Sat.Oct 10, 2015 - Fri.Oct 16, 2015

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How do I figure out who my next important hire should be?

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

This is the perennial question for startups who have started to taste success, and are ready to invest in themselves in the form of new helping hands. The question is: How do you decide what role is most important to hire for? Founders typically revert to whatever they’re already expert in, and decide they need more of that. So, a technical founder decides she needs another developer, or a sales-oriented founder decides she needs another sales person.

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Making The Transition from Entrepreneur To Leader

YoungUpstarts

by John Vrionis, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Lightspeed is in the business of encouraging entrepreneurship. This past summer, the Lightspeed Summer Fellowships program invited selected guests to provide a unique perspective into the world of entrepreneurship. The program provides aspiring entrepreneurs the resources and mentoring they need to build their companies and develop their skills.

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How Restaurants Are Using Social Media Effectively (And What You Can Learn)

Brandanew

When all businesses are using social media , why should restaurants be left behind? However, due to very nature of their business, the social strategies across industries need to be customized. For restaurants- similar to many brick and mortar businesses, the key interest is using social to increase physical footfalls. Let us have a look at how restaurants are using social media effectively and what you can learn from them (you could tailor them to your industries too!).

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Retention Optimization: How to Increase the Value of a Conversion

ConversionXL

Are you familiar with the expression, “The most valuable customer is the one you never lose”? In the CRO industry, it’s easy to focus on simply converting more leads all day, every day. More visitors to the landing pages, more emails submitted, more phone numbers captured, etc. A higher conversion rate is great, but as Peep says, “If you want to increase conversions, make everything that you sell one cent, conversions go way up, but you go out of business.

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Building Healthy Innovation Ecosystems for Your Projects

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

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Build Transformify - ?#?Creative? ?#?Web? ?#?Developer? TRJOB-8

Transformify

Transformify is growing and we look forward to welcoming new ?#‎members ?in our ?#‎virtual?team?: ?#‎Creative? ?#‎Web? ?#‎Developer? TRJOB-8. Want to work remotely and love our web site? Then why don't you help us to make it even better? You will work closely with our Digital Marketing Execs to deliver digital content on time.

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As Year-End Approaches, 4 Things Businesses Should Do Now To Ensure 2015 Success

YoungUpstarts

by Richard Milam , the Founder and CEO of EnableSoft Incorporated. The end of the fiscal year marks a time of reflection and a chance for businesses to set forth tactics and goals to boost performance and profitability when leaping into the next fiscal year. As the end of the fiscal year approaches, it is critical for businesses to determine what initiatives where successful, as well as what were financial weights in order to create strategic operational goals that will result in increased reve

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Using Cohort Analysis for Conversion Optimization

ConversionXL

With all the talk about A/B testing, it’s easy to forget there are other methods of measuring the effects of experimentations, such as cohort analysis. Cohort Analysis 101. Cohort analysis sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. A cohort is basically just a group of subjects that share a common experience during a time span. Here’s the Wikipedia definition : “In statistics and demography, a cohort is a group of subjects who have shared a particular event together during a particular time span[1

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The baffling phenomenon of tech MA

deal architect

I swear there is a patron saint that CIOs pray to. A common prayer is to shield some of their favorite small tech vendors from being gobbled up by larger vendors. Another prayer is to shield them from the chaos.

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Do You Want An MBA For The Right Reasons?

YoungUpstarts

by Ben Williams, CTO at Reelio Labs. In the tumultuous and intimidating world of entrepreneurship, the prospect of an MBA can be a divisive thing. It is both aspired to and demonized , but a lot of the debate misses the point: Earning an MBA is situation- and person-specific, and it can be a waste of time or a lifesaver for different people. I’d love to tell you that I had a totally rational and logical process backing my decision to get an MBA.

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8 New Rules For Growing An Enduring Startup Brand

Startup Professionals Musings

Every new business dreams of becoming the premier brand in their space, like Starbucks is to coffee, and Apple is to consumer electronics, but they have no idea how difficult that is to achieve. In fact, only 100 of the 10,000 multimillion-dollar consumer companies around the world can claim to be an “apostle brand” – one that inspires enduring trust, loyalty, and endorsement.

Startup 213
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Foundry Group Urges Boulder To VOTE NO on 300 and 301

Feld Thoughts

This year’s local election in Boulder is a critical one. The city that we love risks shutting its doors. While the business community in Boulder has contributed immeasurably to the vibrancy, charitable contribution base, economic development, and success of our community, there is a faction in Boulder that feels that our city should stop moving forward and instead should live in the past.

Community 148
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Infors Retail Initiative

deal architect

One of my frustrations with enterprise tech for the last few years is we have paid inordinate amount of attention to horizontal apps – financials, HCM, CRM – and neglected the much more operationally important industry apps. Without hesitation, I.

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3 Social Media Marketing Musts for Introverts

YoungUpstarts

by Kim Staflund, founder and publisher of Polished Publishing Group and author of “ Successful Selling Tips for Introverted Authors “ What an amazing world we live in nowadays. You can quite easily promote yourself and your business without leaving your couch. This gives introverts a worldwide audience, no matter where you’re starting from.

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7 Guidelines For Entrepreneurs To Do The Right Thing

Startup Professionals Musings

Most entrepreneurs I know want to do the right thing for their businesses, as well as themselves, but they are not always sure what that means. Does it mean the right thing from a customer perspective, societal impact, maximizing business returns or personal benefit? The good news is that none of these need be mutually exclusive, according to recent studies of market trends.

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[New Report] How Has Digital Media Altered Self-Expression In Indian Women

Brandanew

As I shared over a month ago, Brandanew has been working on a digital media survey on Indian women online. This research was initiated in 2013 and the latest survey was to add insights to a large qualitative set of interviews that I was able to work on for the last couple of years. The hardest part of this research has been to disassociate my personal experiences of using the online space and see it objectively from the experiences of others.

Media 142
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Oracle, time to move on?

deal architect

After plenty of name calling at the trial in Las Vegas, both Oracle and Rimini Street sent a few of us reasonable sounding emails about the jury’s verdict awarding Oracle $ 50 million in damages. Oracle had asked for close.

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Great Tips For Attending Your First Trade Show

YoungUpstarts

Attending a trade show can be a great way to get your business the running start it needs. When you attend a tradeshow with your business, you’ll have the chance to impress investors. You can get the funding you need, without paying for your company out of your pocket. As well as this, you’ll get noticed on the world market as an up and coming business.

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Building A Sustainable Business Is More Than Profit

Startup Professionals Musings

I may be a bit old-fashioned, but I have always looked at a business first for its potential ability to be self-sustaining, and provide reasonable profits to feed my family, my lifestyle, and my retirement. Then secondly, I look for it to be a business I can enjoy, with the potential to change the world. Today, these top priorities of many entrepreneurs seem to have reversed.

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How To Design A Business That Won’t Overwhelm You

YFS Magazine

Take the time and care to design your business step-by-step and don't let it design you. The last thing you want is to wake up two years from now and wonder who’s business you’re running.

Design 128
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When Greed Turns To Fear

Feld Thoughts

There is a cliche in the financial world that has been around forever. “Two things drive decisions: Greed and Fear” For the past few years, we’ve been a zone where greed has been dominating. Every now and then a little fear creeps in and then gets squished into the corner by chants of “things are different this time” and “that’s just PTSD from the Internet bubble.” Recently, the fear seems to be sticking around.

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There Is No Better Time Than Now To Start An Online Business And Begin Building Wealth

YoungUpstarts

by Timothy Sykes of timothysykes.com. We are currently amidst one of the most exciting times in history. The power of the internet has not only transformed the way that people interact with the world around them, but it has also completely changed the way that people today buy and sell goods and services. For those who have ever considered starting their own online business, now is the time to take advantage of this unique opportunity within the market.

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5 Steps To Finding A Partnership For Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

Business partnerships have traditionally been agreements to drive more transactions than either company could do alone. The new paradigm, driven by disruptive technologies, cloud-served supercomputing, and the new generation of young adults with global empathy, is partnering and giving something now for a competitive advantage in the future. An excellent example is the initiative by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors to give away all their patents, to infrastructure providers and even competitive car ma

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Frugality is a virtue

The Equity Kicker

Sam Altman of YC posted a long tweetstorm yesterday on the theme of frugality in startups. In short he thinks it’s a virtue we’re in danger of losing. That’s more true in the US than over here where there’s still less money in the market, but it’s a point worth repeating. The positives of frugality are that working with the constraint of limited capital forces creativity and sets the culture right for the long term.

Sales 113
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What Is The “Third Wave” Of This Generation?

Feld Thoughts

When I was 14, my dad gave me a copy of Alvin Toffler’s book The Third Wave. It blew my f **g mind. I then read the prequel – Future Shock – which was good – but since my mind was already blown, it was anticlimactic. If you don’t know the arc of Toffler’s waves, they go as follows: The First Wave: agricultural society.

Search 115
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7 Ways In Growing Your Business With The Help Of Webinars Or Online Meetings

YoungUpstarts

You may have already heard about webinars or online meetings and their ability to help grow a business. But how exactly are webinars able to do this? How do you make use of webinars in making your business grow and succeed? Before proceeding with the enumeration, though, it’s important to emphasize that webinars are not just what many would likely think of as “seminars on the web.

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How to Create a Branded Website

Up and Running

You are how you look online. If you are trying to launch or build a successful business, you need to look the part. You can’t sell CFO services when you look like a bookkeeper. You can’t build credibility if your customers suspect you’re at home in a robe and slippers. Put on a tie, button up, and build your brand. Your brand is what the outside world thinks of you; it’s a collection of impressions you build up over time.

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VCs want to blow you up, in one sense of the phrase or the other

The Equity Kicker

I love this from Paul Graham : Plus founders who’ve just raised money are often encouraged to overhire by the VCs who funded them. Kill-or-cure strategies are optimal for VCs because they’re protected by the portfolio effect. VCs want to blow you up, in one sense of the phrase or the other. But as a founder your incentives are different.

Portfolio 106
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Will The Real Life Coach Please Stand Up?

YFS Magazine

Gone are the days of winging it. To coach people well involves more than just investing in a weekend workshop. It involves training.

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Considering Employee Safety In Startup Mode

YoungUpstarts

by Lewis Robinson. In all business organizational structures, there are several major elements. These are management, sales and marketing, customer service, production/manufacturing, operations and safety. Employee safety is a significant part of daily business operations. This is true for small non-manufacturing businesses to large scale production and manufacturing.

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#PeakVC

K9 Ventures

Earlier today I tweeted: Calling #PeakVC. Right here, right now. Done. — Manu Kumar (@ManuKumar) October 13, 2015. But I realized shortly after tweeting this that thee is so much nuance packed into that one term #PeakVC that it requires a lot more than 140 characters. So here are some of the things I was thinking about when I tweeted this: Peak Oil is defined as the point in time when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum is reached, after which the rate of production is expected to enter

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What to do when growth stops

The Equity Kicker

Jeff Jordan, partner at Andreessen Horowitz published an article recently on Recode advising CEOs on how to respond when growth slows. His first point is to take it seriously. Very seriously. At most times and in most cycles investors value growth above all else because rapid growth delivers rapid increases in valuation, and without rapid growth a startup isn’t going to break out and become a star.

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3 Overlooked Benefits Of Shared Office Space

YFS Magazine

Before you commit to a shared workspace, be sure to vet the office providers on your short list to see if they offer any – or all – of the following services.

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How ‘Shark Tank’ Taught Me To Be Myself In Business

YoungUpstarts

by David Schwartz, founder and president of The Water Scrooge. By now, everyone’s familiar with ABC’s “ Shark Tank ”, the popular reality show in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to wealthy potential investors in hopes of a big break. It’s dramatic, fast-paced, and cutthroat; if you’re not prepared, you’re out before you know what happened.

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An Investment Fund for NYC Foodies

This is going to be BIG.

I don't remember whether it was over a meal at Good Fork , Rucola , Martha , or maybe over an Ample Hills ice cream cone, but I've definitely said the words "Wouldn't it be cool if you could setup a way to invest in the growth of the food and beverage scene in Brooklyn--like, the whole thing. Maybe like a fund." Well, my friend Tom Potter, who I know as a fellow kayaker, but who is much better known as the co-founder of Brooklyn Brewery, is making that happen.

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The best advice startups will never follow

Berkonomics

Let me tell you a few short hair-raising stories of entrepreneurs who have raised money and regretted it later. Here are some rules that entrepreneurs almost always ignore to their future peril. Don’t take money from relatives who can’t afford to walk away without remorse. Do take money from experienced family members only after you ask them if they are sure three or more separate times.

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3 Money-Saving Startup Lessons I Learned, So You Don’t Have To

YFS Magazine

You might say you won’t make big mistakes, but in the end, it’s best to have someone to bounce ideas off of — someone who’s smarter and more experienced.

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