2021

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8 Strategies For Sustaining Momentum In Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

Every new business I know dreams of building momentum in their business, where growth continues to increase, customers become your best advocates, and employee motivation is high. The most common approach I see to achieving this is to do more of everything for everyone. Unfortunately, with limited resources, this isn’t possible, and it frustrates customers and the team.

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Why LP’s Passed on Seed Funds 10 Years Ago (And What’s Happened Since)

View from Seed

This year will mark the 10 th year anniversary of NextView. I’ll be writing a number of posts looking back over the first decade of the life of this firm. In some ways, this feels like an eternity. But in the grand scheme of things, 10 years is a blip, and one that had a continuous bull market in tech. So whatever conclusions or observations I draw should be seen in this context.

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4 Ways IoT is Rewiring How the World Works

ReadWriteStart

There are few technologies in the world today that can make a Trillion-dollar impact on the global economy. IoT (Internet of Things) is one of them. McKinsey, the global think tank, estimates that IoT will have an economic impact of between $4 trillion and $11 trillion by 2025 ( Source ). Source: Mckinsey. IoT brings organizations a whole new way of working wherein it becomes easier to control, manage, and monitor remotely located hardware.

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Israeli startup Landscape Maps (Updated April 2021)

VC Cafe

Readers of VC Cafe know that I collect and curate Israeli startup landscape maps. You can find previous editions in the achives. July 2020 , May 2019. This latest batch includes new maps for Insurance tech, Industry 4.0, Deep Tech, Passion Tech and Proptech, as well as updated landscapes for cyber security tech and retail tech. Hope you find it as interesting as I do.

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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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Making Web Design Easier With Duda

Duct Tape Marketing

Making Web Design Easier With Duda written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Itai Sadan. In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Itai Sadan. Iati is the C o-founder and CEO of Duda – a website development platform used by thousands of agencies around the world to build sites for their customers.

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How I Gamified My Own Brain to Lose Weight & Improve Fitness

Both Sides of the Table

Socially distant hiking in Sedona (we drove there) I recently wrote about my weight-loss journey over the past 18 months where I lost 65 pounds without a fad diet and returned to my college weight. If you want to get in better shape and haven’t read that you might start there. I separately wrote about some food plans I use. I started advice with the premise that no amount of exercise or food eating plan would help with long-term fitness or weight goals unless you first had a mental plan and a se

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5 AI Trends That Will Shape Your Business In 2021

YoungUpstarts

Christa Martin shares some of the fundamental considerations for businesses to understand prior to undertaking the deployment AI for audience segmentation. The post 5 AI Trends That Will Shape Your Business In 2021 appeared first on Young Upstarts.

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Techstars Accelerating Black ParentPreneurs

Feld Thoughts

I recently nominated James Oliver’s ParentPreneur Foundation for the new Techstars Accelerate Equity Program. Amy and I provided the lead gift of $100,000 through our Anchor Point Foundation. For a detailed look at what the ParentPreneur Foundation does, take a look at Techstars Foundation Empowers Black ParentPreneurs, So They Can Leave A Legacy For Their Children.

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Saas Survey 2021

For Entrepreneurs

2021 SAAS SURVEY – Part 1 For the eighth year in a row, we’re proud to work with KBCM Technology Group (formerly Pacific Crest Securities) Thank you to the readers of forEntrepreneurs who participated in taking the survey! Thank you also to Adam Noily and the team at KBCM Technology Group for their work on.

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Resetting venture capital return expectations: is 10x the new 3x?

Version One Ventures

When I started Version One Ventures in 2012, every experienced VC shared the same rule of thumb: we had to return 3x net consistently to stay in business (i.e. 3x the invested capital net of fees over a period of about ten years for a net IRR in the low twenties). Ten years (almost) and four funds in (not including t he two newest funds we just raised ), we are well underway of hitting and exceeding those targets and it is within reach for all three core funds to become at least 10x funds.

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7 Keys To Making A Business Out Of Your Great Product

Startup Professionals Musings

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.

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Announcing NextView IV

View from Seed

We are pleased to announce that we have closed on NextView IV. This is a fresh $100M fund with the same high-conviction, hands-on seed strategy that we’ve been pursuing since the start of NextView over 10 years ago. $100M is a meaningful increase from our $50M third fund, though it’s still quite small in the grand scheme of venture, especially amid the recent wave of late stage financings and SPACs.

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11 LinkedIn Posting Tips to Get Viral on LinkedIn

ReadWriteStart

In this article, we will share six LinkedIn algorithm tips and insights and 11 actionable content tips. You can start following these tips on LinkedIn today to gain maximum engagement and opportunities. If you have a B2B company whose budget is meager and you are looking for all the possibilities to promote it on Linkedin? 11 LinkedIn Posting Tips to Get Viral on LinkedIn.

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The most important 2021 Predictions in entertainment tech and gaming

VC Cafe

“It follows that the goal of forecasting is not to see what’s coming. It is to advance the interests of the forecaster and the forecaster’s tribe.” PHILIP TETLOCK, SUPERFORECASTING: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF PREDICTION. Covid-19 accelerated the adoption of entertainment tech, gaming and commerce. But are these trends here to stay? 2020… where to start?

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Tapping Into The Power of SMS Marketing

Duct Tape Marketing

Tapping Into The Power of SMS Marketing written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Aaron Weiche. In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Aaron Weiche. Aaron is the CEO and Co-founder of Leadferno, a business and text messaging platform to close more leads faster. Aaron is a digital marketing veteran of over 20 years founding and growing both digital marketing agencies and marketing software products.

SMS 101
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The Definitively Terrifying Rules of Serial Entrepreneurship

YFS Magazine

If you’re like me you probably have a pretty enthusiastic outlook on the idea of being an entrepreneur. That’s good. You’re going to need it.

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The Class That Changed the Way Entrepreneurship is Taught

Steve Blank

This article first appeared in Poets and Quants. Revolutions start by overturning the status quo. By the end of the 20th century, case studies and business plans had reached an evolutionary dead-end for entrepreneurs. Here’s why and what we did about it. The Rise of Business Schools – Management as an Occupation. The business school was invented in the first decade of the 20th century in response to a massive economic transformation in the U.S. that took place in the last quarter of the 19

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The Rise of eLearning Platforms – Types, Business Models & Solution For Startup Edupreneurs

YoungUpstarts

As people switch more to the online realm for education and knowledge, the scope and application of elearning platforms will only get bigger. The post The Rise of eLearning Platforms – Types, Business Models & Solution For Startup Edupreneurs appeared first on Young Upstarts.

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Google Enters Hologramland

Feld Thoughts

Six months ago I wrote When The Big Companies Show Up about Sony releasing their first holographic display and what I thought about that development, given my role as an investor via Foundry and board member in the 40-person purveyor of fine holographic interfaces in Brooklyn called Looking Glass. In that post, I wrote: “When I ponder my life in 2040, I am confident that I will not be spending 12 hours a day in videoconferences on a 2D display.

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Texas and Austin See Record Levels of VC Funding in 2021 and it’s not Slowing Down

SiliconHills

U.S. Venture Capital is on pace to double from last year’s record levels of $156.2 billion invested in 12,254 deals nationwide, according to Pitchbook-National Venture Capital Association Venture Monitor data. Already, at the end of the first quarter of 2021, 7,000 companies have raised more than $150 billion in funding. “2021 is definitely going to […].

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‘Inside Rounds’ Used to Be Bad. Sequoia & WhatsApp Changed Venture Forever

Hunter Walker

Why Their Multibillion Dollar Outcome Flipped The Script. Pre-2014: Insider Rounds Are The Funding of Last Resort. Post-2014: Why Are Insiders Letting This One Get Out? When WhatsApp took $19 billion and joined Facebook, the industry headlines moved quickly from the buyout itself to Sequoia’s masterful funding strategy of the startup. After publicly leading a Series A, the firm put another $50m+ into the startup in two subsequent insider rounds, neither of which were disclosed publicly prior to

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8 Keys To Maximizing Your Confidence and Self-Esteem

Startup Professionals Musings

Confidence and self-esteem are critical to your success as an entrepreneur, or any business role. As a mentor, I’m regularly frustrated by people who try to cover their lack of confidence with ego and arrogance , rather than working on the base issue. Every business leader and investor I know quickly sees through the façade, and tags you as a high risk and difficult person to work with.

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Organic Shares or SEO Rankings: Which Should You Prioritize?

ConversionXL

We’re told time and time again, producing high quality content is one of the highest value activities you can do for your business. Yet, the question remains, what does high quality content actually mean and how do you measure it? With content marketing, it can be easy to get lost in the noise and miss what matters. For this article, let’s consider just two metrics—an engagement metric—social shares and an SEO metric—keyword rank.

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What Every Entrepreneur Should Do Before Launching a Startup

ReadWriteStart

Launching a startup is always exciting. This is your opportunity to accumulate wealth, make a name for yourself, innovate in some unique way, and possibly leave behind a legacy. But too many entrepreneurs end up failing because they were inadequately prepared. Before you even consider launching a startup, there are many preparatory steps you’ll need to take.

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The State of Creative Automation

VC Cafe

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” Pablo Picasso. Like many other parts of our life and work, creativity, the ability to invent or design something new from scratch, might have seemed like it’s the last job safe from automation/machines. With new advances in AI, creativity is now being transformed by technology and offered as a services for consumers and companies.

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Why You Need To Humanize Your Brand

Duct Tape Marketing

Why You Need To Humanize Your Brand written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Jacqueline Lieberman. In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Jacqueline Lieberman. Jacqueline is the f ormer Managing Partner and the Head of Strategy Story Worldwide and current founder of BrandCrudo. Key Takeaway: Brands are people’s introduction to businesses and their way to interact with companies.

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8 Ways To Keep Your Data Safe While Traveling

YFS Magazine

Luckily, protecting your data abroad doesn’t require buckets of money and loads of time, but it’s important to go about it deliberately.

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You Don’t Need Permission

Steve Blank

I was pleasantly surprised to hear from Suresh, an ex-student I’ve known for a long time. A U.S. citizen he was now the head of sales and marketing for a company in London selling medical devices to hospitals in the UK National Health Service. His boss had identified the U.S. as their next market and wanted him to set up a U.S. salesforce. Suresh understood that the U.S. health system was very different from the system in the UK, not just the regulatory regime through the FDA, but the reimburse

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27 Entrepreneurs Explain How They Came Up With Their Business Names

Hearpreneur

The idea of exactly what your business is going to usually come first. Secondly, most often, is giving a title to your idea. What exactly is going to be the name of your business? Some people turn to their childhood for inspiration or a beloved family pet. It could be a made-up word you dream of one night and feel it has the right ring to it. Even still there are some people who study foreign words for the perfect meaning behind their chosen business.

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Techstars Sustainability Accelerator / The Nature Conservancy – 2021 Applications Open

Feld Thoughts

In 2017 I helped get the Techstars Sustainability Accelerator off the ground in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Amy and I have been supporters of TNC for over 30 years and Amy serves on their global board of directors. The program has been running in Colorado supporting pre-seed to post-seed stage startups at the intersection of conservation and technology since 2018.

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Joe Lonsdale Wants to Build a new Tech City Near Austin and a Tunnel Transportation System to Develop an Even Bigger Tech Hub

SiliconHills

An experimental Beta City on the outskirts of Austin with transportation tunnels, autonomous vehicles, robots, flying drones, smart buildings, and all the latest technology applications. That’s the vision of Joe Lonsdale, an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, who recently moved 8VC, an investment firm, and The Cicero Institute, a public policy think tank, to Austin.

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What’s a Competitive Analysis and How Can It Strengthen Your Marketing Strategy?

crowdSPRING Blog

A competitive analysis is an assessment of your key competitors' strengths and weaknesses and a strategy to identify opportunities and threats that can help you outperform those competitors.

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6 Keys to Attracting Customers Based On Social Needs

Startup Professionals Musings

As a logical and data-driven business advisor, I have long focused on facts, technology, and quantifiable pain in guiding entrepreneurs. Yet, these days, I am seeing overwhelming evidence that customer buying decisions, especially with consumers, are often based on emotional and psychological factors , including passions from others, your experience, and social relationships.

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11 Remote Work Hacks To Increase Productivity

Transformify

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a wind of change as business industries were obliged to make the big shift to work from home. It can even be more challenging since everyone is confined to quarantine as an individual effort to minimize the contagion. Despite the threat of cabin fever, this new work lifestyle has gained warm appreciation from transposed employees.

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6 Opportunities for Startups to Thrive in 2021 and Achieve Results

ReadWriteStart

The COVID-19 pandemic has flipped the business world on its head and put many in a state of panic. Do you dare start your own company, launch your very own business venture in such a volatile climate? How do you ensure steady growth and success in these trying times? Building a profitable business was difficult enough without a pandemic on our hands, but nowadays, it might seem impossible for new entrepreneurs.

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The Creator Economy – Who are they, what do they do and How do they make money?

VC Cafe

Don’t let ‘perfection’ get in the way of ‘creation’ – just start. pic.twitter.com/GgD2iWml0b — Eze Vidra (@ediggs) February 4, 2021. 50 million people already consider themselves pro or semi-pro “creators”, according to Sigalfire’s in-depth “creator economy” report. Although there’s some overlap with freelance platforms, where creators look for paid ‘gigs’, I’d argue that while creators are looking to monet

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