View from Seed

DECEMBER 3, 2015

This post on how to retain tech talent was written by Dan DeMeyere, director of engineering at thredUP. NextView is an investor in thredUP, and this post originally appeared on their engineering team blog. Retaining engineering talent has become an increasingly challenging task for any engineering manager in the Bay Area. Engineers have a lot of power in the current market and, as a result, it’s easy for engineers to leave and find a new position elsewhere.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Aspiring entrepreneurs often ask me what to do first when starting a business. Let me assure you, there is no absolute right or wrong, but there is real value in doing things in a sequence that minimizes the risks, optimizes your efforts and generates the best “first impression” on potential investors. Just don’t try to sell your business to investors before it is well established.

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YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 1, 2015

The online arena plays a crucial part in our daily lives on both a personal and professional level. Websites are a fantastic resource for companies to increase profits. Additionally, they offer individuals a chance to express opinions and maybe even form a career. However, creating a successful website is easier said than done. There are several steps to establishing a strong online presence.

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VC Cafe

DECEMBER 1, 2015

This is a guest post by Libby Kinsey , a former VC with an Msc in Machine Learning from UCL (bio below). Machine Learning and AI are fast becoming ubiquitous in data driven businesses, that is to say, an awful lot of businesses. Here I choose a few areas where it’s possible that big corporations haven’t already eaten everybody’s lunch. It’s not uncharted territory?

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Artificial Inteligence Algorithm Software Review Startup 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

YFS Magazine

DECEMBER 1, 2015

There’s a pervasive myth out there that far too many businesses assume is true. It goes something like this: Having an online presence is enough to achieve your marketing goals. You can create a brochure site, then set it and forget it.

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Marketing Lead Generation Web Development Design 63

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

More than a few tech giants got their start in cramped quarters, typically in a basement or garage. As they grew, a need for office space became essential. Not just that, but a search for space that catered to their business’s needs—whether that was an area large enough to facilitate massive supercomputers, or just one that could fit in a few employees and exude professionalism to potential investors and clients.

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Technical Review Startup Employee Internet 69

Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 3, 2015

The Inbound Myth written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing. photo credit: Carbon Fiber Magic Mouse via photopin (license). Inbound marketing is a topic that’s getting tons of attention these days, and for good reason: inbound has had a dramatic impact on the business landscape. The core of inbound is this: create valuable content for your prospects and put it in places (on social media, websites, publications, and search terms) where they hang out.

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Lead Generation Software Review Distribution LLC 41

deal architect

DECEMBER 3, 2015

Next Tuesday, the old pro (he has over a hundred such panels under his belt) Bill Kutik will moderate Workday’s annual look-ahead videocast. There should be plenty of new wrinkles Naomi Bloom and Brian Sommer, two of the best in.

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Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

In 2005, David Choe was invited to paint a number of murals at Facebook’s HQ in Palo Alto. At the time, Facebook wasn’t the goliath it is today and so, Choe was given a couple of options: he could have $60,000 in cash, or stock (equal to the equivalent amount of the cash back then). Choe may have lost out and made nothing if the company had gone under, but because it was a monumental success, he is now worth approximately $200 million.

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YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 3, 2015

As crowdfunding has gained in popularity, the battle for pledges and page views has turned increasingly competitive, particularly on crowdfunding portals featuring thousands of active projects jostling for attention. Whether you are planning a charity fundraising ideas through Plumfund, or looking for working capital for your new startup through Indiegogo, Kickstarter, HeadFunder or any of the other top 10 crowdfunding sites , if you are depending on that portal site alone to launch your campai

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2015

After working with dozens of entrepreneurs, I’m still amazed that some seem to be able to do the job easily and effectively, always in control, while others always seem to be struggling, out-of-control, and fighting the latest crisis. I am more and more convinced that it is the right business behavior that leads to success, rather than some exceptional intelligence or training.

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Founder Leadership Entrepreneur Employee 142

deal architect

DECEMBER 3, 2015

I released Volume 1 of SAP Nation a year ago. It was a new genre for me. Previous books had been forward looking, focused on innovations. SAP Nation was more historical analysis and modeling to understand how we got to.

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View from Seed

DECEMBER 1, 2015

The NextView podcast Traction explores the clever, creative, and atypical things entrepreneurs do to make initial progress against the odds. If startups should do things that “don’t scale,” then this podcast asks a simple question: What ARE those things? Past episodes include stories from founders of LinkedIn , DraftKings , General Assembly , Mattermark , Duck Duck Go , InsightSquared , and more.

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YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 4, 2015

By Stephen Tanenbaum, co-founder and CEO of UGallery. I’m a startup founder and I spend more time at the office than I’d like to admit. Sound familiar? Work/life balance has become a hot topic in the startup world. A few months ago, Stanford released a study highlighting how big the issue had become. The study found that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that there’s no point in working any more.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2015

Whether your business is a startup or large corporation, you need at least a few superstars who can get things done, despite all the challenges and distractions in the world today. Certainly, we've all heard the excuses of those who can't or won't perform. We've heard the repeated demands on our time. Further, we've been frustrated by how long some people need to finish a task, and how few results we see from many of our team members.

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Product Hiring Restful Leadership 132

Gust

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

After less than a year, Glassbreakers is now a team of 10, we have thousands of active users on our free product, we’ve expanded into enterprises with paying customers and raised over a million in seed funding. After a few of my Glassbreaker matches inquired, I started to reflect on what it’s like to build a startup. Read more >. The post Starting a startup as CTO / Head of Product appeared first on The Gust Blog.

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Product Startup Matching Customer 105

Rembrandt Communications

DECEMBER 2, 2015

Stop the madness and focus on what works with your B2B and B2C content strategy You are running around like a crazy person trying to shop, decorate, clean, prepare for guests, pack, wrap, ship gifts… the list goes on. And this doesn’t include all of the things you need to finish at work before you […]. The post Crazy Holiday Schedule? Your Content Marketing Doesn’t Need to Be!

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YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 1, 2015

by Lewis Robinson. With an impressive product lineup of new iPhones, Apple watches, iPads and an all-new Apple TV queued for shipment this week, 2015 is the most successful year of revenue growth for Apple , according to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. Apple’s sales increase of close to $234 billion reiterates its commitment to quickly release superior devices to the consumer.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2015

Since the financial downturn of 2008, I have seen a new business model emerging which embodies a greater focus on social and environmental responsibility, and a new requirement for trust and sharing, as well as customer and community collaboration. Companies like Airbnb, Uber, Zappos, and Whole Foods are setting the example, and leading the way in profitability and purpose.

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For Entrepreneurs

DECEMBER 2, 2015

“Talent is the limiting resource in everything we do right now.” If that observation rings true, you’re not alone. Despite every effort, most startups struggle to hire the best people. My partners and I believe developing a competency in hiring is one of the most important skills a founder can develop. And, while most founders we.

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The Next Web

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Educational startup One Month promises to help build coherency and knowledge in certain areas of programming and business in just 30 days’ time. Now, the company is expanding on that idea by helping aspiring entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground in just four weeks. The company’s new bootcamp, ‘One Month Startup,’ will take participants through every phase of creating a startup — from ideation to prototyping and initial user acquisition — in 30 days.

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YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 3, 2015

By Mitchell Berk, CEO of Selective Search. Imagine you are sitting in front of a 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. The pieces are sized in various shapes and spread randomly across your table. Around the table are four individuals, three of whom can’t see the final product of this puzzle. The fourth is called an entrepreneur. The greatest exhilaration and reward in being an entrepreneur is clearly seeing things that others cannot see, and instinctively knowing how to accomplish your vision.

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The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 3, 2015

I’m a big believer that most forms of intelligence can be learnt. We all have an innate level of ability, but our happiness and success in life depend much more on how much we grow than where we started. Practice is a simple and powerful tool that helps us get better at all tasks and for me self-reflection and a willingness to get stuck in are the other main weapons in the armoury (and both of these are learnt skills.

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Naming Conversion Design Developer 81

For Entrepreneurs

DECEMBER 3, 2015

The following is a guest post by Rob Gonzalez. 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 IBM, Endeca and Cambridge Semantics in senior product management roles.

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Semantic Syndicate Syndication Hiring 93

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 4, 2015

Think about the last thing that made you laugh. Was it a TV ad? Tim from HR? A tweet? Now think about the last landing page that made you laugh. Really, take a second and try to come up with an answer. Was it just another 404 page? Studies show that 30% of all ads and 50% of TV ads are based on humor. So, does that mean humor converts? Does that mean landing pages can and should be funny?

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YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 2, 2015

by Ian Cowley, managing director of www.cartridgesave.co.uk. A lot of the advice I share is about productivity. After all, the more efficient you are, the more the business – and you – benefit. So if you only remember five things today, remember these. I guarantee, they will make fitting 25 hours into a working day possible. Step away. Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees when your business is experiencing rapid growth.

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YFS Magazine

DECEMBER 2, 2015

Don’t let any of these fears impact your decision to start a business – consider the validity of your concerns, take calculated, informed and decisive steps and strive for growth.

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Developer Leadership 72

The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 2, 2015

Mahesh Vellanki from Redpoint put up an interesting post yesterday about ecommerce valuations. His major point is that revenue multiples aren’t that high, largely because the market is highly competitive and margins are low – often because of Amazon. As you can see from the chart above, in Mahesh’s sample most of the companies have revenue multiples in the 1-2x range.

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ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

There’s no denying that your homepage is vital to your site, especially if you’re a service (including SaaS) company. It’s likely one of your most visited pages, acting as a proverbial launch pad. While you read about optimizing individual landing pages day in and day out, optimizing homepages is less frequently explored. Do the same old rules from 2005 still apply?

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Conversion Search Design Vertical 76

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 2, 2015

By Santiago Jaramillo, CEO and founder of Bluebridge Digital. Today’s business leaders still haven’t figured out how to solve for the employee engagement problem. Yet engagement matters more than ever before. Companies who are engaging their employees see 50% less turnover, 22% better productivity, and ultimately 3x the profitability than those with disengaged employees.

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This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2015

I've always had a problem with the term "impact investing". It's as if the investments that you made that aren't part of an impact investing strategy hang from the ceiling Mission Impossible style in a temperature controlled environment making no discernable impact on stakeholder's lives. Leave no trace. Leave no fingerprints. Only, we know that's not the case.

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Private Equity Balance Sheet Hawaii Equity 71

The Next Web

DECEMBER 2, 2015

As part of a previous agreement to introduce transparency into its practices, Airbnb released the first of its regional ‘Compact’ reports yesterday — this one specifically covering the home sharing landscape in New York City. The data itself provides an interesting look into how Airbnb sees itself as, generally, a paragon for the community. In more than one instance, the company describes its platform as an ‘economic lifeline’ for the hosts it serves.

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New York Hosting New York City Community 70

Up and Running

DECEMBER 2, 2015

If you’re looking for a business location, you may be wondering, “where on earth do I start?” I’m going to help you figure that out. Once you’ve read this article, you will not only have an idea of what you need to think about when looking for a business location, but you will also have a number of creative ways you can go about doing so.

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Entrepreneur California Employee Lean 70

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 3, 2015

By Al Fialkovich, Managing Director, Founder and Co-Owner of Transworld Business Advisors of Denver. Thinking of selling your business in the next five years? Don’t wait. It has been a national conversation in recent years and no one can argue that the impending baby boomer’s retirement will affect how business markets operate currently. It will be no different for mergers and acquisitions and small business sales.

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The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Change often feels threatening and new technologies are always feared by some people, but the successful ones eventually get integrated into society and become normal. I love the way this cartoon above makes the argument succinctly and with great examples, but there are many others. At different times people have been similarly afraid that chess, cinema, mobile phones and Facebook will destroy society.

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Start Up Blog

DECEMBER 4, 2015

Heavy weight thug Mike Tyson has some advice for startup founders: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Your plan is a fantasy, the ring is the market. Once you enter the market you will get punched in the face. Even though it hurts, this punch is your friend. It serves reality and you’ll have iterate, fast. Now the truth is here it is time to dance around the ring, gather some strength, dodge the next punch, find some space, and throw a couple of jabs.

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