Amy and I were at a delightful dinner with friends (new and old) last night who are deeply involved in Naropa. After a very long couple of days where I was very tired, it was nice to sit in a cozy house, eat home cooked food, and just talk about life. Near the end of the evening, I heard a line that will stick with me for a very long time. “Contentment used to be a virtue. Now it’s a vice.” ” As with many things that need to stick with me, I repeated it out loud. MORE

Even entrepreneurs who have built many startups, or sold their last one for millions of dollars, know they make occasional people leadership mistakes. They know leadership is all about managing their own complicated, illogical, and fallible human foibles, as well as the people they depend on. MORE

by Jacqueline Pruscha, Audit Manager at Sensiba San Filippo. There has been a lot of chatter regarding changes in revenue recognition criteria lately, but the effects it will have on the evaluation of companies planning an exit is just beginning to emerge. MORE

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I was visiting with an ex-student who’s now the CFO of a large public tech company. The company is still one of the hottest places to work in tech. They make hardware with a large part of their innovation in embedded software and services. MORE

Each business has a story. No matter if the business is a Goliath like Wal-Mart, or a local business owned by a couple or family, the business has roots in an idea. For each business owner, the story of their journey can range from monetary needs or the passion for a unique project. MORE

Would you find this acceptable? Is it clever? MORE

In 2013, a Pew Research Center study revealed some sobering insights into the reasons why 34 percent of millennial women weren’t interested in becoming a boss or top manager. MORE

Over the years, I’ve been in many multi-party negotiations. I don’t know the maximum number of participants in a single negotiation, but I’m sure it’s greater than ten active negotiating parties in a transaction. I don’t mean the number of entities participating in the transaction, but the actual number of active negotiating entities. The best way to figure this out is to count the number of different law firms involved in the transaction. MORE

Live streaming has become a powerful juggernaut that continues to command the eyeballs and appetites of sports enthusiasts around the world. With the advent of new production tools and 4K technology, the consumption of live sports streams has ballooned in the recent past. MORE

New entrepreneurs are always looking for a shortcut in getting their venture story and plan across to investors, and closing on the funding they need. MORE

Each business has a story. No matter if the business is a Goliath like Wal-Mart, or a local business owned by a couple or family, the business has roots in an idea. For each business owner, the story of their journey can range from monetary needs or the passion for a unique project. MORE

We asked 10 entrepreneurs to share how they get people to "know, like and trust" their businesses. Here's what they had to say. Grow Marketing & Sales branding marketing online reputation reputation management MORE

Five months ago, the five members of our Chanty team gathered around a small table in a coffee shop to try to answer the ultimate question for our business: “How will Chanty make money?”. Determining the right monetization strategy is by far the most important issue for every SaaS business. MORE

My neighborhood of Alberta in Portland, Oregon, where small local businesses are plentiful. Source. If you’re considering making the leap and starting your own business, you’re likely eager to ensure that you’re making a smart decision. MORE

One thing we’ve learned from the diet crazes since the 1980s is that every single thing has been alternately touted as healthy or poison. No-fat, carb-heavy. Scratch that, no-carb, fat doesn’t matter. Scratch that, it’s only about low-cal. Scratch that, whole-30 and don’t track calories. MORE

In a time of technology enabled with mobility real estate agents are evolving and moving beyond their traditional roles. Real estate is slowly moving to become more organised and as an emerging industry it has seen a lot of investment into technology innovation over the past few years. MORE

I believe deeply in the value of making data accessible. In service of that belief, there are few things that bring me as much joy as visualizing data (smart segmentation comes close). MORE

Google spent years studying successful teams and discovered insights that could forever change how teams are assembled. MORE

I was on the phone with an old friend last week. We were talking about a few things around a negotiation, and he said something profound. “I just want things to be fair and reasonable.” ” I loved this phrase. I learned this value from Len Fassler and Jerry Poch in 1993 when they acquired my first company. I had never bought, sold, or invested in anything up to that point. MORE

My newest book, Startup Opportunities: Know When to Quit Your Day Job , is available via Kindle for $0.99 today. If you are a fan of my books, a friend, or just someone who is interested in startups, buy a copy today. The post Startup Opportunities Flash Sale – Today Only For $0.99 MORE

Mike Wessinger, CEO, PointClickCare. How did you do it?”. It’s probably the single-most asked question I get from aspiring entrepreneurs. From the outside looking in, it’s a fair question. I founded PointClickCare two decades ago with a background in sales and no technical skills. MORE

This showed up in my inbox the other day from a friend of 20 years. He’s been involved in a number of companies that we’ve invested in over the years in different senior and/or co-founder roles, including CEO. It was short and sweet but captured the essence of something I often talk about with founders. Heard you and Jerry on CPR this morning , nice job! MORE

Yesterday, the White House announced it was delaying and likely eliminating the International Entrepreneur Rule. This rule is the closest we’ve come to a Startup Visa , something I’ve been working on with numerous other people since 2009. Several failed bills in Congress, a failed bipartisan Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill, and an Executive Order later, and we still have nothing. I’m disappointed but not surprised. MORE

Whether you are trying to motivate your team, close a deal with a customer, or get funding from an investor, a casual conversation is usually a waste of your valuable time. These result is a founder who is always “too busy,” but never seems to get the business done and the team moving. MORE

India just overtook the United States in having the largest Facebook audience in the world. Although it looks honky dory for the network, there’s something very unique about the Indian audience. It is heavily skewed towards young people and men. MORE

Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. Then they are surprised to see productivity and creativity take a big dip. MORE

by Nate Vickery, editor-in-chief of Bizzmarkblog.com. In 2017, SEO can be described in two words: turf war. MORE

The buzz at Infor’s annual user conference (and a side analyst summit) was around Coleman, the AI platform Infor announced to use “powerful machine learning to improve processes such as inventory management, transportation routing, and predictive maintenance”. The name Coleman. MORE

Of course nobody wants their startup to fail, but the fact is that it happens and it’s a completely normal part of company building. Investors understand this and realize that failure is often a part of the process. MORE

Being an entrepreneur is a source of pride. It also evidences an individual with a huge amount of discipline and focus to be able to build a business a lot of times from just an idea. It is the ambition of an entrepreneur that built the most profitable and successful companies. MORE

by Jesse Wood, CEO of eFileCabinet. The relationship between bosses and subordinates has existed since the dawn of humankind. But the time we’ve spent handling these relationships as a species doesn’t equip us to handle their tension in modern office environments itself. So, what can? MORE

Most of the entrepreneurs I have met are smart, but many are not always wise. MORE

Most people agree that entrepreneurs have to think differently and take risks to have much chance of building a successful business. MORE

No business or enterprise can grow in isolation. You need a list of committed well-wishers, partners, customers and other individuals who will populate the ranks of your personal contacts, to succeed. MORE

I was in Europe for most of June and working on a lot of things with people in the bay area. The nine hours time zone were challenging. I was doing a lot of calls in the evenings with people who were just waking up. There were many times when I woke up in Europe to a brief window where I could talk to people in the bay area who were still working and had not wrapped things up for the day before. Our portfolio at USV spans ten hours (Estonia to San Francisco/Los Angeles). MORE

by Edward D. Hess and Katherine Ludwig, coauthors of “ Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age “. This may be good news or bad news, depending on who you are: The day of the aggressive know-it-all who steamrolls over colleagues is drawing to a close. MORE

As Ada Support launches its automated chat platform from stealth and announces an impressive $2.5 million seed round, we’re looking back at our journey with founders Mike Murchison and David Hariri. The story underscores the importance of perseverance and having the right founding team. MORE