Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'Many new entrepreneurs are so excited by their latest idea that they can’t resist contacting every investor they know, assuming the investor will be equally excited and want to contribute immediately. Others will work hard on a business plan, and then mail it indiscriminately to every potential investor they can find on the Internet. Both of these approaches are a waste of your time and theirs.

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Entrepreneur Business Plan Angel Investor 299

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

'by Tim Handorf, Co-Founder and President of G2 Crowd. When launching a new business, every second and every penny count towards the bottom line. Wasted time and money can mean the difference between a business becoming successful and profitable, and one that fails. According to the 2013 OfficeMax Small Business Efficiency Index , small business owners lose four billion hours each year managing time-consuming tasks.

Software Review 190

Software Review Small Business Software Technical Review 190

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'I wrote the post below for Crowdcube , one of the UK’s leading equity crowdfuding sites. It went up on their blog yesterday. _. Two developments have changed the face of startup investing in the UK in recent years. The first development is increased capital efficiency. Entrepreneurs can now achieve an awful lot with very little money. We see this all the time at Forward Partners where we invest right from the idea stage and most of the companies get a first version of their product live

Early Stage 119

Early Stage Development Team Review Technical Review Software Review 119

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

'I spent the day yesterday at the Disney Accelerator meeting with each of the teams and then had dinner with the CEOs and a lead mentor for each company. While I’m proud of all the Techstars programs, some of what I heard yesterday, especially around mentor engagement in the Disney program was remarkable. Our premise when we started doing branded accelerators with large companies was that we’d get deep mentor involvement from execs at the company we are partnering with.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Boston Internet Venture Capital 150

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

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

'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 Media 91

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'With digital technology now playing an essential role in businesses across all sectors of the economy, any company that is still working on outdated IT solutions is likely to find itself struggling to cope with the data-driven, constantly connected environment. But while embracing the latest tools can greatly increase productivity and help give firms a competitive advantage over their rivals, they are not without their drawbacks.

Technical Review 154

Technical Review Software Review Mobile Security 154

SVPG

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

'I have long written about the importance of dedicated, durable product teams and that we should always strive to optimize for the team and not for the individual function (e.g. product management, user experience design, engineering, test automation, data science, etc.). It’s not hard to spot when teams have not embraced this model, as you see lots of organizational silos and “ walls ” between members of the team.

Design 62

Design Engineer Technology Management 62

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

Given the gold rush going on in Silicon Valley right now, it’s not surprising that some young entrepreneurs think it’s time to drop out and start a company. Nor that billionaire VCs like Peter Thiel have started paying kids to skip school and build startups. Not surprising, but still stupid. It’s not just about money, though that’s an easy reason to stay in school: Not graduating from college will cost you $500,000 over the course of your life.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Startup Software Engineering Open Source 60

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 21, 2014

'Apple’s newly announced Apple Watch may be the product that will finally skyrocket the smartwatch category into massive popularity, but the real honor of being the first to really bring the idea of a wristwatch that could do so much more – since Casio in the 80s – should rightfully belong to Pebble. The smartwatch startup first burst unto the scene on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in 2012 raising over US$10 million from almost 70,000 backers in a very short time.

Technical Review 183

Technical Review Singapore Technology Video 183

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

'Recruiting. It is the bane of every startups existence because it takes up so much time, it is so competitive to sign people and it feels like unproductive time because it’s not moving the ball forward on product, engineering, sales, marketing, biz dev, fund raising. It consumes time and energy and the payoff doesn’t come for a long time.

Employee 341

Employee Email Sales Channel 341

Early Growth Financial Services

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

'This guest post by David Cheng was originally published on Zenpayroll. If you’re looking to start a business, there’s no better time. But being an entrepreneur can be daunting. Where do you even begin? Fortunately, there are lots of great online resources for first time (or serial) entrepreneurs. Here are our 15 favorite bloggers for starting your small business.

Syndicate 50

Syndicate Syndication New York Software Developers 50

deal architect

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'In 2009, I wrote a blog about Parker Harris, the co-founder of Salesforce.com titled The Loneliness of a Pioneer. I wrote “.in some ways he wishes the larger vendors would be there today. There are common engineering and plumbing challenges.

Leadership 281

Leadership Cofounder Cloud Engineer 281

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'by Marcin Gnat, blogs and media specialist for Brainly.com. The pupil experience is definitely high on the program for just about any educational institution. Word of mouth plays a large part in the promotion of schooling and any product is not any distinct. If students do not have a satisfying and positive experience, which they believe meets their needs and offers value for money, a school or university will probably detect a fall in applicants and standing.

Technical Review 169

Technical Review Reputation Programming Technology 169

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

'Technical entrepreneurs love their technology, and often are driven to launch a startup on the assumption that everyone will buy any solution which highlights this technology. Instead, they need to validate a customer problem and real market need first. Don’t create solutions looking for a problem , since investors ignore these, and customers other than early adopters are hard to find.

Technology 286

Technology Startup Sales Cycle Social Media 286

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

'Describing something as the “ Woodstock of…” has taken to mean a one-of-a-kind historic gathering. It happened recently when a group of educators came to the ranch to learn how to teach Lean entrepreneurship to K-12 students. — We Can Do Better than Teaching Students How to Run a Lemonade Stand. Over the last few years it’s become clear that the days of teaching “how to write a business plan” as the cornerstone of university entrepreneurship are over.

Lean 284

Lean Cleveland Balance Sheet Ohio 284

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'One mega trend that we’ve been excited about recently is around the ways that technology is allowing for a re-organization of labor markets. This has been a real trend since the first internet bubble (eLance, Kosmo), and is exploding at the moment. What technology has done in these markets is streamline three things. First, customer acquisition and ordering.

Technical Review 50

Technical Review Acquisition Conversion Technology 50

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

'Digital marketing agencies that make a business out of harnessing the power of online social influencers are a dime to a dozen, and those that cover niche spaces – mommy bloggers, for example – are also common. But how about one that’s totally about women? Just check out Girlfluence , touted as the first influencer marketing agency founded by women exclusively for women.

New York City 250

New York City Video New York PR 250

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

'Some entrepreneurs forget that they can’t use people the same way they use technology to build a startup. Inventors, for example, are skilled in manipulating technology, but may have little interest or experience engaging people to make an effective team. Unfortunately, startups are not one-man shows, so entrepreneurs need to study leadership as much as they study technology.

Technology 269

Technology Startup Leadership Global 269

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 21, 2014

'I got to spend a lot of time with my close friend Rand Fishkin the past few days. The first was at Denver Startup Week, where we did a panel discussion with Ben Huh and Bart Lorang where we discussed the pact between CEO and Board, the pact between Founder and Investor, and how to be transparent and direct. The next day, Rand led a full day offsite for a number of CEOs in our portfolio.

Denver 195

Denver Leadership Portfolio Metrics 195

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'There are many great articles that outline what an entrepreneur should cover during a pitch, but very few discuss how to deliver that message in a compelling manner. That’s why I wrote, “ A good story is the key to any pitch ”, earlier this year. I thought I’d revisit this topic with my visual guide to storytelling. At nearly every meeting with an entrepreneur or fellow investor, I’m asked what we are looking for when we evaluate an investment opportunity.

Vertical 167

Vertical Distribution Business Model Framework 167

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

'Many companies claim that they build a nurturing and caring environment and culture at the workplace, not quite that many actually walk the talk. While you have companies such as Google and Facebook place so much emphasis on employee welfare that professionals and interns alike are tripping over themselves trying to apply for jobs in those cutting-edge companies , others are mere sweatshops that employees can’t wait to knock off from work and run back home.

Employee 220

Employee Design Cost 220

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

'Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall. This S-Curve, with no correction, can quickly lead to disaster.

Hockey Stick 263

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 263

Rembrandt Communications

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

'It’s Caramel Apple Season so here are a few, business-success tips from Tastee Apple, Inc.’s Greg Hackenbracht Many of you are probably feeling a bit sad as summer comes to an end. But there is so much to look forward to in the months ahead including: cooler weather, beautiful fall-foliage… and one of my favorites… […]. The post Caramel Apple Success Story from Tastee Apple, Inc. appeared first on SEO Content Strategy and BtoB Public Relations.

Public Relations 145

Public Relations SEO Sales Marketing 145

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 21, 2014

'You have perfected your pitch and are feeling confident. But before you step into that big meeting, there are a few common stumbling blocks you should be aware of. We asked eight YEC what you should never, ever include on those slides (no matter how tempting). Their best answers are below: 1. Bells and Whistles Including too much information in your pitch deck is counterproductive.

Web 165

Web Media Entrepreneur Startup 165

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

'Like it or not, healthy finances mean that you’re running a healthy business. As much as the idealistic startup wants to think it can change the world with shoddy accounting and a go-getter attitude, this simply isn’t the case. Strong businesses have strong fundamentals, and among the most important of those fundamentals falls into the hands of the accounting and finance department.

CPA 183

CPA Finance Hiring Management 183

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2014

'Too many people, young and older, let their career and their lifestyle happen to them, rather than proactively making things happen based on their personal passions, skills, and interests. Others make decisions based on someone else’s interests, such as the father who wants his son to take over the family business, or dreams openly of having a doctor in the family.

North Carolina 250

North Carolina Finder Matching Leadership 250

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

'This list needs no explanation: 1) You need a technical co-founder. 2) We''re really interested in what you''re up to, but would love to see just a little more traction before we fund it. 3) No one else can do this. 4) We decided not to charge our initial customers. 5) It''s easier to get funded on the west coast. 6) This is projected to be a $54 billion dollar industry by 2019. 7) Google can''t do this. 8) We''re oversubscribed in this round. 9) We wouldn''t take $30 million if someone offered

Venture Capital 160

Venture Capital Cofounder Distribution Startup 160

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

'In Oracle’s early days Kathryn Gould was the founding VP of Marketing, working there from 1982 to 1984. When I heard that Larry Ellison was stepping down as Oracle ’s CEO I asked Kathryn to think about the skills she saw in a young Larry Ellison that might make today’s founders winners. — Though I haven’t talked to Larry face-to-face for 20 years, and haven’t worked at Oracle for 30 years, he’s the yardstick I’ve used to pick entrepreneurs all of these years since.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Venture Capital Software Review Database 333

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

'By Joseph Caprio, Sales Director at InsightSquared. The sales world has changed, and buyers are becoming smarter and beating sales reps at their own game. Fifty-seven percent of a purchase decision is now completed before there is even any interaction between the customer and the seller. The new sales 2.0 model is quickly superseding the door-to-door, aggressive field sales technique of the past.

Sales 167

Sales Analytics B2B Metrics 167

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

'UP Global just released a great new white paper titled Fostering a Startup and Innovation Ecosystem. As you might know, I’m on the board of UP Global and think they are doing amazing things for startup communities around the world. Our friends at Google for Entrepreneurs helped with this and I’m doing a hangout with Mary Grove (Director, Google for Entrepreneurs) and Marc Nager (UP Global CEO) on Tuesday September 23rd, 2014 11am PDT for 40 minutes.

Startup 151

Startup Global Community Entrepreneur 151

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'There are many great articles that outline what an entrepreneur should cover during a pitch, but very few discuss how to deliver that message in a compelling manner. That’s why I wrote, “ A good story is the key to any pitch ”, earlier this year. I thought I’d revisit this topic with my visual guide to storytelling. At nearly every meeting with an entrepreneur or fellow investor, I’m asked what we are looking for when we evaluate an investment opportunity.

Vertical 153

Vertical Distribution Business Model Framework 153

Mike Michalowicz

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

'The later the phone call, the worse the news. And for me, those calls usually happen around 10 p.m. at night. My office phone rings and I know who and what’s on the other end of the line before I pick it up. It’s an entrepreneur in desperation. Their business is going under. They either didn’t pay attention to the signs, or they didn’t know the signs.

Employee 153

Employee Internet Naming Video 153

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

'Sometimes you invent something; sometimes the inventions find you. Despite the fact that with success rates for businesses – and even more, inventions – heartbreakingly low, some of the world’s most popular products were actually invented by accident. Just take the Post-It Note, which 3M chemist Spencer Silver accidentally discovered while he was looking to create a strong adhesive but instead concocted a light adhesive that used to stick things yet be easily pulled off.

Entrepreneur 165

Entrepreneur Product 165

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

'I’m not a big city guy, so one of my favorite things to do when I find myself in a big city is get up early, before the city wakes up, and go for a run. There’s something about the silence echoing throughout a vast developed physical space such as LA that calms me down and builds up some reserves for me for the day. I was in LA all day yesterday – starting with a Fireside Chat organized by David C Murphy.

Chicago 150

Chicago Community Startup Venture Capital 150

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

'CBInsights analysed 101 startup post mortems and found the following reasons for failure: Many of these can be prevented with discipline. My friend Stephen Allott who was CEO of Micromuse, a UK startup that peaked with a $3bn valuation on NASDAQ, once described managing a startup as a process of identifying problems, putting a box round them and then finding and implementing solutions.

Startup 147

Startup Valuation Restful Demand 147

Gust

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

'There are several good answers here. Another multi-blogger site is the Gust.com/blog , which has lots of consolidated advice and experiences from some of your favorite Quora startup bloggers, including Tim Berry , Antone Johnson , Martin Zwilling , Bob Rice , Ilana Grossman and, of course, Yours Truly. And as long as you’re there (or if you don’t feel like reading :-), there are also many hundreds of short video talks from a large selection of the word’s leading entr

Jordan 127

Jordan Green Video Entrepreneur 127