July, 2012

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The Most Obvious Mobile Ad Unit and What the New York Times Got Wrong

Both Sides of the Table

The New York Times recently ran an article titled, “ Tech Companies Leave Phone Calls Behind.” I love the NY Times and am a paying subscriber. But this article missed the real trend. The premise of the article is that in an increasingly online world ruled by techies who don’t want to talk on the phone, the era of being able to call the company in which you do business is winding down.

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Dual Founders Manage Technology Startups Better

Startup Professionals Musings

I often hear the qualms of business-smart but non-technical entrepreneurs, wondering if they really have a chance in this high-technology marketplace. I tell them that if their idea or solution is technology intensive, they clearly need technology strength on the team. Then the question becomes “How do I evaluate and attract the best technical talent?

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The Rise & Fall of Great Venture Firms [Part 1] ? AGILEVC

Agile VC

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. How To Think About The Future. Home. About Me. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. The Rise & Fall of Great Venture Firms [Part 1]. July 11, 2012. I happen to be fascinated by the history of the VC industry, and one of the things we discussed at a recent offsite are the common threads behind the rise and fall of great venture capital firms.

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Unrequited Love

Steve Blank

If there’s only one passionate party in a relationship it’s unrequited love. Here’s how I learned it the hard way. The Dartmouth Football Team. After Rocket Science I took some time off and consulted for the very VC’s who lost lots of money on the company. The VC’s suggested I should spend a day at Onyx Software, an early pioneer in Sales Automation in Seattle.

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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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Sixteen Signs You May Be Practicing Cowardly Leadership

YoungUpstarts

by Mike Staver, author of “ Leadership Isn’t For Cowards: How to Drive Performance by Challenging People and Confronting Problems ” It’s a tricky time to be a leader. With the economy so unforgiving right now, making smart business decisions is critical. That’s true not just in terms of strategy (whether to change your product mix or move into a new marketplace) but also relationships (whether to fire the toxic high performer or address a conflict head-on).

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A Startup Advisory Board Dream Team is Priceless

Gust

Every startup faces a myriad of challenges that are well beyond the scope of any founder, so you need a few guiding lights to illuminate the road ahead. These should be carefully selected, with a proven track record, willing and available to help, and be completely trustworthy. Make sure they are willing to check their egos at the door. Let’s talk specifics.

More Trending

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A Startup Advisory Board Dream Team is Priceless

Startup Professionals Musings

Every startup faces a myriad of challenges that are well beyond the scope of any founder, so you need a few guiding lights to illuminate the road ahead. These should be carefully selected, with a proven track record, willing and available to help, and be completely trustworthy. Make sure they are willing to check their egos at the door. Let’s talk specifics.

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Hire today or gone tomorrow: How your startup is getting lapped by companies who know how to hire

This is going to be BIG.

There will always be an excess of bad ideas and dumb money in the market--so we'll always be complaining about a lack of talent, no matter how many developers there are. Still, I contend that most companies have no idea how to hire, and in the last week, my theory got proved to me several times over. In February, I got contacted by a former management consultant who was now working in an operations role for a high profile startup.

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Human Engineering and Emotional Intelligence for Startups

VC Cafe

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. ( Wikipedia ). human engineering VC Cafe Photo credit: By imaginedhorizons (Flickr). On “ Intelligence Is Overrated: What You Really Need To Succeed “, a research by Carnegie Institute of Technology shows that “ 85 percent of your financial success is due to skills in “ human engineering ,” your personality and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lea

Engineer 145
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13 Habits That May Be Sabotaging Your Career

YoungUpstarts

Everyone has bad habits. Smoking, driving too fast, overeating, giving in to stress; no matter what the habit is, we all know that we need to break them, if only we could find the motivation. How’s this for motivation? Some of your bad habits may actually be sabotaging your career. Whether it’s office gossip or playing around on Facebook, it’s time to kick these bad habits to the curb.

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Don’t hire people you know!

David Teten

Countless psychology studies have proven that we tend to like people who look and/or think like us. Peter Salovey, Dean of Yale College and a Professor of Psychology, taught my “Introduction to Psychology” class in college. On the first day of class, he asked, “Do you want to know whom you are going to marry?” The 18-year-olds were excited to learn the answer.

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No credit? Big problem. Here are 7 steps to build your startup’s business credit

The Next Web

In the startup world, venture capital is often viewed as the penultimate goal, yet for many startups bootstrapping is often the reality. And self-financing puts the emphasis on business credit. If you’re a small business owner, navigating the lending world today can feel like one big Catch-22 loop. Traditional lenders and commercial banks are typically reluctant to loosen their purse strings until you’ve proven yourself with a strong credit history.

CPA 126
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10 Keys to Making an Entrepreneur Website Credible

Startup Professionals Musings

Smart people only visit and buy from credible and memorable websites. In the past, if your startup had a website presence, the company was credible by definition. In today’s world, a website is necessary but not sufficient for credibility. Dreamers and gamblers have found out that if the website isn’t validated as credible, it’s probably a scam, and everyone loses.

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I want to mentor you in the Shopify Build-A-Business Contest 2012

Startup Lessons Learned

I recently teamed up with Tim Ferriss, Daymond John, and Tina Roth Eisenberg to help you launch a business from scratch. It's called the Shopify 2012 Build-A-Business Competition and it launches today. Now is the time to take that idea you've been mulling over and put it in motion. All you have to do is come up with a product to sell, open your online store on Shopify, pick one of the awesome mentors, then get to work.

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How to Get Bloggers to Write About Your Startup: Insider Advice

ReadWriteStart

It’s every startup’s dream - to get the attention of the people who matter. You might think that refers to customers or clients, or even venture capitalists or angel investors. Nope. We’re talking about bloggers. Sure, investors and customers are vital to the success of a startup business, but few things can turn your tech startup into the “it” company on everyone’s lips (and tweets) as quickly as getting mentioned by a prominent blog or blogger.

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Intel – Redefining Mobility Computing With The Ultrabook

YoungUpstarts

If you’ve been shopping around for a laptop and you’re confused by the multitude of sleek notebook PCs from different hardware manufacturers all called the Ultrabook , you’re unlikely to be alone. The Acer Aspire S3, the HP Envy 14 Spectre, the Series 5 from Samsung, amongst many others, are all Ultrabooks, and like some consumers you may wondering why these vendors aren’t suing each other into oblivion for copyright infringement.

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Don’t hire people you know!

David Teten

Countless psychology studies have proven that we tend to like people who look and/or think like us. Peter Salovey, Dean of Yale College and a Professor of Psychology, taught my “Introduction to Psychology” class in college. On the first day of class, he asked, “Do you want to know whom you are going to marry?” The 18-year-olds were excited to learn the answer.

Hiring 128
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How not using Internet Explorer put me out of touch and cost me dearly

The Next Web

Editors Note: This is a guest post from Jeff Keacher , an engineer in Denver, Colorado. You can find him pretending to be an entrepreneur by fixing blurry photos or extolling the virtues of backup for photographers. Also, he loves playing hockey. You can follow him on Twitter @teuobk. . It’s never good to scare away your customers. It’s even worse if you don’t realize you’re doing it.

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How to Survive Four Common Worst Case Scenarios

Startup Professionals Musings

The best survival guides tell you how to be proactive and avoid the probabilities of ending up in a worse case scenario. Of course you need to learn how to recognize a bad situation before it bites you, and you need to know all the secret ways to wiggle your way out, before you succumb. The challenges stem from the simple fact that every entrepreneur is starting something new, where things are predictably unpredictable.

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Fundraising Recommendations for Startups (Part I)

VC Cafe

Image credit to HowardLake, Flickr. I’ve been contacted by several members the VC Cafe Network on LinkedIn who are asking for assistance in fundraising for a web startup or a mobile app. I’m writing today to share my recommendations with all who have enquired, and with the broader group of VC Cafe readers. An experienced VC would have heard thousands of pitches in his day.

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From Inmates to Entrepreneurs: The San Quentin Startup Accelerator

ReadWriteStart

Prison inmates have all day, every day, to sit around and think. It could be the world’s largest pool of untapped brain time. Chris Redlitz decided to put it to productive use. He founded the Last Mile startup accelerator program at San Quentin State Prison in California. “I’ve driven by San Quentin every day for the last 14 years, but never bothered to understand the prison system,” says Redlitz, who lives in Marin County north of San Francisco (where the prison sits on San Francisco Bay) and r

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5 Hot Ecommerce Trends to Watch

mashable.com

Top Stories Photo & Video Galleries Top Lists Trending Topics Twitter YouTube Facebook iPhone Google Video More Topics. People Recommended Mashable Staff More people. Jobs Events Try Our New Social News App Welcome to Mashable! Sign in with Facebook or Facebook Mashable Social Media All Social Media How-To Facebook Twitter YouTube Google+ mRank Tech All Tech Apps & Software Dev & Design Gadgets Mobile Business All Business Advertising Marketing Media Small Business Startups Jobs Lifestyle All Li

eCommerce 101
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How to Create Free Buzz for Your Startup

David Teten

For startup companies trying to build buzz around their brand, but without the capital to launch a full-fledged PR campaign, there are a lot of ways to hack the PR game. Building on my earlier post about free publicity , I wanted to share some additional thoughts. To begin with, the best PR you can build is through satisfied customers with high Net Promoter scores.

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Your brain peaked when you were twenty–what to do?

The Equity Kicker

This is one of my occasional health related posts. The next area of focus for me as I seek to slow the process of ageing is the brain. Physical fitness is a pre-condition for mental longevity, so I was right to start there, but the statistics (such as they are) on the physical decline of the brain after the age of twenty make for terrifying reading.

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Startup Viral Marketing Costs Real Money These Days

Startup Professionals Musings

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a few years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth.

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Human Engineering and Emotional Intelligence for Startups

VC Cafe

On "Intelligence Is Overrated: What You Really Need To Succeed", a research by Carnegie Institute of Technology shows that "85 percent of your financial success is due to skills in “human. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].

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7 Ways to Help Startup Workers Innovate

ReadWriteStart

Being innovative is part of the DNA of a tech startup - or at least it should be. But when your employees are working 18-hour days, unleashing their inner innovators can be a challenge. These 7 tips can help get the ball rolling: 1. Set an example. An innovative company needs to start with the founders and top execs. While even the most creative founders can’t drive innovation all by themselves, someone has to lead the way.

Startup 147
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What Google's Penguin Algorithm Means for Your Business

mashable.com

Top Stories Photo & Video Galleries Top Lists Trending Topics Twitter YouTube Facebook iPhone Google Video More Topics. People Recommended Mashable Staff More people. Jobs Events Try Our New Social News App Welcome to Mashable! Sign in with Facebook or Facebook Mashable Social Media All Social Media How-To Facebook Twitter YouTube Google+ mRank Tech All Tech Apps & Software Dev & Design Gadgets Mobile Business All Business Advertising Marketing Media Small Business Startups Jobs Lifestyle All Li

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Twitter Link Roundup #138 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

crowdSPRING Blog

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!

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Quick Left: An unlikely CEO leads this app development house that’s “a bit like therapy”

The Next Web

Ingrid Alongi isn’t like most CEOs. While it’s typically understood that the CEO’s job is to be the salesperson and face of a brand, Alongi tends to spend more time focusing on the work conditions and employee happiness of her company, Quick Left. In fact, she’s so unlikely to talk about herself or her company that, while sitting with her for dinner during Big Omaha, the subject of Quick Left came up (not from her, mind you) and I said that I really needed to talk to some

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The IBM CEO Study: The Directors Cut

deal architect

Francis Ford Coppola edited plenty in the Director’s version of his classic The Godfather. The studio made him add almost 50 minutes back to the movie when it was released. I smiled when Jon Reed shared with me IBM’s CEO.

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Want to be happier, more positive and more successful? Understand and embrace the rules of the game.

Jeff Hilimire

One of the biggest inhibitors to happiness and success is people not understanding and embracing the rules of the game. Your reality is what it is. You can do things to change that, sure, but for the most part these things are, well, reality. People who constantly struggle to accept their own reality are always going to have a hard time succeeding.

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Great Startups Need Founders' Heart, Mind and Soul

ReadWriteStart

Everyone’s heard startup advice about the importance of having a balanced management team. For instance, a tech whiz with no sales skills needs to have a strong salesperson on board to land investors. But a new book argues that startup management teams need a balance not only of job experience and skills, but also in their psychological makeup. Successful businesses often have one thing in common: The management team has carefully designated roles.

Founder 144
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Software Inventory

www.joelonsoftware.com

Joel on Software. Software Inventory. by Joel Spolsky. Monday, July 09, 2012. Imagine, for a moment, that you came upon a bread factory for the first time. At first it just looks like a jumble of incomprehensible machinery with a few people buzzing around. As your eyes adjust you start to see little piles of things that you do understand. Buckets of sesame seeds.

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Why Technology is Driving More Urban Renewal

Both Sides of the Table

Like many I read the headlines about Pinterest moving from Palo Alto to San Francisco and thought about the trend it portends. For those not familiar with the local geography, Palo Alto is the north end of what most consider “Silicon Valley” although nobody local calls it that. Palo Also is about 35 miles south of San Francisco. Palo Alto is home to Stanford.

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Lying on your resume

Steve Blank

It’s not the crime that gets you, it’s the coverup. Richard Nixon and Watergate. Getting asked by reporter about where I went to school made me remember the day I had to choose whether to lie on my resume. I Badly Want the Job. When I got my first job in Silicon Valley it was through serendipity (my part) and desperation (on the part of my first employer.