Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 5, 2011
This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. My first startup was no different.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 5, 2011
After struggling to create your business plan for months, every entrepreneur likes to think that their document is inspirational and will reach someone who is smart enough to see the brilliance of the idea, intuitive enough to recognize their business acumen, and enthusiastic enough to offer the money required to make it happen. Every serious investor, on the other hand, has a stack of these in their in-basket (email or real plastic) awaiting review, and is looking for the flaw or less-capable e
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deal architect
FEBRUARY 11, 2011
A quote from Chapter 1 of my book “Steve Jobs is explaining one major reason for the iPhone ’ s success —Apple ’ s ability to integrate hardware and software engineering: “ We realized that almost all — maybe all.
crowdSPRING Blog
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
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!
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
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. “But Mark, isn’t it one big time suck?&#. Oh, yeah.
OnlyOnce
FEBRUARY 6, 2011
The Three Functions of a Management Team. After my quarterly Return Path exec team offsite last week, my team and I were rehashing the day’s conversation over dinner. Was it a good day or a bad day? An upper or a downer? We concluded that the day was as it should have been – a good mix of what I will now articulate as the three main functions of a management team.
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
VC Cafe
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
by Tomer Tzach, CEO, Zoara.com. As a VC turned CEO of start-up, I’ve had the privilege of being exposed to both sides of the coin. So when our company recently decided that we were ready to initiate VC talks, ready to get some funding to take us to the next level, I was surprised by some of the reactions we were receiving. While some VCs that I met seemed to be rightfully bullish about everything that had to do with eCommerce, some seemed to be missing the point.
Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak
FEBRUARY 6, 2011
The first collection that my handbag company charm and luck ever designed was gaming-themed. Inspired by my partner’s love of bridge, we created beaded bags with a variety of gaming themes – the Blackjack bag, the Four Slots bag, one shaped like a die, and so on. Before we even did our first trade show or contacted salesrooms, I was able to secure an appointment with a Las Vegas-based chain which had many stores in casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and airports throughout the United Sta
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
This article originally appeared on Silicon Alley Insider. A few months ago I wrote a post called “ Invest in Lines, Not Dots.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
Cowboys Stadium which hosted the SuperBowl puts most data centers to shame with its slew of HP servers and Cisco routers. Its giant screens and luxury suites make even the most elaborate home theaters look pedestrian. This is the future.
Software By Rob
FEBRUARY 11, 2011
Photo by The Consumerist. The process of opening a credit card merchant account is like getting an enema with a rusty potato peeler. It’s something you don’t really want in the first place, and the longer it drags on the more you regret doing it. This was the situation I found myself starting almost a year ago today (applying for a merchant account, not getting an enema).
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. That doesn’t mean you have to be a social butterfly to succeed, or introverts need not apply. It does mean that you need to look, listen, and participate in the business world around you, and network through all available channels, like business-oriented social networks online (LinkedIn), local business organizations (Chamber of Co
Feld Thoughts
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
I’m at the end of day three of another very intense, but enjoyable and satisfying week. I’ve been in Seattle the past two days and am headed to LA for the next two days before finally making it home after being on the road for the past two weeks. As I was getting ready to go to bed in order to wake up in time to make my 6:40am flight, I was rolling my one remaining priority for the week around in my head.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
The Nasscom Leadership Forum, an annual fixture in Mumbai is on this week. It exudes a bullish tone after a subdued one the last couple of years. But while there is plenty of talk of innovation at the event, the.
ReadWriteStart
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
Sponsor. Startups can be incredibly innovative, but sometimes the pitches can sound incredibly repetitive: "The Mint.com for X" or the "open source alternative for Y" or "Z, but viral." Even more frustrating - when these good ideas just linger as "coming soon" pages for products that never seem to manifest. That's the impulse behind the Random Startup Generator , a gentle reminder from the folks at the blogging startup Fireplace who built the generator as a reminder that "execution is key.".
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
If you are going to be a real entrepreneur, it’s important that you know yourself well. After all, you won’t have a direct manager charged with giving you feedback, and your direct reports probably will be afraid to tell you what they really think. In any case, your skills, talent, knowledge, personality, and strengths are your best assets as an entrepreneur.
Feld Thoughts
FEBRUARY 5, 2011
On Wednesday and Thursday I spent two awesome days with my long time friend Martin Babinec (the founder of Trinet), his partner at Upstate Venture Connect – Nasir Ali – and about 1000 members of the Upstate New York entrepreneurial community. Martin and I first met around 1991 when we were both building our first companies. We were participants in the inaugural Birthing of Giants class sponsored by Inc., Young Entrepreneurs Organization, and the MIT Enterprise Forum.
deal architect
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
This continues a series of columns from practitioners I respect. The category "Real Deal" describes them well. This time it is Steven Skinner who is VP of Cognizant’s Retail and CPG Practice. Previously, Steven served as a Strategy Partner in.
crowdSPRING Blog
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
Some months back I wrote a post about how, as entrepreneurs, we have much to learn from our kids. Lots of you chimed in about your own experiences and about how much you, too, have learned about business from children. Well, as I was pondering what to write about this week, our family dog, Epee´ wandered over to lick my hand and it occurred to me that her small gesture of affection and loyalty was something that I could learn from.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
It’s great to dream big, but your startup needs a laser focus in the beginning to get market and investor attention. Google did it with search engines, Apple did it with a personal computer, and even Wal-Mart did it through low prices. A business plan I saw a while back to combine all the good features of several popular social networks on one site does not do it.
Feld Thoughts
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
My friends at Fitbit are hiring a director of marketing. If you, or someone you know, wants a director of marketing job in a fast growing, well funded company in San Francisco, go take a look at the job spec and apply. There is a ton of hiring going on in our portfolio right now at all levels. We have a bunch of companies that are growing head count 100%+ in 2011 – much of it driven by revenue growth (vs. just a new financing).
deal architect
FEBRUARY 6, 2011
On the New Florence blog Technology at the SuperBowl The “Skin Gun” The IBM Centennial The Korean focus on smart appliances More book publishing innovation.
ReadWriteStart
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
Six months after the launch of its early-stage investment fund, 500 Startups is announcing its accelerator program, a three to six month program that will give early-stage startups funding, a workspace, and access to a vast network of mentors. That network is thanks, no doubt, to its founder, angel investor Dave McClure. Coverage of today's announcement by 500 Startups is bound to use a variety of descriptors for McClure, but I'll settle with this one: huge cheerleader for startups.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 11, 2011
You can’t succeed in your new startup if you can’t win customers, and the new Internet-empowered customers are tough. They are in control, and they no longer care where or from whom they buy. They do have a specific purchase progression with key milestone moments that determine your win or loss outcome in every transaction. I agree with the premise in a new book by the widely respected expert on business growth, Robert H.
Rembrandt Communications
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
Finally! Your new small business is up and running, and you put up the “Open” sign. The only problem is, no customers are waiting to buy your products and services. What do you do? Small Business Public Relations to the Rescue! It’s time to build buzz by contacting the media, posting SEO press releases, using [.].
deal architect
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
on the innovation blog New Life for the Palm WebOS “Content Mills” A bank or an Apple Store? The Universal Flu shot? Miami’s New World.
Feld Thoughts
FEBRUARY 6, 2011
The creative Do More Faster blogs and movies are getting better and better. Here’s one called Kentrepreneur 1.0 from Snopsize that doubles as an application to TechStars. Awesome. Kentrepreneur 1.0 from eoin corrigan on Vimeo.
ReadWriteStart
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
Questions about the legal requirements surrounding the establishment, incorporation or funding of a startup may be among the most common and most challenging that entrepreneurs face. There's the general distrust of lawyers, alongside the sense - true or not - that legal advice will be too costly. LawPivot tackles this problem by providing a place where companies, but especially startups, can ask legal questions and get crowdsourced answers from qualified lawyers.
This is going to be BIG.
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
Great, so you’ve closed on some cash and now it’s time to get to work—except that now you have all these random people who wrote you checks asking you questions, wanting to know what they can do, introducing you to people, etc. How do you manage these relationships? Investors have the same issue. You met a great team and you want to see what they can do, but you know there’s a great syndicate around the table so you figure that you’re not going to be depended on that much for day to day work.
VC Cafe
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
After reading lots of posts on ‘ lean startups ‘, listening to Eric Reis in Seedcamp and devouring Steve Blank’s “Four Steps to the Epiphany&# , I wanted to see real examples of companies that went through a pivot process. By definition, a Pivot, is a change in the company’s strategy or business model when things aren’t exactly working out according to the business plan.
Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
The old adage that most people are more afraid of speaking in public than they are of snakes and even of dying is most likely true, judging by what I have seen and heard from even the most experienced and well versed speakers today. If you can swallow your nerves enough to speak in public, you will go a long way in establishing your expert status and building your profile.
ReadWriteStart
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
For this week's One Million by One Million roundtable, we discussed an important topic that many entrepreneurs are facing. Google PPC is a key channel for customer acquisition for many e-commerce and online businesses, yet keywords have become quite competitive, and the costs of campaigns for certain keywords tend to be extremely high. Michelle Herbert and Amy Wright pitched Amy Michelle Go Totes , a company selling multi-purpose tote bags that serve as diaper bags, purses, etc.
This is going to be BIG.
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
Seven years ago (yesterday, it seems… I had the date wrong in my calendar), I started this blog. I did it because I had gotten into a daily habit of writing working on a book for college students. I never got it published (might go back and edit it at some point), but I liked the discipline of writing and needed an outlet. In seven years, I’ve thought a lot of things.
Growthink Blog
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
Last week I attended a presentation by a business systems specialist. That's someone who builds systems and processes for businesses so they run smoothly. The system of the day was "how to handle inbound phone calls." So I'm thinking 2 things. 1) please kill me -- could this be more boring 2) what kind of moron needs a complete system for answering the phone. read more.
Start Up Blog
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
We all want to be irreplaceable. In an organisational context we worry about how needed we really are. It’s an omnipresent reality in a world of agricultural mastery and excess capacity. This is true for white collar desk jockeys, CEO’s and entrepreneurs alike. The more they need us, the safer and happier we feel. The truth is that everyone of us is replaceable.
VC Adventure
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
At this week’s VCIR Winter the RMVCA will be announcing a partnership with the Entrepreneur’s Foundation of Colorado. In case you’re not familiar with the organization, the mission of EFCo is to encourage entrepreneurs and companies to give back to Colorado by endowing their communities with a gift of stock early in the life of their company.
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