A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
AUGUST 22, 2011
Tweet. -->. Whatever your standpoint on meat dresses , no one today is more vocal about being true to yourself than Lady Gaga. God makes no mistakes. I’m on the right track. I was born this way. As she’s said in interviews, she’s not speaking only to the LGBT community, she’s encouraging anyone who is seeking their identity, and looking for permission to be that person in public.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 25, 2011
Entrepreneurs always work hard to create an innovative product or service, but often count on standard seller marketing for sales. But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. Recent reports suggest that 90% of today’s shoppers skip marketing pitches, to research online before they buy, and over 50% check user reviews before making a decision.
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YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 21, 2011
The digital native, a term first coined by Marc Prensky in his seminal article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants in 2001 (and later a book called – Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning “), is today known by many names. But that generation – arguably those technology-savvy, freewheeling spirits who are born after 1985 and are about to enter or have just entered the workforce – cannot be treated the same way by companies and organizations the way they ha
This is going to be BIG.
AUGUST 25, 2011
Tweet. When I was running Path 101, I'd laugh when people asked me if I was taking vacation. First off, I couldn't actually afford to go anywhere on a startup salary. Second, there was way too much to do. Third, I'm not sure I could have successfully unplugged anyway. The issue was that for the last two weeks in August, there were no VCs around to pitch, no distribution partners to meet with for biz dev deals, and seemingly no one else around actually working for me, the non-technical co-founder
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
crowdSPRING Blog
AUGUST 26, 2011
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!
Up and Running
AUGUST 24, 2011
What’s the difference between a marketing plan and a business plan? Doesn’t a business plan include a marketing plan? Why would anybody do one without the other? Good questions, and since I get them a lot, I decided to answer them here: A business plan covers the entire business, including overall strategy, financial plans, target markets, sales, products and services, operations, and how they all relate to each other.
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Guy Nirpaz
AUGUST 24, 2011
B2B SaaS companies increasingly rely on inside sales teams to drive growth. The model is often referred to as “Low Touch Sales” and follows this formula: Use Inbound marketing to drive Internet traffic to the site and create new leads. Use an inside sales team to support leads through their evaluation process and convert them to paying customers. Inside sales representatives (ISR) and sales management teams juggle with large volum. es of leads of various qualities.
Both Sides of the Table
AUGUST 21, 2011
“People still want calls …&#. When I first got into VC I decided I better have some investment themes. My macro theme was “great entrepreneurs&# who mapped to my belief system about the kind of entrepreneurs I wanted to work with. My background was 8 years of telecoms & mobile and 8 years of cloud computing & SaaS – so these two themes were a given.
Scott Edward Walker
AUGUST 25, 2011
Introduction I’ve been doing deals as a corporate lawyer for 17+ years, and there are certain fundamental mistakes that I’ve seen entrepreneurs make over and over again. Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful to share three basic tips in connection with doing deals. This is part three of a three-part series, which was originally posted on Forbes.
deal architect
AUGUST 25, 2011
I recently submitted the first draft of my manuscript for my next book. It’s about what I call “technology elite” companies and it has 21 chapters most of which talk about attributes of what makes them elite. They include elegance.
Steve Blank
AUGUST 22, 2011
Over the last few weeks I’ve gotten involved in hiring for two startups, a public agency and a non profit. Part of each conversation was getting asked to help them put together a “job spec.”. I had them leave with a pie chart. ——– There must be something in the air. In the last week I had four separate groups through the ranch all wanting to talk either about hiring a senior exec or a senior exec looking for a new job.
Both Sides of the Table
AUGUST 22, 2011
FNAC. I first heard the term from Chris Fralic at First Round Capital. Feature, not a company. It has always stood out in my mind. Whether something is a feature or a company is clearly subjective. And sometimes features (say, Twitter) turn into companies. For me it is a useful shorthand for a very clever set of product features that in my mind would be hard to remain a stand-alone business or themselves to generate enough revenue to justify the company’s existence.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 26, 2011
Too many entrepreneurs confuse motion with momentum and results. We all know someone who repeatedly tells us how “busy” they are, when it’s hard to see what they get done. Momentum is moving things forward (mass x velocity). Founders or employees in constant motion, but with no momentum, will kill any startup. It is true that motion in any direction is often better than no motion at all.
deal architect
AUGUST 22, 2011
HP’s many announcements last week led observers to say this was its “IBM” inflexion point – deemphasize consumer tech, get more into enterprise tech. The interesting thing is Cisco and Dell are also going through similar therapy. I keep waiting.
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 26, 2011
If you think social group buying sites have been all abuzz lately, here’s one that’s guaranteed to give you back some “buzz&# – San Diego-based online deal site eDrinkit ( www.eDrinkit.com ) gets you access to deals on drinks and VIP bottle deals at local hotspots (the clubbing, not the Wi-Fi, kind). eDrinkit works with popular nightclubs, bars and restaurants to negotiate drink specials (which range from 50- to 90-percent off regular prices), which are sent to thousands
Both Sides of the Table
AUGUST 24, 2011
On this blog I’m often trying to combine lessons for entrepreneurs and market commentary. Yesterday it was my turn for the lesson. In my zeal to prove a point I often take a strong stance on an issue. I then debate the topic in the comments section and hope that we all learn from the conversation. It’s my personality to do this. Yesterday I pushed this passion in the wrong direction.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 21, 2011
A startup begins with a great idea, but all too often, that’s where it ends. Ideas have to be implemented well to get the desired results. Good implementation requires a plan, and a good plan and good operational decisions come from good people. That’s why investors invest in entrepreneurs, rather than ideas. People and operational excellence have to converge in every business, large or small.
deal architect
AUGUST 25, 2011
I am delighted to welcome Oracle to the past and present gallery of innovators and disruptors who sponsor this and the New Florence. New Renaissance blog. With Oracle Fusion Applications starting to roll out, and with their ability to mesh.
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 20, 2011
The trouble with disaster relief is that there is almost never enough of it, and much of it – while good intentioned – is sorely misdirected and misused. The more successful relief organizations are those who actively work with local stakeholders to ascertain needs and work to fulfill those needs. Relief 2.0 is one of those organizations.
ReadWriteStart
AUGUST 26, 2011
If you haven't read my colleague Scott Fulton's post on " The Steve Jobs Formula and Why It Works " go read it right now! It's a very insightful piece written by an expert who literally watched Apple grow up and there are plenty of lessons for all entrepreneurs in the Steve Jobs formula he spells out. However, to be "fair and balanced" here at ReadWriteWeb I think it's also important to point out some things that as an entrepreneur you'd be well served to ignore.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 23, 2011
Getting things done effectively in a startup requires total individual and team accountability. You can’t afford excuses and multiple people doing the same job. In my view, “taking responsibility” is the core element behind accountability. Many people hear responsibility as an obligation, but I hear it as “the ability to respond.” Unfortunately many people don’t have the ability to respond, because they lack confidence in themselves, or simply don’t have the skills required.
deal architect
AUGUST 25, 2011
on the innovation blog Wireless Power in the Battlefield Cop-Sourcing Rain Bird: The Art of Irrigation The Most Wired Hospitals.
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 24, 2011
It’s unsurprising that smaller amusement parks usually find it difficult to compete with larger theme parks in terms of budget for marketing, so many of them often have to find innovative solutions to attract visitors. Sommerland Sjælland , a Denmark amusement park located in Odsherred on Zealand, found its answer in mobile applications. But unlike the information- or location-based features (finding your way around, for example) typically found in those applications, Sommerland Sjælland &
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 23, 2011
Today we announced that we’ve led a $10m round for MakerBot Industries and I’ve joined the board. I’m super excited to be working with Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, Zach Smith, and the rest of the MakerBot gang to create consumer-grade 3D printers. When I first met Bre, Adam, and Zach at the Botcave in Brooklyn, it was love at first sight for me.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 22, 2011
For some reason, I haven’t heard much about the next generation of the Internet ( Web 3.0 ) lately, which probably means it isn’t happening as fast as everyone predicted. It’s already a couple of years behind schedule from my perspective. I suspect the real challenge is not the semantic web technology , but new attractive business models from smart entrepreneurs.
deal architect
AUGUST 21, 2011
25 Cool College Labs CNET's back to school product picks The Amazon college student app.
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 23, 2011
Is going hyperlocal the next big thing or the latest hype? Whatever you believe, there are increasingly more mobile location-based services that focuses on providing information and content targeted at specific locales. Take newly announced Drumo ( www.drumo.com ), for example. Drumo is a hyperlocal question-and-answer platform that connects a community of users in a certain area to ask and answer questions about what is happening around them.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 25, 2011
Play golf? Just watch the video. Then go pre-order a Sphero. Office Golf with Sphero the robotic ball from GoSphero on Vimeo. If you want to see the app behind this, Orbotix has a longer description on their website.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 24, 2011
Business incubators for sharing services were all the rage back in the days of the dot-com bubble (700 for profit, many more non-profit). About that time the bubble burst, causing more than 80% of them to disappear. Now they are coming back, and the best even provide networking, technical leadership, and seed funding, as well as investors waving money at graduates.
Agile VC
AUGUST 22, 2011
How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. How To Think About The Future. Home. About Me. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Odds Are, Your Startup Probably Isn’t a Platform. August 22, 2011. I have the great privilege of meeting lots of entrepreneurs every day and hearing about the startups they’re building. Countless startups pitch themselves as “platforms” these days, in part because it’s become a buzzword in the last 18 months or so.
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 22, 2011
QR codes have been used in the various countries, such as Japan and South Korea, for marketing purposes to mixed degrees of success. Possibly the best use of QR codes I’ve seen in this region was by TESCO Homeplus, who used QR codes to create an entire virtual subway supermarket store targeted at busy professionals. And despite the slow take-up of QR codes in Singapore, new Singapore-based startup Gozo Labs has just launched a location-based mobile marketing platform that leverages QR code
Rembrandt Communications
AUGUST 22, 2011
Are you staring at a blank screen ready to write some search engine optimization (SEO) copy for your Website? Hold on! You need a call-to-action for your SEO copy first! Before you start writing, you should know exactly what you want site visitors to do on that page of your Website. Do you want them [.].
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 26, 2011
When we were last with our SayAhh cofounders, they had implemented an accounting system and Jane had contributed $50,000 for a 55/45% equity split. This week we introduce two of SayAhh’s key accounting documents: the Balance Sheet (BS) and Statement of Cash Flows (SCF) showing how this investment is accounted for. The investments by the founders created two transactions.
Occam's Razor
AUGUST 22, 2011
Here you'll find all my blog posts categorized into a structure that will hopefully make it easy for you to discover new content, find answers to your questions, or simply wallow in some excellent analytics narratives. To assist with that process everything's organized into these sections: ~ Digital Marketing: "What is amazing out there?
YoungUpstarts
AUGUST 23, 2011
This year’s first Keynote Panel Discussion at Social Media World Forum (SMWF) Asia will be examining the profile of consumers that can be reached via social media, both regionally and globally and how the social web is changing their attitudes. In recent years Web 2.0 has changed the way people communicate not only with each other but with companies and brands.
ReadWriteStart
AUGUST 25, 2011
During this week's roundtable, we followed a slightly different format than our usual five entrepreneur pitches. We did only one entrepreneur pitch, but we did a couple of tutorials on how to run a comprehensive Twitter campaign. I explained the 1M/1M Twitter strategy , followed by how 1M/1M premium members can use our Twitter channel. To give you a flavor, we're running a high volume, high quality, high authority micro-blogging campaign through Twitter whereby we put out 200 messages a day, and
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