Sat.Dec 01, 2018 - Fri.Dec 07, 2018

article thumbnail

What I’ve Learned in the Last 5 Years as a VC that I Didn’t Appreciate in the First 5

View from Seed

It occurred to me yesterday that I’ve been in the VC business for over 10 years. I’ve been writing checks for 8 years, and was lucky to get my start in the industry with the team at Spark Capital where I was able to witness some amazing early investments as part of that team. As I start my second 10 years in venture capital, I want to both reflect on some recent learnings that have changed the way I approach the business.

article thumbnail

Startups Need to Diversify Away from Paying Facebook

This is going to be BIG.

Over the last five years ago, a disproportionate amount of venture capital funded paid acquisition on Facebook. Some very large consumer facing businesses were built, but that gravy train won’t last forever—and signs are that it is seriously slowing down. Companies are reporting that acquisition costs are trending up, and optimization is increasingly feeling like squeezing blood from a stone.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

So you just raised your A round, now what?

Version One Ventures

Last week, we kicked off a blog series to help founders determine their company’s core priorities and strategies at each stage of the progression from seed to Series A and Series B. In the previous post , we outlined what startups should focus on right after raising a seed round. The next stage in the journey is the A round, and as expected, it brings a brand new set of priorities.

article thumbnail

Why Team Management By Fear Is Bad For Any Business

Startup Professionals Musings

Despite the ease of communication through social media, new tools, the popularity of fearless independence and #MeToo, I still see many business organizations that are less than productive due to fear. Yet in my work as an advisor to senior executives, I find that many fail to see reality in their own organizations, and have no idea whether they are part of the problem or the solution.

article thumbnail

Building Healthy Innovation Ecosystems for Your Projects

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

article thumbnail

10 Low-Cost Startup Ideas That Students Can Use

YoungUpstarts

Current college students belong to Generation Z and you can’t deny that they all in some way possess entrepreneurial sense. For millennials, stories of start-ups that began with two undergraduates having big dreams that they never knew could be achieved and then established a corporation worth millions of dollars is an awe of business life. Young people nowadays are seeking alternatives to the high education or consider that self-education is much better for achieving their future plans.

Cost 185
article thumbnail

The Startup Copycat Fallacy

View from Seed

What? Another d2c gourmet pet food company ? Another full-stack short-term rentals startup ? Another affinity-based co-working space? It seems as though in many categories, especially in consumer internet space, a handful of startups pursuing quite similar or even apparently identical ideas launch within months of each other. What’s going on with these apparent copycat companies?

More Trending

article thumbnail

How Startups Can Earn Customers’ Trust Early On

Transformify

Trust is crucial for the success of your startup, perhaps even more powerful than marketing or sales. With no track record of success, many startup entrepreneurs find it challenging to compete with established companies. Even if you started your endeavor with noble intentions, prospective clients and customers will most likely have some doubt to overcome before doing business with you.

article thumbnail

Angular 6 Courses – Why Are They So Important?

YoungUpstarts

Angular is basically a platform which aids in building application using the web. Developers use angular to build the application that can be run on the web, desktop or mobile interfaces. People using angular are expected to have knowledge about JavaScript and some latest standard tools. The latest version of angular is Angular 6.0.0. This version has got some wonderful features.

article thumbnail

Why It’s Time to Embrace a Real CRM Tool for Your Business

Duct Tape Marketing

Why It’s Time to Embrace a Real CRM Tool for Your Business written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Using a spreadsheet or index cards to manage your clients may make sense when you’re first starting out: there aren’t that many to keep track of, and the clients you do have don’t have a long history with your business. However, as time goes on, your client list grows, your track record with existing clients becomes longer and more complex, and you need a better way to manage thes

Seattle 63
article thumbnail

Challenges of Growing a Plastic Surgery Practice

The Startup Magazine

A plastic surgery practice is a bit tough to implement. The technology always changes and there’s innovation everywhere. According to Emet Digital CEO Maytal Giloba , a digital marketing agency specialized in growing plastic surgery practices advices surgeons to use new techniques. If you don’t use new techniques, people will start forgetting about you.

PPC 80
article thumbnail

SAP's evolving partner economy

deal architect

Ask about who has had a successful platform strategy, and most people will point to Salesforce. I beg to disagree – compared to revenues Apple has generated for its partners and itself from its iOS store and Amazon with its.

Partner 268
article thumbnail

Surprising Benefits Of Leasing A Coworking Space For Your Small Business

YoungUpstarts

With so many entrepreneurs and small business startups emerging in the business world in the past few years, it is no surprise that coworking spaces have become popular real estate. With dramatically lower overhead costs and the advantages of a social and professional workplace, coworking may be a great fit for your business. Freelancers and small firms in every business category can enjoy a professional and functional shared office space.

article thumbnail

Managing an Expanding Business, With Your Mission Guiding the Way

Duct Tape Marketing

Managing an Expanding Business, With Your Mission Guiding the Way written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Matt Scanlon. Podcast Transcript. This week on the Duct Tape Marketing podcast, I sit down with Matt Scanlon, owner of The Hill KC in Kansas City. Formerly known as CrossFit Memorial Hill, the business began as a CrossFit gym.

article thumbnail

How to Start a Business in the Vaping Industry

The Startup Magazine

With Oxford Dictionary adding the word “vape” to its lexicon and an industry expected to be worth a staggering $61.4 billion by 2025, you would think that the vaping industry would be a sure win to get involved in. You might be right. With the right research and a whole lot of hard work , you can start a successful vaping business. First, a Brief History.

article thumbnail

Mark Twain and Hasso Plattner

deal architect

As an analyst, I tend to be a bit dry and focus on product details and vendor economics. As an author, I become as Led Zeppelin says a “traveler in both time and space”. In writing SAP Nation 3.0, I.

Product 220
article thumbnail

7 Tips For Firing People The Right Way

YoungUpstarts

When it comes to firing someone, there’s no easy way to approach it. And you’ve likely heard of the old adage, “Hire slowly, fire fast.” One bad employee in your organization can create an ineffective system as a whole. After all, the “whole” is only as good as the sum of its parts. Even employees who know that they’re not doing so well have a hard time wrapping their heads around the possibility that they could actually get fired.

article thumbnail

How To Maximize The Level Of Your Business Contacts

Startup Professionals Musings

In the world of entrepreneurs and startups, high level relationships are everything. You can’t start a business alone. You need partners, team members, investors, vendors, and customers. But people don’t realize that all relationships are not the same. There are people you only recognize on the street, business friends, and then close friends whom you can always count on to help.

article thumbnail

Top CTO Challenges for 2019

SoCal CTO

The LA CTO Forum recently conducted a survey to find out what our Chief Technology Officer (CTO) members saw as their biggest challenges heading into 2019. We received over 250 responses that provides a pretty good insight into the top CTO challenges. The rating scale was 1-5 with: Not a challenge A small challenge Somewhat a challenge Definitely a challenge Keeps me up at night We provide both an Average and a Scaled Rating that gives much higher weight to 4s and 5s and discounts 1s and 2s.

article thumbnail

SAP Nation 3.0 - early concept design

deal architect

I have not finished writing the book, but my design partners are already rolling out cover and back copy ideas Feedback welcome, thanks! ‘In 1800, the US, then the original thirteen colonies, was a young, skinny country. 2/3rd of the.

Design 207
article thumbnail

The Benefits Of Unleashing Your Inner Speaking Superhero

YoungUpstarts

by Carma Spence, author of “ Public Speaking Super Powers: Unleash Your Inner Speaking Superhero and Communicate Your Message with Confidence “ Approximately 27 million Americans suffer from a fear of public speaking. If you are one of them, you may be paid 10% less than those without this fear and your chances of getting into a professional or managerial position are reduced by 15%.

article thumbnail

10 Business Constants Flourish In This Age Of Change

Startup Professionals Musings

In this age of constant change, I usually find myself writing about what has changed. Yet I find that periodically it pays to reflect on what hasn’t changed in business, probably won’t change in the foreseeable future, and is still critical to our success in our professional career, as well as the success of our business. Here is my list of the basics that some people in business tend to forget: Showing up consistently must still be priority one.

Dividend 225
article thumbnail

Nobody Announces Their Seed Round Anymore and That’s a Mistake

View from Seed

Five years ago, as the mania around seed fundings was accelerating, Founders were very eager to announce their seed round to the world. It marks the beginning of the journey with hard work & the real business success to be accomplished ahead, but a milestone nonetheless. And seed VCs, especially as new firms were being established, were eager to encourage their portfolio startups to plant that flag in the ground publicly.

article thumbnail

5 Small Business PR Ideas to Skyrocket Sales

Rembrandt Communications

Get Ready for a Great, Holiday Season! As we celebrate summer’s end and back-to-school, it’s time to dive into holiday marketing and think about small business PR ideas. That’s right! While online and print advertising, email campaigns, and more may be at the top of your list, don’t forget about all of the public relations tools that can give you a competitive edge.

PR 162
article thumbnail

The Nearsightedness Epidemic And 5 Ways To Fight It

YoungUpstarts

You may not realize it, but we are currently in the middle of a world-wide epidemic of myopia, or nearsightedness. Both children and adults are struggling with nearsightedness on a massive scale. In fact, according to Science Daily, since 1971, the incidence of nearsightedness in the US nearly doubled, to 42 percent, and this number is even higher in the continent of Asia, where up to 90 percent of teenagers and adults are nearsighted.

article thumbnail

Interpersonal Skills Are Still Key to Team Engagement

Startup Professionals Musings

Over my career in large businesses as well as small ones, it seems that more and more people are feeling unhappy and unfulfilled in their job. I’m convinced that technology is making this problem worse, rather than better, since it often causes to a sense of isolation working remotely, or even in the same office. Isolation leads to a lack of relationship or connection with others.

article thumbnail

Should Every Company Have a “Singles” or “Prime” Day?

View from Seed

Yesterday was Singles Day in China, celebrated on 11/11 each year and theoretically to honor young adults who are not in relationships. In practice it is essentially an invention by retailer Alibaba who holds massive online sales on this day across their platform (Taobao, Tmall, etc). Alibaba reported over $30B in GMV yesterday across its platform of sites for the 2018 Singles Day.

Demand 136
article thumbnail

Matrix Growth Academy – Zero to 100 Videos

For Entrepreneurs

Matrix Growth Academy – Zero to 100 was an educational event held in San Francisco, aimed at providing B2B Founders with a road-map for how to get from Zero to a repeatable, scalable and profitable growth process that would take them to $100m in revenue. Please find below the primary videos for They have been.

article thumbnail

What Is Corporate Bankruptcy?

YoungUpstarts

The legal process by which a company declares that it is unable to pay its debt and need some relief is termed as corporate bankruptcy. After filing bankruptcy one may become debt free. Filing bankruptcy is not a failure; it is a way to restart your life. Most of the people do not know how to eliminate debt by filing bankruptcy so one must consider business bankruptcy in this regard.

article thumbnail

Boost Positive Word-of-Mouth with Small Business Public Relations

Rembrandt Communications

No Money for Growth? PR Makes It No Problem. If you want to grow your B2B, you probably struggle with financial limitations. Well, even if you can’t afford major advertising and marketing initiatives, you can still boost positive awareness without spending a dime. How? (Que the angelic music…) Start public relations (PR) activities. How to Generate Fast Growth with PR.

article thumbnail

VC’s Doing the Work to Build Investment Conviction

View from Seed

I once had a VC mentor (only) half tongue-in-cheek tell me that “all investment diligence is merely an exercise in confirming what you have already decided during the initial pitch.” Diligence validates your gut to invest or (hopefully quickly) kills an opportunity that sounded reasonable but you just didn’t like. I’ve come to believe a much less cynical view of investment due diligence, that, especially at the seed stage, it’s is best when followed the 80–20 rule.

article thumbnail

Coach Rav’s 23 Life Choices

Feld Thoughts

I saw an article about George Raveling recently in the Daily Stoic newsletter. Raveling – known as Coach Rav to many, has a pretty remarkable history. And an even better life philosophy that fits very nicely with #GiveFirst. On his website, he has a page titled 23 Life Choices That Are In Your Control. It’s delightful and follows. 1. Be YOU, not them. 2.

116
116
article thumbnail

5 Startup Tips From Successful Entrepreneurs

YoungUpstarts

If you have the entrepreneurial spirit and want to start your own business, use these 5 startup tips from the experts to get your idea off the ground. Amazon, Apple, and Disney are three hugely successful companies that began in garages. After a little success and funding, they began to grow and become players in the marketplace. Today, these companies, and hundreds like them, have graduated from aspiring startups to behemoth conglomerates.

Iran 203
article thumbnail

How to Adapt to the Changing, Small Business Public Relations Arena

Rembrandt Communications

Disrupt the System with DIY Small Business Public Relations (This article was originally published in B2B News Network) Promoting your business via television, radio, print, and online is essential to your business reputation and growth. After all, when potential customers read about you in their favorite media venues, you receive third-party credibility you can’t obtain […].

article thumbnail

If CAC is the New Rent, How should You Operate Differently?

View from Seed

Five to ten years ago, it was thought that digitally-native brands and e-commerce retailers had a distinct cost advantage because they didn’t have to pay for legacy physical infrastructure (e.g. storefronts with long-term lease commitments), which represents high fixed costs and reduced margin. Now in 2018, I believe that digitally-native brands should actually develop a holistic picture across offline/physical retail, brand marketing, and performance marketing earlier in their lifecycle.

article thumbnail

The Importance Of Branding Your Startup

The Startup Magazine

A new survey into the buying habits of UK shoppers has revealed just how important branding is. If you want your startup to gain a foothold in the marketplace, then you’re going to need to dedicate some time to perfecting your brand and elevating your brand awareness. Source: Pexels. Everything from the name of your business to your logo is going to affect your market impact.

Startup 117
article thumbnail

3 Reasons Content Marketing Isn’t Working For You

YoungUpstarts

In the digital marketing world, content is king. Virtually all ( 94% ) of small businesses are doing it and 93% of B2Bs use content marketing. But what if your content marketing strategy isn’t working for you? Just because everyone is doing content marketing doesn’t mean they’re doing it right. In fact, a study by the Content Marketing Institute found that only 9% of B2B marketers considered content marketing to be “very effective.”.

Marketing 185