Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2016

Yesterday I wrote a primer on how to use Snapchat for my peer group of “over 30” people who don’t yet “get” Snapchat. Today I want to talk briefly about why I believe Snapchat is an important media company. If you still don’t get Snapchat please read the primer or follow me on Snapchat for a week or two because how I create “stories” on Snapchat is more of a use case for modern media than perhaps some teens use the product so it may resonate more

Advertising 205

Advertising Iowa Campaign Media 205

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 16, 2016

By Nick Goode, VP of Cloud Product Management at Sage One. Wealth has historically been viewed as financial success in business that translates to success in life. Money, real estate, investments, and “stuff” like cars and expensive vacations — if you’ve got these things, you’re doing well for yourself… right? Perhaps it’s time we recognized that the wealth game is changing.

Cloud 150

Cloud Technical Review Retention Employee 150

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

There are many reasons to found a startup. There are many reasons to work at a startup. But there’s only one reason your company got funded. Liquidity. ——-. The Good News. To most founders a startup is not a job, but a calling. But startups require money upfront for product development and later to scale. Traditional lenders (banks) think that startups are too risky for a traditional bank loan.

Liquidity Event 182

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Venture Capital 182

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. I’m not recommending that you saturate your discussions with lingo, but responding with a blank stare once-too-often won’t convince anyone that you can build the next world-changing business or outpace the market.

Software Review 135

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 135

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

deal architect

MARCH 17, 2016

I first met Paul Wright, CIO at Accuride at the Plex User Conference last year. I was struck by the level headed, low-hype way he approached technology, and also how much time he had invested with the user community around.

Community 230

Community Technology 230

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 18, 2016

by Kim Keller, APR, content marketing specialist with Wasp Barcode Technologies. Evaluating your content marketing efforts starts the moment you decide to launch content marketing. It begins with the simple question, “What do you want out of this?”. It ends with the question, “Did you get what you wanted?”. Start with a plan. Just like any other marketing or public relations effort, content marketing should start with a plan.

Memphis 160

Memphis Marketing Social Media Technical Review 160

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2016

No matter what people may proclaim, everyone in business is looking to achieve the highest possible level of satisfaction and financial success in their career. For best results, my advice is to think like an entrepreneur, even if you are a corporate employee. According to many studies, entrepreneurs tend to be happier , and 80 percent of self-made millionaires are entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Technical Review Business Model Employee 132

deal architect

MARCH 14, 2016

This continues a series of columns from practitioners I respect. The category "Real Deal" describes them well. This time it is Steve Mann, former CMO of LexisNexis North America and who now leads AbleBrains LLC, a digital marketing consultancy. He.

North America 200

North America LLC America Marketing 200

View from Seed

MARCH 16, 2016

Today, we are excited to re-release an updated Hitchhiker’s Guide to Boston Tech ! This guide is a living and breathing site, so we make a bit of a push to update it on an annual basis to keep things fresh. I wanted to point out a couple things in the updated guide, but the general theme is that we are simply seeing more, bigger, and better things happening here in Boston.

Boston 215

Boston Early Stage Artificial Inteligence Semantic 215

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 17, 2016

By Ellen R. Auster and Lisa Hillenbrand, authors of “ Stragility: Excelling at Strategic Changes “ In our wired world, we’re always on, flipping from task to task, and struggling to keep up with a burgeoning to do list. And we’re not alone. Everyone we work with seems to be in a frenzy of activity all the time, focusing on firefighting while juggling multiple deadlines in between a whirlwind of meetings, emails and conference calls.

Agile 158

Agile PR Restful Management 158

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2016

As an entrepreneur looking for professional investors, one of the quickest ways to lose credibility and get rejected is to start with a ridiculously high pre-money valuation. I see it happen often in my angel investment group, and you can see it happen almost every week on the Shark Tank TV show. It’s like trying to sell a home still being built at next year’s dream market price.

Intellectual Property 159

Intellectual Property Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Startup 159

deal architect

MARCH 14, 2016

Humans should not drive. Chris Urmson, head of Google’s self-driving project, presented at SXSW last week and you can see all the crazy stuff drivers and pedestrians do and face on our roads. Time magazine presented an even more powerful.

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Brandanew

MARCH 14, 2016

Everyone has a story. Yes, ma’am. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Learning from the best and the most accomplished storytellers is not only something we’d love to do for improving our skills, but also to be inspired. Here are a few storytelling blogs that I particularly always refer to when I am thinking about how to improve a story.

Audience 133

Audience Video Founder Marketing 133

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 13, 2016

By Susan Fowler, author of “ Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work. and What Does: The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging “ Entrepreneurs are known for their energetic and passionate work ethic. But often, their employees don’t share their enthusiasm. So, where is the disconnect? Consider this example: Billy Yamaguchi of Yamaguchi Salons has worked on the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Lady Gaga, Deepak Chopra, and Phil Jackson.

Leadership 158

Leadership Developer Programming Management 158

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2016

I’ve noticed a great tendency among startup founders to ignore the essentials of business accounting in the early stages of their startup. Just because you are not profitable yet, doesn’t mean you can skip the record keeping. In fact, just the opposite is true. When you anticipate losses for the first year or two, it is more important to properly document all expenses, including tricky ones like business travel, business meals, and your home office.

Intellectual Property 148

Intellectual Property Startup SBA Warrant 148

deal architect

MARCH 13, 2016

Last February, SAP launched S/4HANA to plenty of optimism – CEO Bill McDermott called it “the biggest product launch in the last 23 years and perhaps the company's history”. I was certainly excited and started to write Volume 2 of.

Product 163

Product Software 163

Rembrandt Communications

MARCH 18, 2016

Do people really want to hear what you have to say? Today, blogging is a huge part of content-marketing strategy. In fact, “79% of companies that have a blog report a positive ROI for inbound marketing,” per the (HubSpot State of Inbound report). However, you write blogs but don’t get great results. What’s going on? […]. The post How to Get Your Blog Read in 3 Steps appeared first on Boost sales with BtoB Content Strategy and PR here.

PR 109

PR Sales Marketing Public Relations 109

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 16, 2016

By Greg Waldorf, CEO of Invoice2go. Ever struggle to stay organized and keep your operation running smooth when you’re always on the go? Technology has changed how we work, making it possible to get work done from anywhere. While you may no longer need an office, the ‘back office’ part of your business never sleeps, and how you manage it must be as mobile as you are.

Mobile 152

Mobile Cloud Affiliate America 152

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2016

Every entrepreneur realizes that change is now the norm, and they have to adapt their business quickly to survive and prosper. In fact, the best entrepreneurs seem to see breakthrough changes coming even before they really happen, and are able to turn them into huge new opportunities. In the trade, this rare capability is called the ability to see around corners.

Marketing 137

Marketing Agile Entrepreneur Internet 137

Brandanew

MARCH 18, 2016

90 percent of startups fail. But as an entrepreneur, you also have an opportunity to make exciting new changes, in a nimble fashion to improve your startup growth. You do not need to be like large corporations waiting to test things forever. You can make the changes instantly and know what your audience wants. But what if you’re stuck in a deadlock of no growth, how do you deal with it?

Startup 109

Startup Revenue Small Business Employee 109

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 14, 2016

Guest post by Jennifer Maerz, Contributing Editor of Lean Startup Co. We’re excited to announce that we’re doing something radically different with our flagship event this year. Gone is the Lean Startup Conference as you know it. Welcome instead Lean Startup Week , October 31 - November 6, 2016. And what is this Lean Startup Week? It is seven days of thought-provoking programming around the things you love — Lean Startup training, specific case studies, hands-on workshops, industry networking di

Lean 91

Lean Startup Cofounder Matching 91

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 16, 2016

So, you want to launch your own business? Well, you’d better make sure you’re serious about this because it’s a lot of work. There are so many different aspects involved in running and launching a new startup. And it’s easy to overlook these and forget about them. Launching a startup can be scary, and you need to figure out how to thrive in a niche marketplace.

Startup 149

Startup Naming Advertising Business Plan 149

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2016

Neither people nor computers can really help you as a personal assistant unless you are willing to share data about what you like, what you feel, and who and what’s important to you. Even the best technology can’t read your mind, which is why a simple Google search often gives frustrating and irrelevant results, and online advertisers bombard you with opportunities of no interest.

Social Media 129

Social Media Internet Channel Security 129

VC Cafe

MARCH 15, 2016

Jim Barksdale served as the CEO of Netscape (‘95 – ‘99). Image courtesy of Lifehack Quotes . After spending months and maybe years looking for product-market fit, you now proudly got a product and are ready to go to market. However, after a few weeks of trying to make customers fall in love with what you’ve created, you realise that nothing is as easy as “build it and they will come”.

Sales 88

Sales Marketing Sales Cycle B2C 88

YFS Magazine

MARCH 14, 2016

If you feel like something must be wrong with you because you’re not jetting off to Bali while simultaneously depositing fat checks into your company's bank account, you’re not alone.

Developer 86

Developer Startup 86

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 17, 2016

To make your startup a success, be it an IT consultancy or an online jewelry business, presenting your brand in a professional way is crucial. The problem is that when you’re running your small business from home, giving your brand that professional vibe can be tricky. If you have any chance of success, you need to convince the rest of the world that your business is reliable and trustworthy.

Startup 122

Startup Stock Hiring Web 122

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 16, 2016

Before you have an allergic reaction to the title of the post and respond with “you are stupid”, bear with me for a second as I set up the problem. I’ve been a heavy Slack user for at least six months (probably closer to nine). We started using it internally at Foundry Group and then I joined a number of Slack instances of companies that we are investors in.

Email 83

Email Channel Curation Search 83

Eric Friedman

MARCH 18, 2016

One of my favorite interview questions is “what is next for you after this role?” Or put another way “what is next after next?” I added it to my list of go-to questions for almost every role as it gives me insight and information into a candidate beyond anything else I have asked before. Accepting that most folks are not going to join your company and retire after 40 years is a healthy way to have the rapid career change conversation that is a sticking point for so many.

Conversion 94

Conversion Hiring Sales Startup 94

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 16, 2016

The wires have recently been awash with news that US food delivery service SpoonRocket is shutting down. That’s a real shame, largely for their employees and investors (who put in $13.5m), but also because the product promise was amazing – sub $10 meals delivered in under ten minutes. That product promise is so amazing that the tech press wrote a lot about SpoonRocket even before they graduated from YC.

Dividend 78

Dividend Acquisition Demand Finance 78

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 14, 2016

By Dr. Karen M. Reddington, president, FedEx Express Asia Pacific. In the 21st century, businesses don’t need to be big to go global. Today, all they need is a mobile device, a shipping platform and a big idea. Even the smallest business has access to communications and technology tools that were beyond the reach of even large companies just 15 years ago, and SMEs are increasingly eyeing the possibilities of export markets.

Asia 122

Asia Singapore Global China 122

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 15, 2016

Applications are open for the second group of Colorado Global Entrepreneurs in Residence. If you are interested in applying send a resume and a cover letter, including a statement of interest, to GEIR-apply@colorado.edu. The Global Entrepreneurs in Residence (GEIR) Program brings international entrepreneurial talent to the CU-Boulder campus and community.

Colorado 83

Colorado Global Programming Switzerland 83

Hippoland

MARCH 13, 2016

When I was raising money for LaunchBit, sometimes my conversations with investors would go something like this: Investor: So how much are you raising? me: We’re raising $750k. Investor: Really? Why so little? You should be raising $2M+ or even a series A. Of course, the first thought in my head was, “Wtf? I’m struggling here to just raise anything!

Seed Stage 76

Seed Stage .Net Revenue Acquisition 76

ConversionXL

MARCH 17, 2016

When you’re trying to boost revenue and the number of paying users for a SaaS, your website and signup page are only one piece of the puzzle. Optimizers tend to forget that the entire funnel requires optimization. Focusing on your signup page will help you increase trial signups upfront. But the major questions are: Are paid signups significantly going to go up?

Campaign 90

Campaign Email Clickthrough Audience 90

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 14, 2016

The customers are the most central part of your business. Without the customers, there is no business to speak of. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that you delight and enthrall them, every step of the way. We are all customers at some point, so we all know instinctively what signifies great customer service. Not only does it increase the likelihood of their return; they are more likely to advise others of your greatness.

Customer 122

Customer Demand 122

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 15, 2016

At the dinner before the Forward Partners board meeting in February we were talking about the characteristics we look for in entrepreneurs. I was going through my usual list – drive, discipline, charisma, intelligence, resilience etc. etc when one of our investors interrupted to ask how we assess resilience. He caught me out. We form our view on whether to back entrepreneurs by spending time with them, discussing their business idea, what they’ve done in the past and with a workshop

Hiring 74

Hiring Partner Entrepreneur Startup 74

Hippoland

MARCH 17, 2016

I was in LA earlier this week meeting with some entrepreneurs. One new entrepreneur was an engineer, and she was telling me about how she hadn’t yet talked with potential users for her not-yet-finished product. She wanted to wait to perfect her product first, because she was scared to talk with users before the product was done. And it occurred to me that I was just like her only a few years ago.

Cofounder 74

Cofounder Lean Engineer Sales 74