Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Let me not bury the lede. I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). I am taking the lead from GRP and we also invested alongside a number of friends including Dave McClure, Dave Tisch, Ben Smith (Merchant Circle), Brian Lee (ShoeDazzle, LegalZoom), Jason Calacanis, Evan Rifkin, Jennifer Lum, Jay Weintraub and a whole host of other angels.

Southern California 359

Southern California San Francisco CTO Hire SEM 359

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

I did a presentation this week at Coloft that looked at how Non-Technical Founders can go about getting their MVP built. It had a passionate group of 50 people attending. I promised to do this post as a follow-up to the session to provide additional links and information. It should also give a sense of what I covered to people who were not there. Here is the outline of the talk and some links from prior posts that talk to the issues that I discussed in the talk.

Technical Cofounder 338

Technical Cofounder Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 338

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. I often get asked about the real alternatives to bridge this valley, and there are some good ones I will outline here.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

My fingers trembled as I fed page 34 of 72 into the fax machine, deftly pressing the head of each page into its creaky jaws so that this shitty cheap-o machine wouldn’t snag two pages at once, slantways, obscuring the precious scribblings adorning the footer of each page where it read: “Seller’s Initials: _” This is what the last six years were all for.

Software Review 295

Software Review Startup Cofounder Search 295

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

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2013

My friend Ron Ashkenas interviewed me for his blog on the Harvard Business Review. Ron is a managing partner of Schaffer Consulting , and is currently serving as an Executive-in-Residence at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He is a co-author of The GE Work-Out and The Boundaryless Organization. His latest book is Simply Effective. For what I had thought were a few simple ideas about taking what we’ve learned about startups and applying it to corporate innovation, the post

Business Model 334

Business Model Technical Review Business Plan Search 334

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

by Michael Houlihan, coauthor of “ The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built a Bestseller “. It’s official: Email, texting, and social media are no longer just helpful supplemental business tools. They’ve taken over the whole game. Yes, technology has made many aspects of modern living more convenient and “connected,” but the pendulum has swung too far.

Social Media 263

Social Media Technical Review Non-Compete Email 263

Mike Michalowicz

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

The most common question entrepreneurs ask me, is “how can I improve my marketing with no or little money?’ That’s literally the million-dollar question! So I sat down and hammered out my 50 best ideas. Skim them or read them in detail, but whatever you do make sure you go through the list. Just one of these ideas may trigger a marketing opportunity that you never considered before.

Small Business 167

Small Business Marketing PR Social Media 167

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One.” The feedback was good, but some readers asked me to be a bit more specific on attributes that might indicate an ideal startup partner. Even if you are looking in all the right places, it helps to know what you are looking for. In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.

Partner 258

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Equity 258

Lightspeed Venture Partners

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Almost a year ago, my partner Barry Eggers and I met with Craig Elliott and Scott Hankins to talk about their vision for a new company, Pertino. Over a coffee in a small office in Cupertino (yes, their name is related to their founding hometown), we talked about how it was the right time to build a new networking company due to the confluence of three major trends: cloud, software defined networking (SDN), and the consumerization of IT.

Networking 153

Networking Technical Review Cloud Software Review 153

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

“What’s gone and what’s past help. Should be past grief.” William Shakespeare - The Winter’s Tale. We give abundant advice to founders about how to make startups succeed yet we offer few models about dealing with failure. So here’s mine. ——– In my experience, living through failure has 6 stages: Stage 1: Shock and Surprise.

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Redemption Cofounder Silicon Valley Burn Rate 333

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Innovation – that strangely elusive quality that most businesses would kill for, but many struggle to attain or maintain. There’s plenty already written on the topic – for example, how animation company Pixar approaches innovation in “ Innovate The Pixar Way ” – but “ Unrelenting Innovation: How to Build a Culture for Market Dominance ” by Gerard J.

Technical Review 209

Technical Review Southern California California Naming 209

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

I am fond of quoting that about 70% of my investment decision of an early-stage company is the team. My rationale is simple: everything goes wrong and only great teams can respond to competitors, markets, funding environments, staff departures, PR disasters and the like. Final startup grind from msuster. How you build out your team in the first few years can have a huge impact on the trajectory of your company.

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Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 388

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

If you’re raising money for your company and you want to pitch to angel investors or venture capitalists , then there are a few important things to know that savvy investors care about. I’ve raised close to $1 million for my previous startups and the following questions were not what I had expected to hear from the investors I was pitching to.

Software Review 147

Software Review Technical Review Due Diligence Exit Strategy 147

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

It’s your startup, so you can give early partners any title you want, but be aware of potential investor and peer implications. VCs and Angel investors like to see a startup that is running lean and mean, with no more than three or four of the conventional C-level or VP titles. More executives, or other more creative titles are seen as a big red flag.

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CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 244

Occam's Razor

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Analysts: Put up or shut up time! This blog is centered around creating incredible digital experiences powered by qualitative and quantitative data insights. Every post is about unleashing the power of digital analytics (the potent combination of data, systems, software and people). But we've never stopped to consider this question: What is the return on investment (ROI) of digital analytics?

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Analytics DC Web Revenue 143

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 23, 2013

Lean Startups require cross-functional teams working closely together. This is especially true when designing a great product. In this excerpt from the newest addition to the Lean Series , Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden discuss the idea of collaborative design -- an opening up of the product design process to all members of the team -- and why they feel this way of working produces not just better products but better teams as well.

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Lean Software Review Wiki Design 167

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

by Joseph and JoAnn Callaway, authors of “ Clients First “. If you’re like most business owners, you probably assume your client relationships are pretty good. After all, you have enough clients to still be in business (which, in light of our recent economic death spiral, is saying something!). But it’s possible you’re merely surviving instead of thriving because you’re only scratching the surface of what it means to truly put the customer first.

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Customer Cofounder Developer Email 190

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 1, 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!

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Social Media Small Business North America Design 109

www.kalzumeus.com

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Kalzumeus Software. Patrick McKenzie (patio11) blogs on software development, marketing, and general business topics. Blog. Greatest Hits. Standing Invitation. Start Here If You’re New. About. What The Rails Security Issue Means For Your Startup. Posted on January 31, 2013. by Patrick. in security , startups. January has been a very bad month for Ruby on Rails developers, with two high-severity security bugs permitting remote code execution found in the framework and a separate-but-related

Security 101

Security Software Review Ruby Startup 101

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2013

Most entrepreneurs have learned that it’s almost always quicker and easier to get cash from someone you know, rather than Angel investors or professional investors (VCs). In fact, most investors “require” that you already have some investment from friends and family before they will even step up to the plate. You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products.

Technical Review 273

Technical Review Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Due Diligence 273

Version One Ventures

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Guest post by Mischa Steiner-Jovic, founder and CEO of Awesense Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter. My skin thickens every time I hear a VC say “You’re building what? Why? You’re selling to whom?” or just a flat-out “that’s not a good idea.” Stepping outside the norm often elicits strong reactions and disbelief. Of course, there are quite a few No’s that go along with those reactions too.

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Founder Technical Review Early Stage Security 143

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

I don’t invest in movies. Unless a long time friend, like Rajat Bhargava, asks me to join him for fun in an investment. Several years ago Raj asked me to invest with him in a movie a cousin of his – Prashant Bhargava – was making called Patang. I wrote a modest check without thinking twice. The result of Prashant and the work of his team is a beautiful movie.

India 133

India Developer 133

Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Pamela Menges, Phd CEO of Aerospace Research Systems, Inc. President Obama made mention in his state of the union address that he wishes to expand the National Netowrk for Manufacturing Innovation concept. I wholly applaud the idea, AND, there might be a more fundamental challenge that needs addressed first. I’ve made the acquaintance of a thought leader with her finger on the pulse of where the nation sits in terms of technological readiness to innovate.

Technical Review 102

Technical Review Engineer United States Government 102

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 15, 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 107

Social Media Small Business Design Media 107

readwrite.com

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Sections. Social. Mobile. Enterprise. Cloud. Hack. Play. Small Biz. About. Contact. Advertise. Privacy. Search. Follow us. Share. Share… on Facebook. on Twitter. on Google+. on Linked in. by Email. Social. Mobile. Enterprise. Cloud. Hack. Play. Small Biz. Hot Topics. Microsoft. Apple. BlackBerry. Cybersecurity. Facebook. Pause. About. Contact.

HTML 90

HTML Mobile API Cloud 90

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2013

Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. Then they are surprised to see productivity and creativity take a big dip. What they should be doing is hiring only “entrepreneurs,” meaning people who think and act as if this is their own business.

Employee 244

Employee Entrepreneur Technical Review Hiring 244

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

This is a guest post by Chris Hexton from Vero. Have you ever thought about how your customers actually read your emails? As in, how they approach them… mentally? How important is the subject line? Do headings in emails matter? Which links are customers most likely to click? Are links in body content distracting? Are images important? By considering questions like these and really investigating how customers actually read emails we naturally put ourselves in a better place to write emails that c

Email 114

Email Customer HTML Campaign 114

Spencer Fry

FEBRUARY 28, 2013

As I get ready to launch my new startup Uncover , my team and I created a GitHub Issues List of what we need to check off. From programming to last minute company tasks, we compiled a list of over fifty items. I thought I'd share with you some of the more general issues we thought to include (about half of our Big List). If you see we are missing something, please leave it in the comments.

Startup 78

Startup Ruby XML Email 78

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Chris Warden. – Enjoy! photo credit: SEOPlanter via photopin cc. SEO is changing, and for the most part, the life of an SEO consultant is getting better. Gone are the days of open keyword data and mass link buying, but we’ve been lucky to gain a few things too. Most notably, we’ve gained the ability to justify the cost of good SEO and shown that a good SEO consultant is worth the additional expense in easy to

SEO 75

SEO Software Review Social Media Search 75

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 7, 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 106

Social Media Small Business Technical Review Design 106

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Editor’s note: Legendary investor Vinod Khosla is the founder of Khosla Ventures. You can follow him on Twitter @vkhosla. Most VCs pitch their venture firms as value added to a company’s entrepreneurial founders. Personally, I think leading VC firms do a pretty good job of being supportive of their companies, and most entrepreneurs funded by good funds like their investors.

Burn Rate 87

Burn Rate Hiring Engineer Entrepreneur 87

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Many entrepreneurs think that diversity on their team just makes their job harder, since startups are all about making fast decisions, and executing efficiently. Often they assume that this is only a big-company issue, having more to do with the legalities of equal opportunity, hiring minorities, and moral imperatives. In reality, diversity in a startup can be your big competitive advantage.

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Advisory Board Silicon Valley Startup United States 228

deal architect

FEBRUARY 17, 2013

I have known Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor for going on 2 decades now. He was a polymath way before I wrote a book celebrating them. He has computer science and law degrees in addition to an MBA. He is.

Stealth 382

Stealth Software 382

Spencer Fry

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

I started learning to program in earnest at the beginning of February 2012. Since then, I've compiled the programming resources that got me to where I am today. Various books, screencasts, online documents, and forums have helped me along the way. I've listed them in the order in which I read them over the course of my development. I hope you find them as useful as I did.

Programming 75

Programming Ruby HTML Web Development 75

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

Today’s guest post is from Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Dan Kraus. – Enjoy! photo credit: jean-louis zimmermann via photopin cc. C O N T E N T. One little 7-letter word that makes marketers and business owners alike cringe a bit. We know we need new, fresh, content to attract prospects. The old world of outbound, hunt-down-a-prospect marketing isn’t working any more.

Software Review 72

Software Review Technical Review Small Business Web 72

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 24, 2013

In addition to a desktop computer at work and a laptop for home and on the road, I also own an iPhone 4s and an iPad 2. I am not a Road Warrior type – I travel perhaps 20 days per year – but do need to work when I am on the road and I am constantly on the lookout for ways to improve my productivity when away from the office. When I first got the a few years back, I had high hopes that it would allow me to leave the laptop at home when making trips of just a few days.

Product 109

Product Social Media Finder Email 109