TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

“It was running fine.” In our performance consulting work, we often hear variations of the following: “Our web application was running fine with a few hundred users. Now when we run a promotion with our new partner and get a thousand users coming in at one time, it grinds to a halt.”. We’ve heard this from startup founders, product managers, development team leads, CTOs, and others who see their product gaining traction, but simultaneously see performance falling off a cliff.

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Web Technical Review Architecture Caching 286

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

As a second-year Harvard Business School student and NextView Ventures MBA Associate, constantly keeping up-to-date with the start-up world, I have heard some skepticism about the ability of MBAs to found top companies. Perhaps most famously, Guy Kawasaki quipped that the value of an MBA to an entrepreneur is “probably about a negative $250,000.”. There has been some fantastic recent work around debunking this common misconception, including Dimitri Dadiomov’s “Should We Take Harvard MBAs Seriou

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Much has changed in the past four months of the technology startup world and how outsiders value the business. Of course it’s too early to predict whether this is a trend or an aberration but the smartest people I know in the industry are predicting the former. The startup industry may be “resetting,” which doesn’t mean a “crash” but rather just a resetting of valuations, timescales, winners/losers, capital sources and the relative emphasis of growth rates vs.

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YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

by Donald Chan, founder and Business Director at IMPACT! Brand Communications. You’ve just spent a pretty penny to set up your new business website. It looks pretty awesome and everyone in your company says it’s super impressive. So you sit back and wait for the business leads and enquiries to flood in. Except, there’s nothing. No calls. No emails. No traffic.

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Sales Technical Review SEO B2B 141

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

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

By far the most popular post on this blog is 32 Questions Developers May Have Forgot to Ask a Startup Founder. It was originally written in 2011 and has had amazing staying power. While I’ve updated it a few times, it continues to get at important questions that startup founders need to be asking. I find myself sending it to startup founders all the time – maybe just slightly less than Free Startup CTO Consulting.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Did you ever wonder why some entrepreneurs always seem to have all the luck and success, while others never seem to catch a break? As an angel investor, I quickly learned that luck has very little to do with it, and I now look for some personal characteristics and leadership styles that separate the potential winners from the losers. These differences are the reason that investors say that they invest in people, rather than ideas.

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View from Seed

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

You probably know them well. If you’re not already subscribed to a number of them yourself, you’ve seen pop-up messages—on any number of sites—that urge, beg, plead with you to sign up to receive them regularly. Not every company uses them the right way, but those that do reap incredible rewards from their creations—even if the payoff isn’t direct or immediate.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

There was so much great content at the Upfront Summit but I think one held a special place in minds of most people I talked to – our panel on diversity led by my partner Hamet Watt (<– what? you’re not following him?). The message of the panel was very clear – “We don’t need your help. We want to partner with you to make money.” And I’ll elaborate on this but I wanted to start first with an important quote from Magic, said with a very positive

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

Change agents inside a corporation or government agency know how to build consensus and be a rebel at work. They are attuned to finding colleagues who think like they do. And they can figure out how to get new ideas adopted within their organization’s culture and framework. And oh by, the way my two guests did it while at the CIA. How to be a rebel at work was the focus of interviews with the latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111 (airing week

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Wiki Entrepreneur Cofounder Government 148

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

“Survival of the fittest” is not the same thing as “survival of the best,” though not apparent at first glance. “Fittest” means “most able to become a grandparent.” Sound weird? You might “fittest” means “most able to create offspring,” but that’s not true if the offspring themselves are unable to continue the process of reproduction. A horse mated with a donkey creates a mule which is sterile; the parents in this case cannot become grandparents, and thus is an evolutionary dead-end.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Successful entrepreneurs understand the difference between a good business relationship with more people and having more friends. In fact, the focus on social networking platforms, starting with Facebook, has destroyed the meaning of the word friend and even changed it from a noun to a verb. It’s now common to have hundreds or thousands of friends online -- but no relationships.

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YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

By Ari Rastegar, CEO of Rastegar Capital. Success as an entrepreneur or business pro depends upon identifying and attending to your most important asset. Don’t even bother thumbing through your business plan or re-reading your company mission statement to figure out what it could be. It’s YOU! A business proposal sinks without a sound mind; a flawless strategy will fail miserably without an energetic leader; and a team will fall apart without morale and motivation.

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View from Seed

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

Most startups’ founding mythologies are full of the same phrases : “hard work,” “agile strategy,” “smart scaling.” But one of the most undervalued and elusive factors is timing. As they say, timing is everything. Arrive to the market too soon and there’s no demand for the product. Arrive too late and you’re light years behind your competitors.

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Startup Cofounder Software Review Sales Cycle 179

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

There is much talk these days that startup valuations have decreased and may continue to do so and that the amount of time it takes to fund raise may take longer. As I have pointed out in previous posts , 91% of VCs surveyed believe prices are declining (30% believe substantially) and 77% believe that funding will take longer than it has in the past.

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Your product and company vision needs to match your appetite for funding. And know that just because a venture failed doesn’t mean that you’re a failure. Funding challenges and other issues founders face in the early days of starting up were the focus of interviews with the latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111 (airing weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern).

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ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

You’re familiar with the phrase, “A creature of habit.” Yet, as we strive to disrupt industries, take out the competition and launch innovative new products, we forget the power of habit. Think about what dish soap is sitting by your sink or under the counter. When is the last time you put serious thought into what dish soap to buy?

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

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.

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Technical Review Elevator Pitch Startup Angel Investor 147

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Software development is an umbrella term used to refer to the overall process that involves several tasks, such as computer programming, documenting, repairing and testing that concern both the creation and the maintenance of applications and frameworks. Although software development is found for a wide variety of purposes, the one we will refer to here is custom software.

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Software Developers Software Development Software Developer 109

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

At seed-stage startups, especially companies with well-networked founders and investors, finding applicants who can do a job on paper is not overly difficult. The true challenge is to find candidates who will mesh into a small, budding team and culture. As a result, the interview process during the seed stage can feel a bit more meandering to the hiring manager — who is most likely the founder(s) given the size and stage of the company.

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Founder Seed Stage Cofounder Boston 177

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 11, 2016

If you’re still trying to figure out what business to start, or what industry to start up in, you have so many great small business opportunities to choose from. You could choose to start an already-popular business; o r, you could choose an industry based on experience, or a skill you already have. If doing the tried-and-tested doesn’t sound appealing, why not think bigger?

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SiliconHills

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Anna Eilering worked as a chef before becoming a software developer two years ago. “I make four times the amount of money I made as a chef,” Eilering said. She also has healthcare and other benefits as an employee at Rackspace in San Antonio. But it took her almost ten years working as a chef […] The post Linux for Ladies Program Seeks to Train More Women in the Technology Field appeared first on SiliconHills.

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ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

As an optimizer, it’s your responsibility to understand the implementation and analysis of digital analytics. Gone are the days of relying on the IT department to help you with basic analytics tracking. [Tweet It!] Fortunately, Google Tag Manager makes it easy. Still, many optimizers don’t use Google Tag Manager (or any tag manager, for that matter) because it looks daunting.

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Management Analytics Software Review Metrics 73

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. By contrast, predictive analytics uses data patterns to make forward-looking predictions that guide you to where you should go next. This is a whole new world for small businesses seeking enterprise application opportunities, as well social media trend challenges.

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YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

by Donovan Janus, founder of 17hats. When food and shelter are a freelancer’s two heaviest expenses, a conversation about “costs” sounds absurd, no? Unless you breakfast on caviar, truffles and Dom Pérignon in a Mediterranean villa tended by your manservant Basil, your costs can’t be that bad. Most freelancers build a business with gear they already own and write off whatever expenses arise.

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Cost San Francisco Software Review Technical Review 109

Mike Michalowicz

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

Also Available On. Show Summary. Join Mike Michalowicz and Chris Curran as they interview Melinda McCaw, founder of Melinda McCaw Media. In this episode we navigate how to manage a scenario where your company is dependent on one major client (and what to do about it). We explore a simple strategy of knowing when to make that next hire, give some simple tips around profitability, and share perspective on revenue per employee.

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Up and Running

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Part 1: Planning, Location, Equipment and Relationships. As of November 2015, there were 4,144 breweries in the U.S.—more than the historic high of 4,131 breweries in 1873, according to the Brewers Association. In such a crowded market, making good beer and opening the doors isn’t enough anymore. But, the good news is, if all these people could start a brewery, then you can too—as long as you know what you’re getting into and have a solid business plan for your brewery.

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Occam's Razor

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

If you don't have goals, you are not doing digital analytics. You are doing i am wasting earth's precious oxygenalytics. Let's back up. Let me start with a story. We were brain storming about the next cluster of coolness for Analytics, the conversation quickly went to what Analysts need to look at on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

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Analytics eCommerce Metrics Acquisition 74

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

You’d think conversion optimization and SEO should play together nicely, right? In theory, conversion optimization aims to improve the user experience, which, conveniently, is what Google wants to do as well with their top search results. Therefore, the more you test and improve your site, the higher it should appear in the rankings. You get more traffic, more conversions, more money – in an endless hockey stick shaped cycle.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2016

Crowdfunding is the hot new vehicle for raising money to support your entrepreneurial efforts, with over 1,250 website platforms around the world to help you, according to a 2015 industry report. In fact, the report suggests that the total amount raised annually (over $30 billion) now exceeds the funding from venture capitalists during the same period.

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Non-disclosure Agreement Intellectual Property Technical Review Vesting 138

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

Image credit: Franchise from Shutterstock. By Brandon Moxam, Director of Brand Development at U.S. Lawns. There are numerous franchising opportunities in the U.S. With more than 825,000 franchise establishments across 300 business lines, they employ nearly 18 million people and account for one eighth of the U.S. private-sector jobs. Whether it’s access to a proven business model, the expertise and resources needed to achieve sustainable growth, or simply wanting a team of support, franchising ha

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Small Business Administration SBA Business Model Small Business 130

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 20, 2016

Yesterday I wrote about getting stuck in an hour long reading loop on the Apple / FBI situation. As much as I didn’t want it to happen again today, it did. More on that in a minute. But first, I want to encourage you to go watch the movie Race which is the story of Jesse Owens and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was superb and the double entendre of the title played out for a full two hours as the movie made us think hard about race in America in the 1930s and what was happening in Nazi Germ

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Technical Review Germany America Government 84

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

When hiring a new employee, it’s important to ask the right questions. There are some interview questions that are a given; we all know how to put a good spin on the classic greatest weakness question. It’s also expected that you’ll have potential employees review their job history and qualifications. But how do you really dig into what makes someone tick as an employee, and how do you determine if they’ll be a good fit for your business—not only in terms of their skills, but also their personal

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Eric Friedman

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

The principle of DRY (Don’t repeat yourself) in software engineering is about brevity, efficiency, and reducing repetition. However paradoxically, the management side of any business suffers from the opposite problem of needing to continuously share information about the mission, vision, values, and areas of focus for colleagues. I hear the advice time and again that founders should repeat the goals of a Company and what they and the team are working on – but not a great way of rem

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ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

In 1999, David Weinberger, a technologist and co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto , wrote, “Personalization: the automatic tailoring of sites and messages to the individuals viewing them so that we can feel that somewhere there’s a piece of software that loves us for who we are.” Ironically, nearly 20 years later, personalization is being used by companies attempting to make the online experience more human.

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TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Round 12 of the ongoing Web Framework Benchmarks project is now available! A race against the clock. Recently, we were notified that the physical hardware environment we have used for Rounds 9 through 12 will be decommissioned imminently. This news made Round 12 unusual: rather than wait until we can equip and configure a new environment, we decided to conclude Round 12 while the current environment remained available.

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YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

By Danielle Tate, CEO of MissNowMrs.com. It seems that America has hit the tipping point of curiosity about entrepreneurs. Television shows like ABC’s “Shark Tank” and CNBC’s “The Profit” are raking in huge viewer numbers and fueling the nation’s infatuation with entrepreneurs and startups. This naturally leads most Americans to wonder, “Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?”.

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