TechEmpower

JULY 2, 2013

'July marks the fourth month of our ongoing project measuring the performance of web application frameworks and platforms. We''ve just posted Round 6, which includes several more developer community-provided framework test implementations: Beego, Dart, Hapi, Jester, Luminus, Nancy, Yaf, Plack, Play-Slick, and Undertow. The results web site has been improved with test-type and hardware-type navigation, allowing you to share links to a specific results chart, such as Round 6, Fortunes on EC2.

Framework 521

Framework Software Review Los Angeles EC2 521

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

'One of my favorite events last year was attending Startup Grind where I got to interview Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma. Not just because meeting Clayton was influential in shaping my thinking about markets but also because Derek Andersen (who founded Startup Grind) is such an awesome host and runs a very informative events.

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2013

'Many aspiring entrepreneurs are looking to the Internet as an opportunity to get rich quick, instead of a place where you can start a business you love, for very little capital and minimal technical expertise. The reality is that if you build a business you love, you may in fact make big money, but if you start a business to get rich, you will probably fail.

Internet 263

Internet Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 263

YoungUpstarts

JULY 17, 2013

'By Wain Kellum, CEO of Vocalocity. I grew the business that I currently lead as CEO from a start-up to more than 60 million dollars in revenue in less than six years. Because of this, fellow entrepreneurs are always asking me the proverbial question that is woven into the media interview of every successful CEO, “So, what’s your secret?”. I have more than 25 years of experience in leading fast-growth technology companies, and Vocalocity’s success follows on the heels of a long-standing track r

Georgia 238

Georgia Atlanta Sales Cycle Business Model 238

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

Feld Thoughts

JULY 8, 2013

'An increasing number of companies we are investors in are focused on DevOps. A year or so ago I read an early draft of a new book titled The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win. I really enjoyed it and asked Gene Kim, one of the authors to write a guest post on DevOps. He wrote it a while ago and it has sat in my draft queue waiting for the perfect moment to emerge.

Phoenix 175

Phoenix Software Review Technical Review Cofounder 175

The Next Web

JULY 20, 2013

'Editor’s note: Andrej Kiska is an associate at Prague-based Credo Ventures. Prior to Credo, Andrej worked at an early growth fund Benson Oak, the first backer of AVG Technologies . “VCs are arrogant. VCs are cowards. They speak about how they love to help entrepreneurs build successful companies, yet when I ask them to give me feedback on my business plan or idea, they usually don’t even bother writing me back.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Mongolia Technical Cofounder Entrepreneur 124

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2013

'Last year I wrote a blog post on entrepreneurs with a chip on their shoulders. I think it’s an important read. A chip on one’s shoulder as in, “F**k the system, it’s broken and I want to fix it” is exactly the energy I look for in entrepreneurs. My internal compass says that “country-club” entrepreneurs struggle to make as big of an impact because it’s really hard to totally change a system that you’re part of and have a vested interest in.

Churn Rate 371

Churn Rate Vesting Viral eCommerce 371

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2013

'Starting a business is a lot like starting a marriage. At first, all parties are in dreamland, with a vision of changing the world, having lots of fun, and raking in the profits. But all too soon, reality sets in. Product development is stuck at that 90% mark, a key person leaves, and customers are talking but not buying. In his book Reality Check , Guy Kawasaki summarizes some of the key issues.

Founder 250

Founder Startup Software Developers Software Development 250

YoungUpstarts

JULY 26, 2013

'by Libby Gill, veteran management consultant and author of “ Capture the Mindshare and the Market Share Will Follow: The Art and Science of Building Brands “ To create a compelling brand, you have to capture more than just the market share, you capture the total mindshare – that is, minds, hearts, soul and the hence the unimpeachable trust of your customers.

Technical Review 200

Technical Review Public Relations Community Customer 200

Feld Thoughts

JULY 25, 2013

'Following is a guest post by Zack Rosen , co-founder and CEO of Pantheon. Pantheon is building “A big badass platform that will run 30% of the Internet.” They are making it easy for professionals to build, launch, and run websites. Pantheon is one of the Silent Killers in our portfolio – and I’m immensely proud of the progress they are making and excited about their future.

Vermont 165

Vermont Startup Campaign Virginia 165

The Next Web

JULY 18, 2013

'If you think about the UK tech startup scene, London’s Tech City in the east of town will probably jump to mind. But look a little closer and you’d realize that while most focus goes on the Silicon Roundabout area of the city, there are other parts of the capital, and country, with a burgeoning startup scene. One of these hubs of new activity is Croydon, just on the southern outskirts of Greater London, which saw the official launch of Croydon Tech City (CTC) six months ago.

Government 121

Government New York Software Developers Software Development 121

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 19, 2013

'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 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

'This is final part of a series that describes a sales methodology for technology companies or frankly many other types of companies, too. We developed this at our first company and called it PUCCKA – the overall methodology is described here. Pain. Unique Selling Proposition. Compelling Event. Champion. Key Players such as enemies, sages and blockers.

Customer 324

Customer PR Marketing Technical Review 324

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2013

'The average length of a funding pitch to Angel investors is ten minutes. Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. The biggest complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation.

Angel Investor 256

Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch Matching 256

abovethecrowd.com

JULY 17, 2013

'“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” — Freewill, Rush. If you happen to be a sports fan (I am), one of the coolest features to emerge in our lifetime is the ability to program your DVR remotely. The game is about to start, and you forgot to record it. No problem — you can simply talk to your DVR remotely. It’s like magic.

Mobile 96

Mobile SEM SEO Technical Review 96

Feld Thoughts

JULY 17, 2013

'As I continue to talk about Startup Communities , I say over and over and over again that the leaders have to be entrepreneurs. Everyone else – who I call the “feeders” (government, university, non-profits, big companies, VCs, angel investors) – have an important role, but the leaders must be entrepreneurs. Now – members of feeder organizations can play a leadership role, but in the absence of a critical mass of entrepreneurs, the startup community won’t ever

Community 163

Community Kansas City Silicon Valley Technical Review 163

The Next Web

JULY 20, 2013

'Editor’s note: Jonathan Saragossi is the founder of IM Creator , a free website builder, and AppSite , an editor and website collection for promoting mobile applications. Jonathan is also a UX and marketing consultant for major startups including Any.Do and Playscape. You can contact him by email or on Twitter. So you’ve developed your dream app and uploaded it to the market, eagerly waiting for a flood of downloads to propel your product to stardom.

PR 157

PR Development Team Review Viral Mobile 157

Occam's Razor

JULY 1, 2013

'Would you believe me when I say that your digital analytics data, from Google Analytics or WebTrends et. al., might be hindering your ability to make some important strategic decisions? Would you believe me if I said that even leveraging cool features like custom reporting and smart advanced segments might be insufficient in some cases? Perhaps you are skeptical.

Search 137

Search Analytics PPC Green 137

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

'When polled 88% of marketing professionals said they couldn’t accurately measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and the majority said lack of ROI measurement is their single greatest frustration with social media (Forbes). If you look at the left side of the graphic you’ll see the easy, traditional measurement of followers, RTs, FAVs & replies.

Technical Review 307

Technical Review Marketing SEM Campaign 307

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2013

'Most startup mentors tell me that the single biggest problem they have to deal with in small companies is the lack of open, honest, and effective communication, both from the top down and from the bottom up. Some entrepreneurs forget that talking is not communicating. Fortunately these skills can be learned, and the barriers to communication can be overcome one by one.

Entrepreneur 254

Entrepreneur Semantic Technical Review Retention 254

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 12, 2013

'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

The Equity Kicker

JULY 8, 2013

'I’ve long been convinced that raw intelligence as measured by IQ is not reliable predictor of effectiveness at work. I’ve seen too many ‘clever’ people who are ineffective. Some of the time it’s down to personality – people have the right answer but can’t bring their team or company with them – but even allowing for that, supposedly smart people make bad decisions a surprising amount of the time.

Developer 136

Developer Startup 136

The Next Web

JULY 14, 2013

'There’s no question that the future of e-commerce is in personalization. But you can’t improve your customers’ online shopping experience (or retain existing customers) without understanding what it is they want in the first place — which means you need to be understanding, and then acting, on whatever data you’re collecting. Figuring out where to start is daunting, so I asked 9 successful founders the following question: What is one piece of data that most novice e-commerce entrepreneurs would

Software Review 137

Software Review Entrepreneur LLC Advertising 137

Growthink Blog

JULY 23, 2013

'Every successful business requires a lot of planning. From market research to internal corporate structure, the planning stages of starting and growing a business can be quite extensive. While this preparation is a key factor in the success of any company, there are a few things which far too many business owners neglect. Planning for success and growth is important, but smart businesses are also prepared for the worst case scenario.

Revenue 115

Revenue Security Acquisition Business Model 115

OnlyOnce

JULY 9, 2013

'Startup CEO (OnlyOnce – the book!), Part III – Pre-Order Now. My book, Startup CEO: A Field Guide to Scaling Up Your Business , is now available for pre-order on Amazon in multiple formats ( Print , Kindle ), which is an exciting milestone in this project! The book is due out right after Labor Day, but Brad Feld tells me that the more pre-orders I have, the better.

Startup 95

Startup Advisory Board Elevator Pitch Forecast 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2013

'If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. This is the last step of the process, where surprises in the evaluation of the management team, documentation, and personnel problems can derail the investment. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 242

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Term Sheet 242

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 5, 2013

'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 92

Social Media Small Business Design Media 92

Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook

JULY 22, 2013

'Dan Pink. Dr. Orin Davis (@DrOrinDavis) has written up two more short pieces — essentially his reflections from the talks of Rebecca Henderson and Dan Pink at the recent World Innovation Forum. His comments on Pink are somewhat provocative, so, be aware I do not share Orin’s views exactly. Orin is a well read academic (and practitioner as well) and he knows a lot about the wide array of literature that exists for creativity and innovation — that’s why I’ m publis

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Business Model Management Restful 93

The Next Web

JULY 2, 2013

'Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Andrew Montalenti and a a follow-up to Andrew’s earlier article, Why Startups Die. Andrew is the co-founder and CTO of Parse.ly , a technology startup that provides big data insights to the web’s best publishers. He blogs at pixelmonkey.org. You can follow him @amontalenti on Twitter. Paul Graham defined startups as being, essentially, growth machines.

CTO Hire 137

CTO Hire Startup Cofounder Hiring 137

Duct Tape Marketing

JULY 11, 2013

'Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Peter Sandeen – Enjoy! photo credit: OutofChicago. If you’re not getting the customer referrals or repeat business you hoped for, something’s wrong. Maybe your product doesn’t deliver the benefits customers expect. Maybe your service doesn’t meet the standards they expect.

Customer 77

Customer Finland Technical Review Technical Support 77

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

'I work with a lot of startups. I start to notice when bad behavior creeps into the system as a whole. I have seen much of that behavior over the past 2 years get worse. Nobody seems to want to make money any more. I remember just a decade ago in 2003 when we all laughed at how dumb people in the 90′s were talking about the race to “capture as many eyeballs as possible” before your competition.

Burn Rate 412

Burn Rate Dilution Revenue Valuation 412

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2013

'Many entrepreneurs actually refuse to do financial projections beyond the first year, insisting that no one can predict the future. They need to realize that investors ask for projections, not merely as predictions, but more as commitments from the founder and his team. If you are not willing to commit, don’t expect anyone to back you. In reality, you need to set these projections as goals for your own use, to convince employees as well as investors that you have a business which is challenging

Forecast 238

Forecast Business Plan Burn Rate .Net 238

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 14, 2013

'I love to read. Books, newspapers, magazine, blogs, comment threads. Put the written word in front of me, whether on a sheet of paper bound into a book or magazine, or as pixels on a glowing screen and I will consume it. But like most small business owners, I have very little time available for reading and what time there is tends to be pretty well consumed by the other parts of my life; you know – family, the couple of friends I still have, household chores and (this week at least) the a

Viral 93

Viral Small Business Social Media Technical Review 93

deal architect

JULY 25, 2013

'Gartner has been talking for a while about the ‘Nexus of four forces – Social, Mobile, Cloud and Information” Forrester warns “”Today’s Hottest Technologies Will Be Ho-Hum By 2015” Many of the customers I have interviewed this summer for the.

Cloud 326

Cloud Mobile Technology Customer 326

The Next Web

JULY 15, 2013

'Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Christian Reber, CEO and co-founder of Berlin-based 6Wunderkinder. Today he begins a series, cross-posted from his own blog , in which he draws on his experience to offer advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in Europe and beyond. You can follow him on Twitter, where he is @ChristianReber. 1. Dream big and start small.

Cofounder 134

Cofounder Europe Bankruptcy Germany 134

Duct Tape Marketing

JULY 18, 2013

'3 Website Trends That Customers (and Business Owners) Will Love written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Andy Hayes – Enjoy! I know what you’re probably thinking: oh, great, another trends post. Personally, I think trend-watching is interesting because it can give you new ideas for your business.

Customer 76

Customer Portland Oregon Hosting 76