Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

'*. I recently wrote a post talking about how some VCs meddle in operating company decisions or some executive teams are too reliant on VCs to jump in and make hard calls for them. Fred Wilson also wrote on a similar topic in his usual more succinct manner , with a great quote being: “One thing I know for sure is that those who advise and invest in startups cannot and should not meddle in the day to day decision making.

Startup 276

Startup CTO Hire Sales Leadership 276

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2015

'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.

Business Model 220

Business Model Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review 220

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

'Founding a company is a selfish act. It will consume every waking moment for the next 1-10 years. It’s an act of defiance and irreverence towards competitors and the status quo. That matches well with the life of a 20-something — fueled by the energy of youth, too young to be jaded, with no financial or social dependents. Not all selfish acts are bad ones!

Warrant 258

Warrant Founder Engineer Matching 258

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

'A few weeks ago, we launched two startup pitch deck templates for raising seed capital — part of NextView’s platform of exclusive startup resources. And while the NextView partners served as the editors and directors of the project to ensure its usefulness to founders, I wanted to share a few of the more surprising or alarming lessons and trends I witnessed after spending weeks of my life staring at actual pitch decks from dozens of startups to inform our templates.

Technical Review 256

Technical Review Seed Stage Boston Startup 256

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

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 26, 2015

'By Brian Sutter, Director of Marketing, Wasp Barcode Technologies. Most entrepreneurs start a new business with dreams of success, but the unfortunate fact is that too many of them fail. The U.S. Census Bureau showed the reality in hard terms – 400,000 small businesses opened and 470,000 SMBs closed their doors just last year. What separates new businesses that flourish from those that close in disappointment?

Small Business 195

Small Business Small Business Administration SBA Non-Compete 195

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 10, 2015

'As the holiday season is behind us and 2015 is firmly underway, we wanted to take a moment to both announce and celebrate the collection of top entrepreneurs who have agreed to return as our Entrepreneur Advisors. These individuals have all graciously agreed? to continue their prior commitments to NextView-backed startups and entrepreneurs. We’re excited and feel incredibly lucky to have them back on board: Niraj Shah & Steve Conine – Co-founders of Wayfair.

Software Review 152

Software Review Technical Review Entrepreneur Cofounder 152

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2015

'Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. According to articles on Entrepreneur last year, there are now almost 1,000 crowdfunding platforms in existence, currently estimated to add more than $65 billion and 270,000 jobs to the economy.

Accredited Investor 221

Accredited Investor SEC Equity Europe 221

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

'Are you unhappy with your current job? Have you always dreamed of being your own boss? Before you quit, you need to create a plan. I had the opportunity to speak with Melinda Emerson, the “SmallBizLady” and America’s #1 small business expert, who took the opportunity to share with us her proven, step-by-step method to transition from employee to entrepreneur.

Social Media 109

Social Media Small Business Software Review Technical Review 109

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

'While mediocre people are dime a dozen, good people are always in demand. But good optimizers are in very high demand, everyone and their mother is trying to hire one. Alas they can be hard to find. If you’re looking to hire one, what should you look for? What makes an optimizer a great optimizer? There are many universal traits that make anyone a “good hire” – like being proactive, hard working and so on – but what’s unique about optimizers?

Conversion 97

Conversion Analytics Software Review Hiring 97

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 15, 2015

'by Edward D. Hess, author of “ Learn or Die: Using Science to Build a Leading-Edge Learning Organization “. Maybe you graduated top of your college class. Maybe you have an MBA and complete the Saturday edition of the New York Times crossword in one sitting. Maybe you pride yourself on your ability to correct your colleagues’ grammar and email typos.

Non-Compete 205

Non-Compete Developer New York Technology 205

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 19, 2015

'When your website crashes on launch day it really sucks. It’s ridiculous to me that that still happens today as a regular course of business. Every time a marketing team works with a web design firm, there is the usual painful and broken handoff between the outside agency and the technical operations of the client which culminate on launch day. So many things have to go right for your launch to be flawless: server configuration, load testing, and deployment.

Technical Review 113

Technical Review Portfolio Web Design 113

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

'A shortened, better edited and with nicer pictures version of this post first appeared on TechCrunch. But if you want it in it’s full V1 glory read on … You’ve never been a CEO but might like to be one some day. But how? Nobody sees you as a CEO since you’ve never been one? I wrote this conundrum and the need to take charge of how the market define your skills in my much-read blog post on “ personal branding.” If you don’t create the message about your

Technical Review 273

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 273

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

'Large corporations and conglomerates, the engines of growth and vitality in the twentieth century, have lost their edge and their image. They have proven themselves unable to innovate, and they have lost more jobs than they create. My friends who “grew up” with lifetime careers in General Motors, Exxon Mobil, or even IBM, are now often too embarrassed to even mention it.

Offshore 210

Offshore Startup Merger Technical Review 210

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 5, 2015

'It is a known fact that an effective leader is only as good as the team they assemble (recruit and select), develop (properly train) and lead (set expectations and goals). If the leader is not effective, then it stands to reason that the team will not perform well on a consistent basis. If the leader doesn’t set expectations for the team to achieve, then the team will set their own expectations and pretty much do what they want, including wasting as much time as they can.

Leadership 116

Leadership Employee Naming Developer 116

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 6, 2015

'It has been freakin cold and snowy here in Chicago the past couple of weeks, so I thought I’d share this beautiful video of our beautiful city in winter. Other places eschew the cold a and frost; this filmmaker with a drone says, bring it on! Brrr. Now that you know what drives us around here, I present to you our weekly roundup! Great links and articles we shared with you over the past week on our crowdSPRING Twitter account (as well as my own Twitter account ).

Small Business 79

Small Business Design Seattle Social Media 79

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 10, 2015

'Some people are born leaders; others were groomed to be ones. There’s a fine difference between becoming a leader because the situation called for it and becoming a leader through hard work and diligence. When it comes to frontline management, you can never be too careful about how you handle yourself. Your decisions and choices will affect dozens if not thousands of other people in the same organisation or company as you are.

Management 152

Management Software Review Technical Review Leadership 152

Start Up Blog

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

'If you think your privacy doesn’t matter , then how about you do the following: Email me your bank account details and login passwords. Remove the blinds and curtains from your house. Leave the door open when using the toilet. Publish on your Facebook page the links to every website you visit – even those with 18+ year age requirements.

Technical Review 85

Technical Review Metadata Internet Naming 85

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

'My long-time friend Jason Lemkin is on the verge of launching a spectacular SaaS conference called SaaStr this week. What Jason has achieved in no time flat in VC is astounding. Without inventing the browser he has single-handedly created a personal VC brand on a shoestring. And as I’ve written about before – building a personal brand is extremely important in today’s competitive job market.

LP 264

LP Israel Technical Review Deal Flow 264

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2015

'Angel investors and venture capitalists don’t make equity investments in non-profits. The simple reason is that it’s impossible to make money for investors when the goal of the company is to not make money. Yet as an active Angel investor, I still get this question on a regular basis, so I’ll try to outline the considerations in common-sense terms.

Angel Investor 207

Angel Investor Equity Technical Review Exit Strategy 207

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

'Did you know that 28% of businesses fail due to problems with the financial structure of the company? This includes keeping poor accounting records. If you don’t understand your key financial metrics, you have no way of monitoring your business’s health—and you risk mingling assets, incurring penalties for filing taxes late, overlooking expenses, and running into difficulties paying bills and employees, just to mention a few!

Metrics 115

Metrics Burn Rate .Net Churn Rate 115

abovethecrowd.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

'[An edited version of the following blog post originally appeared in a modified form in the pages of the weekend edition of the Financial Times last Saturday. ]. Every successful technology company raises money throughout its lifecycle, perhaps starting with a seed investment and progressing through Series A, B, C, late-stage investments, and, for the most successful companies, an IPO.

IPO 81

IPO Liquidation Preference Valuation Technical Review 81

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

'There is an alarming number of statistics surrounding the failure of startups. The Wall Street Journal reports that as many as 3 out of 4 startups fail per year. These startups are actually backed by venture capitalists. Imagine the number of startups that fail without proper capital and funding. Why would a well-funded startup company fail? There are dozens of reasons.

Startup 175

Startup Salary Finance Software Review 175

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 13, 2015

'Besides wanting to know what exactly is in her mom’s mouth, we also want to know where this little cutie Scarlett learned everything there is to know about identifying typefaces. This is a skill every designer can use, so I recommend watching this adorable girl strut her stuff! So… it’s time now for “the chickening,” aka our weekly Roundup!

Small Business 78

Small Business Design Social Media Startup 78

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2015

'*. Phone calls. Millennials are allergic to them. I have this conversation Sofa King often that I’m sure each reader who has met me will think I’m talking specifically about you. I’m not. Well, I am. But not only you. Email is efficient. You can crank out asynchronous thoughts, orders, questions, commands and comments. I email often.

Email 263

Email Conversion Sales Startup 263

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

'In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is up from the dead zone, but is still less than half the rate of 15 years ago. Smart entrepreneurs now avoid this option like the plague, due to its unpredictability and the challenges of running a public company.

IPO 204

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 204

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

'If you’re someone who is both creative and entrepreneurial, you might be considering Etsy as a way to monetize a craft that you truly love doing. If so, you’ve come to the right place. Etsy is a popular eCommerce platform for everything handmade, from custom jewelry to baby clothes. It’s a robust online market place, with more than a million active sellers and over a billion dollars in sales in 2014.

eCommerce 109

eCommerce SEO Software Review Social Media 109

deal architect

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

'I caught up on some morning reading of reaction to yesterday’s SAP event in NYC and posted this comment on Dennis Howlett’s post Dennis, I saw it from afar and two things stuck out a) very little discussion of economics.

Cloud 283

Cloud Software 283

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

'by Rostyslav Demush, marketing manager at Cart2Cart. Since the first successful launch of online stores, the e-commerce world has developed to unprecedented heights. These days it is far easier to build up a top-ranked and profitable shop with little effort; it is now possible to add a dozen features or implement attractive templates without a problem at all due to the wide range of technology platforms available out there.

Technical Review 165

Technical Review SEO Stock Design 165

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 17, 2015

'Going to business school and becoming a startup founder are often positioned as conflicting choices by the media and startup bloggers. Some go as far as stating, flat out, that MBAs don’t make for good founders. Others are more practical: If you want to start a company, they ask, does it make sense to go to business school and pay $120K in tuition, or should you save up and put that money directly into your company?

North America 264

North America Founder Cofounder San Francisco 264

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

'Five-and-a-half years ago I first met Chamillionaire at a tech conference in LA. I saw him on stage at the event talking about how he used social media to engage audiences. This was 2009 and his understanding of audience engagement was far beyond anything I was hearing from most people at that time. I reached out after the event to learn more. We started hanging out a bit and discussing technology and entrepreneurship.

Houston 330

Houston Cofounder Audience Business Model 330

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

'Last week I got a call from Patrick an ex-student I hadn’t heard from for 8 years. He was now the CEO of a company and wanted to talk about what he admitted was a “first world” problem. Over breakfast he got me up to date on his life since school (two non-CEO roles in startups,) but he wanted to talk about his third startup – the one he and two co-founders had started.

Startup 260

Startup Lean Venture Capital Advisory Board 260

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 11, 2015

'If you’re a freelancer or independent contractor, chances are you’re familiar with how time-consuming the invoicing process can be. If you want to get paid, invoicing is not something you can set aside. The real question is, how can you do it faster? And, how can you do it more affordably, without having to turn to expensive software? One quick and easy way to streamline the process is to use an invoice template.

Flash 108

Flash Software Review Web Design 108

deal architect

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

'As I listened to the SAP launch in NYC of its S4 product I told a few folks I was struck how high level the presentation was. That they should have field tested and matured the pitch with many customers.

Software 254

Software Customer Product 254

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

'by Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, authors of “ The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways to Engage and Empower Your Peopl e“ and “ The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built a Bestseller “. As the market continues to improve, your organization might (finally!) be plugging some holes in the workforce and even creating new positions.

Hiring 158

Hiring Technical Review Lean New York 158

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

'Today, NextView Ventures is excited to release a pillar project in our Growth Guides series: pitch deck templates for raising seed capital. These help address a common question which we frequently receive from entrepreneurs about how to create startup pitch decks for this crucial financial milestone. For context, last year, based on questions from our existing portfolio, we launched two board deck templates for seed-stage startups.

Seed Stage 263

Seed Stage Startup Seed Capital Audience 263

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2015

'An entrepreneur is literally “one who creates a new business.” The best new businesses are ones that have never been done before, so mastering creativity and recognizing creativity are key skills and mind-sets. But how does one recognize and nurture creativity in a person or team? In researching this question, I found a book by Bryan Mattimore, “ Idea Stormers: How to Lead and Inspire Creative Breakthroughs ,” which outlines well eight attributes of the most creative people, which seem to match

Intellectual Property 228

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Social Media Reputation 228