A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 21, 2009

In the last post I beat you to death about ditching your business plan but failed to provide an alternative. Okay okay, "Planning == Bad," but the supposed benefits of planning are still important: designing for profitability, understanding your customers and competitors, focusing your attention, deciding what's worth doing next, changing directions, and ensuring the founders agree on important issues.

Startup 315

Startup Revenue Cofounder Sales 315

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 9, 2009

I just had an all-too common conversation with the founder of a startup who had spent more than a year working with a software development company who had produced a mess. The mess really comes from a developer who was willing to get started on a product that was not fully thought out. I always take a very different approach in early conversations. If I’m being asked to do startup software development, I’m going to push fairly hard on key questions that the startup needs to have answered before

Software Developers 292

Software Developers Software Development Developer Software 292

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Home Books for Startups Secret History-Bibliography Steve Blank Startup Resources Steve Blank Entries RSS | Comments RSS Categories Air Force (9) Ardent (9) Big Companies versus Startups: Durant versus Sloan (29) California Coastal Commission (3) Conservation (2) Convergent Technologies (1) Customer Development (98) Customer Development Manifesto (22) E.piphany (6) ESL (7) Family/Career (21) Market Types (9) Marketing (17) MIPS Computers (1) Rocket Science Games (7) Secret History of Silico

Silicon Valley 258

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 258

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity. 2. Street Smarts - OK, so you’re a tenacious person – you never give up.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Burn Rate Cofounder Sales 306

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

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, December 16, 2009 What is Lean about the Lean Startup? The first step in a lean transformation is learning to tell the difference between value-added activities and waste. That foundational idea, so clearly articulated in books like Lean Thinking, is what originally led me to start using the term lean startup.

Lean 140

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Startup 140

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 14, 2009

'Startups and angels: Along the way to success. By Tim Keane, Angel Investor, Golden Angels Investors, LLC. Home. Archives. Profile. Subscribe. « Does the world need "tough" entrepreneurial coaches? | Main. | How To Change The World » December 14, 2009. Starting Startups. So, Paul Graham is a brainiac.  He is a partner in a pretty much exclusively software seed stage fund, Y Combinator that you can read more about.  He writes challenging essays at paulgraham.com

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Angel Groups Seed Stage Startup 60

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Just saw a great post by Mark Geller - Developers wanted… in Los Angeles, U.S.A. (you can get to know Mark a bit more in my post Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller ). Mark tells us: there is a lot of demand for developers right here in L.A. If you have solid web skills and a few years experience, either with a commercial company or running your own legit projects, there are dozens of companies in L.A. who would love to talk with you.

Software Development 150

Software Development Software Developers Software Developer 150

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 10, 2009

Early on in my career I took a “we’re moving too fast to deal with lawyers” attitude to patents and Intellectual Property (IP.) That changed when I joined the board of a startup, and we sued Microsoft and Sony on the same day for patent infringement – and won $120 million. A few caveats, this post is not legal advice, it’s not even advice, and it deals with law in the United States.

Intellectual Property 234

Intellectual Property IP Software Review Non-disclosure Agreement 234

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 18, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity. I then covered Street Smarts and Ability to Pivot. 4.

Germany 298

Germany Entrepreneur Merger Los Angeles 298

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 23, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Why vanity metrics are dangerous In a previous post, I defined two kinds of metrics: vanity metrics and actionable metrics. In that post, I took it for granted that vanity metrics are bad for you, and focused on techniques for creating and learning from actionable metrics. In this post, Id like to talk about the perils of vanity metrics.

Metrics 167

Metrics San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 1, 2009

Cracking The Code. Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. Tuesday, December 01, 2009. Cloudonomics and 2010 Planning for your SaaS and Cloud Computing business. As we get close to the end of the year, I thought it would be interesting to put together a post on how to approach the 2010 planning.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Europe 48

Software By Rob

DECEMBER 9, 2009

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Micropreneur Spotlight Episode 2: Design Proposal Software Bidsketch Startup Marketing Part 1: Losing People Through the Bottom of Your Funnel → Startup Marketing Part 2: Why Focusing on Traffic Can Kill Your Startup Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

Software Review 52

Software Review Startup Fresno RSS 52

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 14, 2009

"You need a business plan" is the mantra of MBA types. As they say , businesses don't plan to fail, they fail to plan! Who could argue with such a clever turn of phrase? Let's do some quotes: "Without a business plan, how will you know whether you can make a profit?" ( source ). "A complete business plan should include five-year financial projections.

Business Plan 312

Business Plan Salary Finance Web 312

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 21, 2009

Sometimes financial decisions that are seemingly rational on their face can precipitate mass exodus of your best engineers. We Hired the CFO. Last week as a favor to a friend, I sat in on a board meeting of a fairly successful 3½ year-old startup. Given all that could go wrong in this economy, they were doing well. Their business had just crossed cash flow breakeven, had grown past 50 employees, just raised a substantive follow-on round of financing and had recently hired a Chief Financial Offi

Engineer 335

Engineer Valuation Hiring Stock 335

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity. I then covered Street Smarts. 3. Ability to Pivot – I don’t like to invest in people that I’ve never met before who come through my office wanting to have a term sheet within 30

Entrepreneur 291

Entrepreneur Term Sheet Early Stage Affiliate 291

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, December 14, 2009 Business ecology and the four customer currencies Lately, I’ve been rethinking the concept of “business model&# for startups, in favor of something I call “business ecology.&# In an ecosystem, each participant acts according to its own imperatives, but these selfish actions have an aggregate effect.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

OnlyOnce

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Book Short: Innovation and Discipline The Puritan Gift , by Kenneth and William Hopper, is a bit of a mixed bag. The authors have a wonderful point to make -- that American businesses have thrived over the centuries due to a mix of innovation and discipline that descended from the country's Puritan roots, and that when they lose their way, it's because they diverge from those roots.

Iraq 48

Iraq Technical Review Leadership America 48

Software By Rob

DECEMBER 3, 2009

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Darth Vader is My Father…and I’m on Twitter Startup Marketing Part 2: Why Focusing on Traffic Can Kill Your Startup → Micropreneur Spotlight Episode 2: Design Proposal Software Bidsketch Micropreneur Spotlight , Micropreneurship If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

Software Review 44

Software Review Software Design RSS 44

Altgate

DECEMBER 17, 2009

@altgate Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between Skip to content Home Furqan Nazeeri (fn@altgate.com) ← 2009 Startup Executive Compensation Survey Results More “Open Source&# Legal Tools → Some Practical Advice on Executive Compensation at Startups Posted on December 17, 2009 by fnazeeri Because it's that season (bonus season, not holiday season) I've been getting questions about executive compensation from friends.  But today I got an interesting ques

Metrics 47

Metrics Venture Capital Startup Software Review 47

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 17, 2009

Gathering real-world feedback from customers is a core concept of Customer Development as well as the Lean Startup. But what information to collect? Only 57 Questions. Yesterday I got an email from an ex-student lamenting that only 2% of their selected early testers responded to their on-line survey. The survey said in part: The survey has 57 questions, the last three of which are open ended, and should take about 20 minutes to complete.

Metrics 243

Metrics Customer Customer Development Lean 243

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing Raising Venture Capital (VC) series. Yesterday I had lunch with a really interesting and capable serial entrepreneur who is raising his A round. The topic of &# strategic&# investors came up. It felt like Groundhog Day because I have this conversation again and again – literally dozens of times each year. And I had 2 “strategic&# investors in my first company.

Strategic Investors 279

Strategic Investors Venture Capital Due Diligence Early Stage 279

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 28, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, December 28, 2009 Continuous deployment for mission-critical applications Having evangelized the concept of continuous deployment for the past few years, Ive come into contact with almost every conceivable question, objection, or concern that people have about it. The most common reaction I get is something like, "that sounds great - for your business - but that could never work for my application.

Continuous Deployment 122

Continuous Deployment San Francisco Lean Metrics 122

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 7, 2009

I talk to a lot of founders of startups. My initial conversations normally focus on the core of the business, important Startup Metrics , probably marketing strategy (ex. SEO for Startups and Negative Customer Acquisition Costs ) and, of course, the product itself. Normally the product is defined as a web site. Most founders are fairly passionate about the features and functions of the web site, iPhone application, Facebook application, or whatever web application represents the product.

Web 150

Web SMS HTML Distribution 150

Software By Rob

DECEMBER 2, 2009

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Book Recommendations – The Best Marketing Books of All Time Micropreneur Spotlight Episode 2: Design Proposal Software Bidsketch → Darth Vader is My Father…and I’m on Twitter About this Blog If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

Software Review 42

Software Review RSS Software Developers Software Development 42

Seeing Both Sides

DECEMBER 3, 2009

  A lot has been written in the last week about the scandal at Canopy Financial , a venture-backed, high-flying start-up that attracted $75 million in capital at increasingly higher prices from top-tier firms, only to come crashing down in a dust of rubble and fraud.   The VC community suffered a very similar scandal at Seattle-based Entellium last year, but few reporters seem to remember that one, perhaps because it wasn't located in the heart of Silicon Valley as Canopy was. &#

Technical Review 31

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley SEC 31

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 14, 2009

“In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.&# Winston Churchill. ——– In March I was the keynote at the In-Q-Tel Venture Capital Conference, giving a talk on the Secret History of Silicon Valley. (In-Q-Tel is the Central Intelligence Agency’s Venture Capital firm in Silicon Valley.).

Silicon Valley 212

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Audience Government 212

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I wanted to also post the series here to have it as a resource on my blog for future entrepreneurs who stop by. I wanted to get the conversation going in the comments section around each topic because I think as much value comes from the comments section as comes from the original p

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Florida Israel 338

Rembrandt Communications

DECEMBER 31, 2009

We are starting 2010 in a challenging, economic environment. But it’s not the time to give up and stop pursuing your career goals and dream lifestyle. Instead, use this negativity as a driving force to promote yourself and make things better for you and your family in the future. “Companies always need people who know how [.].

Public Relations 113

Public Relations SEO Sales Marketing 113

Genuine VC

DECEMBER 23, 2009

It’s been almost month or so since the covers have been lifted on the newly public AOL and their newly refocused strategy under the helm of Tim Armstrong. In a CNBC interview a few weeks ago he explained his vision : “We’re building the world’s largest niche, you know, media business. And niche meaning at scale. We wanna have a lot of properties with a lotta users on them.

Arkansas 100

Arkansas Algorithm Advertising Audience 100

Software By Rob

DECEMBER 16, 2009

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Startup Marketing Part 1: Losing People Through the Bottom of Your Funnel Startup Marketing Part 3: The Nine Levels of Traffic Quality → The Two iPhone App Stores, Lessons from a “Pay What You Want&# Sale, Lessons of Failure, and more… Cool News, Links & Reviews If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

Sales 37

Sales Software Review RSS Software Development 37

BeyondVC

DECEMBER 10, 2009

The other day I met with an entrepreneur I was advising as he prepared to raise his next round of funding. In the meeting, he wanted me to narrow in and focus on his financial model. Financial models for startups are important from a big picture perspective, but I never like to get mired in the full details as things always change in the early stages.

Churn Rate 112

Churn Rate Burn Rate Startup Metrics 112

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 24, 2009

I’m sitting next to the fireplace in my favorite chair listening to holiday music, looking at the ocean and making occasional attempts to “help” get ready for Christmas dinner. We went for a hike checking out our new trail signs and playing “spot the bobcat.” Our kids are home for the school break, some friends are visiting from the east coast and we have everything for the holidays but snow on the California coast.

Thailand 174

Thailand Michigan Vietnam California 174

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Business Etiquette Tips for dealing with VCs and Corporates at Conferences. This is part of my ongoing series with Startup Advice. With the LeWeb conference about to start in Paris I thought the timing of this post would be appropriate. Right after Techcrunch50 Michael Arrington wrote this great post on how to interact at business events and conferences.

Email 322

Email Hosting Boston Networking 322

Rembrandt Communications

DECEMBER 23, 2009

Congratulations! You’ve made it through the unique challenges 2009 had to offer small business owners, and now it’s time to celebrate. With this in mind, here are a few tips to have a G-R-E-A-T holiday: G: Give Back To The Community. Volunteer to help a local charity. Donate your used clothing and other items to [.].

Community 113

Community Small Business Public Relations PR 113

Genuine VC

DECEMBER 23, 2009

It’s been almost month or so since the covers have been lifted on the newly public AOL and their newly refocused strategy under the helm of Tim Armstrong. In a CNBC interview a few weeks ago he explained his vision : “We’re building the world’s largest niche, you know, media business. And niche meaning at scale. We wanna have a lot of properties with a lotta users on them.

Arkansas 100

Arkansas Algorithm Advertising Audience 100

Software By Rob

DECEMBER 2, 2009

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Passion as a Competitive Advantage Darth Vader is My Father…and I’m on Twitter → Book Recommendations – The Best Marketing Books of All Time Cool News, Links & Reviews If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.

Software Review 27

Software Review RSS Marketing Software Developers 27