Sat.Dec 28, 2013 - Fri.Jan 03, 2014

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Lessons Learned in Diagnostics

Steve Blank

'This post is part of our series on the National Science Foundation I-Corps Lean LaunchPad class in Life Science and Health Care at UCSF. Doctors, researchers and Principal Investigators in this class got out of the lab and hospital talked to 2,355 customers, tested 947 hypotheses and invalidated 423 of them. The class had 1,145 engagements with instructors and mentors.

Lean 240
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My First Experience As A Venture Capitalist

Feld Thoughts

'I often get asked how I ended up becoming a venture capitalist. When people ask me how they can become a VC, I point them to my partner Seth Levine’s excellent blog posts How to become a venture capitalist and How to get a job in venture capital (revisited). But it occurred to me today – after getting another email asking me how I’d become a VC, that I wasn’t really answering the question.

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What I noticed in 2013

Start Up Blog

'I’ve been reviewing my notepad from 2013 and thought I’d share my insights into what’s changed and the big issues from my perspective in startups, business and technology. Technology is no longer a thing: It’s almost not worth mentioning now it is so ensconced in human life. Business, political dn social activities are intertwined in technology as an organism.

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Reflections On 2013, What Walter Discovered About Starting A Business After Listening To Podcast Interviews, And Our Plans For 2014

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

'Subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes. In episode #12 of Everything Entrepreneurship , the final for 2013, Walter and I look back over the previous year and talk about some of the most significant moments in both our personal and business lives. We review how these events changed us and changed the direction we took during the year. We also … Read the rest of this entry » The post Reflections On 2013, What Walter Discovered About Starting A Business After Listening To Podcast Interview

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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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The 11 Steps To Firing An Employee

Mike Michalowicz

'Being a business leader is not all roses and gumdrops (I suspect you already knew that). You will be required to fire someone at some point. Perhaps it is based upon the employee’s poor performance, or deviant activity, or maybe it is due to struggling times. Regardless of the circumstances, you better know how to fire someone before you just blindly do it.

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10 Startups That Changed The Narrative In 2013

ReadWriteStart

ReadWriteReflect offers a look back at major technology trends, products and companies of the past year. Real companies making real products that real people, you know, spend real money on. That’s what ReadWrite predicted would be the hottest of hot startups in 2013 and, for the most part, we were right. 2013 showed us new hardware built by smaller companies for what seems like the first time in a long time.

Startup 60

More Trending

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Indian outsourcing at the cross roads

deal architect

'Vivek Wadhwa writes “Why I have become pessimistic about Indian IT” “It is not that Indian outsourcers have become less capable of servicing Western needs. It is that their customer base—the CIO and IT department—is in decline.” He is right.

Offshore 337
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Stop chopping yourself to pieces

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

'My personal experience, confirmed by numerous studies, is: It’s faster to process email in batches rather than checking in 30 times/day. Humans cannot multi-task, they just complete both tasks slower, and with lower quality. (Texting and driving, meetings and email) The best ideas, new ideas, come in a flash when you’re not working. You are most productive when you’re “in the zone,” a contiguous period of focus, without interruption by human or computer.

Flash 316
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You Can’t Run A Startup And Fear Speaking In Public

Startup Professionals Musings

'As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. In fact, they often claim to be part of the survey group that fears public speaking more than death, but I’m not sure how anyone could validate that survey.

Startup 291
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Go With The Flow – Happy New Year 2014

entrepreMusings

'¡Feliz Año Nuevo 2014! Another year has passed and boy/girl what an entrepreneurial year it has been! I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix the spam (stupidity) hack that someone has done to my email feed, but after checking feedburner, feedblitz, WordPress, and staring into space, a solution/fix hasn’t surfaced. Thank you to all of you who replied to my email feed noticing the insertion of random, annoying spam ads.

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Time to evolve the NSA conversation

deal architect

'Over the holidays personal data has drawn plenty of my attention. On the one hand, we can celebrate the data rich life we live as I wrote in Living the Vida Data. On the other hand there is a constant.

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Own A Small Business? Why You Should Consider Hiring A Bookkeeper.

YoungUpstarts

'Every small business that has some success inevitably deals with various growing pains. This should not be treated like a disease to be avoided, but a problem that needs to be addressed. There is an initial period of time when owners of startup businesses wear many hats as salesperson, accountant, researcher etc. – all necessary to run the business.

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10 Clues That An Entrepreneur Is In Over His Head

Startup Professionals Musings

'If an entrepreneur doesn’t find themselves in over their head at least 20% of the time, they are probably not pushing the limits, not taking enough risk, and probably not working on an idea that’s worth doing. The challenge in to know when and how to ask for help, and not let bravado and ego mask anxieties. The best people know when they don’t know, and know how to find the right help.

Burn Rate 275
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10 Startup Shortcuts That Will Be Back To Haunt You

Gust

'Image via HealthyBodyLife.com. I’ve been advising and mentoring startups and growth companies for years, and find myself always pushing them to try something new, for the sake of growth and survival. When you try new things, you make mistakes, and I’ve seen many. Smart companies learn from their own mistakes, but some don’t pay enough attention to other people’s mistakes.

Startup 183
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The Best of 2013

deal architect

'I have been running a series on New Florence of best of 2013 and things to look forward to in 2014.from a scan of over 50 magazine issues Here are the 2013 entries: Popular Mechanics – Breakthrough products Fortune –.

Product 236
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Mobile App Quit Pro Aims To Help You Quit Smoking

YoungUpstarts

'If you’re a chronic smoker you’ve probably tried quitting those cancer sticks a few times now to no avail. It can be an incredibly tough journey to being smoke-free but there’s help at hand – literally. There are a number of quit smoking applications for the mobile smartphone that can help you along the way. Take Quit Pro , developed by Singapore-based Bitsmedia , for example.

Mobile 162
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Eliminate Complainers Before They Kill Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

'Throughout my career in small companies and large, I’ve always been appalled by the number of people who seem to 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 the company they are working for. I’ve always thought that I might be overly sensitive, until I saw an old survey done by badbossoloy.com , which claims that a majority of employees spend 10 hours or more a month complaining or listening to others

Startup 259
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How to create a great startup blog and stand out from the competition

The Next Web

'Blogging is like the modern day welcome mat, showing passers-by that someone is home and will probably answer the doorbell if you ring it. For startups, this is particularly important as you strive to establish your voice and brand point of view. Beside giving your startup a platform, having a blog can help you establish thought leadership, build SEO, and promote things that central to your brand’s messaging.

Las Vegas 167
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The brave new world of enterprise security

deal architect

'An excerpt from The Digital Enterprise says “There is a growing acceptance that most commercially available antivirus software cannot keep up with the speed and intensity of the attacker community.

Security 191
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Baby Boomer Retirement: Or Should I Start My Own Business?

YoungUpstarts

'Many of us spend a great deal of time worrying about money, and rightfully so. Have you noticed Americans are living longer than ever before? Financial planning for baby boomers has taken the spotlight, and as times become leaner, retirement issues have gained a new urgency. Is it possible to convert a nest egg into a monthly stream of income that will last forever?

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Do More By Doing Less More Deeply

Feld Thoughts

'I’m glad it’s 2014. Last year was a difficult one for me as I hit a wall of depression that completely surprised me. I was over it by mid year and, while the second half of the year was better, I still struggled with figuring a bunch of stuff out about what I cared about as I turned 48 years old. I stopped doing a few things last year. I stopped traveling for business.

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Mile-High disruption: Why Denver should be on your tech radar next year

The Next Web

'Stuart Wall, CEO of Signpost , a local advertising platform funded by Spark Capital and Google Ventures. In January, Denver will become one of the few American cities that allows its residents to purchase and recreationally consume marijuana, a move that is expected to create jobs and generate tax revenue. Roughly 1,200 miles away in the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is pushing for restrictions that will shutter many of the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries.

Denver 166
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Keep Climbing

deal architect

'The New Florence blog ended 2013 with 730 posts. No, not a record – 2012 had 750. However, November and December had 200+ entries – each way above monthly average. So, we can dream of a 1,000 entry 2014. There.

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Learning How To Communicate To Multi-Generational Work Teams

YoungUpstarts

'If you’re in management or administrative services, you’re undoubtedly trying to find ways to communicate with multi-generational team members. Working with multiple generations has always been important for management, but it’s become even more challenging in the past few decades. The baby boomers have very little in common with the millennials , and in many ways they are at odds.

Email 150
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Paul Graham and The World Out There

This is going to be BIG.

'There is a controversial interview with Paul Graham floating around and I''m left to wonder why we''re still paying attention to guys like him. He is accused by people of being, at best, oblivious and at worst, sexist. I''ve never sat down with the guy, so I can''t speak to that, but I''m tired of hearing about the same voices over and over again when I''m not even sure they''re relevant.

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Unlocking the potential for Big Data in 2014

The Next Web

'Martina King is the CEO of Featurespace where she is responsible for the strategic direction and corporate vision at the company. A popular internet meme goes something like this: ‘It’s 2013: where’s my flying car?’ The question, asked on t-shirts and coffee mugs around the world, debated on technology forums, or bantered around with friends at a café, is essentially one that asks: Where exactly are the benefits of this ‘better future’ we all signed up for?

Columbus 163
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More innovation off the beaten path

deal architect

'Last entry this year in a series on innovation from places you do not typically expect much innovation from Startup City – Boulder, CO Monument Men – structures across US Desert West Diplomacy and Digital Signatures – Finland, Estonia Technology.

Estonia 191
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Robots and artificial intelligence are replacing jobs

The Equity Kicker

'This chart shows that manufacturing has become decoupled from employment and explains why people are predicting that half of US jobs could be done by computers. We are in for a period of considerable social dislocation. As a society we’ve been through these sorts of changes before, most notably with agriculture which used to employ c100% of the population and now employs 2-3%.

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The Human Inclination to Rewrite History

Feld Thoughts

'“History is written by the victors” – maybe said by Winston Churchill. “ History is Written By the Winners ” - George Orwell. “To the victor belong the spoils” – New York Senator William L. Marcy. Yesterday I wrote a post about my first experience as a venture capitalist. I didn’t try to dramatize anything – I just wrote what I remembered.

Colorado 134
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8 startups that leveraged products for social good, and where they’re headed in 2014

The Next Web

'There are a litany of points to consider when you’re launching a startup, namely: “What’s the company purpose?,” or “What’s unique about my brand that’ll make people care and pay attention?”. When you’re creating a business, you will naturally have a lot on your plate. As 2013 come to a close, we’re counting down startups that’ve made a splash in using “social good” as their primary motivator.

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As an American angel investor, what would it take for you to invest in a Brazilian startup?

Gust

'I would be unlikely to invest in a Brazilian startup at this time because I have absolutely no background or knowledge of the local market, I don’t speak Portuguese, I would be unlikely to be able to attend board meetings or even visit the company, and finally because there are issues relative to double-taxation under US and local tax codes that make many international investments challenging.

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On “Body of Work” by Pamela Slim

Life Beyond Code

'I have followed Pamela ’s work over the years and earlier this year, I had a chance to meet with her briefly. It was in Boston and Pamela had just heading back to the hotel after dinner with some super smart clients of hers. She must have been super tired with everything in the day. However, the moment we started a conversation, Pamela came fully alive and engaged with me as if we have personally known each other for more than a decade.

Boston 121
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Execs Who Can’t Attract Former Coworkers Are Red Flags

Hunter Walker

'“Hire Great People” is an evergreen priority for every startup founder, whether it’s the company’s first employee or 1,000th. I’ve already written about how mission-driven founders have a recruiting advantage versus those companies just pitching perks and coolness. And when doing the hiring, how the standard interview process is suboptimal.

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5 ways to reach an empty email inbox (and keeping it that way) in 2014

The Next Web

'Dan Schoenbaum is the CEO of Teambox , a collaboration platform for task management, file sharing, and communication. . Before the year winds down and New Year’s resolutions begin to pile up, many of us look at our email inbox. Depending on the number of emails in your inbox, you either feel a sense of accomplishment or a deep sense of dread. If you’re in the latter camp, eliminating that sense of dread is an achievable goal, and now is the best time to do it.

Email 155
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One of my investors wants me to host a session where all the investors can meet and talk to each other. Is this a normal request?

Gust

'There’s nothing inherently wrong with your investors meeting each other, and it’s actually usually a pretty good thing. That said, it’s a bit unusual coming from the F&F side rather than the professional investor side. So I’d just be a bit cautious in trying to understand why your friend is pushing for this. Could it be that s/he just want to hang out with the “high profile” types?

Hosting 121
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San Antonio’s Top 10 Tech Stories for 2013

SiliconHills

'By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News The entire region is booming. As evidence, check out the Forbes story listing Austin and San Antonio number one and two metro areas, respectively, when it comes to booming economies for 2014. San Antonio’s technology industry got a huge boost from Geekdom, a downtown incubator and coworking […] The post San Antonio’s Top 10 Tech Stories for 2013 appeared first on SiliconHills.