October, 2017

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7 Steps To Finding Investors Aligned With Your Values

Startup Professionals Musings

One of the most common complaints I hear from new business owners and startups is about the pain and difficulty raising capital. The “venture capital” model is the only option they know, where they feel they get no mercy, giving up equity and control. Based on my experience with startups, I’m a strong believer that there are far better alternatives available, if you think outside the box.

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A Few Reasons To Use Video Production Services In Your Internet Marketing Campaign

YoungUpstarts

Without any doubt, marketing is one of the crucial elements of business success. Every experienced marketer and business owner knows that poor or inadequate marketing efforts can affect the sales and vice versa. With the help of a solid marketing plan, you will get a chance to promote your product, showcase its abilities and increase awareness about your unique service our product.

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Book Review: The Age of Sustainability

deal architect

I seek out Denis Pombriant, a fellow analyst, at industry events. We hardly ever talk about enterprise software. He is a history buff and a foodie and I walk away always having learned something and happier given his cheerful disposition.

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What Is a SWOT Analysis?

Up and Running

This article is part of our “ Business Planning Guide “ —a curated list of our articles that will help you with the planning process! Conducting a SWOT analysis of your business is a lot more fun than it sounds. It won’t take much time, and doing it forces you to think about your business in a whole new way. The point of a SWOT analysis is to help you develop a strong business strategy by making sure you’ve considered all of your business’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the op

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Building Healthy Innovation Ecosystems for Your Projects

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

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We’re Programming Around Your Needs: Highlights of Lean Startup Week 2017

Startup Lessons Learned

Guest post by Jennifer Maerz, Program Chair of Lean Startup Co. For eight years, our flagship conference has focused on sharing stories and lessons of putting Lean Startup’s entrepreneurial methodology into practice. We’ve hosted talks, workshops, and interactive sessions on the challenges and successes of modern management techniques from a wide variety of business leaders around the world.

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Profiles on 2017 Boulder City Council Candidates

Feld Thoughts

On October 19th, Engage Boulder is hosting a breakfast with me from 7:30am to 9:30am to discuss the past, present, and future of Boulder. I’ve lived and worked here since 1995 so I’ve seen, and be involved in, a lot of the evolution of our city over this period of time. I’m hoping to have a thoughtful and open conversation about a lot of the issues that are coming up around our local election.

More Trending

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The Firewall Is Dead – What Can Businesses Do To Protect And Secure Their Brands?

YoungUpstarts

by David Nagrosst, head of sales for Cyxtera Technologies in Asia Pacific, Australia and Japan. Recent developments in applications have rendered the firewall outdated and incapable of deciphering the good and trusted from the bad traffic. Without a doubt, the firewall era has come to an end. The onset of death. There are those who are still clinging on for dear life to firewalls by saying that there are renditions of next-generation features.

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5 Hardest Things in Conversion Optimization

ConversionXL

Conversion optimization is hard; it’s constantly changing and you need to know a lot about a lot. Keeping up with the technology changes and managing business’ expectations can be tricky. Here’s what some of the top experts in the field are saying about the top challenges in conversion optimization. #1 Having to be an expert in many things. CRO is multidisciplinary and cross-functional.

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8 Steps to Starting Your Own Business

Up and Running

This article is part of our “ Business Startup Guide ”—a curated list of our articles that will get you up and running in no time! People often ask us for a list of steps they can use to start their own business. From business type to business model to physical location, there are so many variables! However, there are things that every business needs to do to get off the ground.

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Publication Day for "The Startup Way"

Startup Lessons Learned

Today, my new book, The Startup Way , finally hits bookshelves! It's a huge day for any author, but I also hope it can be a huge day for the future and growth of the startup movement and for the future of our country. I want people to use my book as a way to start conversations about the critical roles of innovation and sustainable growth everywhere from startups to large corporations to public policy.

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50 on Fire Celebration on Oct 4 in Austin

Austin Startup

The Forrest Four-Cast: October 1, 2017 A gathering of innovators, big and small, people and organizations, across multiple categories, 50 on Fire occurs at 7:00 pm on Wednesday evening, October 4 at Impact Hub Austin (5540 North Lamar, 78756). The 50 best-of-the-best Austin startups, organizations and individuals being honored at this event include 3 Day Startup, Central Texas Angel Network, Civitas Learning, Data.World, Div Inc, Ever Fest, EverlyWell, Flo Sports, GameSalad, Mubariz “Moby” Hayat

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How to Optimize Your Event Marketing Campaigns: Before, During and After Events

Duct Tape Marketing

How to Optimize Your Event Marketing Campaigns: Before, During and After Events written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Frost and Sullivan report that the live events industry is worth around $512 billion. Alon Alroy, CMO of Bizzabo, explains how event marketers can measure and optimize their event marketing campaigns before during and after the event process.

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Does Fintech Disruption Break The Investment Banking Model?

YoungUpstarts

by Joe Duncan, founder of Duncan Capital LP. Fintech is triggering a profound rethink for financial institutions, from retail to investment banking. However must this imply the banking model is broken beyond repair thus leading to massive headcount reductions? At least for investment banks the answer is not so clear cut. The combination of services and infrastructure traditionally housed under one roof – underwriting, research, sales & trading, supported by large back office operation

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Using Dual Process Theory for Higher Conversions

ConversionXL

Designing your website requires a studied understanding of human behavior if you want to increase your conversions. Using psychological tactics in your design to appeal to potential customers can help do this, but you must first know how users’ decisions are made. Daniel Kahneman presents two thought systems that can give marketers a framework for how to target their ideal clients through site design and get a major uplift in conversions.

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6 Ways to Make Sure Your Tech Startup Will Succeed in 2018

Up and Running

When we established Ready4S back in 2012, the tech startup scene looked completely different than it does today. The 2008 financial crisis was still fresh on our minds and people were more careful when taking each business step. The series of recent spectacular successes and lucrative exits in the tech industry inspires many professionals to venture into the sector.

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What's Next for "The Startup Way"

Startup Lessons Learned

We’ve had an amazing first week following publication of The Startup Way. I’ve loved traveling to talk about the book and hearing what readers and supporters have to say and what their most pressing questions are. Launch week was busy to say the least, with lots of interviews, Quora and Reddit A MAs, and events across three states. A heartfelt thank you to everyone for turning out, reading, and offering support!

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3 Practical Machine Learning Applications That Can Help Your Startup

The Startup Magazine

Artificial intelligence is helping level the playing field for companies seeking to compete for search engine results. AI machine learning allows search engines to determine users’ intent when submitting queries, even when queries involve different keywords, using the context of prior searches to deliver more relevant results. This allows startups who know how to take advantage of machine learning to deliver website visitors a better, more relevant user experience.

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You can have two Big Things, but not three

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Forget work/life integration for a minute. How much time do you have, regardless of partitioning? From your 24-hour daily allotment, the 1950s-style break-down is 8 hours for work, 8 for home and commute, and 8 for sleep and ablutions. So, “work” and “home” are the two things in which you can spend 40+ hours per week. This is the amount of time it takes to tackle something huge.

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Business Prenup: What To Do Before You Start A Company With A Partner

YoungUpstarts

by Mark L. Zyla, managing director of Acuitas, Inc., and Jessica Wood, a principal at Bodker, Ramsey, Andrews, Winograd & Wildstein, P.C. So, you’re about to start a closely held business with your best friend (or a few friends). Congratulations! Before you get started, though, think pragmatically on the front end to avoid headaches at the back end.

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Predictions, Redactions

deal architect

At their annual Gartner Symposium event in Orlando today, Peter Sondergaard predicted "AI will be a net job creator starting in 2020" To that, Jason Hiner at TechRepublic snarkily commented “Gartner's research chief couldn't have opened the company's flagship conference.

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What Is a Business Model? Business Models Explained

Up and Running

Airbnb is a well-known example of the marketplace business model. Understanding the problem you are solving for your customers is undoubtedly the biggest challenge you’ll face when you’re starting a business. Customers need to want what you are selling and your product needs to solve a real problem. But, ensuring that your product fits the needs of the market is only one part of starting a successful business.

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Two Weeks until "The Startup Way"

Startup Lessons Learned

“Mission critical reading.” -- Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and co-author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Alliance and The Startup of You In just a few weeks, my new book, The Startup Way , will be available in print, digital, and audio formats. One of the most gratifying parts of writing a book is heading off on tour with it and finding out how it’s engaging actual readers.

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Transcript of Increase Profits Through Specialization

Duct Tape Marketing

Transcript of Increase Profits Through Specialization written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Back to Podcast. Transcript. John Jantsch: One of the ways to really drive up profit is to specialize, is to go into a vertical market, is to go have a niche, to get known as an expert in X, Y, or Z. In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast, we speak with Philip Morgan of Philip Morgan Consulting, and that’s what he does.

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Why Taking Risk Is The Ultimate New Venture Advantage

Startup Professionals Musings

Outside of dreams, there is no real business opportunity without risk. Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. My conclusion either way is that they have no market, or haven’t looked.

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The Seven Rules of Fearless Growth: What Fearless Companies Are Doing To Grow Faster And Smarter 

YoungUpstarts

by Amanda Setili, author of “ Fearless Growth: The New Rules to Stay Competitive, Foster Innovation, and Dominate Your Markets “ Growth has always been fundamental to business success, but it’s never been more critical than it is now. Rapid changes in technology, shifting customer expectations, disruptive business models, and quickly evolving regulations force organizations to innovate quickly and invest in new lines of business that will fuel future growth.

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Salesforce: why so much hype?

deal architect

They come in threes, don’t they? In the last week, I have read three pieces which have my hype antenna buzzing about Salesforce IDC in an annual study commissioned by Salesforce says the ecosystem of customers and partners will drive.

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Do You Know How Your Business Is Doing and Where It’s Going?

Up and Running

I think it’s safe to say that most new business owners don’t jump into their entrepreneurial dream because they are financial experts or are particularly excited about spending a lot of time knee deep in their business’s financial reports. But, it is important to understand what’s going on within their business—it’s really the only way to plan for growth.

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Scott Dorsey’s Attributes of Great SaaS Leaders

Feld Thoughts

A few weeks ago I was in Atlanta for Techstars Atlanta Demo Day and the Venture Atlanta Conference. I had a great time and it’s fun to see the vibrancy of the Atlanta startup community. My brother Daniel came with me and we had dinner with our cousin Kenny, who lives in Atlanta, so we got some nice, quiet, emotionally intimate family time. My favorite keynote at Venture Atlanta was from Scott Dorsey.

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Increase Profits Through Specialization

Duct Tape Marketing

Increase Profits Through Specialization written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Philip Morgan. Podcast Transcript. My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Philip Morgan. He is a consultant at Philip Morgan Consulting who focuses on specialization and helping people find their niche.

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5 Entrepreneur Habits That Imply Visionary Execution

Startup Professionals Musings

A popular approach for aspiring entrepreneurs these days seems to be to corner anyone who will listen, with a pitch on their current “million dollar idea.” The initial monologue usually ends with the question “How much money do you think this is worth?” In my opinion, ideas are a commodity, and are really not worth much, outside the context of a visionary leader who can execute.

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4 Ways In Which Millennial Entrepreneurs Do Business Differently

YoungUpstarts

Millennials are a generation which stretches from the mid-eighties to the late nineties, and the name itself comes from the people born between these two dates being the first generation to move into further education in the new millennium. Millennials themselves are generally viewed rather negatively as a whole, despite the statistics surrounding their lives giving an entirely different story.

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The emergence of intelligent HR software

deal architect

I recently wrote from Workday Rising about the Age of Intelligence. It’s not just Workday which has been busy. John Sumser of HE Examiner has a study which looks at intelligent tools at Workday and 29 other HR-centric vendors. He.

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Triple your income with side projects – this is how

The Next Web

I have a confession to make: when it comes to my job, I do projects on the side. I know, you’re probably grumbling, “who has the time?” But my side projects have helped me grow as a professional and an individual, and they’ve tripled my income. That’s right: tripled. A while back, as an Art Director, I dedicated about 35 hours a week on top of my day job to developing apps.

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5 Ways To Become A Well-Rounded Entrepreneur

YFS Magazine

Here are a few ways you can become more well-rounded and gain the knowledge you need to succeed in business. without racking up student loan debt.

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2017 Private SaaS Company Survey – Part 1

For Entrepreneurs

For the sixth year in a row, we’re proud to work with KBCM Technology Group (formerly Pacific Crest Securities) to share results from a survey of over 400 private SaaS companies. The survey represents deep benchmarking data and insights on growth and operations of private SaaS companies. Thank you to the readers of forEntrepreneurs who participated in.

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6 Insights On Social Media Trends You Need To Know

Startup Professionals Musings

Isn’t it frustrating to think you finally understand something in business, like marketing with social media, only to realize that the landscape changed while you were looking at other priorities? For example, it used to be that marketing via social media meant banner ads on Facebook, buying search engine results, and sponsoring blog entries, but these don’t suffice anymore.