Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2010

It’s a long way from an entrepreneur’s “idea” to a working product with a real market and paying customers. A necessary intermediate step for proof of concept, credibility with potential investors, and communication with your team, is a working prototype. Building a prototype should be an early and high priority task for every startup. A prototype doesn’t need to look great, or be built to scale, but it better accurately translate your vision into something real and tangible.

Entrepreneur 236

Entrepreneur Early Stage Database Distribution 236

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 29, 2010

During the holidays, the Web becomes an even more significant part of our lives, connecting us to our relatives and friends around the world. The Internet might be truly global then, but the world of startups still revolves much around Silicon Valley. Together with 40 Nordic entrepreneurs , we decided to take a trip to the startup mecca, looking for opportunities and lessons to learn.

Silicon Valley 156

Silicon Valley Finland Sweat Equity Entrepreneur 156

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 31, 2010

Thank you, 2010. I'm excited for 2011, and I want to share some of my plans for the coming year. But before I do, I also feel obligated to take a look back on my plans for last year. I can't believe a whole year has passed since I wrote a blog post called " Towards a new entrepreneurship " laying out my priorities for 2010. Back then, I wrote: "[Here is] an idea that I don't think is too widespread yet: that entrepreneurship is an industry.

Lean 153

Lean Programming Software Review Channel 153

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 29, 2010

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!

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Social Media Small Business Design Media 93

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

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2010

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. This is the last step of the process, where surprises in the evaluation of the management team, documentation, and personnel problems can derail the investment. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 229

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 229

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 27, 2010

As one of the leaders in the group-buying space, LivingSocial has had a great year, ending the year with $175 million in investment from Amazon earlier this month. But like many success stories, LivingSocial didn't suddenly spring up wholly formed. Indeed, the company has had to pivot several times before landing on their current form - and success.

Cofounder 128

Cofounder Fractional CTO Founder Lean 128

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Seeing as how it’s the end of another year, I thought I would take a shot at a 10 best list of my very own. But instead of focusing on just one category of thing, I am going to mix it up and make it about various resources any entrepreneur might benefit from. Tools, blogs, Twitter personalities, magazines and newspapers, conferences – any should be fair game for this particular list.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur Redemption New York Cofounder 91

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Yesterday I wrote about how to talk to investors about your competitors. In short, acknowledge they exist, be transparent about strengths & weaknesses and use your differences to talk about how you want to position yourself in the market. But forget talking about them, how should you actually treat your competitors? Conventional wisdom in most companies is that “the competition is the enemy&# – it’s the rallying cry to dig deeper, get more features out the door, issue pres

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Differentiation Merger Cloud AJAX 320

deal architect

DECEMBER 29, 2010

People still roll their eyes when they hear Marc Benioff talk about “the end of software”. The reality of course is, it took guts and vision for his company to relinquish an existing, established industry sector definition and create a.

Cloud 260

Cloud Software 260

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2010

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free (like Twitter), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). The implications of the decision you make are huge, defining your brand image, your funding requirements, and your long-term business viability.

Product 247

Product Startup Revenue Portfolio 247

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 29, 2010

The graphic design marketplace DesignCrowd has just published a list of its take on the best and worst startup logos from 2010. As logo design is one of the creative services most likely to be outsourced, it's interesting to see DesignCrowd's assessment of what design trends and styles were innovative and successful. The list breaks it down into the good, the average, and the ugly.

Startup 145

Startup Design 145

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 26, 2010

Competition. Unless you’re Microsoft selling an OS for a PC you probably have some. And even then Microsoft has substitute products as anyone who has taken Econ 101 will tell you. So if you’re raising money – from angels or VCs – you’re going to have to address the question of whom you’re competing against. And the reality is that if you have no competition it will likely be perceived as a negative, not positive.

Hockey Stick 313

Hockey Stick Differentiation AJAX Vertical 313

deal architect

DECEMBER 25, 2010

Innovation posts in last few weeks RC Helicopters – still a favorite Christmas toy Popular Science – best of what’s new 2010 PrimeSense: The magic behind the Kinect Next-Gen Tire Monitoring Sensors A Golden Age for Auto consumers Acupuncture 2.0.

Technology 199

Technology 199

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2010

For some great leadership advice, see “ Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows: Learn How to Inspire Others, Achieve Greatness, and Find Success in Any Organization ”, by Charles P. Garcia. He says, “Too often businesses assume that offering more money is the only way to motivate employees. The reality is that employees value having strong leaders, who motivate them to do their best, just as much if not more.

Leadership 237

Leadership Employee Audience Engineer 237

Life Beyond Code

DECEMBER 26, 2010

Note: I created this one page self-assessment checklist late last year. Looking back, I wouldn’t change any of the questions for this year. I have updated the PDF for the new year. The updated post is below: We are obsessed about measuring everything. We want to know the number of connections, number of followers, number of pageviews, number of minutes someone spends on our website, number of clickthroughs, number of times the shopping cart was abandoned, number of repeat visitors, number

Metrics 143

Metrics Clickthrough Restful Video 143

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 27, 2010

January’s Tech Theme of the Month is going to be Python. I realize it’s still December; I decided to get a head start. Last month’s tech theme was videoconferencing. I learned a lot, including the unfortunate continued split between low end and high end and general lack of ability to have a single universal solution. Oh – and bandwidth still matters a lot.

PHP 134

PHP SQL Ruby Bandwidth 134

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 27, 2010

The Humble Bundle ended its second pay-what-you-want deal on Saturday. After running for just 11 days, the startup, newly backed by Y Combinator sold over $1.8 million in video games, outperforming the great success the first bundle had earlier this year. The Humble Bundle lets customers choose the price they wanted to pay - anything from a penny up - to download a package of 5 indie video games.

Cofounder 121

Cofounder Business Model Distribution Campaign 121

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2010

Every startup with any traction quickly reaches a point where they need to hire employees to grow the business. Unfortunately, this always happens when pressures are the highest, and business processes are ill-defined. At this point you need superstars and versatile future executives, yet your in-house hiring processes and focus are at their weakest.

Hiring 232

Hiring Startup Hosting Naming 232

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 28, 2010

A few days ago, I read an essay in the New York Times by Robin Dunbar. For those not familiar with Dunbar – Dunbar is a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Oxford and author of a popular book – “How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar’s Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks.”. I’ve long been interested in the theory behind Dunbar’s Number.

Social Media 111

Social Media Media Social Network New York 111

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 29, 2010

The TechStars Boston application deadline is 1/31/11. However, the early application deadline is actually 1/13/11 – anyone that applies by this date is eligible to come to TechStars for a Day in Boston on 1/19/2011. Katie Rae , the new TechStars Managing Director is doing an awesome job. I just got a note that we’ve already gotten more applications this year than we had last year.

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Boston Early Stage eCommerce Social Media 133

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 29, 2010

New Yorkers love to hate—the second anything goes less than perfect in this incredibly complex metropolis, we look for someone to blame. When your Mayor is a billionaire who went out of his way to get an exception to the rule for a third term, he makes an easy target—and the media is all too happy to pile on. As you can imagine, when you have 8 million people who all feel like their individual lives, needs, and tertiary side streets should be top priority, you’re going to wind up with a lot of u

Mobile 102

Mobile Community Technology Media 102

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2010

The naïve entrepreneur thinks he can relax, after he finally cashes the check from a professional investor, but in reality that’s when the work and the pressure starts. His first reality reset is that now, maybe for the first time, he really has a boss, or several bosses, and often very demanding ones at that. Angel and venture capital investors rarely just give you the cash, and stand back to wait for you to spend it the way you want.

Advisory Board 231

Advisory Board Entrepreneur Venture Capital Angel Investor 231

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 29, 2010

At the recent World Business Forum Event in New York City, business consultant and author Jim Collins said that "great enterprises are more likely to die of indigestion than starvation." He further cited Packard's Law (which was named after Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard). Packard's Law states the following: "No company can consistently grow revenues faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth and still become a great company.

New York City 103

New York City Entrepreneur Cofounder New York 103

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 28, 2010

As I embarked on my journey to learn python , I began by exploring a number of different approaches. I finally settled on using “beginner’s mind&# ( shoshin to those of you out there that know anything about Zen Buddhism). Rather than just dive in and build on my existing programming skills and experience, I decided to start completely from scratch.

Programming 125

Programming Operations 125

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 26, 2010

I rarely post recaps of my life anymore, but tonight demands a notation. It’s snowing in NYC—to say the least. We’re due for about two feet of snow when all is said and done, I’m sure. Earlier tonight, it wasn’t so bad, so I decided to head out by subway to Williamsburgh via the R and G train—a rare occasion to go from Brooklyn to Brooklyn without heading into the city.

Demand 92

Demand 92

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2010

It’s been a tough business year, but I hope you are all taking some time off this holiday weekend, to celebrate with the family. Even those of you who are not Christian and see Christmas as just another day should still enjoy the holiday spirit, take a break from work, and count your blessings. Yet there will be some entrepreneurs can’t seem to make the decision to take a break.

Entrepreneur 231

Entrepreneur Salary Restful Security 231

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2010

#7. Lobby Congress To Pass Pro-Small Business Legislation. Simply reduce regulation and taxes on small business investment and watch America’s entrepreneurs create all of the jobs America needs and more. #6. Support your Local Neighborhood IPO. While you’re at it, tell your congressional representative to make it easier for small businesses to access public capital.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur IPO United States America 92

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 28, 2010

On the heels of all the noise around Groupon’s $ 100m financing at a $7.5b (billion) post valuation, I thought I’d put out a call for “old VC term sheets – prior to 1990.&#. My partner Jason Mendelson and I are working on a book titled Venture Financings: How To Look Smarter Than Your Lawyer and VC. The final draft is due at the end of February (feel free to give us your sympathy if you happen to see us between now an then) and based on my previous experience with our pu

Term Sheet 118

Term Sheet Search Finance Valuation 118

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 30, 2010

Google is giving away $100 million dollars in AdWords credits to small businesses that sign up for an AdWords account BEFORE December 31, 2010. Up to one million small businesses can sign up for this program. If you sign up in the next two days , you’ll have until February 15, 2011 to spend $100 on AdWords advertising and then Google will give you a $100 credit to run more ads.

Small Business 90

Small Business Advertising SEO Programming 90

Start Up Blog

DECEMBER 29, 2010

1. Technology is easy – getting customers to pay you is outrageously difficult. When was the last time you heard about a web startup failing because the product didn’t work? Almost never. With the greatest respect to all the hackers and engineers out there coding away, making a product do what you want is simply a function of time. Spend enough development time on it, and you can write code to do almost anything you want.

Web 83

Web Engineer Internet Startup 83

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 30, 2010

A lot of entrepreneurs are excited to start their business and get a business card that lists their title as "CEO." But what does being a CEO really mean. According to Jack Welch: "My main role as CEO was developing talent. The team that fields the best talent wins. That's in baseball, football, life and business. Business is a game. If you don't suit up the best team, you don't have a prayer.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur Leadership Video Hiring 91

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

DECEMBER 29, 2010

This will be the final blog post I publish on Entrepreneurs-Journey.com in 2010. Like most of my articles that I’ve written in the past six years, this one is being constructed in a coffee shop in downtown Brisbane Australia as I sip a lemon-lychee iced tea. Tomorrow, likely the day you read this if you’re one of my more dedicated readers, I will be on a plane to Melbourne, catching a two hour flight down to ring in the new year at a big event.

Programming 86

Programming Restful Internet Hiring 86

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 30, 2010

As we close out 2010, we reached another important milestone at crowdSPRING – more than 80,000 designers and writers (from 185+ countries) now work on crowdSPRING. We’re proud of our community but humbled to know that 80,000 is small when compared to the population of the world – expected to exceed 7 billion people in 2011. National Geographic is planning a year long series focusing on the world’s population.

Community 87

Community Global Video Design 87

Up and Running

DECEMBER 27, 2010

I don’t know how far I would go with this, but it certainly got my attention, and the site it came from looks very good, too. This Infographic compares Facebook to Twitter in terms of use, demographics, and activities. You can click the picture for a larger view. And let me clearly thank Dave Larson of tweetsmarter for posting this. It’s his creativity, not mine.

Social Media 75

Social Media Media Technology 75

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Last night I watched a great documentary about legendary football coach Vince Lombardi. The man's track record speaks for itself. The year before he became head coach of the Green Bay Packers, the team had just one win. In the subsequent 8 seasons, Lombardi coached Green Bay to 5 NFL championships. In the documentary, there was footage of him saying he regretted coming up with phrase "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.

Green 89

Green Leadership Programming Employee 89

Start Up Blog

DECEMBER 28, 2010

Some more brilliance from George Carlin. For marketers and entrepreneurs alike it’s a great reminder of the value of language and how that can be used to create a benefit perception in peoples minds. Although, I’d recommend the picture we create is one of authenticity. Enjoy!

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Advertising Entrepreneur Marketing Sales 81