Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

'Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. WTF? There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. What is a founder to do? There are some smart if not somewhat cerebral bloggers I read who say that you shouldn’t take any startup advice at all because it’s too generalized to be useful

Framework 407

Framework Startup Retention Sales 407

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2014

'If you have a software development background like mine, Im sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. The same applies to manufacturing and almost any process these days. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe.

Intellectual Property 238

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Software Review Offshore 238

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 26, 2014

'by Monica Wells, BizDB . It’s safe to say that enterprise gamification is one of those increasingly popular trends for management that are simply bound to explode in the next few years. Great project management is all about fostering worker engagement and motivation – and what better way to this than through specifically designed games? Gamification of everyday activities can also pave the way to building a creative and passionate team.

Management 215

Management Technical Review Framework Design 215

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 12, 2014

'This article was originally published on the WP Engine Blog. Calm your freneticTL;DR twitchy-Twitter-brain for five minutes, and let some Chinese philosophy wash over you. Thirty spokes join in one hub In its emptiness, there is the function of a vehicle Mix clay to create a container In its emptiness, there is the function of a container Cut open doors and windows to create a room In its emptiness, there is the function of a room Therefore, that which exists is used to create benefit That wh

Laos 279

Laos Technical Review Startup Engineer 279

Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic

Every startup and innovation project exists within an ecosystem that either helps or hurts that project. As innovation managers, we need to keep a pulse of that ecosystem and make sure we're helping those innovation projects we're managing every step of the way. In this webinar, Nick Noreña will walk through an Innovation Ecosystem Model that he and his team at Kromatic have developed to help investors, heads of product, teachers, and executives understand how they can best support innovation in

Startup

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 28, 2014

'Post by Sarah Milstein & Eric Ries, co-hosts for The Lean Startup Conference At this year’s Lean Startup Conference , we seek to answer the difficult questions you face as an entrepreneur. To give you a sense of how we’ll do that, we’re introducing you to three of our speakers—all of whom are appearing for the first time at The Lean Startup Conference, and all of whom have advice you can put to work today.

Part-Time VPE 160

Part-Time VPE Sales Lean Cofounder 160

Up and Running

AUGUST 18, 2014

'In comparison to traditional business ventures, startups are expected to grow rapidly, at a rate of between 5% and 7% per week in their initial stage – Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator. When I hear the word ‘startup’, my mind immediately begins playing a reel of a bunch of twenty-something year old web developers, huddled together in a retro office somewhere in the SF Bay Area.

Small Business 154

Small Business Exit Strategy Cofounder Angel Investor 154

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2014

'Two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology or money. The first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want.

Cofounder 261

Cofounder Stock Founder Technical Cofounder 261

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 11, 2014

'by Todd Unger. Starting a business involves establishing new processes and systems that will ensure a strong foundation from which to grow. Here are a few simple tax tips all new businesses should put into place, before they officially hit the ground running: Establish the appropriate structure for your business. Because there can be different tax implications associated with different business structures, its important that you have the appropriate legal entity established before you offici

Software Review 187

Software Review Technical Review Retention Small Business 187

VC Cafe

AUGUST 21, 2014

'Most times when I finish a meeting, I think to myself “that was such a great meeting. I’m so excited for what happens next” If your meetings aren’t ending like this, then you’ve just wasted everyone’s time. Here are a few lessons I learnt from having hundreds of business meetings in Australia, Chile, and the USA.

Chile 165

Chile Startup Australia Conversion 165

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 21, 2014

'No one wants to be *that* founder--the non-technical founder poking around developer meetups asking for a unicorn with a Github account. It''s not that there aren''t great technical people willing to take a lot of risk to join a small team--it''s just that there are *so many* people out there looking for them that it''s hard to figure out who to take seriously.

Founder 120

Founder Software Developers Software Development Venture Capital 120

Up and Running

AUGUST 22, 2014

'If you don’t handle your business accounts correctly, you might be headed for trouble. Accounting is a significant part of any business endeavor and is not as easy as adding and subtracting. Small businesses often think of handling their own accounting to save money—but this may not be the best idea. Accounting errors can cost a company to a great extent.

Small Business 153

Small Business Software Review Technical Review Cloud 153

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

'Almost 30 years ago, my father decided to uproot the entire family from Taiwan to the United States so that his academically “inconsistent” son could have an education tolerant and perhaps even encouraging of his idiosyncrasies. As an entrepreneur himself, founding and operating printed circuit board factories in Taiwan, my father was debating between two places to immigrate to and build his next new venture: Los Angeles (“The Valley” aka San Fernando Valley) and Santa

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2014

'There is an old saying that good lawyers run away from risk, while good businessmen run towards risk. Entrepreneurs see “no risk” as meaning “no reward.” In reality, all risks are not the same. Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure.

Startup 283

Startup Forecast Stock Options Technical Review 283

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 1, 2014

'When a new business first begins to operate, one of the most important things for it to focus on is marketing. Too many new business owners see marketing as an add-on, far less important than the core activities around which their work is based and something that can be dealt with after the initial rush of getting things going is over. These businesses don’t tend to last very long.

Marketing 198

Marketing Social Media Campaign Distribution 198

crowdSPRING Blog

AUGUST 22, 2014

'Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

Social Media 92

Social Media Small Business Design Media 92

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2014

'The world rains sugar on my children. The bus driver offers my child bubble gum. The teachers offer a cupcake for every birthday party. The school vending machine is full of junk food; so is the one at the Y. At camp, the counselors offer candy and a freeze pop at the end of the day.and craft activities like decorating a cookie or making a gingerbread house.

Aggregator 114

Aggregator Hosting Venture Capital Community 114

Diego Basch

AUGUST 1, 2014

'“There is a small satellite orbiting an unremarkable planet 50 light years from Earth. In spite of its tiny size, this floating cube of metal and silicon carries a load of paramount importance to the infrastructure of our galaxy. Inside its computer resides the Big Developer Matrix. As you can infer from its name it is fairly large, and it contains information about developers.

Java 67

Java Ruby Software Developers Software Development 67

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2014

'Last Wednesday I had coffee with an old friend and former colleague. We haven’t worked together in a while and were reminiscing about the old days. I miss the old days when we used to be locked in battle together on the issues affecting our company. Seeing him again also reminded me of one of my first big lessons as a VC – knowing when giving in is more important than being right.

Cap Table 346

Cap Table Cofounder Stock Acquisition 346

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2014

'Sometimes entrepreneurs are so focused on making change happen for others, that they forget that continually changing themselves and their company is equally important. Some get stuck in a rut and get run over by competitors with new technology, like Eastman Kodak, and others get pushed into a crisis, like Apple did, before they reinvent themselves into a new market.

Technical Review 262

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Institutional Investors 262

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

'We at NextView Ventures invest exclusively in a startup’s seed-stage round , meaning that many if not most of our deals are made alongside individual angel investors. These angels, however, come in many different shapes and sizes. So to successfully raise a seed round of capital, founders should possess at least a basic understanding of the different types of angel investors they’ll encounter.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2014

'I met Kathryn Gould longer ago than either of us want to admit. Kathryn has been the founding VP of Marketing of Oracle , a successful recruiter, a world class Venture Capitalist, a co-founder of a Venture Capital firm, a great board member, one of my mentors and most importantly a wonderful friend. During her career she made a big point of not telling you: she was one of the first women Venture Capitalist’s in Silicon Valley (along with M.J.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Chicago Cofounder 333

Duct Tape Marketing

AUGUST 29, 2014

'The Top Google Analytics Reports for Assessing Mobile Activity written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. It’s guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest post is from Mark Hansen – Enjoy! As the use of mobile devices continues to increase, understanding the needs and behaviors of our mobile visitors is increasingly important.

Analytics 65

Analytics Mobile Channel Conversion 65

deal architect

AUGUST 10, 2014

'Once again Gartner is in the news. Its is being sued and a whole slew of blogs and articles have piled on. My summer project researching and writing about the SAP economy has allowed me a chance to go back.

278

278

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 14, 2014

'It’s not like we don’t say this often enough, but startups – driven by ambitious, usually young founders with a great vision for the future – are going to be the main catalyst to change the world. Startups encapsulate the ideas of focus, cooperation and innovation, and these are traits that set th. But if you’re not convinced of that, here is an infographic from the team at Modis highlighting the various reasons why startups are destined to change the world in wh

Startup 266

Startup Operations Founder 266

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2014

'One of the most common failures I see in startups is lack of focus. Unfocused entrepreneurs boast that their new technology will generate multiple disruptive products for consumers as well as enterprises around the world. Investors hear this as trying to do too many things with limited resources, meaning the startup will not shine at anything, and will not survive the competition.

Entrepreneur 257

Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor China 257

View from Seed

AUGUST 5, 2014

'This is a guest post from Ben Rubin , co-founder and CEO of Change Collective , which offers courses for behavior change with world-class experts. For seed-stage startups, when resources are tight, trying to consciously build startup culture can feel wasteful. Below, Ben makes the case for why defining values is actually a worthwhile exercise, and he outlines his startup’s approach.

Cofounder 307

Cofounder Startup SCRUM Seed Stage 307

Steve Blank

AUGUST 7, 2014

'If you can’t see the video click here Filed under: 2 Minute Lessons.

Customer 285

Customer Video 285

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 26, 2014

'As further market proof of the power of Drupal in the enterprise, Acquia has received about $100 million in funding in the past 3 months, which puts its valuation at over $1 billion. [link]. There’s a lot of buzz about the Amazon acquisition of TWITCH this week. As a personal friend of the original investor, I’m very happy for this transaction – after 7 years of work, repositioning, and sticking to it their vision has paid off.

Founder 42

Founder Los Angeles PHP Open Source 42

Rembrandt Communications

AUGUST 13, 2014

'75% of marketers may know something you dont! Are you using SEO content strategy to your advantage? If not, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to significantly increase site traffic and sales. Specifically, did you see the recent report on Digital Trends 2014 by Ektron? It found that 76.6% of the 400 Website […]. The post Is Your SEO Content Strategy A Priority?

SEO 189

SEO Social Media Public Relations Sales 189

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 12, 2014

'by Blake Menefee, co-founder of the Dell Center for Entrepreneurs. If your startup has an amazing platform, product, or software, youre probably in the process of staking out big enterprise clients to target. Everyone loves your product, but thats not enough. Too many pitches to big brands result in an executive saying she cant be sure the startup will be around in the future.

Merger 265

Merger Cofounder Startup Sales Cycle 265

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2014

'Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. In fact, businesses need to adapt just as completely to the changes in the buying and social behavior of consumers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Today’s customer buying dynamics are all about “user experience,” according to Brian Solis, in his recent book “ What’s the Future of Business?

Technical Review 252

Technical Review Entrepreneur Social Media Social Network 252

View from Seed

AUGUST 20, 2014

'One question that I’m often asked is, “How should I think about the composition of my seed round?” In other words, how many investors and what type (angels, seed funds, larger funds, etc.) make an ideal seed fundraise? For context, of our 37 investments at NextView , ~20% were with angels only, ~40% were with seed funds and angels, and ~40% were with some combination of larger VCs, angels, and seed funds.

Startup 301

Startup Syndicate Syndication Boston 301

Gust

AUGUST 24, 2014

'Image via Wikipedia. One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free, to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). The implications of the decision you make are huge, defining your brand image, your funding requirements, and your long-term business viability.

Revenue 184

Revenue Startup Retention Internet 184

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 13, 2014

'Let’s start out by saying that I’m a big fan of both Uber and Lyft. I’m indirectly an investor in both companies as I’m an investor in three VC funds that are investors Uber and one VC fund that is an investor in Lyft. I have no idea how much actual equity I have in either company, but based on current valuations the dollar value of my indirect ownership is non-trivial.

Non-Compete 180

Non-Compete Government Valuation Equity 180

The Next Web

AUGUST 19, 2014

'James Clear writes about using behavioral science to master your habits and improve your health. His free guide, Transform Your Habits, has been downloaded more than 80,000 times. This post originally appeared on his blog. In 2010, Dave Brailsford faced a tough job. No British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France, but as the new General Manager and Performance Director for Team Sky (Great Britain’s professional cycling team), Brailsford was asked to change that.

France 168

France Aggregator Web Entrepreneur 168

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 22, 2014

'by Zeynep Ilgaz, co-founder and president of Confirm BioSciences and TestCountry. Your little business has been in the “cute stage” for a while now, and you love it dearly. But growth and diversity are critical for any business hoping to reach its full potential. After all, Amazon didn’t stay in Jeff Bezos’ garage for long, and the bell Bezos and Shel Kaphan rang every time they made a sale quickly became annoying.

Turkey 256

Turkey Bandwidth Cofounder Reputation 256