Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2012

Since my background includes software development, I often get the question about when to build a solution in-house, versus outsourcing it to a local company, near-shore service, or off-shore organization in China, India, or Eastern Europe. In the USA, “near-shore” is a euphemism for connected countries, like Mexico and Canada. There is no simple answer to that question for all cases, but there certainly are some key considerations which will help you select the optimal solution for your case.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete Vietnam 222

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

My pal Dave has blogger Tourette’s. He has it on stage, too, at conferences. He can’t help himself: He’s Dave. My pal Dave has problems. Not the ones you’d imagine. His biggest problems are with language, colors, fonts and spacing. Not much more. I think he could say “no” a bit more. I’ve told him that if a vet just clipped his wings a little bit I think it would be good for his health.

China 309

China Incubator Email Portfolio 309

David Teten

JULY 9, 2012

Countless psychology studies have proven that we tend to like people who look and/or think like us. Peter Salovey, Dean of Yale College and a Professor of Psychology, taught my “Introduction to Psychology” class in college. On the first day of class, he asked, “Do you want to know whom you are going to marry?” The 18-year-olds were excited to learn the answer.

Hiring 138

Hiring Technical Review Affiliate Audience 138

The Next Web

JULY 13, 2012

In the startup world, venture capital is often viewed as the penultimate goal, yet for many startups bootstrapping is often the reality. And self-financing puts the emphasis on business credit. If you’re a small business owner, navigating the lending world today can feel like one big Catch-22 loop. Traditional lenders and commercial banks are typically reluctant to loosen their purse strings until you’ve proven yourself with a strong credit history.

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CPA Startup LLC Bootstrapping 126

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2012

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a few years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth.

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Viral Cost Marketing SEM 238

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 10, 2012

I recently teamed up with Tim Ferriss, Daymond John, and Tina Roth Eisenberg to help you launch a business from scratch. It's called the Shopify 2012 Build-A-Business Competition and it launches today. Now is the time to take that idea you've been mulling over and put it in motion. All you have to do is come up with a product to sell, open your online store on Shopify, pick one of the awesome mentors, then get to work.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Framework Lean Stock 167

ReadWriteStart

JULY 12, 2012

Everyone’s heard startup advice about the importance of having a balanced management team. For instance, a tech whiz with no sales skills needs to have a strong salesperson on board to land investors. But a new book argues that startup management teams need a balance not only of job experience and skills, but also in their psychological makeup. Successful businesses often have one thing in common: The management team has carefully designated roles.

Founder 144

Founder Silicon Valley Startup Incubator 144

Gust

JULY 12, 2012

My wife, Ann, and I took a trip this past spring to visit Estonia, Finland, Ireland and Russia. The goal was to share our experiences in the realm of angel investing with an array of global audiences, by participating in various lectures, discussions and workshops. In all four countries we met passionate entrepreneurs who were eager to discuss their exciting startups, as well as angel investors looking to support them.

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Community Estonia Ireland Finland 121

eranki.tumblr.com

JULY 13, 2012

Rajivs blog. RSS Archive. July 12, 2012. Scaling lessons learned at Dropbox, part 1. Rajiv Eranki. I was in charge of scaling Dropbox for a while, from roughly 4,000 to 40,000,000 users. For most of that time we had one to three people working on the backend. Here are some suggestions on scaling, particularly in a resource-constrained, fast-growing environment that can’t always afford to do things “the right way” (i.e., any real-world engineering project ;-).

Software Review 94

Software Review Database SQL Security 94

David Teten

JULY 12, 2012

For startup companies trying to build buzz around their brand, but without the capital to launch a full-fledged PR campaign, there are a lot of ways to hack the PR game. Building on my earlier post about free publicity , I wanted to share some additional thoughts. To begin with, the best PR you can build is through satisfied customers with high Net Promoter scores.

Venture Capital 122

Venture Capital PR Technical Review Startup 122

ReadWriteStart

JULY 9, 2012

The top startup accelerators in the world - programs like TechStars and Y Combinator - receive a couple thousand applications for just a handful of spots each session. It’s harder to get into one than Harvard or Stanford. So how do you do it? You could Google “how to get into a top accelerator” and see what advice you find. Or, better, you could pick the brain of a recent graduate.

Technical Cofounder 127

Technical Cofounder Startup Boston Programming 127

The Next Web

JULY 13, 2012

Ingrid Alongi isn’t like most CEOs. While it’s typically understood that the CEO’s job is to be the salesperson and face of a brand, Alongi tends to spend more time focusing on the work conditions and employee happiness of her company, Quick Left. In fact, she’s so unlikely to talk about herself or her company that, while sitting with her for dinner during Big Omaha, the subject of Quick Left came up (not from her, mind you) and I said that I really needed to talk to some

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Developer Technical Cofounder Omaha Cofounder 114

www.geekwire.com

JULY 10, 2012

Home. Jobs. Community. GeekWire Events. Startup Resources. Dispatches from the Digital Frontier. HOME. About GeekWire. Contact Us. Partners. Advertise with GeekWire. Sponsors. Job Board. Posts Comments Startups. STARTUP SPOTLIGHT. VENTURE CAPITAL. ENTREPRENEURS. Amazon. E-COMMERCE. KINDLE. AMAZON WEB SERVICES. Microsoft. WINDOWS. WINDOWS PHONE. XBOX 360.

Venture Capital 42

Venture Capital Seattle Cofounder Software Engineering 42

deal architect

JULY 9, 2012

An executive told me a few weeks ago “My outsourcer has been reading too many of your innovation books. We hired them to do fairly mundane application and infrastructure support. Instead of doing that better, cheaper, faster, they are always.

Hiring 277

Hiring 277

ReadWriteStart

JULY 10, 2012

The 10th annual student software contest, Microsoft's Imagine Cup, is wrapping up in Sydney, Australia, and there are some important lessons that all entrepreneurs, young and old, can glean from the process. The contest challenges hundreds of thousands of people - mostly college students - from around the world to come up with a new idea, code it using various Microsoft products, and pitch it in a series of judging rounds that culminates with winners in several categories, including software and

Software 124

Software Balance Sheet Singapore Architecture 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2012

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Yet we always dream that we are the exception to the rule. So once in a while it’s good to look at some facts to temper our imagination. I was reading an article written by marketing guru Seth Godin a while back where he mentions that “it takes about six years of hard work to become an overnight success”.

Entrepreneur 263

Entrepreneur Initial Public Offering California .Net 263

ctotodevelopers.blogspot.com

JULY 11, 2012

Social, Agile, and Transformation. I cover several topics including agile software development, software startups, web 2.0, social networking, SaaS, content management, media, enterprise 2.0 and business transformation. Monday, June 18, 2012. Strategic Agile Thinking: Balancing Value, Innovation and Research. One of the issues I see with successful agile teams is the lack of strategic thinking on why and how they solve prioritized business needs.

Agile 40

Agile Architecture Offshore Software Developers 40

Jeff Hilimire

JULY 10, 2012

Yup, I think I just made my new toy even better :). Btw, and I’m sure its no surprise that I’m saying this, but this new Macbook Pro with retina display is freaking incredible ( link for spec details). The display is insane and reminds me of the difference we experienced going to the iPhone with retina. I wasn’t convinced it would be that much of a difference and I actually didn’t get this laptop because of it, but it’s phenomenal.

Technical Review 54

Technical Review Technology 54

ReadWriteStart

JULY 9, 2012

The top startup accelerators in the world - programs like TechStars and Y Combinator - receive a couple thousand applications for just a handful of spots each session. It’s harder to get into one than Harvard or Stanford. So how do you do it? You could Google “how to get into a top accelerator” and see what advice you find. Or, better, you could pick the brain of a recent graduate.

Technical Cofounder 80

Technical Cofounder Startup Boston Programming 80

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2012

People who can’t manage their own lives don’t make good entrepreneurs. Small businesses require multi-tasking, work prioritization, and decision-making, with no entourage of assistants and specialists. That’s why Fortune 500 executives usually don’t survive as startup CEOs. First you have to learn to accept total responsibility for things that happen to your business, just like you are responsible for everything in your personal life.

Startup 253

Startup Management Entrepreneur Networking 253

gigaom.com

JULY 10, 2012

Tech News and Analysis. Events. Books. Research. Home. Apple. Cleantech. Cloud. Europe. Media. Mobile. Video. gigabarb : Microsoft’s Ballmer to Apple: It’s on (again) [link]. Pulse. Follow us on Twitter. -->. Speech recognition anyone? AT&T opens up Watson API. By Kevin Fitchard. Jul. 9, 2012, 3:50pm PT. 2 Comments. Tweet. Look out Nuance Communications, there’s a new speech recognition player in town.

API 50

API Technical Review Artificial Inteligence RSS 50

YoungUpstarts

JULY 10, 2012

Any observer will agree that the travel industry is ripe for some innovation, so it’s no surprise that many startups are eying that space. During the recent JFDI-Innov8 Bootcamp Demo Day in Singapore, we saw two startups – Singapore-based Flocations and Trafflers of Indonesia – putting their spin on travel. Here’s another newish Singapore-based travel startup, Qiito ( www.qiito.com ), that looks at travel from a different perspective.

Singapore 257

Singapore Indonesia Japan Asia 257

ReadWriteStart

JULY 12, 2012

Everyone’s heard startup advice about the importance of having a balanced management team. For instance, a tech whiz with no sales skills needs to have a strong salesperson on board to land investors. But a new book argues that startup management teams need a balance not only of job experience and skills, but also in their psychological makeup. Successful businesses often have one thing in common: The management team has carefully designated roles.

Founder 65

Founder Silicon Valley Startup Incubator 65

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2012

Although every startup is unique, there are certain common avoidable mistakes that can lead to legal complications which jeopardize the long-term success of the business. I’m not suggesting that every startup needs a lawyer, but you should definitely pay attention, and not be afraid to consult legal counsel if any of these raise qualms for you. Like other environments, most legal issues don’t result from fraud, but from ignorance on specific requirements, or simply never getting around to doing

Non-Compete 249

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Cofounder Startup 249

deal architect

JULY 10, 2012

Talk about Defcon 5. The McKinsey Quarterly (sub required) tells its executive audiences to be wary of cyberattacks. Wow, since when did strategy firms and CEOs start focusing on digital security? Before IT folks rejoice and spend their likely increased.

Security 225

Security Audience 225

YoungUpstarts

JULY 9, 2012

Much has been written about the characteristics – and quirks – of the Millennial Generation, those born between 1982 and 1995. We’ve looked at what can go in the minds of a Millennial employee , what their greatest strengths are, talked about what they can learn from baby boomers , how entrepreneurial they are and even how companies can best appreciate them.

United Arab Emirates 237

United Arab Emirates Asia South Africa Indonesia 237

ReadWriteStart

JULY 10, 2012

The 10th annual student software contest, Microsoft's Imagine Cup, is wrapping up in Sydney, Australia, and there are some important lessons that all entrepreneurs, young and old, can glean from the process. The contest challenges hundreds of thousands of people - mostly college students - from around the world to come up with a new idea, code it using various Microsoft products, and pitch it in a series of judging rounds that culminates with winners in several categories, including software and

Software 60

Software Balance Sheet Startup Singapore 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2012

If you are just plain tired of working so hard, or your startup is not getting the traction you expected, should you shut down cleanly, or just file for bankruptcy and walk away? For those who think that bankruptcy is the easy way out, think again. Bankruptcy should always be the absolutely last resort. The “advantage” of filing for bankruptcy, of course, is that it gets creditors permanently off your back, with no continuing lawsuits, based on funds derived from selling all assets.

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Bankruptcy Salary Operations Employee 221

deal architect

JULY 11, 2012

on the New Florence blog OneCognizant: System of Engagement meets System of Record Mobile Innovators The Last Mile at San Quentin How solar storms cause havoc What’s the opposite of innovation? Innovative or weird flavors?

Mobile 220

Mobile Technology 220

Genuine VC

JULY 10, 2012

There are essentially two distinct basic strategies for startup entrepreneurs to raise a seed round of capital: Subscription approach – An entrepreneur sets a structure (usually a convertible note) and recruits individual angel investors who subscribe to the round, all without a term-driving lead investor. Term-driving investor approach – An entrepreneur finds a lead (quasi-)institutional venture investor to price and set the structure/dynamics of the round, working together to bring in addition

Syndicate 207

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Portfolio 207

YoungUpstarts

JULY 12, 2012

Say you’re an aspiring entrepreneur who has a great idea for an iPhone or iPad app, and you’re looking for funding from venture capitalists to kick start your way to success or convince a technical person to join you. Sure you can show them a business plan, but there’s nothing quite like showing them a prototype – except that you don’t have one, and don’t know how to come up with one.

Elevator Pitch 206

Elevator Pitch California Cofounder Mobile 206

Rembrandt Communications

JULY 10, 2012

If you are stressed out about work and getting your projects done on time, check out these three, simple tips to help you get back on track… fast! 1. Work extra hours at strange times. If you are a morning person, try to get up one hour earlier and start working. If you are a night [.].

Entrepreneur 164

Entrepreneur PR Small Business SEO 164

deal architect

JULY 8, 2012

On the New Florence blog – a series on how our summers have evolved Wimbledon Summer Parties Brakes on watercrafts Vacation Time Sharing US Open at the Olympic Club Not your Grandpa’s Perfect Game Not your parent’s grill Cordina frozen.

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Gust

JULY 8, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Don’t be embarrassed, since even professional investors are often confused these days by the new terms, as well as old terms used with new meanings. In any case, it’s time to look again at the options you really have.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

YoungUpstarts

JULY 11, 2012

By Bruce Hodes, author of “ Front Line Heroes “ Performance within groups typically does not just happen. For a group to really perform well it needs practice. The group needs to understand the best way to organize itself for performance. This concept is commonly understood by sports teams and the military. They clearly see the need to give groups opportunities to practice.

Employee 194

Employee Demand Government Developer 194

Feld Thoughts

JULY 11, 2012

I saw an email from a CEO the other day. In it, he said “I” over and over again. There were numerous places where he referred to “my company”, “my team”, “my product”, and “my plan.” It bummed me out. I know the people on “his team” and they are working their asses off. The company is an awesome company and the CEO is a great leader.

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Partner Email Product Leadership 162