browsers are starting to trend up again and some online businesses are turning away from apps. All of that work and for disappointing sales.

HTML 69

HTML Technical Review Software Review Semantic 69

Software By Rob

JULY 31, 2009

Startup Marketing Advice from Balsamiq Studio – With the startup success he’s achieved in the past 18 months, Peldi seems to know what he’s doing. Hierarchy of the Successful Independent Software Developer – Freelancer -> Consultant -> MicroISV -> Micropreneur. I’ve lost almost 300 games.

Software Review 39

Software Review Software Developers Software Development RSS 39

Start Up Blog

APRIL 28, 2011

A few soundbites from the future: Leadership: It’s no longer about being king of the mountain, it’s about being center of the circle. The 3 rd world is benefiting from the mistakes of the 1 st world over the past 100 years. Un-Social Networking: Martin Lindstrom of Brand Sense says we are suffering a little from digital emptiness.

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Moldova Internet Australia Libya 91

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

However, in private markets, there is more room to optimize across all 11 steps of the investing process: firm management , marketing, fundraising , origination , manage relationships, due diligence, negotiation, monitoring, portfolio acceleration , reporting, and. 3) Raise capital.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Software By Rob

OCTOBER 28, 2009

October 28th, 2009 | Cool News, Links & Reviews , Micropreneurship , Startups Building your startup? I cover topics that affect software and web startups of all sizes, but mostly relating to startups you can fund yourself. You can download the MP3 here. P.S. I did a written interview a few weeks ago for LocationIndependent.com.

Software Review 37

Software Review RSS Startup Software Developers 37

Altgate

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The presentation was on outsourcing generally, not just software engineering and the audience was very early stage companies (some yet to be founded). It’s a dating website that is free for users and makes money from advertising. The servers are in the cloud, his advertising sales is with Google, etc. Engineering/QA.

Software Review 65

Software Review Offshore Startup Boston 65

mashable.com

OCTOBER 27, 2010

If you find you need a developer to work with you, do you reach out to a freelancer or do you call an agency? If you’ve got tips for other business owners or want to share your experiences with hiring developers, please leave us a note in the comments section. Google’s App Inventor is a good example of a DIY tool.

Small Business 104

Small Business Technical Review Social Media Software Review 104

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

He explained that startup funding used to consist of relatively small angel investments ($20,000 to $50,000) from individuals or multi-million dollar investments from venture capital firms. VCs — who could before invest in a startup and get a third of the company in return — are now facing stiff competition from the super angel crowd.

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Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

He explained that startup funding used to consist of relatively small angel investments ($20,000 to $50,000) from individuals or multi-million dollar investments from venture capital firms. VCs — who could before invest in a startup and get a third of the company in return — are now facing stiff competition from the super angel crowd.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

The goal is to have split-testing be a continuous part of our development process, so much so that it is considered a completely routine part of developing a new feature. I had the opportunity to pioneer this approach to funnel analysis at IMVU, where it became a core part of our customer development process.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment 166

Software By Rob

OCTOBER 22, 2009

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Are Twitter and Facebook Killing Blogs? The highlight of the day was that I finally had the pleasure of meeting Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror and Stack Overflow.

Software Review 37

Software Review San Francisco Technical Review Fresno 37

mashable.com

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Many successful entrepreneurs learned how to run a business as they built one, and they had the educational benefit of being able to make mistakes and learn from them as they went along. If your selected mentor agrees that they’re a good fit, you can exchange contact information and start learning from each other.

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Social Media Technical Review Social Network 94

Software By Rob

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Transitioning from an idea to implementation should not take months. Productivity comes not just from effort, but from deciding to begin that effort months before the other guy. Some people react too quickly; spending 5 minutes on research when they should spend 5 hours, and bouncing from one idea to the next.

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Founder Software Review RSS Software Developers 62

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Develop and refine your idea. Create a sales plan. Develop and refine your idea. Think about how you can integrate your natural skillset into your business so that you can stand apart from your competition. Are you an expert in short sales? It includes key players, industry trends, and estimates of industry sales.

Angel Investor 85

Angel Investor Small Business Business Plan Intellectual Property 85

mashable.com

AUGUST 31, 2010

From a tax reporting standpoint, there is a clear favorite when it comes to incorporation dates, and that’s January 1. Legal Protection And then lastly, you might feel you need the legal protection of your own personal assets from any liability owed by the company, sooner rather than later.

LLC 75

LLC Social Media Startup Philadelphia 75

mashable.com

AUGUST 31, 2010

From a tax reporting standpoint, there is a clear favorite when it comes to incorporation dates, and that’s January 1. Legal Protection And then lastly, you might feel you need the legal protection of your own personal assets from any liability owed by the company, sooner rather than later.

LLC 75

LLC Ruby Social Media Startup 75

Software By Rob

NOVEMBER 25, 2008

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Startup Success Podcast, Open Source For-Profit Startups, One Laptop Per Child 2008, and $19 Usability Testing WordPress Headaches with Closing HTML Tag – Any Ideas?

Software Review 27

Software Review RSS Software Developers Software Development 27

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

To compute the cost to acquire a customer, CAC, you would take your entire cost of sales and marketing over a given period, including salaries and other headcount related expenses, and divide it by the number of customers that you acquired in that period. (In SolidWorks 2: The best VAR management program in the world?

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Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

mashable.com

MAY 28, 2010

There’s a spectrum from descriptive names which speak directly to a product benefit or attribute, to empty vessel names, where it doesn’t mean anything about the product that we’re talking about.&# Empty vessel names can be fun to say, can separate you from the crowd, and can be subtler than descriptive ones.

Naming 94

Naming Technical Review Social Media Startup 94

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 19, 2010

This is Part 2 of the series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches.??? About twenty people on Answers OnStartups have asked this question in one form or another: When I meet an angel investor, he may ask: "What if a big company copies your idea and develops the same website as yours after your website goes public?".

Software Review 325

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Bolivia 325

mashable.com

JUNE 8, 2010

Help a Startup Out A true craigslist for startups, this site displays posts for everything a startup needs, from partnerships to office space. Cofoundr This simple forum is intended to help entrepreneurs build teams and solicit advice from a pool of like-minded people.

Coder 60

Coder Technical Review Social Media Technical Cofounder 60

Mucker Lab

APRIL 6, 2023

Today, a lot of the PLG SaaS tools require sales motion upfront because nobody understands those tools. Those types of tools actually require work in the initial days of the sales motion. From there, I would say put some conviction first before committing. From there, there are basically two steps to building PLG.

Product 78

Product CTO Hire Startup Fractional CTO 78

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 11, 2015

A/B Tasty is yet another testing tool designed for the masses, this one hailing from France. Vlad Malik from www.goodui.org gave a review of A/B Tasty: Vlad Malik : “The things I like about ABTasty I like a lot. There are flicker problems even with synchronous code, and the ability to control for flicker is limited.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Conversion 48

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Scaling to $100 Million from Bessemer Venture Partners. The term ‘Centaur’, coined by venture capital firm Bessemer, indicates companies that achieved $100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR). Here’s the benchmarks Bessemer uses to measure this growth. Meet the Israeli Centaurs.

Software Review 109

Software Review B2C Open Source 109

Duct Tape Marketing

JUNE 27, 2017

Brian Clark: There’s two big developments that have happened in the last six months or so. As a bootstrap company without investors we always have to use cash flow as our development and maintenance funds. Tell me what’s new at Copyblogger and Rainmaker. One was the launch of Studio Press Sites.

Community 38

Community SEO Technical Review Audience 38

Women Entrepreneurs Can

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

Users can share UGC / UCC via social media platforms, forums, comments, reviews, and open-source sites like Wikipedia. The surge in UGC was due to stringent lockdown regulations. They also offer your products and services original viewpoints from authentic consumers, giving your brand credibility. Video Source.

Software Review 94

Software Review Social Media New Zealand Silicon Valley 94

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1. Cloud computing and the open source movements have brought down the costs of starting a company by more than 90%. Today’s Normalization.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

www.virtuosimedia.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Developers. Many partnerships don’t make it past this stage, devolving into a tangled mess about who owns the idea and the code and what the compensation should be. If, by chance, the relationship does survive and the product gets launched, that doesn’t mean that there’s smooth sailing from that point forward.

Technical Cofounder 41

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Technical Review NDA 41

news.ycombinator.com

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Weve got a little funding from VCs. You show this by giving completely generic arguments to one line sentences from his post. From "Think and Grow Rich". For three years I worked at Bug Labs (open source hardware company). We not only told everyone what we did, we posted the source code and the blueprints online.

Stealth 41

Stealth Technical Review Startup Software Review 41

www.kalzumeus.com

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Kalzumeus Software. Patrick McKenzie (patio11) blogs on software development, marketing, and general business topics. Mostly, I sell software. I did no significant amount for these bugs, aside from mitigating them for my own applications. Don’t skip this post because you’re not a Rails developer.

Security 101

Security Software Review Ruby Startup 101