View from Seed

DECEMBER 17, 2015

Editor’s Note: NextView recently kicked off a Boston-based workshop series on technical interviewing with Google. (Portfolio companies can contact us to learn more.) This interview covers a wide range of topics also covered in our workshops. Saurya Velagapudi is a senior software engineer at Google, based in their Cambridge, Mass., office, right in the heart of MIT.

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Technical Review Engineer Software Review Founder 146

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 14, 2015

by Donna Cutting, Founder & CEO of Red Carpet Learning Systems, Inc. and the author of “ 501 Ways to Roll Out the Red Carpet for Your Customers “ For many businesses, the holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year. But it certainly is not the time slack off on service. In fact, in today’s market, there is a direct correlation between service and sales. 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they’re being treated.

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Customer Nebraska Technical Review Employee 126

Up and Running

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I don’t have children yet but when I do, I know I’m going to want to make sure they’re intelligent, creative, compassionate, and self-confident—probably what every non-parent hopes for, right? Wishful thinking aside, I do still want to raise children who feel the world is their oyster. I don’t want to bring up ruthless little businessmen that hike drug prices 5,000 percent, but people more like Blake Mycoskie and Sanjit “Bunker” Roy who temper business smarts with a whole lot of compassion.

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Stock Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review 89

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 15, 2015

Messaging platforms are gaining more and more mindshare. Michael Wolf’s deck on the Future of Tech and Media shows that messaging will soon blow past social media as the dominant media activity and will add 1 billion new users by 2018. Given these numbers, the opportunities for messaging platforms are getting very interesting – particularly in terms of how to leverage messaging platforms to help people solve problems at work and in day to day life.

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Artificial Inteligence Aggregator Stealth Technical Review 95

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

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 18, 2015

Email makes the world go around, right? No matter how many times you read about “the death of email”, it remains paramount in the online world. In fact, I’ll bet you’ll receive at least two emails in the time it will take you to read this article from start to finish. Are all emails created equal? No, not exactly. According to Salesforce , the top 3 uses of email are newsletters (66%), promotional content (54%) and welcome series emails (42%).

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Email Jordan HTML Naming 76

The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 15, 2015

My brother Rob is an economist by background and we have an ongoing debate that is repeated between techno-optimists and economists around the world. Every day I see improvements in technology helping us to live fuller lives and do more of the things we want to do but Rob and I struggle to reconcile that with the meagre growth and stagnant productivity statistics that he looks at.

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Artificial Inteligence Product Dividend Technical Review 68

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 17, 2015

As 2015 comes to an end, it’s time to reflect on what we’ve done and where we’re headed. It’s hard to believe that it has been just a little over a year since we launched Fund II with $35M in commitments. Since then, we’ve accelerated our pace – backing exceptional entrepreneurs, feeding their growth, and seeing others out with successful exits.

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Artificial Inteligence Portfolio Seattle B2B 88

David Teten

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I review a lot of board decks with a beautifully hand-crafted page with metrics for the company. That makes me nervous. . I prefer to see a screenshot of an internal dashboard, not something created for the board, and I prefer to see that same dashboard in the same format at every meeting. The reason is that the real value of the board deck is not (ironically) for the board; it’s for management to track their own performance.

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Metrics Analytics Balance Sheet .Net 60

Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 17, 2015

5 Tips to Prepare Yourself for an Entrepreneurial Burnout Threat written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing. There are several areas an entrepreneur needs to shred for getting a better position in the game before the risk itself devours him whole. The entrepreneurial spirit must be kept alive and the fire kindled from time to time so doesn’t die out of hope and exhaustion.

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PHP India Texas Green 44

deal architect

DECEMBER 17, 2015

This time of the year, I am reminded of my Brazilian-American friend, Karin Morton. With family spread around thee world she said her father would have palpitations, as she was growing up, with all the international phone calls at $.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2015

As an entrepreneur, you should treat gossip among the members of your team as a reduction in productivity at best, and at worst, an indication of unhappy, un-empowered, or non-collaborative employees. As a leader, you should be asking yourself if you are the problem, and working hard to improve the situation before it gets out of hand, causing lost clients as well as lost productivity.

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Employee Product Leadership Entrepreneur 143

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 15, 2015

by Andrew Bagrin, founder and Chief Executive Officer of My Digital Shield (MDS). With the holiday shopping season upon us, store owners and consumers alike are preparing for the rush. Behind the scenes though, cyber hackers have also marked their calendars in hopes of capitalizing on mass crowds hitting the sales – both in stores and online. As cyber threats continue to make headlines, it’s more important than ever to add a security checklist to your holiday shopping.

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Security Cloud Internet Small Business 133

Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 17, 2015

Growth Could Kill Your Company! written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing. photo credit: epSos.de. When Alina Martin took over her father’s small company in 2007 it had been ticking along, growing slowly for several years. The company, Danatec, sold paper-based course materials for corporate trainers to use in safety training of employees.

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Canada Dilution America Employee 34

deal architect

DECEMBER 16, 2015

During my visit to Singapore couple of months ago I noticed taxis had front and back cameras recording live video. Like police body cameras they provide a digital audit trail. Why do taxis around the world, I wondered, not have.

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Singapore Video 163

Brandanew

DECEMBER 16, 2015

This past month at Brandanew has been more offline than online. We hosted our first digital marketing workshops in Ann Arbor, which were received wonderfully by the audience. Ann Arbor’s been a wonderful move for me and Brandanew. It’s a city full of academics, interesting people and creatives working towards business success. I meet many people with new ideas.

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India Hosting Audience Marketing 122

View from Seed

DECEMBER 15, 2015

What is data science? Hilary Mason is among the very best in the world in answering that question in ways that others understand. That’s because, according to Hilary, one of the three main areas of expertise all great data scientists must possess is the ability to communicate to those who aren’t as mathematically minded. In this episode, we mix up our podcast format a little bit and host an “unplugged” chat with Hilary about her career as a data scientists, her work at Fa

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Hosting Channel Management Startup 120

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 15, 2015

By Nikole Haiar, Director of Marketing at Hostway Services, Inc. Online shopping is more popular than ever. The first quarter of 2014 saw a staggering 198 million Americans – 78 percent of the adult U.S. population – use online platforms to make purchases, according to a comScore study. Experts agree that it is best to target a specific subset of this vast group of shoppers and appeal to their interests and needs.

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Customer Audience Mobile B2B 116

deal architect

DECEMBER 17, 2015

I was excited when Unit4 shared this summer early details of its machine-learning driven thinking (shades of Microsoft Cortana applied to enterprise scenarios) – I titled it “AI is the new UI” Yesterday, they shared couple of use cases from.

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Artificial Inteligence Software 150

Brandanew

DECEMBER 18, 2015

As we always say, the year’s gone flying by. It’s that time of the year when we take stock of how things went by and what we can do to improve the next year. A good overall goal that I’ve been working on is to become an awesome storyteller in 2016. There are a ton of things one can do, but I am listing down my top 25 new year resolutions to remind me and stay connected with my goal.

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SMS Stock Internet Product 116

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 18, 2015

Bloomberg’s article about lower-than-expected financial gains from startup IPOs for midlevel employees stuck in craw this week because there’s a handful of complex issues at play here. In no particular order: Startup Equity Is Unlikely to Make You Fabulously Wealthy After Four Years Unless One or More of the Following Apply… You were a founder.

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Equity Employee IPO Vesting 102

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 14, 2015

Launching a home-based business has become a growing trend in recent years, and it isn’t hard to see why. Advanced tech and online activity have created a rich landscape for individuals and entrepreneurs to thrive. Working from home offers all of those benefits while also removing many of the associated risks. Nevertheless, running a company from home isn’t easy.

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Social Media Security Audience Operations 116

Rembrandt Communications

DECEMBER 17, 2015

It’s time to stop and think about what’s really important for ultimate success. It’s the end of the year and time to reflect on your small business… and life. How did you do? Did you have a good year? Were sales up or down? When you have a quiet moment, and the “holiday rush” comes […]. The post What Matters Most in Your Small Business? appeared first on Boost sales with BtoB Content Strategy and PR here.

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Small Business PR Sales Public Relations 100

Brandanew

DECEMBER 14, 2015

The end of the year is the season of giving. Not necessarily for selling more, but to develop your community spirit. It’s a time your organization can do some social good. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to businesses becoming a part of initiatives that directly benefit the society. Helping the community, is a way to future proof your brand.

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The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I was surprised to read this morning that Waterstones, the UK’s largest chain of bookstores, is undergoing a resurgence. At a time when all their competitors and brethren around the world are going bankrupt they have posted a profit for the first time since the financial crisis and are opening new stores. There’s lots of things I love about this story.

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Russia Bankruptcy Stock Global 93

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 16, 2015

by Stan Huser, founder of SunDocumentFilings. Are you hiding behind your website? In the rush to start a home-based business, many entrepreneurs forget the legal issues required to do business. Even if you aren’t a corporation or an LLC, your state government may have rules about what business name you can use. If your name is John Smith and you run a business called Smith House Painters , then you’re using a business alias (also known as a “trade name”).

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Naming Alabama Tennessee New Mexico 109

For Entrepreneurs

DECEMBER 14, 2015

The following is part two of a guest post series by Rob Gonzalez. You can find part 1 here. Rob is the co-founder of Salsify, a leading cloud-based product content management and syndication solution that I invested in in 2013 and where I currently serve on the board. Prior to founding Salsify, Rob was at.

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Syndicate Syndication Hiring Cofounder 89

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 17, 2015

This is the fourth in a series about corporate innovation co-authored with Evangelos Simoudis. Evangelos and I are working on what we hope will become a book about the new model for corporate entrepreneurship. Read part one on the Evolution of Corporate R&D , part two on Innovation Outposts in Silicon Valley , and part three The 6 Decisions to Make Before Setting up an Innovation Outpost.

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Silicon Valley Incubator Acquisition Business Model 159

The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 17, 2015

In 1982 Victoria’s Secret was a four store chain headed for bankruptcy. Their strategy of selling lingerie to men wasn’t working. Leslie Wexner bought the company and sales now top $7bn, with analysts seeing $20bn in global potential. In the speciality retail world they have market leading sales per square foot and profits. Victoria’s Secret is now one of two primary brands at L Brands, a $28bn company where Wexner is CEO, Chairman and Founder.

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Customer Bankruptcy Customer Development Global 81

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 18, 2015

By Todd Putman, co-author of “ Be More: Find your truth, tell your story, and get what you want out of life “ “What just happened?”. Alongside the dull roar in your ears, that question pulses through the fog in your brain even as you walk out of the office and close the door. “Did I just get let go?”. Dude, you got fired. I’ve had to fire people, I’ve been fired.

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Conversion Networking Restful Mobile 100

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 15, 2015

When I sat down at breakfast, I told Amy that the title of today’s blog post would be “A Steaming Pile of Dog Poop.” She suggested I come up with a different title. That’s Brooks the Wonder Dog. For the past six weeks, I’ve been walking him at least once a day. Typically I take him for an afternoon walk and an evening walk and Amy usually takes him for a morning walk.

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Restful Developer 80

Hippoland

DECEMBER 15, 2015

In late 2008, I was about to turn in my 2 week resignation at Google to start a company when Sequoia sent out a presentation to their portfolio companies. In their 56 slide presentation of doom and gloom, they told their companies to batten down the hatches and expect to survive a year without external funding. I ended up leaving Google during one of the worst economic downturns in the last decade, a seemingly stupid move at the time, but actually one of the best moves I could have made in my

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Seed Stage Angel Investor Bootstrapping Startup 76

The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 14, 2015

Chis McCann of Greylock took the Stanford course on Blitzscaling over the last four months. The course is taught by Eric Schmidt, Reid Hoffman, Marissa Mayer, Brian Chesky, Diane Greene, Jeff Weiner, and more. Chris wrote up the 16 top lessons here. I’m going to call out a sometimes counter-intuitive point which Chris mentions in his 5th and 6th lessons.

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Product Green Analytics Metrics 78

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 17, 2015

By Jennifer Lumba, Chief Marketing Officer at Rideau Recognition Solutions. Great leaders are taught. Whether introvert or extrovert, type A or type B, MBA or high school dropout, CEO or management intern, anyone can learn to lead well. What’s required is some People Artistry. How can you tell if you’re a People Artist? In the new book “ People Artists: Drawing Out the Best in Others at Work ” by Peter Hart, People Artistry is defined as the deliberate act of forging rela

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Cofounder Stock Employee Campaign 100

SiliconHills

DECEMBER 17, 2015

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Getting a book published the old fashioned way—through the agents and publishers who have the power to lift the work from obscurity—has a lot in common with finding investors for your startup. Just getting to “No” is a torturous process. First you have to find the companies […] The post Authors.me Declaws the Publishing Process appeared first on SiliconHills.

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Startup Austin 76

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 13, 2015

As I sit here watching Amy play tennis with her coach Mason (I hurt my shoulder serving so I’m taking a few days off), I’m reflecting on my first week back on the grid after a five week sabbatical. A few things come to mind. 1. Amy’s tennis game has improved dramatically over the past six weeks. She’s always had nice strokes, but she definitely has been playing beginner tennis.

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Portfolio Matching Global Partner 76

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 15, 2015

As optimizers, so much of our focus is spent on the pre-conversion phase. How do we get more people to checkout successfully? How do we get more people to inquire about our agency’s rates? It’s easy to forget that you aren’t done persuading once the initial conversion has taken place. In fact, that’s when your customers’ brains really kick into overdrive.

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eCommerce Customer Email Conversion 76