Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2012

Did you ever wonder why some entrepreneurs always seem to have all the luck and success, while others never seem to catch a break? As an Angel investor, I quickly learned that luck has very little to do with it, and I now look for some personal characteristics and leadership styles that separate the potential winners from the losers. These differences are the reason that investors say that they invest in people, rather than ideas.

Technical Review 332

Technical Review Entrepreneur Kentucky Due Diligence 332

SoCal CTO

APRIL 18, 2012

Todd Gitlin of Safire Partners - a go to resource here in LA for recruiting C-level positions at startups - was nice enough to compile some data again this year (see last year's Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data ). Even better, my good friend and data visualization guru Steve Wexler of Data Revelations was able to create visualizations of the data.

CTO Hire 294

CTO Hire Salary Equity Los Angeles 294

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 5, 2012

by J. Clint Anderson Ph.D., founder and president of J. Clint Anderson Company. Between increased diversity, growing workload, geographic dispersion, and organizational changes, who has time to worry about a corporate culture? Research shows that when people connect well, organizations succeed. So, the real question is: Can you afford not to invest in your team culture?

Leadership 233

Leadership Texas Developer Government 233

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 16, 2012

I spent this weekend at LindzonPalooza. Once a year Howard Lindzon gets together a bunch of his friends at the intersection of financing, tech, media, and entrepreneurship, we descend on The Del in Coronada, and have an awesome 48 hours together. Many interesting and stimulating things were said, but one I remember was from Peter Pham over dinner. It was a simple line, “why do we teach languages in junior high and high school but not a computer language?

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Java Software Developers Software Development Software 164

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

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 5, 2012

Two events this week in St. Louis show how vibrant the startup ecosystem has become there. On Wednesday, a group of 13 companies presented to 50 investors, looking to raise an aggregate of $16 million in capital. The companies were all part of Capital Innovators, an accelerator venture fund that has been operating since last fall. Capital Innovators put on the event, called Demo Day, at the cherished Pageant Theater, which normally is a concert venue.

St. Louis 127

St. Louis Kansas City Technical Review Startup 127

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 8, 2012

As college graduation weekends and summer business incubator announcements loom, I thought I would take a few minutes to consider the connection between the entrepreneurship and academia. Entrepreneurs, by definition, take an idea or a concept and strive to make that idea into a operating business. To do this, we spend a great deal of time laying the groundwork: researching, modeling, testing, and (finally) executing to turn all of that work into a revenue-generating enterprise. scientists, and

Software Review 112

Software Review Entrepreneur Incubator Valuation 112

SVPG

APRIL 28, 2012

The Product Marketing Contribution. Jane is supporting the launch of Product X, a new release her company is really excited about. She is on the marketing team. Armed with her launch checklist, she schedules a meeting with John, the product manager. At the meeting, John answers all of her questions, draws a market segmentation on the white board, and talks about the key features and why they are important.

Product 108

Product Technical Review Marketing Affiliate 108

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 26, 2012

Social media resources like Google Plus offer a great opportunity for growth in education through collaborative work, communication, and camaraderie. Many of today’s universities have recognized this incredible potential, and have put G+ to work on campus. We’ve discovered more than 30 great ways universities are currently using Google Plus, along with several ideas for the future.

Georgia 232

Georgia Technical Review Michigan Hosting 232

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 9, 2012

Wow. That was an amazing experience. I ran the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run on Saturday and finished in an official time of 11:57:37 , just under my goal of 12 hours. My un-official mile by mile splits are up on RunKeeper which served me well with my iPhone 4S and Mophie Juice Pack until the very last few minutes when my battery finally died on my phone.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Cap Table Technical Review Partner 166

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 1, 2012

Are people born innovators, or can they learn to become that way? An interesting new book, "Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World," by Tony Wagner, a member of Harvard's Technology and Entrepreneurship Center, explores this question in detail. It is a must-read for anyone who is thinking of taking the lonely road toward starting one's own venture.

Engineer 156

Engineer Video Technical Review Conversion 156

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 6, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

Social Media 99

Social Media Small Business Design Media 99

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 30, 2012

All too many startups are founded simply on the basis of a new and exciting technology invented by an industrious technologist. This is the origin of the “solution looking for a problem” and “if we build it, they will come” syndromes, which result in surprise and frustration waiting for funding, and waiting for customers that don’t materialize. The right approach is to start by solving a problem causing real pain to a large number of customers willing to pay real money for a solution.

Intellectual Property 248

Intellectual Property Startup IP Finance 248

Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook

APRIL 12, 2012

My last blog post, by far, was the most viral piece I’ve written in four years of blogging. Provocative titles and edgy content seem to win readers. And it would appear that creative style is a hot topic. If Steve Jobs Worked For You, You’d Probably Fire Him , is about a concept called Creative Style. Creative style can be measured , there are a couple of great assessments available.

Viral 112

Viral Leadership Developer 112

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 19, 2012

by Edward D. Hess, author of “ Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Entrepreneurial Businesses “ All growth is good. Bigger is better. All businesses must either “grow or die.”. If you’re a small business owner, you might have been nodding along as you read those business mantras, agreeing wholeheartedly with each one. After all, it’s what you’ve always been taught.

Dilution 209

Dilution Virginia Management Washington 209

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 2, 2012

I spend all of my working time in the domain of software, Internet, and entrepreneurship. Over the past few years I’ve gotten increasingly involved in a handful of political situations – local, state, and national – that directly impact companies either in the ecosystem I’m part of or that I’ve invested in. Many of these political situations stifle entrepreneurship, innovation, or opportunities for these companies.

Application Development 137

Application Development Developer Colorado Internet 137

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 19, 2012

Entrepreneurs demonstrating their latest ideas at the EMO Spring 2012 conference showed that inspiration travels in many directions. The young companies that took the stage Wednesday to kick off the three-day startup fest in Santa Clara, California, demonstrated a surprisingly wide variety of software and Web services. Unfortunately, one thing most of the new companies share is the lack of a clear plan for building a profitable business.

Intellectual Property 113

Intellectual Property Switzerland Software Review California 113

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 13, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2012

After struggling to create your business plan for months, every entrepreneur likes to think that their document is inspirational and will reach someone who is smart enough to see the brilliance of the idea, intuitive enough to recognize their business acumen, and enthusiastic enough to offer the money required to make it happen. Every serious investor, on the other hand, has a stack of these in their in-basket (email or real plastic) awaiting review, and is looking for the flaw or less-capable e

Elevator Pitch 244

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Business Plan .Net 244

Andrew Payne

APRIL 11, 2012

I see a steady stream of entrepreneurs contacting me with various software ideas: a Web site, a mobile app, etc. All are looking for funding and developer help to implement the idea, and most won’t end up with either, even though some of the ideas are really interesting. Why not? The software business has changed profoundly over the past decade.

Software Developers 76

Software Developers Software Development Software Web 76

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 8, 2012

With close to 900 million users and an upcoming IPO , Facebook is ruling the web as the social network of choice. Following close behind is Twitter , the 140 character king of microblogging also known as the “SMS of the Internet” LinkedIn , YouTube , Flickr , Foursquare , blogs, and tonnes of other social networks make up the other players of the social web.

Social Media 186

Social Media Technical Review Media Social Network 186

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 7, 2012

Doing something for the first time is always fascinating for me. In an hour I’ll be starting the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run which will be the first ultramarathon I’ve ever run. Assuming that RunKeeper and my iPhone works (with it’s special magic Mophie juice pack), you can track me live on my RunKeeper account. I also imagine my wife Amy will be tweeting things out during the day.

Hawaii 129

Hawaii Technical Review Partner Technology 129

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2012

When you work inside a startup with lots of clever and motivated staff you’re never short of good ideas that you can implement. It’s tempting to take on new projects, new features, new geographies, new speaking opportunities, whatever. Each one incrementally sounds like a good idea, yet collectively they end up punishing undisciplined teams.

Bandwidth 415

Bandwidth Management Startup Channel 415

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 26, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

Social Media 91

Social Media Small Business Design Media 91

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

APRIL 15, 2012

Here is my review of what I call the six layers of quality content writing , relevant for the web, books, news or even a technical white paper. I gave these tips to my team and thought it would be worth sharing them here on EJ as well. 1. Topic Selection. You already know your niche.

Technical Review 82

Technical Review Restful Audience Web 82

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 30, 2012

In a perfect world, every customer relationship would be steeped in a complete understanding of the customer’s current wants, needs and desires. The trick of course is that getting anything that looks like that at all requires three things – incredible planning, thoughtful technology and consistent execution. The entire category of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology inherently offers the promise of this kind of relationship management while often providing little more than a

Management 72

Management Customer Sales Cycle Technical Review 72

Steve Blank

APRIL 3, 2012

Epiphany e·piph·a·ny noun ?/i?pif?n?/. A moment of sudden revelation or insight. We now know how to teach entrepreneurs how to think about business models and use customer development to turn hypotheses into facts. But there is no process to teach how to get an epiphany. We can only try to create the conditions where this might occur. ————-.

Flash 320

Flash Customer Development Business Model Developer 320

Diego Basch

APRIL 28, 2012

[Originally posted on July 25, 2011 on the IndexTank blog, now down. Reposting it here so I don't lose it.]. If you are reading this there is a chance you may not know who Steve Vai is. In my opinion, he’s the owner of the most gifted musical brain in the world. You may not like the style of music he plays or his guitar pyrotechnics. However, there is no question that most bands would kill to have someone like him on stage.

Engineer 66

Engineer Coder Software Engineering Java 66

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

Instagram. It’s understandably on everybody’s mind these days. Clichés abound about, “You know what would be cool? …” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter.

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2012

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free (like Twitter), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). The implications of the decision you make are huge, defining your brand image, your funding requirements, and your long-term business viability.

Business Model 282

Business Model Revenue Portfolio Differentiation 282

Jeff Hilimire

APRIL 19, 2012

I don’t know about you, but I’m always trying to figure out the optimal way to use all the digital services/platforms available to me. And I’ve really struggled over time with how to use email effectively, how to keep track of my to-do list, where and how I should take and store notes, and how to effectively use the cloud in the middle of all of that.

Email 56

Email Cloud Software Review Affiliate 56

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 3, 2012

This is a guest post by Jarrod Drysdale — a web designer and bootstrapper who recently broke five figure sales for his ebook that teaches bootstrappers do-it-yourself design principles and strategies. He’s worked for startups, financial companies, movie studios, and consumer brands at agencies and as a freelancer. Here, Jarrod analyzes why his value pricing strategy earned more money with fewer sales than the pricing strategy described in last week’s post.

Sales 261

Sales Bootstrapping Design Audience 261

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2012

We’ve taught our Lean LaunchPad entrepreneurship class at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and the National Science Foundation in 8 week, 10 week and 12 week versions. We decided to find out what was the Minimum Viable Product for our Lean LaunchPad class. Could students get value out of a 5-day version of the class? The Setup. At the invitation of Murray Low at the Entrepreneurship Center in the Columbia Business School, we went to New York to find out.

Lean 265

Lean Business Model Customer Development New York 265

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 15, 2012

The frustrating part for online marketers when it comes to that space is that things change all the time. Which means that you have to keep on your toes and catch these fluctuating trends as they unfold. For 2012, there are some trends that you need to be aware of. For example: - Mobile searches increased by a massive 400-percent in 2011. - 70-percent of people on social networks are also online shoppers. - Over 50-percent of e-commerce store visits occur when consumers are logged onto Facebook.

Marketing 254

Marketing Social Network Social Media Mobile 254

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Brad Feld visited Los Angeles this past week. I always enjoy spending time with Brad as the antidote to the eco chamber. He is a unique human being with original thoughts & ideas and very limited concern for having to fit into other people’s narratives. And I’ve always remembered a quote from high school, “Non Conformity is the Highest Form of Social Attainment.” That always stuck with me.

Community 304

Community Los Angeles Startup Silicon Valley 304

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2012

A few angel investors have slipped or fallen from their lofty perch, so entrepreneurs must take great care to validate the character and reputation of every prospective investor. The entrepreneur’s tendency to be in a huge hurry to obtain the funding can end up being disastrous, and play into the hands of these less scrupulous investors. Many entrepreneurs believe all money is created equal.

Angel Investor 281

Angel Investor Term Sheet Entrepreneur Due Diligence 281

The Startup Toolkit

APRIL 8, 2012

Before you start your first business, do a relevant project. Businesses have overhead[1]. Projects don’t. If you tell me you’ll pay $20k for a solid developer hire, and I think I might be able to dig up someone great, then I don’t need to go off and set up a headhunting company. I just need to do a project. A while back I had visions of setting up a game company.

Web Development 40

Web Development Web Developer Hiring 40