Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 30, 2010
I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory.
A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
MARCH 1, 2010
What if your company were allowed only one advantage over the competition? What would a sales call look like, starting with your 30-second pitch, then dealing with skeptical questions, trying to earn this potential customer's interest, respect, and eventually money, all with only one advantage? Impossible, or just pointless? Neither! You should go through this exercise because this skill is valuable in every sales call.
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Steve Blank
MARCH 4, 2010
“ By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist.&#. Book of Five Rings. I was having coffee with a former student who was complained that my idea of building a first product release with a minimum feature set was a bad idea. (One of the principles of Customer Development is to get out of the building and understand the smallest feature-set customers will pay for in the first release.).
SoCal CTO
MARCH 18, 2010
More Visible Networking? this time with Vince Thompson. You’ve got a REALLY diverse background. What’s the short version? Vince: I’m an author, speaker and management consultant with a special expertise in online media sales. I started out as screenwriter, went into local television, ran ad sales in the west for AOL and joined Facebook in the companies very early days.
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
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 11, 2010
Over the years, a number of companies I’ve been an investor in have had hackathons. These are typically day long events where everyone in the company works on whatever cool new ideas they have. On Monday night I got a note from a company I’m on the board of about a hackthon they just completed. As I looked through the list of things that the various teams created, I got chills of excitement.
Occam's Razor
MARCH 23, 2010
There are more mistruths and F U D about Web analytics out there than I think is reasonable. Part of it fueled by Vendors. What a competitive bunch! Part of it fueled by some Consultants. I suppose the rational is: self preservation before all else. Part of it is fueled by a vocal minority genuinely upset that 10 years on we are still not a statistically powered bunch doing complicated analysis that is shifting paradigms.
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Life Beyond Code
MARCH 14, 2010
Why some smart people don’t take action? I mean “action&# that will lift them to a whole new level in life and in business. This is a question that has haunted me for a while. I meet so many smart people during my travels and speaking engagements. when I hear what these people are involved with and think about what they “could be&# actually involved with, it is not difficult to see the “gap.&# They could be doing much more but it seemed like they have resigned to be just
Steve Blank
MARCH 29, 2010
Back from a family humanitarian trip/vacation to one of the last bastions of Communism where “marketing&# isn’t even a profession and entrepreneurship is a crime. The irony is that the “ Revolutionary Square &# in all these Communist countries will be the the first place the McDonald’s go when the system collapses. ——————-.
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 3, 2010
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 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! 40 Creative Skateboard Designs You Would Love To Have – [link].
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 24, 2010
My first company, Feld Technologies, didn’t have contracts. Instead, we had a one page PSA (professional services agreement) that spelled out in English that we charged $X per hour, would do our best, and our invoices were due upon receipt. We never had a single legal issue with a client, although we had a number of tense moments which we almost always solved successful by “doing our best.
Startup Lessons Learned
MARCH 25, 2010
Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, March 25, 2010 Speed up or slow down? (for Harvard Business Review) Over at Harvard Business Review, Ive been building up a series designed to introduce the Lean Startup methodology to a business-focused audience. This is the first post that moves into making specific process recommendations for product development.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 5, 2010
I attended the inaugural Open Angel Forum in Los Angeles back in January and wrote about it here. Jason Calacanis started this initiative in response to the pay-to-play network of angel events that he despised. I’m a huge supporter of his initiative to help end this practice. The first event was a big success and brought out many of LA’s angel elite.
This is going to be BIG.
MARCH 13, 2010
There are a lot of great venture capitalists who started out as entrepreneurs like Vinod Khosla or Josh Kopelman. Going the other way, however, seems to be a bit tougher. In fact, I don’t really know anyone who has successfully gone the other way. Many entrepreneurs turned VCs wind up going back, but to start out on the investment side and then successfully launch a company seems to happen much less frequently.
Berkonomics
MARCH 30, 2010
There is a relationship between time and money that is more complex than most managers think. Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues.
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 25, 2010
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 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! Logo design heresies: A Devil’s Advocate look at The 10.5 Commandments of Designing a Logo – [link]. 5 skills you should have as a graphic designer ̵
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 3, 2010
My friend Sawyer is back with another post in his series of talking about software patent issues. As I mentioned before, Sawyer is a real person named after our intrepid friend in LOST (I haven’t seen it this week – no spoilers please) who has agreed to help us navigate the parallel universe known as software patent land. I’m channeling Sawyer’s points of view as a public service announcement since he’s uncomfortable being named publicly – these are his words, not mine.
Startup Lessons Learned
MARCH 29, 2010
Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 29, 2010 New conference website, speakers, agenda The Startup Lessons Learned Conference on April 23 is fast approaching. Earlybird Admission pricing ends in just two days. We have a brand new website up at [link]. Weve got a new scholarship program up and running. Most importantly, weve announced a big chunk of the agenda for the day (go take a look ).
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 15, 2010
If you use Twitter and think it is a valuable service then you’re probably tired of the steady stream of your friends who tell you it’s just a fad and they don’t feel compelled to join. They “don’t care what people ate for lunch.&# They’re fine on their existing social networks, which these days mostly means they’re happy with Facebook.
This is going to be BIG.
MARCH 1, 2010
It’s really difficult for me not to get into the thick of discussions about whether or not you can and/or should build a company in New York City. I grew up here, went to school here, and have worked hard over the last 5+ years to help build up the NYC innovation community. I’m extremely passionate about the topic and so when my city gets picked on, I tend to respond confidently and with the same (and sometimes greater) force than I perceive the complaint to have.
VC Cafe
MARCH 6, 2010
W hile we increasingly adopt the social tools such as Facebook and Twitter as a method for connecting with other users to post and ask for information on products and services, companies are finding it hard to catch up with the fast paste of the social web. As a result, they continue to see customer attrition and get left out of the conversation. In the newly published report “Social CRM: The New Rules of Relationship Management&# , Jeremiah Owyang and Ray Wang of the Altimeter Group adv
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 25, 2010
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 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! Logo design heresies: A Devil’s Advocate look at The 10.5 Commandments of Designing a Logo – [link]. 5 skills you should have as a graphic designer ̵
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 17, 2010
My long time friend Alan Shimel has been blogging up a storm on Network World (if you want to hear any amusing story, ask him about the first time he met me.) When Alan started writing his column for Network World he asked me for introductions to a bunch of our portfolio companies that were using open source. Alan is a tough critic and calls it like he sees it so while I knew there was no guarantee that he’d go easy on the companies, I knew that Alan would do an even handed job of highlighting t
www.mint.com
MARCH 9, 2010
Mint is the best way to manage your money. Go there now » Sign up or log in to mint.com Updates Drop Your Debt to Win 2 comments How To The Top 5 Customer Complaint Letters — And What You Can Learn From Them 5 comments Investing In Graphics: What Is a Stock? 2 comments Mint Life Know your money. Live your life. Follow us: twitter rss daily email facebook Personal Goals Saving Investing Trends & Observations How To Mint Updates Glossary Money Tweets Answers Guy Kawasaki’s 10
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 6, 2010
One of the questions I’m most often asked is, “what’s it like being a VC?&# I’ve been a VC for nearly 3 years now. Since I answer this all the time anyway I thought it might make an interesting blog post. I always start my answer to this question with, “you’d have to be a pretty big baby to complain about being a VC.&# That’s true.
This is going to be BIG.
MARCH 3, 2010
As I prep for my first Backupify board meeting, I asked more experienced pros for their take on setting the right tone and starting things off right for productive board participation. Here’s what I got back: David Hornick, August Capital : "Here's some anti-advice. When I first invested in VideoEgg I was really excited about the company and thrilled to be working with them.
Cracking the Code
MARCH 12, 2010
Cracking The Code. Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. Friday, March 12, 2010. State of the SaaS 13: Q1 2010 Sentiment. As we are entering a new year, I thought it would be interesting to publish every quarter an update on the state of the 13 public SaaS/Cloud companies in the Index.
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 10, 2010
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 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! A Guide To Typography On The Web – [link]. 15 Logos That Look Like Other Things – [link]. 74 Simply Stunning Line Art Logos For Inspiration –
Austin Startup
MARCH 8, 2010
There’s a little piece of chaos at SXSW for everyone; and every year, some folks navigate the flood of people and sensory overload a bit better than others – the difference between a SXSW veteran and noobie is noticeable at first glance. In an effort to reduce apparent nerd-ism, I’ve put together some helpful tips and found some neat tools for first-timers at SXSW.
www.seriesseed.com
MARCH 2, 2010
SeriesSeed.com Series Seed Financing Documents Blog Home Documents Blog Archives Subscribe 09/02/2010 Version 2.0 and why Series Seed Documents are better than capped convertible notes “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” Mahatma Gandhi I hesitate to use a quote from one of the greatest people ever to grace planet earth, and certainly the question of how to structure early stage investment is a laughable cause as compared to the rights that Ghandi (
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 18, 2010
Today we announced Launchpad LA V2. Full press release with more details is here. We will be selecting 10 startup companies to participate. There is no cost but you must physically be based in or move to Los Angeles for the 6 months of the program. Applications are due April 6th, 2010, the form is on the website and the Twitter address is @launchpadlad.
Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak
MARCH 11, 2010
I recently received this unsolicited email from Craig Shinney (slightly edited to protect identities) – I just wanted to write to tell you that about one year ago, I started getting into Internet marketing and experimenting with all sorts of different methods of the various types of blogs and tools that all the different marketers recommend. It was an amazing journey.
Software By Rob
MARCH 25, 2010
Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← Recent Podcast Appearances Startup Website Reviews – Episode 1: Reviewing CrmInnovation.com → I Will Review Your Website for Free Micropreneurship , Startups If youre trying grow your startup youve come to the right place.
crowdSPRING Blog
MARCH 17, 2010
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 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! Ultimate Roundup of Free User Interface Icons - [link].
Austin Startup
MARCH 23, 2010
Last week, as the technorati returned home from their working spring breaks in Austin for SXSW Interactive, the backlash began almost immediately. It started with Jolie O’Dell’s post , smartly entitled “Why SXSW Sucks.” It quickly followed with the predictable back and forth , and many reporters and attendees said that this year’s SXSWi was too big, too crowded, and too overtly sponsored.
Startup Company Lawyer
MARCH 14, 2010
After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source&# equity seed financing documents: TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document).
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 28, 2010
OK, this will be a test of whether using real curse words in your title or post gets all of your stuff blocked by spam filters or from appearing on HackerNews or the like. I thought about trying to spell it differently (like Guy Kawasaki always says Bull Shitake (as in the mushroom, but slightly misspelled) but somehow it lost the same effect that this saying has always had for me.
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