Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 11, 2015
As a mentor and advisor to entrepreneurs, I find it’s easy to recognize “street smarts” when I see them, but it’s hard to explain the specifics to someone on the other end of the spectrum, even if they are willing to learn. Some people argue that street smarts are only a natural born skill, but I disagree. I believe they are disciplines that can be taught and learned.
Brandanew
JULY 15, 2015
Marketing leader Michael Hyatt posted a very critical post last year- here. The reason I got reminded of it, was a conversation with a brand owner about the great impact he had created for this brand on earned media. While the brand/ products had found organic mentions all over the Internet and who’s who media of their particular industry, the brand itself had little presence on social media or Google.
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YoungUpstarts
JULY 14, 2015
by Asif Khan, CEO of Caremerge. Successful startups most always don’t happen overnight. It takes time, patience and hard work to navigate the ups and downs of starting a new business. It is important, however, to minimize mistakes early on so that you can continue to shape and grow your startup into a successful business. Having taken stock of my own hard-earned lessons, here are 5 tips on how to minimize typical startup missteps: 1.
Up and Running
JULY 15, 2015
Are you throwing money away? No matter what size your company is, your marketing budget is likely never as high as you would like it to be. It’s a precious commodity; your investment into your own company stock. You need it to perform. You need it to help grow your company. The question is, are you using it effectively? Do you even know if it’s working?
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
deal architect
JULY 15, 2015
BusinessWeek had two recent stories – one was how quickly the bubble around rare earths has burst. Molycorp has filed for bankruptcy just a short couple of years after the world was fretting that China had a stranglehold on that.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 17, 2015
In my years of working with entrepreneurs, I have heard many times the promise that their new idea will create the next Amazon or Apple, but I rarely hear the more important promise that the founder will practice all the good habits of winning entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs. You see, I’m convinced that the entrepreneur makes the company, not the other way around.
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Up and Running
JULY 14, 2015
More is always better, right? Not so fast—raising more money than you need can actually hurt your business. Most businesses need to raise external funding from investors to take their company to the next level. An early stage startup will want to access funds to help further validate its business proposition. A more established business that already has traction may be looking for funding to help accelerate growth.
deal architect
JULY 16, 2015
I told John Sumser he was brave to use the term “stack” in an HCM context because it has been hijacked by the infrastructure software folks (e.g. Red v. Blue), but reading his firm’s new report (you can buy it.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 12, 2015
One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is. They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics.
Brandanew
JULY 11, 2015
Branding is complex topic. Everybody uses the term “brand” but few will be able to clearly define it. We have had clients, who confuse branding with a website. While websites and digital presence is a significant aspect, it is a part of your overall brand. It is necessary to have a clear understanding of these terms in order to have a clear expectation on branding for your businesses and defining the steps to reach an aspirational state.
YoungUpstarts
JULY 17, 2015
by Alaina G. Levine, president of Quantum Success Solutions and author of “ Networking for Nerds: Find, Access and Land Hidden Game-Changing Career Opportunities Everywhere “. Love them or loathe them, conferences are an established fixture in most industries. You may think that if you’re not presenting a poster, giving a talk, sitting on a panel, or actively on the job market, it’s okay to be a passive participant — or decline to attend altogether.
deal architect
JULY 17, 2015
I first wrote about ERP third party maintenance (support independent of the software publisher) in 2005. Even earlier, I have written about similar offerings like plug-compatible mainframes and specialty auto shops who do better than official dealers. I have noticed.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 13, 2015
Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that spends resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Much has been written about this subject in the world of manufacturing, stemming primarily from the 1990’s work by Taiichi Ohno, called the Toyota Pro
Brandanew
JULY 14, 2015
In most recent times, we have been overwhelmed by your responses on all media channels, and to be honest, it has been tough to keep pace with the emails that we have been receiving. As a lean Startup, client communication has taken precedence, and unfortunately, even though we are trying super hard, we have not been able to write back to every Email from our readers.
Agile VC
JULY 15, 2015
We’re preparing to make our third investment with a hardware component here at NextView. This company will remain in stealth mode for at least a little while and it isn’t my place to divulge their plans, but we’re very excited about the founding team, market opportunity, and syndicate we will be part of. We very nearly missed the opportunity to invest in this startup even though it’s located in our backyard and the founders knew NextView by reputation and through other e
deal architect
JULY 15, 2015
The WSJ profiles Dave Smoley, CIO of AstraZeneca in a story about how cloud computing is pressuring Indian outsourcing. Dave is one of my favorite CIOs and he had allowed me to showcase in SAP Nation his remarkably brave initative.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 15, 2015
As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. People cite sources like this BusinessWeek story a while back “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ,” or even my own article on this subject, “ 10 Reasons Not To Write A Business Plan First.
Brandanew
JULY 13, 2015
Altimeter group in 2012 came up with an interesting study and a framework for accessing Content Marketing performance and success. The framework can help analyze your current positioning , what you can do better and help understand who does content marketing well. Here are some details on the framework, that you can use as a ready-hand reference for your own brands.
Both Sides of the Table
JULY 14, 2015
I noticed this post today from Ezra Galston titled “ Dear Brad, Fred & Mark: How The Hell Do You Do It? ” The premise is that either I (I won’t speak for Fred or Brad) have some magical solutions that allow me to produce a lot of content, or I’m super human or conversely I could read it as a negative post in that I’m somehow neglecting my duties as a mentor and advisor to the startup companies in which I’ve invested or to the fund that I manage. **. tl;dr
YoungUpstarts
JULY 15, 2015
by Michael Klazema , lead author and editor for Backgroundchecks.com. In order to feel prepared for a job interview, you have to do more than just print off a resume and show up at an office at a given time. Indeed, most employment experts say that applicants who have clearly researched the companies they want to work for generally have a better shot at landing jobs with those companies.
Feld Thoughts
JULY 12, 2015
At Foundry Group, we have a deeply held belief that we benefit from our local community (Boulder, in our case) and that we have a responsibility, as we have success, to give back to our local community. My partner Seth Levine just had an excellent OpEd in the Boulder Daily Camera explaining this. It’s titled Entrepreneurs can give back, by giving early to EFCO.
Brandanew
JULY 17, 2015
Are you a social media enthusiast longing to network with those from your field? Or someone who is setting foot in the marketing world because they found social media to be their calling? Either ways, the rules of the game are pretty simple – the more you network, the better you get at your job. Like every other field out there, social media enthusiasts across the world hold conferences every now and then with the sole purpose of networking and finding inspiration for their next campaign.
Rembrandt Communications
JULY 13, 2015
Are you guilty of these 5 copywriting sins? Over the last twenty-plus years as an SEO copywriter and BtoB content strategist, I’ve seen good writing and terrible writing. I’ve seen excellent job-applications and pathetic attempts at getting hired. I’ve seen new copywriters miss opportunities and experienced writers ruin working relationships. And after spending hours […].
YoungUpstarts
JULY 17, 2015
Is there anything you like about your current job? If not, what would you rather be doing? Being in a job that you take no joy in can be truly detrimental to your life and the people around you. The opposite holds true when you find that job that makes you feel challenged, needed and passionate all at the same time. Ever thought about just how far-reaching your happiness can be?
Version One Ventures
JULY 13, 2015
A few months ago, I wrote about the questions that we typically ask when evaluating a marketplace opportunity. Now, inspired by our friend Christoph Janz at Point Nine Capital who created a KPI dashboard for early-stage SaaS , we have put together a KPI template for marketplaces. We recognize that every marketplace is different, but each one is also similar at its core: each marketplace has a seller (supply) and buyer (demand) side, and acts as an intermediary to bring them together.
This is going to be BIG.
JULY 15, 2015
Mayor Bill DeBlasio is on the verge of making NYC one of the most unfriendly cities in the world for technology companies to operate. It first started with Airbnb, which got caught in a crackdown aimed at people who turn "affordable" residential housing into full time hotel space. Don't concern yourself with the fact that Airbnb is simply an outgrowth of the lack of affordable housing--where no one would ever bother renting out their place if they didn't have to struggle to afford to live here.
The Next Web
JULY 13, 2015
No one talks about it, but one of the worst, most damaging uses of your time as an entrepreneur is dedicating yourself to a good startup idea. Wait, what? A good startup idea is a waste of time? A good startup idea will show you just enough promise and progress to keep you working on it, potentially for years. But in that time, you’ll see your cohort of entrepreneurs blow past you, because they’re working on a great startup idea.
YoungUpstarts
JULY 14, 2015
By Brandon Moxam, Director of Brand Development at U.S. Lawns. Small business owners often struggle to create an effective brand image that differentiates their company from its competition. This is especially true for brands outside of the traditionally “sexy” industries—technology, fashion, media etc. Regardless of your industry, product, or service, having a compelling brand image is essential.
Feld Thoughts
JULY 11, 2015
In the article The biggest tech company founders from every state I win the callout for Arkansas. “Arkansas: Brad Feld has bounced around a lot: born in Arkansas, raised in Dallas, then lived in Boston for over a decade before moving to Boulder, Colorado. He’s most known for founding Foundry Group, a prominent venture capital firm that focuses on early stage investment, but also co-founded startup accelerator Techstars.” I was born in Blytheville, Arkansas on an air force base in 1
The Equity Kicker
JULY 15, 2015
Facebook’s share price was up 2.4% on Monday taking its market cap above $250bn just three years after its IPO and eleven years after it was founded. Bloomberg and other sites are lauding Zuckerberg and co for beating current record holder Google’s eight years from IPO to $250bn valuation. Those with long memories will know that Facebook went public with a much larger valuation than Google ($104bn vs $23bn) so the more apt comparison is Facebook’s eleven years from founding t
Up and Running
JULY 16, 2015
An employee at Red Wagon Creamery serves up a scoop. Heart of Chocolate. Raspberry Rickey. Smoked Salt Caramel #6. Blackberry Cheesecake. Ready to scream for ice cream? Since its founding in 2010, Red Wagon Creamery has made significant leaps with its from-scratch, local-ingredient, artisanal ice cream. Beginning as a small red cart in Eugene, Oregon, today Red Wagon Creamery has a downtown storefront, local retail distribution, and online ordering.
YFS Magazine
JULY 14, 2015
Have you ever been stuck in a rut? A rut that seems like there is no end in sight? No matter how hard you try, every step forward feels like you're taking two steps back?
Feld Thoughts
JULY 15, 2015
Yesterday’s post titled The Silliness Of Recapping Seed Rounds generated a robust discussion. It also inspired Joanne Wilson to write a post titled Recapping a round?? which is a description of a different situation and a different company, but generated a similar negative response from Joanne. In her case, the new investor insisted that the cap on the notes (for money that had already been spent) be raised so the seed investors would get less ownership than they’d signed up for,
The Equity Kicker
JULY 13, 2015
A certain amount of inequality is essential to the functioning of the capitalist system under which we all toil, and which is, for now at least, the best system available for organising the world’s resources. However, when there’s too much inequality a strong sense of unfairness kicks in and markets stop functioning well, as those who feel a strong sense of injustice vote for politicians with radical policies or turn to violence.
The Next Web
JULY 17, 2015
When we went out and raised the first time (four years ago), we hit our fundraising goal. We had additional investor interest and almost closed the round. Instead, our advisor pushed us to keep going and we raised two times that amount. The second time we raised, we took on three times our target. It took our advisor serious effort to convince us the first time around (Investors and advisors: the crowd, the ringside, and your corner).
Up and Running
JULY 14, 2015
Last week, I had the privilege of hosting a one-hour Q&A session with Ann Rea, a successful artist and entrepreneur who is devoted to destroying the myth of the “starving artist.” Our audience members submitted so many great questions that had to do with how to turn a creative passion into a profitable business. Other questions from our session included: What’s the best way to decide what to work on first if you have multiple interests?
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