YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 11, 2011

by Oliver Wilkinson , founder of SSL247 and co-founder of jobiso.fr. As a big believer in young business talent, I’d like to share some tips – learned through experience – about honing your skills as an entrepreneur. In my companies we thrive on the entrepreneurial spirit in our young employees, and consider mentoring them is key to their personal and professional growth, as well as that of our companies – so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to write this guest post.

Entrepreneur 199

Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Cofounder SMS 199

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2011

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. After exchanging a couple of notes, I concluded that she was more likely a victim of item #1 on my reject list below, rather than a drought on seed funding.

Software Review 246

Software Review Due Diligence Elevator Pitch Early Stage 246

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 8, 2011

I finally started Smart Bear Live. It’s “ Loveline for startups ,&# where entrepreneurs get to ask any question about their startup and have me and a rotating co-host tackle the problem and devise constructive next-actions. Like most ventures, it didn’t work the way I’d imagined. For the last year I envisioned it as a weekly call-in radio show, and in this incarnation it wasn’t call-in, it wasn’t on the radio, and it’s not weekly.

Cofounder 226

Cofounder Angel Investor Hosting Software Review 226

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 7, 2011

I’ve been railing against software patents for a number of years. I believe software patents are an invalid construct – software shouldn’t be able to patented. For a while, I felt like I was shouting alone in the wilderness. While a bunch of software engineers I know thought software patents were bogus, I had trouble getting anyone else to speak out against software patents.

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Software Software Engineering Software Developers Software Development 152

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

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 8, 2011

Trover ( www.trover.com ) is a mobile discovery app that is created for explorers who love to share their discoveries with each other in a visual way. Its defining feature is its location-based discovery mosaic, which essentially triangulates your location and lets you visually browse through an eye-catching collection of thumbnail images featuring places to see and things to do nearby that others have discovered and shared.

Mobile 167

Mobile Networking Seattle Washington 167

crowdSPRING Blog

AUGUST 11, 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!

Social Media 91

Social Media Small Business Design Argentina 91

Babbling VC

AUGUST 9, 2011

You've heard the clichéd statement made a million times: "A players hire A players. B players hire C players!" I couldn't agree with this more but want to make a point that actually addresses a problem before hiring even starts. At times, simply avoiding a hire could be strategically more beneficial to your business than hiring someone not up to the task. .

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Hiring Cofounder Salary Search 82

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

AUGUST 9, 2011

In the past few posts , I have spent time discussing how to make money using the Internet as a resource. Most of the strategies that I have discussed for making money require that you have your own online website. That is because a good website or blog can serve as a central hub for all of your marketing efforts. The site is a way of generating consistent revenue for your online money making efforts.

Hosting 81

Hosting Naming Matching Software Review 81

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 8, 2011

If you a scared motherf%^*&r, go to church. —Ice Cube, Go to Church. I tell my kids, what is the difference between a hero and a coward? What is the difference between being yellow and being brave? No difference. Only what you do. They both feel the same. They both fear dying and getting hurt. The man who is yellow refuses to face up to what he’s got to face.

Portfolio 78

Portfolio Employee Technical Review Revenue 78

Rob Go

AUGUST 11, 2011

I was on a panel yesterday on VC fundraising. One audience member asked how early one should start talking to VCs, and whether it made sense to meet with VC’s at all before raising money. My friend Jeff Bussgang suggested that it’s a good idea to meet with VC’s early, to get feedback and share your plans. The idea being that the VC will get to know you better over time, see how well you execute, and you’ll be in better shape when the time comes to raise money. “VC&#

Software Review 62

Software Review Florida Institutional Investors Lean 62

Babbling VC

AUGUST 10, 2011

OK, hands up, who's truly surprised by the drop in the stock markets or the postponed tech IPO's or even the upcoming slowdown in venture financing? No really, who is surprised? If you said yes, stick your head back in the sand. It's all warm and cuddly there and if that's your thing, enjoy. . For the rest of you, let's get back to business. What is the reality now?

Germany 76

Germany Stock IPO Valuation 76

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2011

Many people believe that good entrepreneurs are naturally born, rather than trained or experienced in the art of business. I believe there is a natural born component required, but often I tend to agree with Peter Drucker , who said “It’s not magic, it’s not mysterious, and it has nothing to do with genes. It’s a discipline, and like any discipline, it can be learned.

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Entrepreneur Search Operations Email 255

deal architect

AUGUST 9, 2011

Apple's leader of iOS development Scott Forstall, in on record saying its App Store, has "created the best economy in software in the history of the planet” Before you call him immodest, let’s put things in perspective. When IBM introduced.

Mobile 236

Mobile Software Developer 236

Altgate

AUGUST 11, 2011

Yesterday I finally received and read iPad in the Enterprise that I had pre-ordered a while ago. If you’re involved in enterprise mobile whether it’s C-level strategy or implementation for a business unit, this book is worth a read. In truth, this book is really two books in one. The first seven or eight chapters are written for the CIO.

Warrant 38

Warrant Technical Review Software Review Mobile 38

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 10, 2011

Azione PR is a Los Angeles, California-based boutique public relations firm started by two enterprising and dynamic young women who despite their young ages already possess more than twenty years of experience in public relations and marketing in total. Michele Angeloni, 30, and Leland Drummond, 28, founded Azione PR in June 2010 in the heart of Hollywood, leveraging on their previous experiences and client relationships to start their business. “We had very strong relationships with brand

PR 245

PR Public Relations Los Angeles Vertical 245

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2011

Building a startup is hard work for low pay, it’s risky, and it requires total responsibility to make it work. Yet, many entrepreneurs are the happiest people I know. On the other hand, I know many unhappy individuals who are always partying, have minimal commitments, and little responsibility. I suspect the real parameters of happiness have eluded these people.

Startup 249

Startup Security Entrepreneur Product 249

deal architect

AUGUST 8, 2011

Time magazine recently sent us a promotional offer – extend your subscription for $ 25 for 2 years, and we didn't hesitate a second. Done! But it hit me how unusual that is. The Wall Street Journal keeps sending me.

Customer 199

Customer 199

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 10, 2011

It doesn't matter if you call it a boom or a bubble. The startup business moves in cycles, and what goes up will eventually come down. We're in summer. One easy way to tell: notice all the startup experts and prophets that have sprung up in the last two years (myself included). Notice how many of them made their money during a previous boom. George R.

LP 168

LP Incubator New York Programming 168

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 7, 2011

Can you remember what you were doing the last time you came up with a great idea? Dane Carlson of Business Opportunities Weblog ( www.business-opportunities.biz ) wondered what people are normally doing when new ideas strike, and surveyed his audience. Here was the result in the form of an infographic (do note that the number of people who responded to the survey isn’t stated so this survey isn’t exactly scientific or conclusive): Almost 40-percent of the audience polled were showeri

Audience 233

Audience 233

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2011

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. All the skills and instincts you needed to get to this level can actually start working against you, and you can fail to scale. Investors often say that successfully navigating the early stages of a startup requires lots of street smarts, guts, and luck.

Early Stage 246

Early Stage Startup Founder Revenue 246

deal architect

AUGUST 12, 2011

On the New Florence blog Video Games now twice as big as movies The Universe’s Ten Most Epic Projects Wired’s Trash heap of devices Turning your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch into a baby monitor.

Video 170

Video Technology 170

Rembrandt Communications

AUGUST 8, 2011

Google’s Panda Update has caused quite a stir in the search engine optimization (SEO) world. Basically, Google changed it algorithm so that the Websites that provide value rise to the top of search-engine listings. And the content farms posting articles, Website pages, blogs, etc. filled with massive amounts of will be penalized. While this update [.].

SEO 145

SEO Algorithm Engineer Search 145

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 9, 2011

We’ve long suspected that many new businesses are eschewing traditional office solutions for a virtual office, but a recent end-2010 financial study conducted and compiled by the Office Business Center Association International (OBCAI) that surveyed 442 office business centers shows a significant acceleration in virtual office growth in 2009, to 18.3% from 7.8% in 2008.

DC 180

DC Washington Global Demand 180

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2011

It’s a well-accepted axiom in the investor community that entrepreneurs learn more from their failures than their successes. Thus a well-explained startup failure often can actually improve your odds of funding in the next go-round. Yet, there is no doubt that the best strategy is to learn from someone else’s mistakes, so you can enjoy the millions that someone else lost in learning.

Forecast 241

Forecast Startup Hiring Leadership 241

deal architect

AUGUST 9, 2011

on the innovation blog Aquaculture 100 things your kid may never know about All the President’s iPads The De Dietrich Induction Hob.

Technology 186

Technology 186

Small Business Force

AUGUST 9, 2011

When an entrepreneur starts a business, probably the last thing they think about is the culture they are going to create within it. Yet, it is probably the most powerful force that, later, drives the company forward.or not. The business concept, the underlying technology, the great idea are usually what becomes the underpinning foundation that births the business.

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Dividend Stock Options Employee Stock 31

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 11, 2011

Michael Plummer, Jr never really wanted to follow in his entrepreneurial father’s footsteps. His father Michael Plummer, Sr had built Florida-based Our Town from scratch since 1972, but Junior had never really wanted anything to do with it. Instead Junior decided to carve out his own life by joining the military as an army nurse, putting his life at risk on the front lines to help save the lives of others.

South Korea 164

South Korea Pennsylvania Florida Direct Marketing 164

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2011

Managing and motivating a team in a startup is more than just using the right interpersonal skills. It’s more than providing recognition, tangible incentives, and clear work goals. A key influencer of satisfaction and motivation, top-ranked by employees, is positive progress and the completion of meaningful work. Sometimes you have to manage progress, not people.

Startup 236

Startup Employee Leadership Management 236

David Teten

AUGUST 8, 2011

A few weeks ago, Fred Wilson discussed the role of government grants in helping launch tech companies. Fred is not a fan and argues that evaluating and aiding early-stage companies is not a core competency of government organizations. He concludes by asking his readers to look into grant programs available for startups. We find it hard to disagree with Fred’s point of view.

Government 144

Government Southern California SBIR Non-Compete 144

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

When we were last with Dick and Jane on Finance Fridays, our fearless entrepreneurs were figuring out how to split up their founders equity and account for an investment from Jane. While they’ve been hard at work on their product, they’ve also incorporated the company, now named SayAhh (thanks Mac!) as a C-Corp in Delaware. They’ve done a bunch of other mundane things, such as establishing a business checking account and depositing Jane’s $50k in seed capital, but like all goo

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 12, 2011

by Dave Anderson, author of “ How to Lead by The Book: Proverbs, Parables, and Principles to Tackle Your Toughest Business Challenges “ Picture this: It’s 4:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon at the end of an exhausting week. You’ve finally reached a good stopping place on your work and everything seems on track for a clean break when 5:00 rolls around.

Leadership 162

Leadership Employee Cofounder Reputation 162

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2011

A spin-off is merely a startup spawned by a mature parent (company), and conventional logic would dictate that it has a survival advantage over the lowly startup. Yet spin-offs seem to most often fail to launch in the real world. I was part of one myself a few years ago, and felt the pain, so the phenomenon has intrigued me ever since. My first thought is that spin-offs are like struggling adolescents with over-protective parents.

Entrepreneur 233

Entrepreneur Non-Compete Merger Leadership 233

Occam's Razor

AUGUST 8, 2011

99.9996253% of Web Analytics reports produced are utterly useless. Partly because of a lack of any tie to business strategy (ensure you have a Digital Marketing & Measurement Model !), partly because they are out of the box standard reports that web analytics vendors create for “average” people (and we both know that you are not average!), and partly because all they do is present data in the aggregate (a punishable criminal offence if there ever was one!).

Customer 122

Customer Analytics Metrics SEO 122

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 11, 2011

Yesterday, we announced that we have invested in Occipital. You may know them as the creators of the popular iPhone app 360 Panorama , the creators of Red Laser (acquired by eBay) , or just a gang of the smartest computer vision guys you’ll come across. And when I say “computer vision&# , I don’t just mean the technical part, but also a vision of where it’s going.

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YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 10, 2011

The franchise business is huge; so much so that there are entire conferences built around connecting franchisors with potential franchisees. And despite all the franchise conferences available, the trouble is that it can be very difficult and frustrating for interested franchisees to find relevant, objective information about a franchise business. That’s where Small Bizeo ( www.smallbizeo.com ) comes in – the new website offers extensive research on small businesses and franchise opp

Analytics 162

Analytics Small Business Operations Design 162

Growthink Blog

AUGUST 7, 2011

Once they launch their companies, most entrepreneurs fall into a very dangerous trap. What happens is that they get very myopic; they get so close to their businesses that they fail to see the bigger picture. So, they run their businesses on a day-to-day basis, constantly fighting fires and striving to squeak out a little more profit each year than they did the year before.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur .Net Revenue 120