Sat.Mar 27, 2010 - Fri.Apr 02, 2010

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I Just Invested in @Burstly, a Mobile Ad Management Company

Both Sides of the Table

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory.

Mobile 282
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Teaching Entrepreneurship – Logistics

Steve Blank

Back from a family humanitarian trip/vacation to one of the last bastions of Communism where “marketing&# isn’t even a profession and entrepreneurship is a crime. The irony is that the “ Revolutionary Square &# in all these Communist countries will be the the first place the McDonald’s go when the system collapses. ——————-.

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New conference website, speakers, agenda

Startup Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 29, 2010 New conference website, speakers, agenda The Startup Lessons Learned Conference on April 23 is fast approaching. Earlybird Admission pricing ends in just two days. We have a brand new website up at [link]. Weve got a new scholarship program up and running. Most importantly, weve announced a big chunk of the agenda for the day (go take a look ).

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Wasted time is money lost. (And another story of lost opportunity.)

Berkonomics

There is a relationship between time and money that is more complex than most managers think. Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues.

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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

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Does the Size of a VC Fund Matter?

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5 billion under management.&# I don’t really understand why VCs do this since it’s mostly a meaningless number.

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Five FREE books for your iPhone; Webinar with Marshall Goldsmith on April 1, 2010

Life Beyond Code

I am excited about both of these announcements: 1. Five (5) free THINKaha books on iPhone. 2. Free Webinar with Marshall Goldsmith on April 1, 2010 ( OK, this is REAL ). 1. Five (5) free THINKaha books on iPhone (or iTouch). Note: Some books REQUIRE registration !!! THINKaha is a new book series that allows you to read and absorb “Aha&# moments in minutes.

More Trending

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Lawson: Im OK, you are not OK

deal architect

Lawson announced plans to run its Enterprise and Talent Management software on the Amazon cloud. It also announced a subscription model around its license and maintenance cost. First things first – this is a giant step forward for a vendor. Tags: Enterprise Software (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP).

Cloud 253
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Don’t be a Grin Fucker

Both Sides of the Table

OK, this will be a test of whether using real curse words in your title or post gets all of your stuff blocked by spam filters or from appearing on HackerNews or the like. I thought about trying to spell it differently (like Guy Kawasaki always says Bull Shitake (as in the mushroom, but slightly misspelled) but somehow it lost the same effect that this saying has always had for me.

Framework 378
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Overnight Startup Successes Usually Take Years

Startup Professionals Musings

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”.

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Startup Website Reviews – Episode 2: HowsThe.com

Software By Rob

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Startup Website Reviews – Episode 1: Reviewing CrmInnovation.com Startup Website Reviews – Episode 3: SimplyBill.com → Startup Website Reviews – Episode 2: HowsThe.com Website Reviews If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

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Private (Cloud) Phantasies

deal architect

I am hearing plenty of conversations around private clouds. The basic theme is “we will virtualize our processing and storage and get many of the benefits of public clouds”. And, of course, “we will have none of the security and. Tags: Cloud Computing, SaaS.

Cloud 236
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Understanding VCs – Where Are You on the Flightpath?

Both Sides of the Table

In the past I’ve written on the topic of “ Raising Venture Capital &# but today I’m starting a new series called “ Understanding VC’s.&# My goal is writing this series of to make it easier for you as a startup needing to raise money to understand how venture capital firms work so you can be more efficient and more effective in your process.

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Social Media Matching

SoCal CTO

People seem to be missing the really big picture of the value of social media and really the Internet for that matter. They look at how current social networking sites work and how online and offline relationships currently work and make the assumption that this represents the value proposition. Case in point the recent HBR blog post: The Social Media Bubble , by Umair Haque where he advances the following hypothesis: Despite all the excitement surrounding social media, the Internet isn't connec

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Airman Roachclip, Ashley P.

Steve Blank

I thought today was an appropriate time to tell this story. I’m hoping the Statute of Limitations has run out. ————-. As I’ve gotten older, I realized that one of the skills I have is pattern recognition across large data sets. When I was young, I didn’t have much data. So back then I constructed “what if…” scenarios in my head to amuse myself.

Vietnam 178
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David, with slingshot

deal architect

The timing is impeccable. I just posted on the New Florence blog excerpts from Chapter 9 of my upcoming book which deals with arsonists, disruptors and rebels who drive so much innovation. Included are extracts from my interview with Seth. Tags: Enterprise Software (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP).

Software 199
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ProfessorVC: Negotiating an Angel Deal in your PJ's

Professor VC

ProfessorVC. The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Thursday, April 1, 2010. Negotiating an Angel Deal in your PJs. Well, not exactly.I was part of a Dow Jones VentureWire webinar last week titled Negotiating An Angel Deal: What Angels, Entrepreneurs & VCs Need to Know. I prefer the traditional face to face where you can interact with the other panelists and audience, but was the first panel I did wearing my favorite flannel penguin pajamas.

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A Good Friend Doesn’t Make a Good Mentor

Startup Professionals Musings

Friends tell you what you want to hear. Mentors tell you what you need to hear. When the message is the same from both, you don’t need the mentor anymore. In that sense, you should think of a mentor more like your advisor who has done all he can. You always need the friend. Also don’t confuse a business mentor with a business coach. A mentor’s aim is to teach you what to do and how, in specific situations, unlike a coach who helps you develop your generic skills for deciding what to do and how.

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Interviews

Startup Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, April 2, 2010 Interviews Robert Scoble came by my office to learn about the Lean Startup and the Startup Lessons Learned Conference on April 23. By all accounts, the conversation was a success. I certainly had a great time, and the early Twitter reactions seem positive. Of course, you can judge for yourself. Ive embedded parts one and two below: Part One: Part Two: And, as a special bonus, Ive included a recent podcast episode of The Web 2.0 Show, in which we

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Rimini counter-sues Oracle

deal architect

The third party maintenance war heats up as Rimini responds to Oracle’s earlier lawsuit. Will have more analysis once I catch up with Rimini executives. Tags: Enterprise Software (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP).

Software 186
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Shifting to Twitter for Deal Evaluation

Feld Thoughts

Over the past year the amount of emails I receive on a daily basis from entrepreneurs has reached a point where I can’t deal with it any more. My partners at Foundry Group feel the same and as a result we’ve moved to twitter to deal evaluation. If you are interested in talking to me about a potential investment, please just tweet it. Limit yourself to 140 characters – that’s more than enough to describe what you are doing.

Email 132
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Startup Non-Disclosure Agreements are Overrated

Startup Professionals Musings

Entrepreneurs often get the advice from their lawyers and friends to always get a Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA or CDA) signed before disclosing anything about their new venture. Most investors and startup advisors I know hate them, and refuse to sign them. Who is right? Let me try to put this question in perspective. If you are totally risk-averse, then push to always get signed NDAs.

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9 Reasons Why Many Smart People Go Nowhere

Life Beyond Code

You would have met many smart people who live a mediocre life. There are MANY of them. You might be surprised why this is the case. They have the brains to go somewhere, be someone and do remarkable things. When you talk to them, you will realize that even they want to go somewhere, be someone and do remarkable things. Then, what causes smart people to go nowhere in life?

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How liberating the iPad will be

deal architect

Marc Benioff says it will move us to Cloud 2: “It’s not about typing or clicking; it’s about touching. It’s not about text, or even animation, it’s about video. It’s not about a local disk, or even a desktop, it’s.

Cloud 170
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100% Click Through Rate

Feld Thoughts

I was thinking about how to drive CTR’s up via different mechanisms this morning when this email arrived in my inbox. I remembered talking about high CTR email response rates with Dave McClure and Shervin Pishevar when we were in DC on our Startup Visa trip at the beginning of March. I’d forgotten about this conversation until this email showed up while I was thinking about this.

DC 128
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If Your First Startup Fails, You Are About Average

Startup Professionals Musings

Most entrepreneurs fail on at least one attempt. What investors look for is not that you never fail, but that you learn from the failure, maintain a positive attitude, and work with integrity on the next one. If you have never failed, you have probably never pushed the limits. According to Harvey Mackay in his new book “ Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door ,” how to rebound from failure or rejection is an essential skill to acquire for success.

Startup 120
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Is it a feature or product?

BeyondVC

During the last month I have spent more time looking at Angel investments as I believe it is a great time to start a business. However, one key question I keep asking myself after meeting with entrepreneur after entrepreneur is whether or not what they have is just a feature of a larger product offering, a standalone product in and of itself, or a business for the long term with multiple products.

Product 113
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Two new scholarship programs for lean startups

Startup Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, March 28, 2010 Two new scholarship programs for lean startups Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, Im pleased to be able to announce two scholarship programs for upcoming lean startup events. The first, sponsored by IMVU , will provide free tickets to deserving companies who want to attend the Startup Lessons Learned conference on April 23.

Lean 109
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I’m An Amazon Affiliate Again – Sort Of

Feld Thoughts

On March 8, 2010 Amazon fired me as an Amazon Affiliate because of Colorado HB 10-1193. I proceeded to have a dozen different conversations (email and live) with several of my state representatives, including one of the co-sponsors of the bill, and each conversation made me more incensed at the abject stupidity and lack of understanding of the dynamics surrounding the situation.

Affiliate 118
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Smart Entrepreneurs Start With a Cookbook

Startup Professionals Musings

I realized the other day that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great pasta salad for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. You know the basic ingredients, and you can visualize the results you want. Yet you may not be so sure where to start, and how to put it all together. There are two parts to every recipe – the specific ingredients, and the instruction steps for putting the ingredients together.

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e(verywhere)-Commerce

This is going to be BIG.

A couple of weeks ago, nextNY had a great round table discussion about the explosion of new models and companies in eCommerce—from group buying to flash sales to local discounts. A lot of ideas came out of it—many were ones that we’ve been thinking about at First Round for a while, given our investments in One King’s Lane , Homerun , Bigdeal , Modcloth , Monetate and Packlate , among others.

Syndicate 105
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The Ongoing Data Revolution

BeyondVC

In early 2006, I wrote a post titled " The next generation web, scaling and data mining will matter." In it, I highlighted some thoughts on the future: I truly believe the next battleground will be based on scaling the back. end. and more importantly mining all of that clickstream data to offer a. better. service to users. Those that can do it cheaply and effectively will. win.

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NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing

Feld Thoughts

I had an amazing day on Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina. I attended the Bank of America Technology Stars of the Future awards ceremony for the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing. If you’ve been following along on this blog, you know that I’m chairman of NCWIT (the National Center for Women & Information Technology ). I’m proud of a lot of things that NCWIT does, but after attending the Aspirations in Computing awards I think it has moved to the top of my list.

Charlotte 104
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Great Startup Opportunities are Anywhere

Startup Professionals Musings

Entrepreneurs are always looking for “the next big thing,” when maybe in fact it’s a lot of little things that are only recognized after the fact as components of a big evolution or revolution. In my view, the Internet “connectivity anywhere” has already spawned several of these, but the global change has only begun. Emily Nagle Green, in her new book “ ANYWHERE ,” argues effectively that the future of the world and business is ubiquitous connectivity, the total interconnection of people, ideas,

Startup 120
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Why many smart people are taken for granted?

Life Beyond Code

Think about it: Why MANY smart people are taken for granted? Short answer: Because they let them be. [Please also note that the question was not why SOME smart people are taken for granted]. But let us first understand what taking for granted means. Taking for granted means many things to many people and it differs from context to context. In this particular case, it is simply that a smart person is shortchanged or given less credit than what he/she truly deserves or simply assume that things wo

Restful 95
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Looking at the World Through Plan-colored Glasses

This is going to be BIG.

I just spent some time this morning with an entrepreneur whose business was operationally demanding and depended a lot on 3rd party companies. In the very near term, the best laid plans always seemed to go awry when the next customer fire needed to be put out. Writing out a roadmap seemed like an exercise in futility. On top of that, he wasn’t sure how much board communication was necessary.

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This Week’s Trip to Santa Fe

Feld Thoughts

Amy and I love Santa Fe. We need a long weekend after the past few weeks so we’ve decided to hop in the batmobile and drive as fast as we can down I-25 to Santa Fe. While I’m there I’m going to do a handful of entrepreneurial events that have been arranged by a variety of folks but really spearheaded by Doruk Aytulu as described in his post Brad Feld is Coming to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Los Alamos.