YoungUpstarts

APRIL 6, 2015

'by Tal Segalov, CTO & co-founder of Mintigo. Last year, Twitter announced that it would unveil its Buy Button in the first quarter of 2015, cementing the role social commerce will play in the way businesses must market their products to consumers. In an age where consumers’ attention spans are somewhere around 8 seconds, businesses must adapt quickly to keep up with the changing landscape or they’ll be left in the dust by their competitors.

CTO Hire 159

CTO Hire Cofounder Social Media Mobile 159

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

'Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Yet if you are on the other side of the table, there are some other key questions that you need to ask, which will tell you more about the real success prospects for this business.

Technical Review 211

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 211

OnlyOnce

APRIL 9, 2015

'Honey, Does this Make My SaaS Look Big? I’m going to go on record now as saying that the world will soon be on “SaaS overload,” and that there will be a backlash. I am wondering if any other companies are feeling overloaded by SaaS applications as USERS of them, or are running into client objections of “I have too many SaaS apps” as VENDORS of them.

Software Review 87

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Software 87

Up and Running

APRIL 8, 2015

'Do you have an early-stage startup? Your business might need a safe place to come out of its shell. A business in its early stages can often use a leg up, whether in the form of wise words from a mentor or an introduction to a strategic partner. When you’re first starting out, you may not know who to connect with, or indeed how to do it. This is where incubators come in.

Incubator 99

Incubator Cofounder Founder Early Stage 99

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

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 9, 2015

'2014 will be remembered for many reasons, one of them being the rise of cyber crime by sophisticated hackers who managed to breach startups, international corporations, and government agencies to steal sensitive data , inject malware in corporate servers, and cause other types of damage. All these industries incurred losses from investments in cyber mitigation, restructuring of servers, class-action lawsuits, and damaged brands.

API 177

API PHP Stealth Security 177

David Teten

APRIL 6, 2015

'Both founders and researchers in healthcare are spending far too much of their energy in areas where they’re not going to make maximum impact. Most health problems are self-inflicted, but the innovation economy doesn’t reflect the power of preventive healthcare. Dr. An Nguyen and I just completed an analysis of VC and research funding compared with the cost to society of different diseases, and the results show wildly disproportionate funding for certain diseases relative to their impact in s

Venture Capital 96

Venture Capital Technical Review Non-Compete Philadelphia 96

Bryce Dot VC

APRIL 8, 2015

'It has been a pretty wild ride since our little landing page for indie.vc hit the Internet on January 1st. The response has been rewarding, the encouragement has been appreciated and the caliber of companies who’ve expressed interest in being a part of our little experiment has been exceptional. That said, up until now we’ve been riding solo.

Technical Cofounder 61

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Bootstrapping Lean 61

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 8, 2015

'Mobile apps are a big deal these days, and with more and more traffic to companies’ web presences coming from smartphones and tablet devices, it is clear that the businesses who take their mobile websites and services seriously are the ones primed to gain the most success. Whatever the size of your business and whatever your industry, making it possible for your customers and marketing prospects to interact with you easily from their mobile devices is going to pay dividends.

Developer 154

Developer Customer Mobile Dividend 154

deal architect

APRIL 10, 2015

'As we approach SapphireNOW, I notice more comments and blogs from SAP executives and partners which in some shape of form touch on HANA. In many ways, HANA has dominated SAP world for the last few years so it’s not.

Software 261

Software Partner 261

View from Seed

APRIL 7, 2015

'Recently, I’ve been mentally noting a few things that I observe VCs doing regularly that many entrepreneurs may not readily understand. Below are four that come to mind, but there are probably a dozen or so that are pretty interesting. (Leave a comment below if you can think of any more. Ironically, I was speaking at an event just last week where three of these came up in the conversation.).

Early Stage 249

Early Stage Founder Later Stage Engineer 249

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 8, 2015

'How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Dorie Clark. I think there’s plenty of information out there about personal branding and self-promotion. The thing that’s often lacking or not said is that in order to really stand out you’ve got to have an idea or point of view that people want to be a part or at least spread.

PPC 51

PPC Software Review SEO Email 51

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 7, 2015

'by Stephen Fontenot, Marketing Communications Specialist at Hostway Services, Inc. It’s that time of year again: Businesses and individuals alike are gathering their financial information to complete their federal and state taxes. Companies assess their bottom line and squeeze as much value as they can out of each of their assets. Everyone loves a large refund check, and corporations use this money to invest back in their mission-critical initiatives.

Technical Review 134

Technical Review San Antonio San Francisco Software Review 134

deal architect

APRIL 5, 2015

'As part of a corporate re-branding exercise, UNIT4 hosted an analyst call last week – see replay here. While they have previously announced they would focus on the services sector, I thought that would mostly be around local government and.

Vertical 224

Vertical Government Hosting Software 224

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

'Social media is so pervasive in today’s world that every entrepreneur believes instinctively that they know how to use it for their startup. Many soon find that what you do in a personal context doesn’t necessarily translate to your business, and measuring business value is quite different from measuring personal satisfaction. When it comes to social media for your business, expect a high learning curve, but rest assured it’s not rocket science.

Social Media 221

Social Media Media SEM Startup 221

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 8, 2015

'I’ve been very open about my struggles with depression over the years. A few weeks ago, I participated in a Q&A with Greg Avery at the Denver Business Journal titled Brad Feld Q&A: Bringing depression out of the shadows in startups. It was part of a more extensive series on Depression, entrepreneurs and startups. Since I’m still getting emails about it, I thought I’d republish the Q&A here.

San Francisco 152

San Francisco Startup New York City Denver 152

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 6, 2015

'The line between workspace and personal space is gradually blurring due to the constant connectivity provided by technology, and increasingly businesses are looking at BYOD – Bring-Your-Own-Device – policies to allow employees to use their own personal devices for work. In fact, research and advisory firm Gartner has predicted that by 2017 at least 50 percent of white collar workers in the United States will be part of the BYOD movement.

United States 163

United States Technical Review Security Employee 163

deal architect

APRIL 8, 2015

'Infor hosted its annual Innovation Summit at its headquarters in NYC last week. Aesthetically it was very pleasing as I wrote here, Infor was also generous in the long list of analyst and media guests invited (and I encourage you.

Cloud 214

Cloud Hosting Software Media 214

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2015

'A common challenge faced by every entrepreneur is that they don’t have the bandwidth, interest or skills to do everything that is required to build their startup. Of course, they can outsource part of the work or hire employees, but that approach means more time and money to manage the work, which they don’t have. The right answer is to find a co-founder with complementary skills.

Cofounder 215

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Startup 215

The Next Web

APRIL 5, 2015

'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. As a rule, we are incredibly hard on ourselves when it comes to making big decisions in life. If our first five relationships end with a break up, we think we’re destined to be alone forever.

Web 131

Web Entrepreneur 131

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 9, 2015

'With smartphones becoming an essential piece of gadget to have in your hand, popular brands like Samsung, Apple, Motorola, HTC, Sony etc. are constantly coming up with phones that incorporate the latest technology and yet keep the price of the product at a minimum. One such endeavor is the launch of Sony’s Xperia E4 dual SIM smartphone in the first quarter of this year, which coming with a price tag of about Rs.12, 000 (this product and many more can be bought using Amazon gift vouchers )

Technical Review 134

Technical Review Mali IP Video 134

Rembrandt Communications

APRIL 7, 2015

'Combine content efforts for the best results! Do you write content only to share your thoughts and insights? Do you send out a press release just to announce news? Do you distribute e-mails, newsletters, and other messages solely to sell, sell, sell? Well, I’m sorry. The days of “solo” communications are over. Today, all of […]. The post Does Your SEO BtoB Content Strategy Work WITH your PR and Marketing?

PR 130

PR SEO PPC Public Relations 130

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 5, 2015

'Throughout my career in small companies and large, I’ve always been appalled by the number of people who have a negative attitude or complain all of the time. These people don’t seem to realize that they are hurting themselves, as well as other people’s productivity, and jeopardize the future of the company they are working for. I’ve always thought that I might be overly sensitive, until I saw a classic survey done by badbossoloy.com , which claims that many employees spend 10 hours a month com

Product 212

Product Cofounder Salary Hiring 212

The Next Web

APRIL 5, 2015

'Pushing your product to market is about more than just making sure you’re ready. It’s about ensuring the market is ready, too. As a company, you have to hit that sweet spot, along with multiple other factors you may not have even considered. Lucky for us — though not for them — there are some examples of products that went to market too soon that we can learn from.

Product 130

Product Marketing Web Entrepreneur 130

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 8, 2015

'By Russell Harley, veteran project manager and Director at PMO. As children, growing up we heard “no” a lot: no you can’t have ice cream for dinner, no you can’t go out and play until your chores/homework/etc. are done, and so on and so forth. As we grew older, the no’s we heard became more important, like no, you can’t use the car, as the roads are too dangerous.

Management 134

Management America Networking Leadership 134

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 9, 2015

'This is the first of several early excerpts I''ll be sharing from The Leader''s Guide, a 4-color, 250-page, hardcover and digital book which will be offered exclusively through Kickstarter--according to my agreement with my publisher, Crown, the book can never be sold in stores. As usual, I''m leaving out important details like company names in order to respect their privacy while the book is still in early draft form.

Lean 128

Lean Technology Metrics Developer 128

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2015

'I often hear the popular notion that successful entrepreneurs are built from a single heroic insight or a single innovation. This is just plain wrong. The business world is a symphony of players and elements that only works when everything interconnects harmoniously. Continuous innovation and continuous learning are required for any sustained connection and success.

Leadership 205

Leadership Audience Entrepreneur Community 205

The Next Web

APRIL 4, 2015

'This post originally appeared on the Crew blog. If you’ve ever built something for other people you’ll know the buzz that comes from having real users. There’s nothing quite like knowing you made something from scratch that helped or entertained another person. Once you’ve made something used by other people it might seem like it doesn’t make sense to go backwards and make things just for yourself.

Web 127

Web Entrepreneur 127

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 6, 2015

'by Andrew Cagnetta, CEO of Transworld Business Advisors. If you are seriously considering purchasing a business then you need to make sure you have as much information as possible before the final purchase. Asking these vital questions can help you determine not only if it’s the right time to purchase, but if the business is right for you: 1. Tell me about the business.

LLC 174

LLC Acquisition Leadership Developer 174

Version One Ventures

APRIL 7, 2015

'Most marketplaces start off by providing a unique supply of products/services. Demand follows supply, and so the flywheel of supply and demand begins. However, as a marketplace gains popularity, its supply inevitably becomes less and less unique. I know this firsthand. At AbeBooks , our booksellers initially listed only with us, but then started to list with Amazon after it launched its marketplace.

Demand 125

Demand Dilution Mobile Audience 125

Up and Running

APRIL 7, 2015

'When you pitch a startup to angel investors, you want to get questions. If you don’t get questions then your pitch fell flat and nobody is interested. So plan on answering questions—and hope you have some to answer! See Also Master Your Pitch and Find Funding Success. Embrace interruptions. Most of the business plan competitions I judge ask the judges to listen quietly for 20 or 30 minutes before asking questions.

Angel Investor 125

Angel Investor Elevator Pitch Venture Capital Valuation 125

The Next Web

APRIL 6, 2015

'Shannon is the Chief Content Officer for CloudPeeps, where she crafts words, creates strategies, and recruits loyal brand advocates. She’s also the founder of asongaday.co, hand-curated songs delivered to your inbox, and an enthusiast of live music, sunshine, craft beer, and quality content. This post originally appeared on the Cloudpeeps blog. In business school, you’re often taught to lead with numbers and stats when presenting yourself or your work in order to prove your value.

Customer 125

Customer Curation Audience Web 125

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 7, 2015

'Youth is no barrier to entrepreneurship, as the likes of Mark Zuckerberg – who founded Facebook at the tender age of 20 – has shown. We’ve seen how many have followed his footsteps ; and there have been many who have paving their own way to making their fortunes since. From those who have similarly founded their own startups such as Nick D’Aloisio of Summly and Mashable’s Pete Cashmore, or who first found fame on YouTube such as Michelle Phan, these young entrepren

Entrepreneur 145

Entrepreneur Startup 145

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 7, 2015

'You may have heard, I''m writing a new book. And I''m doing it in an unorthodox way, by offering an MVP via Kickstarter. It''s called The Leader''s Guide , and this week is your last chance to get it (no, really). The Kickstarter campaign has been in full-gear for the last three weeks, and we''re heading into the last week. I’m grateful and excited for the support and the positive feedback so far.

Campaign 123

Campaign Metrics Channel Restful 123

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 10, 2015

'I passed on something referred to us by a close VC friend (who I’ll call Joe) who I’ve done a bunch of investments with over the years. A few minutes later I got the following email from the entrepreneur. hey brad – . if you get a moment, i’d love to hear your unvarnished reasons for the denial. thanks for the time…- i remain a huge fan of your blog…… I get asked regularly for feedback on why we pass on something, especially when we pass after a single

Deal Flow 122

Deal Flow Cleveland Canada Boston 122

The Equity Kicker

APRIL 10, 2015

'We’ve just been writing an update for investors about the progress our partner companies have been making. A few of them have done good up rounds and the easiest way to describe the magnitude is to talk about the valuation multiple. From the perspective of existing investors the right way to calculate the valuation multiple is to compare the pre-money valuation of the new round with the post-money valuation of the last round, which is the same as the increase in share price.

Valuation 119

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Option Pool 119

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 8, 2015

'By Jacqueline Whitmore, author of “ Poised for Success: Mastering the Four Qualities That Distinguish Outstanding Professionals ”. You may have all the awards and accolades and even know your product better than anyone in your industry. In today’s fast-paced and impersonal world, that’s not enough. Those who provide extraordinary service are the ones who are going to attract more customers, close more deals and get ahead of their competitors.

Reputation 144

Reputation Customer Revenue Conversion 144