Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. In our industry we applaud the efforts for entrepreneurs to have tried and we know that today’s failure can bring the experience for tomorrow’s success. We also know that even though many of us who are experienced in startup successes & failures look at businesses and say, “That will never work” (as many people said about Uber) or “You can’t make any money in that business” (as many said

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YoungUpstarts

MARCH 21, 2016

by Cameron Johnson. The use of the internet has become so commonplace that more and more businesses are opting to use it. As a business owner nowadays, it is almost expected for you to create a website to represent whatever product or service that you are offering. Some businesses have even moved entirely online, only operating through E-commerce. While many business owners are setting up sites for their business, some of them are making the mistake of neglecting site content, relying mostly on

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2016

Every entrepreneur with a new technology tells me that his innovation will be industry-disrupting, meaning that it will render the existing technology obsolete, and create a new market. Yet truly disruptive innovations, like the smartphone from Apple and the rise of the Internet, are very rare, and are generally unpredicted. So why would any investor ever believe any of these claims?

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Non-Compete Technical Review Forecast Social Media 142

Hunter Walker

MARCH 23, 2016

I met Kyle when he was starting at Business Insider & took notice of our investments ahead of his peers. Of course this meant he was brilliant, and we struck up a friendship. When he was in discussions with a16z, it was a pleasure to provide him context on why I thought it would be a great role for him, and I’m thrilled it’s been a place where he can grow his curious mind.

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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

OnlyOnce

MARCH 22, 2016

A New Path Forward. Welcome to the world, Path Forward, Inc.! I’m thrilled to announce the launch today of Path Forward, a new non-profit with a goal of empowering millions of women to rejoin the workforce after taking time out for childcare. We are launching today with a Crowdrise campaign. See more about that below. And we launched with a bang, too – the organization is featured in this really amazing story on Fortune.

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YoungUpstarts

MARCH 22, 2016

by Amit Maimon, SVP of product innovation and development at Lifion. Culture will make or break your startup. You can’t just create a company culture, but you can direct it in the way you develop leaders, review, and give feedback to every person in your organization. A structure of fair and frequent feedback will lead to a strong culture your employees love.

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Scott Edward Walker

MARCH 21, 2016

INTRODUCTION. I’ve been handling a number of M&A transactions over the past few months from the buy-side, and one mistake I’m repeatedly seeing is the failure of the acquirer to perform an adequate due-diligence investigation of the target. As I discuss in this video from a few years back (starting at the 0:24 mark), I first learned of the importance of due diligence as a young lawyer at a major law firm in New York City.

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deal architect

MARCH 20, 2016

In my role, I spent a fair amount of time with Chief Marketing Officers of technology companies. Much of the conversation is about their digital journeys - the growing sophistication of their lead generation engines and social marketing. Every time.

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Duct Tape Marketing

MARCH 21, 2016

Ten Steps to Starting a Podcast written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing. photo credit: DollarPhotoClub. As the content marketing arms race continues to heat up, it’s becoming harder and harder to get noticed. Sometimes it seems that unless you are a published author, speaker, and prolific blogger, you won’t get much traffic or recognition as an authority in your niche.

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Steve Blank

MARCH 22, 2016

Tenacity and resilience. Getting people to buy in to your startup vision takes a thick skin, perseverance and willingness to learn. You’ll probably be laughed out of several boardrooms along the way. Entrepreneurs refuse to take no for an answer. The latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere shared what they learned from having their ideas rejected and how those lessons propelled their businesses forward.

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View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2016

Last time, we heard from a CEO about how startups can sell to big brands and enterprises. This time, Angus Davis, the founder and CEO of Upserve (fka Swipely) shares stories and tactics around selling to Main Street businesses. As a startup that sells to later adopters of technology or very small businesses, how do you think about product, marketing, and sales?

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2016

According to most definitions, an entrepreneur is one who envisions a new and different business, meaning one that is not a copy of an existing business model. Many entrepreneurs have a passion and an idea, or even invent a new product, but are never able to execute to the point of creating a startup. Even fewer are able to grow the startup into a viable business.

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YoungUpstarts

MARCH 22, 2016

The travelling professional. More and more people are travelling around the world, making a living and dealing with the rigours of extensive travel. While people who globe trot certainly have some tips of their own, there is some more general advice that can be extremely helpful for those who are embarking on a life of work and travel. To get the best advice I spoke with JustFly, an online travel agency based out of North America.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses — tech or otherwise — fail.

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Gust

MARCH 21, 2016

With startup growth up 61% since 2014 and more investment programs emerging, it can be overwhelming for founders to know just where to jump in. As the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet, MassChallenge has helped 835 startup companies around the world, who have raised over $1.1 billion in funding and created over 6,500 jobs. We have seen startups at.

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For Entrepreneurs

MARCH 23, 2016

There are many opinions on creating a pitch deck and presenting to potential investors, but there is still a big gap between what entrepreneurs perceive to be important and what investors really value during a pitch presentation. This post is the first in a series, where we will provide real examples–the good, the OK, and.

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YoungUpstarts

MARCH 24, 2016

By David Solomon, author of “The Dead Saints Chronicles: A Zen Journey Through the Christian Afterlife” It’s almost Easter, and the promise of springtime is in the air. (Finally!) This is the season of rebirth. And it’s only natural that as dark, depressing winter gives way to budding greenery, we find ourselves longing for physical and spiritual renewal.

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Brandanew

MARCH 23, 2016

While scanning through Instagram early morning, I came across Gary Vaynerchuk’s quote – “ Market like the year you’re in.” And this spoke to me. 2016 has solidified itself to be a year of Content with 77% marketers spending more on it. You need to create your online brands – whether personal or professional distinguished like never before.

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Version One Ventures

MARCH 21, 2016

When DeepMind’s AlphaGo defeated South Korean master Lee Se-dol, it was a historic stride for AI. The depth of this development, coupled with higher computing power and cheaper data storage, is moving AI into the mainstream. Perhaps the most popular application of AI today comes in the form of virtual assistants and bots, or “agents” as my good friend Shivon defines them.

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Berkonomics

MARCH 24, 2016

Dave’s note: This week we welcome guest author, David Friedman, to tell us about his favorite startup CEO, and his take after interviewing her – asking for her list of attributes for startup success. . By David Friedman. I met Kirsten Mangers several years ago after she successfully sold her startup, Webvisible. Kirsten is the founder of ChickLabs , an incubator that focuses on helping primarily women entrepreneurs.

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YoungUpstarts

MARCH 22, 2016

By Lea Schneider. A deck might be just the ticket to boost your business. If you’re slammed in the summer, adding a deck will give your shop or restaurant more usable square footage without the cost of expanding the building. On the other hand, if your business is slow in the summer, an inviting deck can help attract more customers. On my last vacation, I stopped at a favorite “hidden treasure.

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Brandanew

MARCH 21, 2016

The start of the week is a good time to define your own creativity manifesto and make a list of things you’d like to accomplish. Many find lists restrictive, but the truth is restrictions force you to stay more creative about your craft and explore the boundaries to make something unique and truly your own. Do you have a creativity manifesto that you adhere to?

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The Equity Kicker

MARCH 21, 2016

I was in a board meeting last summer where we faced a curious situation. The company was performing well, revenues were rising, engagement was on the up, and every month the path to becoming a very big business was getting clearer, but fundraising discussions were slower than planned. One of the Directors asked why we insiders were sure that the prospects were strong but new investors weren’t biting.

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Up and Running

MARCH 22, 2016

Do you love caring for children? Does spending your day finger painting, reading Dr. Seuss, and playing ring-around-the-rosie sound like something you’d enjoy doing? Then opening a daycare might be just the thing for you, and this guide can show you how. To get a sense of how to start a daycare business, we talked with Lindsey Roemen, owner of Lindsey’s Family Daycare in Larchwood, Iowa, and Shalonda Owens, owner of Fruitful Trees Learning Center in Columbus, Ohio, about their experiences

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YoungUpstarts

MARCH 23, 2016

by Zahrina Robertson , author of “Magnetic Branding: The Complete Guide for a Brand that Attracts” It is a fact that business owners already know branding can bring success. The problem is great majorities have no idea how to achieve this is. They understand that there is a relationship between a strong business branding image and the success of their business.

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View from Seed

MARCH 22, 2016

This is for the early-stage companies — the entrepreneurs with great ideas and tireless work ethics who feel like they’ve emailed half of the country’s news outlets with nothing but the rare “thanks, but not interested” reply to show for it. The irony hurts. You don’t have the traction, the big-dollar investments, or the marketing staff to attract media attention.

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The Equity Kicker

MARCH 22, 2016

Investors love serial entrepreneurs and routinely pay big bucks to invest in their companies. I’ve heard investors say they have backed serial entrepreneurs when they don’t believe in the idea or because it would look bad if they invested in the first company and missed out on the second. Sometimes it works well – Jack Dorsey did a $10m seed round for Square in 2009 at a rumoured valuation of $40m and I’m sure his investors are very happy.

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ConversionXL

MARCH 24, 2016

When you’re doing conversion optimization , one of the hardest parts is finding opportunity areas to optimize. Finding places people are dropping out is important in setting up a prioritized testing plan. Equally valuable is finding activities that correlate with higher customer success – whether that be RPV, LTV, or whatever metric you’re optimizing for.

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Metrics Conversion Analytics Retention 67

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 22, 2016

As Generation Z gets ready to graduate and enter the workforce, employers are attempting to attract new talent by changing up the dynamic of the traditional workplace. Baby boomers are getting ready to retire, which means there will be a large gap in management positions for Millennials and future generations to fill. This also means that employers need to start considering the needs of a younger workforce to attract and retain the best talent.

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YFS Magazine

MARCH 25, 2016

Companies that follow these five best practices will be best armed for driving sales teams, avoiding branding catastrophes, and possessing the information they need to keep customers happy and coming back.

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The Equity Kicker

MARCH 23, 2016

I think that everyone can see the world is changing fast these days, and many agree that it’s changing faster and faster all the time. In many ways that’s the defining characteristic of the 21st century. Great credit goes to Ray Kurzweil who was one of the first to notice and who’s work has helped the world to understand. Moore’s law is the best known example of exponential improvement, but many other technologies follow the same path.

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crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 21, 2016

More and more companies, especially startups, are adopting open office floor plans. Today, nearly 70% of all offices have open floor plans. Companies of all sizes see open offices as an opportunity to reduce real estate footprint and costs – you can put more people into an open layout. In fact, as more companies embrace remote work , the need for dedicated private offices diminishes.

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YoungUpstarts

MARCH 21, 2016

by Joel Roberts, project manager for Seavus Project Viewer. Business owners and entrepreneurs rely on making the right decisions, in terms of following trends and taking up innovative ways to make their business more successful. But dealing with decision making, with risks of failure and multiple engaging factors on the way, is seldom an easy task. Many entrepreneurs have problems connected to uncertainty and not owning enough information to establish confidence and forecast risks while coming u

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YFS Magazine

MARCH 21, 2016

Although I do ultimately have the choice to be that guy sitting in the corner looking at his phone, I realize I would miss out on some fun opportunities to talk shop, develop content ideas (for blogging purposes), or even find clients.

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Tim Keane

MARCH 23, 2016

In the final scene of “The Martian,” Matt Damon’s character, (Mark) says to a class of astronaut candidates: "At some point, everything's gonna go south on you and you're going to say, this is it. This is how I end.

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Hunter Walker

MARCH 19, 2016

Emily LaFave Olson w Chef Thomas McNaughton of Flour & Water. I can’t recall how I originally met Emily but I’m going to chalk it up to the “overlapping friend circles” thing. You know, you keep seeing someone often enough at group events that eventually you think you know one another despite actually never having a 1:1 conversation?

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