A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 18, 2015

A big, profitable company seems like the hardest thing for a small company to compete against. They have everything: money, brand, momentum, existing customers, press, product teams, distribution channels, expertise, market insight, analysts, sales offices, product features, and, by definition, a working business model. All a little startup has is a decent idea and extremely greasy elbows.

Technical Review 256

Technical Review Valuation Flash Revenue 256

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2015

When starting a new business, an entrepreneur has to take a “hands-on” role. Because there are so many unknowns, and things are happening so fast, this is no time to delegate or hire outside consultants to handle core functions. That fact eludes most executives from mature companies who have long depended on their staffs for real work, while their focus stays on strategy.

Founder 210

Founder Startup Technical Review Hiring 210

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 21, 2015

As a business owner, you may think of your enterprise as having one thing in common with the great white shark – it must be constantly moving or it will perish. While growing your business is important, you need to make sure that you do so properly; otherwise, you may find that it slows down and to the point that there is nothing you can do to get it to start moving along swimmingly again.

Forecast 131

Forecast Web Development Customer Technology 131

ConversionXL

AUGUST 17, 2015

There’s a philosophical statistics debate in the optimization in the world: Bayesian vs Frequentist. This is not a new debate; Thomas Bayes wrote “ An Essay towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances ” in 1763, and it’s been an academic argument ever since. Recently, the issue has become relevant in the CRO world – especially with the announcement that VWO will be using Bayesian decisions (Google Experiments also uses Thompson sampling , which is informed by a Bayesian pers

Distribution 105

Distribution Technical Review New York PHP 105

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

Up and Running

AUGUST 17, 2015

After three to four years in the corporate world, most ambitious young professionals start thinking about the next step in their career. For those with an entrepreneurial bent like myself, the draw of starting their own company can often feel at odds with the safer, well-travelled path of going to business school. When it came time for me to decide on whether or not to attend business school, I knew I wanted to eventually start my own company.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Angel Investor eCommerce 120

OnlyOnce

AUGUST 19, 2015

I’ve written a couple times this past year about our ReturnShip program, which is a 4-month paid internship program designed for women who have been out of the workforce for more than 3 year to re-enter and build credible and relevant experience, and to expand the talent pool for our organization. I wrote about the initial concept when we launched v2 of the program , and then again when v2 concluded with the hiring of four of the six participants.

Programming 99

Programming Indianapolis Colorado New York City 99

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. Our perspectives on the topic wax and wane with market cycles. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser.

Churn Rate 329

Churn Rate Silicon Valley Brazil Valuation 329

View from Seed

AUGUST 20, 2015

The NextView podcast Traction shares the incredible stories of the creative and unusual things entrepreneurs did to make initial progress in an important. Listen on iTunes , SoundCloud , or Stitcher. The founding stories of companies like LinkedIn , DraftKings , General Assembly , The Muse , NatureBox , InsightSquared , and more have appeared on the show.

Seed Stage 242

Seed Stage Product Bootstrapping Portfolio 242

Steve Blank

AUGUST 21, 2015

I’ve spent this year working with corporations and government agencies trying to adapt and adopt Lean Methodologies. In doing so I’ve learned a ton from lots of people. I’ve summarized my learnings in this blog post , and here and here and here and put it all together in the presentation below. if you can’t see the presentation click here.

Government 237

Government Lean Customer Development Developer 237

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2015

As an angel investor to startups, I’m still surprised to find entrepreneurs who expect investors to give them money, and assume no strings attached. Would you do that if it was your money? If the entrepreneur wants total control of their own venture, with no one looking over their shoulder, they should work within the limits of their own resources, a process called bootstrapping.

Term Sheet 216

Term Sheet Advisory Board Liquidation Preference Angel Investor 216

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2015

There is much discussion about this weekend’s article in the NY Times regarding Amazon’s work practices. People seem polarized between, “that’s what it takes to succeed” to “I can’t believe what a heartless, intolerant and misogynistic company culture they’ve built.” I’ve heard the gamut from reading opinions online and even hearing the debate in circles of my close friends and family.

France 298

France Silicon Valley Demand .Net 298

deal architect

AUGUST 16, 2015

In time for Labor Day weekend reading, 2.0 is starting to show up in book stores (print at CreateSpace and ebook at Amazon). As with previous books, I will be excerpting 10% of the contents over the next few weeks.

Software 209

Software 209

Brandanew

AUGUST 19, 2015

Infographics are in for good. Be it a small business or the biggest one in the industry, marketers these days are sharing infographics on social media much more frequently than last year – and the trend is all set to continue for a considerable number of years. But what happens when you run out of infographics to share? And don’t have a designer to sit down to create something unique for your business ?

Social Media 191

Social Media Small Business Design Programming 191

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2015

Most entrepreneurs assume that a lack of an online reputation is a good thing. In reality, it’s negative, because people who can’t find you or any mention of your startup anywhere on the Internet assume you are not savvy or have something to hide. At the very least, with no positives for balance, it’s very risky, since the first negative mention of you or your company will kill your reputation.

Reputation 211

Reputation Lead Generation Social Media Internet 211

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 18, 2015

by Andy Roe, General Manager of SurePayroll, Inc. As a startup founder, choosing office space is easier said than done. You need somewhere to hang your hat, but at the same time you can’t make a quick decision and hope for the best. You have to consider whether the space is functional, affordable and advantageous for attracting business and talent. Answering these questions will ensure that you are on the right track: What kind of company do you want to have?

Startup 170

Startup Early Stage Cost Small Business 170

deal architect

AUGUST 21, 2015

While The New Polymath was overall wildly optimistic, I had a pessimistic chapter about the state of IT, healthcare, sustainability etc. Five years later the contrast is even more stark. I see Gartner’s hype cycle on new technologies and it’s.

Technology 207

Technology 207

Brandanew

AUGUST 21, 2015

Writing is a hard job. Of course I do it because I love writing but there are times when I am tired and out of ideas but I must deliver and meet my professional goals. It is not easy to keep on going incessantly without any motivation. So, I always find some way to inspire myself to meet my new deadlines. Some of these tricks may sound silly but I have found that they really work.

Small Business 155

Small Business Startup 155

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2015

Most entrepreneurs assume that success is dependent on their product expertise, coupled with some knowledge of how to run a business. In fact, I have found from personal experience and mentoring that both of these are necessary, but not sufficient, for building a business. Successful entrepreneurs today must practice human-centered leadership to compete and win.

Founder 211

Founder Due Diligence Startup Leadership 211

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 18, 2015

By Rob Nelson, Founder and CEO at Grow. Netflix is revolutionizing the entertainment industry. With over 65.5 million subscribers globally, Netflix may overtake viewer numbers from the major television networks by 2016. The company plans to expand into Japan, China, Portugal, and Spain by the end of the year – marking only the beginning of their international expansion strategy.

Metadata 161

Metadata Portugal Metrics Spain 161

deal architect

AUGUST 17, 2015

I was in a recent discussion about fears of global deflation, and I thought – everyone is worried about the impact on investors, but most customers are loving the cheap gas prices and the devalued and cheaper Chinese imports. Why.

Global 177

Global Customer 177

Gust

AUGUST 17, 2015

With all the news about hundred million dollar rounds and billion dollar valuations, it can be hard not to look at the world of entrepreneurship and angel investing as a thrilling ride that only has one stop: success. But to be a successful entrepreneur or serious angel investor, you must have a realistic understanding of the startup failure rate and Read more >.

Angel Investor 153

Angel Investor Startup Valuation Entrepreneur 153

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2015

In a corporate environment, the focus of a job interview has long been demonstrating your match to the skills and experience outlined in the job description. In my experience with startups, that is still necessary, but not sufficient. Today’s business world has become totally customer driven, so customer-centric and people abilities really make the difference between winners and losers.

Startup 207

Startup Retention Analytics Matching 207

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 17, 2015

by Nicole Lininger, Director of Corporate Communications at InventHelp ®. If you can sell your idea to companies or potential investors, your product could become the bestseller every inventor dreams of creating. A well-designed formal presentation can sell investors on your idea, but before you get to that stage, you’ll likely have occasion to provide an “elevator pitch” — a brief, informal statement that conveys your idea concisely and compellingly.

Elevator Pitch 158

Elevator Pitch Differentiation Audience Sales 158

Brandanew

AUGUST 15, 2015

There’s an ongoing debate in our creative worlds. Can creativity be taught? Does it only come from within? Whatever be the true answer, I’m certain of one thing: everybody has the potential to create. Some people unfortunately end up in jobs where their true creativity is never unearthed. And so, those who do get a chance to do something creative should really consider themselves lucky.

Restful 149

Restful Hosting Product Marketing 149

Rembrandt Communications

AUGUST 20, 2015

Where to Begin with Your BtoB Content Marketing Strategy It’s back-to-school time, and that means the next four months will be full of new marketing campaigns for the holidays and end-of-year budgeting. With this in mind, it may be difficult to know where to begin. Well, it’s all about focusing on a few, key things. […]. The post Stuck On What To Do Next With Your BtoB Copy?

PR 138

PR Campaign Sales Marketing 138

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 17, 2015

Almost a majority of the time, when I pass on an investment opportunity, there's something wrong with the company that can be traced back to the moment the entrepreneur came up with the idea. I find myself thinking, "You should really be doing something else." People are excited about the idea of starting a company, but don't spend nearly enough time vetting what to work on.

Metrics 128

Metrics Business Model Naming Networking 128

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 20, 2015

by Scott Ford, author of “ Financial Jiu-Jitsu: A Fighter’s Guide to Conquering Your Finances “ “If you don’t set priorities for yourself, life will live you, not the other way around.”. No one put this better than Steve Jobs in his commencement speech at Stanford in 2005, after his diagnosis with the pancreatic cancer: “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life…” he said.

Finance 145

Finance Mobile Naming Founder 145

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 20, 2015

I love the phrase vanishing mediary. This is what I aspire to be. It’s the opposite of a visible intermediary. In our ego-fueled world, many people want to be front and center. Leaders are told to lead from the front, even if all they do is get up on a white horse and exit stage left as soon as the battle starts. We all know the leaders who are more about themselves than about the organizations and the people they lead.

Redemption 126

Redemption Cofounder Leadership Colorado 126

View from Seed

AUGUST 20, 2015

The NextView podcast Traction shares the incredible stories of the creative and unusual things entrepreneurs did to make initial progress in an important. Listen on iTunes , SoundCloud , or Stitcher. The founding stories of companies like LinkedIn , DraftKings , General Assembly , The Muse , NatureBox , InsightSquared , and more have appeared on the show.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Product Bootstrapping Portfolio 120

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 19, 2015

If you read this Techrunch post profiling 50 of the current YC companies you will notice that many of them are up and running with customers and revenues. That marks a shift in the YC investment strategy which used to focus on younger businesses. In the words of an alum from the 2006 cohort: Companies are joining YC at a much later stage. When I started YC, most companies wrote their first line of code in the first week in the program.

Later Stage 110

Later Stage Private Equity Venture Capital Valuation 110

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 18, 2015

by Anthony Caliendo, author of “ The Sales Assassin: Master Your Black Belt in Sales “ Sales can be complicated! Whether you’re a career sales professional or just starting your first sales job, being a good salesperson can be frustrating and complex. Different factors contribute to sales complexity: being able to find the right lucrative opportunity. having access to the right resources. selling the right product or service that appeals to businesses and consumers. developing effect

Sales 145

Sales B2C B2B Lead Generation 145

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 15, 2015

Here’s a perplexing thing to ponder. After trying virtually every email configuration on iPhone and Android devices, the best experience that I have had so far is using Microsoft Outlook on my Apple iPhone to access Google Gmail. I’ve been using Outlook on my iPhone for the past few months. I’ve tried several times to go back to Apple Mail, but it is impossibly bad when compared to Outlook.

Email 116

Email Acquisition Product Technology 116

SiliconHills

AUGUST 19, 2015

Bigcommerce is moving into part of Mass Relevance’s former offices at 800 Brazos in downtown Austin, Silicon Hills News has learned. The e-commerce software company has leased 4,500 square feet of space left vacate when Spredfast bought Mass Relevance last year. Mass Relevance occupied 12,500 square feet. The office will house Zing, an Austin-based startup […] The post Bigcommerce Expands to Downtown Austin appeared first on SiliconHills.

Austin 98

Austin Software Startup 98

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 21, 2015

Running a startup requires flair and discipline. Flair gives you the big vision, a great story, the ability to close big deals, to woo employees and to get great press. Discipline enables you to get the small stuff right so the business scales well and is optimised in areas like marketing and supply chain. Fans of HBO show Silicon Valley which follows the story of a company called Pied Piper might recognise these skills in characters Ehrlich (flair) and Jared (discipline).

SCRUM 105

SCRUM Silicon Valley Startup Hiring 105

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 18, 2015

Remote working is a concept that is becoming more and more popular with lots of different companies and workers. It works for a number of reasons for both the employer and employee – it aids flexibility, less office space is required and there’s no need for a commute – being just some of the main advantages. However, many employers and employees also may be concerned about network safety and security when working this way.

Security 145

Security Social Media Social Network Networking 145

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 18, 2015

One of my favorite things in the world to do is lay on my couch and read. Last night I finished Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance. I didn’t expect to love it because I’m usually disappointed by biography written about people who are still alive. I loved it and couldn’t put it down. I started it Sunday afternoon.

Conversion 114

Conversion Entrepreneur 114