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.
Gust
AUGUST 17, 2014
'Zappos logo via Flickr by Ben Spark. 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.
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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.
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.
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
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.
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!
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
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.
deal architect
AUGUST 20, 2014
'I formally invited SAP to provide a 10 page, unedited column to include at end of the book I am writing - how things will be different with its new management team. The book model shows customer spend at a.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 16, 2014
'Technology is so key to every business these days that experienced business-smart but non-tech entrepreneurs are falling deeper and deeper in the hole. Even if they realize that they need real technical strength at the top, they are not sure how to attract and select the talent and expertise they really need. Should they go after high-tech nerds for partners, or professional technologists?
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.
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.
deal architect
AUGUST 18, 2014
'Last week, at the grocery store checkout I overhead a man congratulate another about his new book. Curious I asked the author what his book was about. Hugh Sullivan has written about his 40 year career as a Navy Corpsman.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 18, 2014
'Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek?
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 22, 2014
'By Shelly Lipton, Board Chair of Second Chance Toys. According to the American Management Association, 60 percent of executives say lack of collaboration is one of the top leadership challenges for them in today’s business world. Furthermore, those polled agree that activities in and outside of the office that foster a greater sense of teamwork within an organization help to address this challenge head-on.
The Next Web
AUGUST 18, 2014
'Paul Jarvis experiments with words and design. His latest book is called The Good Creative: 18 ways to make better art. It’s all well and good to talk about using your blog and mailing list to connect with your audience by writing articles. But it begs the question I hear almost daily: “How do I create consistent content that I don’t get paid to do?
Startup Lessons Learned
AUGUST 20, 2014
'Post by Sarah Milstein & Eric Ries, co-hosts for The Lean Startup Conference We’ve found more than half the speakers for The Lean Startup Conference , and we’re pretty excited about them. Ranging from Ben Horowitz, Mitch Kapor, Laura Klein, Cheryl Contee to entrepreneurs you probably don’t know but who ha ve valuable stories to share, this year’s speakers — and mentors like Tim O''Reilly and Erin McKean — will help you become a more successful entrepreneur.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 21, 2014
'It’s popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. The common reason given is that this prevents any competitor from stealing their idea and beating them to market. In my view, this paranoid approach costs them much more than the risk of being open.
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 20, 2014
'by Stefan Haubold, Global Managing Director and co-founder of Carmudi. There are certain words every entrepreneur should toss out of his or her dictionary. Or at least never utter among its employees to keep the engine of growth running. The idea is to communicate the right thing at the right time in the right spirit. Take it from my experience at Carmudi , a highly fast-paced startup.
The Next Web
AUGUST 22, 2014
'Mikita Mikado is the co-founder and CEO of designing software PandaDoc. This article was co-written by Christy Delehanty, the Content Manager at PandaDoc. “There isn’t enough time.” It’s a common complaint. A familiar refrain reverberating through the startup world, picking up volume as it swells to a more-or-less deafening roar in Silicon Valley.
Gust
AUGUST 16, 2014
'As Peter Van Dijck noted, the answer is 0%. “Ideas” are simply not compensated in today’s business world, because there are so many of them out there—even good ones. *original post can be found on Quora @ [link] *.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 17, 2014
'Most entrepreneurs struggle with financial projections, not wanting to commit to numbers they can’t deliver, and having no clue what investors might consider reasonable. However, making no projections, or non-credible projections will get your startup marked as unfundable. I recommend a simple set of guidelines, which work for at least 80% of the business domains I see.
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 19, 2014
'by Joel Freimuth, CEO of Blue Pearl Consulting. The plate of any business owner, whether the company is large or small is full and often overflowing. With a mind that must sift through all of the clutter rapidly, there are many important aspects that tend to fall by the wayside. The problem is that most successful people are aware of these neglected necessities, however they just do not place enough conscious attention on them.
The Next Web
AUGUST 19, 2014
'Ilya Pozin is a serial entrepreneur, writer, and investor. He is the founder of online video entertainment platform Pluto.TV, social greeting card company Open Me, and digital marketing agency Ciplex. Is your app good enough to go viral? This was the question haunting founder Aaron Patzer when he was launching the Mint.com app. He and his team hit the train station, asking unsuspecting commuters whether they would be interested in using their app.
Up and Running
AUGUST 21, 2014
'Why do so many businesses fail? According to a recent Forbes article , at the surface level, they simply run out of cash. It’s easy to get things wrong when you’re starting out and the article points out that 8 out of every 10 businesses fail within the first 18 months. Other factors that can contribute to a collapse include poor customer service, poor management, and unclear knowledge of the marketplace.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 22, 2014
'Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market-research data. They don’t realize that business projections with no third-party validation have no credibility with investors. Every good business plan needs an early section that sizes the total market opportunity, and then breaks down that total into the most relevant segments for your fo
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 20, 2014
'As the world of online business develops, countless companies are using innovative ideas as profitable marketing strategies. From freelance marketing, to online trading, to customized music… many companies are taking the lead. The following five are a handful of businesses that have developed concepts into extremely lucrative pay-offs: Fiverr – Low-cost Services.
The Next Web
AUGUST 17, 2014
'Ariel Rosenthal is a co-founder at Xprt, a new startup looking to save people the hassle and the headache of doing extensive research before buying a product. I don’t know if you ever experienced a eureka moment - a second when everything comes together and an amazing idea pops into your head. As someone who is in the business of creating new things and has seen various ideas blossom into fully functional products, I can tell you that there is nothing like that feeling.
Version One Ventures
AUGUST 21, 2014
'A community can make or break a marketplace. I owe much of the success of my former company, AbeBooks , to the passionate community of book lovers that came to our site. Considering more than 1/3 of Version One’s portfolio are marketplaces, I appreciate just how much a strong community can be one of the most powerful differentiators and growth drivers for marketplaces.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 21, 2014
'Amy and I take a week off the grid every quarter. It is one of the things that has kept me sane and us together over the past 14 years. This morning I saw a great short clip from the Today Show that got forwarded around on the US becoming a no vacation nation. They include an interview with Bart Lorang discussing FullContact’s Paid PAID vacation policy.
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 20, 2014
'Much of the world is the midst of a green revolution, and a great deal of this eco-conscious focus is squarely on businesses. Obviously, mega-corporations can contribute the most to the health and safety of people and the environment, but small businesses can make green changes that will ultimately positively affect their profits and their reputations.
The Next Web
AUGUST 22, 2014
'George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures, a growth consulting, advisory and executive staffing firm based in Chicago. As I have been doing startup consulting at Red Rocket, I have also had many executive conversations with several big companies. These companies were anywhere from $150MM to $25BN in revenues in size, so definitely well-established businesses in their respective industries.
Rembrandt Communications
AUGUST 20, 2014
'It’s not just about SEO keywords and BtoB content! There are many ways to get your marketing messages across such as mobile, Web, social, phone, live events, and more. But one thing remains constant among all of these mediums – content! There are many communications going on so how do you organize all of this […]. The post What’s In Your Editorial Calendar?
The Equity Kicker
AUGUST 22, 2014
'“Dude. Go the gym!” is what one of my partners told one of our founders recently. He was stressed out closing a funding round and had dropped his usual routine, but the extra time didn’t help. In fact not going to the gym made things worse. It’s easy for founders to get immersed in their businesses and not look after themselves.
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 17, 2014
'by Alex Miller, Co-founder of PosiRank . Marketers hope to disseminate information and inspire sales. However, marketing in the 21 st century is different. CEOs of ago never dreamed today’s marketers could solve problems with the push of a button. Automation helps with mass emails, social media replies, and on-page content. But what do you need to know before you start the automation train in motion?
The Next Web
AUGUST 16, 2014
'Sandra Nguyen is the Vice President of People & Culture at Volusion. The dawn of a company is a truly special time for the pioneering team working to forge a path to success. During this stage, the entrepreneurial spirit is high and the group is empowered by close working relationships. This combination of excitement and cohesion, mixed with a passion for success fosters a fast-paced, agile environment where productivity is high and roadblocks are quickly removed.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 19, 2014
'This morning’s question during my Headspace meditation session was “Who or what would you miss the most if you weren’t here.” Over the last few months, my meditation practice has been spotty. Something indeterminate happened and I just fell out of the routine. I’ve been told by my meditating friends that this happens often and not to worry about it, but rather just to start practicing again when you feel like it.
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