deal architect
JANUARY 18, 2019
Apologies to Frank Scavo for twisting his quote “You don't get a pass just because you're SaaS." but this is a reaction to the trend that every cloud application vendor is offering a platform and actively recruiting developer communities. I.
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 12, 2019
Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Yet we always dream that we are the exception to the rule. So once in a while it’s good to look at some facts to temper our imagination. I was reading an old article written by marketing guru Seth Godin a while back where he mentions that “it takes about six years of hard work to become an overnight success”.
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Feld Thoughts
JANUARY 15, 2019
While there have been many words written about gender bias in the context of entrepreneurship and funding, I thought the following TED Talk from Dana Kanze presented one of the best frames of references, supported by a real research study, that I’ve seen to date. In addition, she has some clear, actionable suggestions at the end of the talk to help eliminate the bias.
YoungUpstarts
JANUARY 15, 2019
by Joseph Brady, Senior Director of Digital Marketing for Reliant Funding. Starting a business, growing it and sustaining in the market are the three chapters of a small business story. Usually, small business owners don’t think beyond their quarterly or annual plans and they forget their long-term goals due to everyday hurdles. Building a business needs strong strategy and value proposition.
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
Hearpreneur
JANUARY 13, 2019
We asked entrepreneurs and business owners on how they maintain boldness while running a business and here are the responses. #1- Being open. Photo Credit: Nela Dunato. When I started my own design consultancy in 2013, I knew for sure that I wanted to be 100% myself in all my business relationships, and didn’t want to hide behind a corporate entity and we language.
ConversionXL
JANUARY 16, 2019
I don’t have to convince you that email is important: Email is a cost-effective way to get sales. Converting customers from your mailing list costs less than converting the same number via advertising. Email includes your most-interested customers. The majority of your list is composed of people who’ve already placed an order, so you know that they’re willing to buy (though it still takes effort to win back customers.
Start Up Roar brings together the best content for start up professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
YoungUpstarts
JANUARY 17, 2019
by Anet Drapalski and Melissa Shimizu, attorneys at Fisher Phillips. As free meals have become the norm at technology companies, an unexpected byproduct of such a perk is the decreasing customer base for local restaurants. In an attempt to thwart this trend, Mountain View and San Francisco have proposed local rules and ordinances aimed at putting an end to employer-provided free meals.
A Crowded Space
JANUARY 17, 2019
If you’ve read any of my blog posts before, you may know that I hate the traditional 5-star feedback systems. I think they are missing so much opportunity and often present a false signal of quality. I was chatting with the founder of interviewing.io recently and was pleasantly surprised that they are taking a big step forward in a feedback system that’s really designed to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff.
ConversionXL
JANUARY 16, 2019
Inbound marketing. Conversational marketing. The subscription economy. Growth hacking. Each term, now ubiquitous, had humble origins but a profound—and profitable—impact. The phrases have defined brands. Those brands, in turn, have nurtured and sustained the intellectual capital of the phrase. So how do you create one? Reverse engineering the origins of brand-owned terms is not a breakdown of the step-by-step planning that led from term identification to widespread acceptance.
David Teten
JANUARY 15, 2019
Who should you hire: the superstar with great skills who feels like a poor fit with the culture, or the person with weaker skills but who fits in culturally? Even though I believe in hiring the stranger , cultural fit really matters. I once had an interview set up with a candidate who looked strong on paper. Within one minute of meeting him, it was obvious that he was too crude in his language and thinking for the culture I was building.
YoungUpstarts
JANUARY 13, 2019
by Mark Green , author of “ Activators: A CEO’s Guide to Clearer Thinking and Getting Things Done “. Bad habits can be hard to break, and for business leaders who have them, they can be deal-breakers. In a survey by Leadership IQ, an online training firm, the primary reasons CEOs were fired – mismanaging change, ignoring customers, tolerating low performers, and not enough action – were often related to unproductive habits.
Start Up Blog
JANUARY 17, 2019
Reviewing visuals from the first ever television programme is interesting. You’ll notice that they were basically radio shows, which happened to be filmed. A couple of people. In a room. With a camera. A few years earlier, they would have been in the exact same setting, doing audio recordings. Early TV was essentially still an audio programme with pictures.
Duct Tape Marketing
JANUARY 15, 2019
The Three Elements of an Effective Total Online Presence written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch on Total Online Presence. Business owners today understand that being visible online is important. But what does having an online presence really mean? It’s a lot bigger than just having a website and a Facebook page.
Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook
JANUARY 18, 2019
Innovation Emergencies Happen. Emergent See Innovation from GFi Available February, 2019. I advise pro-active, and continuous, innovation. It’s always easier to work with a challenge when you have time and the leisure to incubate, think, and in general work the clay of research insights, trends, prototypes, paper-based concepts, or a business model canvas.
YoungUpstarts
JANUARY 18, 2019
There’s a fundamental difference between the sensitive data that your business stores, and the publicly accessible information that you hold. For hackers, that difference could be the key to gaining access to everything that you store, and your business will be at major risk of disruption. Access is one of the most important factors to consider when looking at online security, and monitoring who can access certain levels of data sensitivity can go a long way to boosting your security levels.
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 18, 2019
Everyone knows that that startups are risky, but they also expect that the job will be exciting and potentially very lucrative (think early employees at Facebook and Google). Yet we have all heard stories about the high turnover, unstructured work environment, lower base pay, and unpredictable expectations from the top. Assuming you are lucky enough to get hired, what can you do to survive, and even stand out above the rest in this environment?
deal architect
JANUARY 16, 2019
Congratulations to Infor for the new funding and potentially more when they go IPO. Here is today’s announcement: “Infor, a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry, today announced an agreement to receive a $1.5 billion investment from.
Women Entrepreneurs Can
JANUARY 18, 2019
There are various qualities that define a good leader. They include: Decision-making skills. Critical thinking. The ability to negotiate and understand issues. Drive. An expectation of success. The question of whether a leader should be a super-brilliant intellect have spurred a heated debate in online and offline platforms, however, with some studies asserting that intelligence could be a hindrance to good leadership.
YoungUpstarts
JANUARY 15, 2019
by Steven Starks, Senior Career Counselor at University of Phoenix. In today’s increasingly competitive labor market, it is critical for employees to differentiate themselves from the competition. Whether applying for a job, seeking a promotion, or making a major career change, employees are always contending with others who may be more qualified for the opportunities they look for.
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 14, 2019
Starting and building a company is all about leadership – formulating an idea, building a unique plan based on vision and experience, and forging a path over and through all obstacles. Yet the image of leadership in business is at an all-time low, according to national leadership experts, considering the political debacles, record business bankruptcies, and executive fraud cases.
deal architect
JANUARY 15, 2019
Mark Hurd tells Bloomberg “In fact, the highest application percentage of any company in any segment is sort of mid-20s. This generation will see a leader that’s much more material than that, and I volunteer us to do it.” I.
Feld Thoughts
JANUARY 16, 2019
Today, Techstars announced a new initiative called Techstars Studio which will allow Techstars to source new company concepts from Techstars alumni founders, community leaders, venture capitalists, mentors, and corporate partners. The Techstars Studio will then build prototypes, test market adoption, and select the most promising concepts for launch.
YoungUpstarts
JANUARY 14, 2019
by Grant Polachek, Director of Marketing at Squadhelp.com. As you chug through the arduous process of creating a brand name, you may experience frustration. Have you come up with some great ideas, but you keep rejecting them because you are finding problems with every name? We’ll let you in on a little secret. You’re not alone. In fact, when you look close enough, you’ll see that virtually every brand name sucks.
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 16, 2019
Every aspiring entrepreneur I know is convinced that his or her idea could be the next big startup, blossoming into a billion dollar unicorn. Yet I find that only a few are able to put their passion aside for a moment, and compare their solution to the attributes that really attract a large market of new customers. Investors, on the other hand, make it their business to look for these attributes.
YFS Magazine
JANUARY 16, 2019
The potential for disruption is always there in any marketplace. Every entrepreneur can become a disruptor. Start by mastering the disruptive disciplines.
ReadWriteStart
JANUARY 14, 2019
Most leaders have been bombarded by the idea that business partnerships are vital to their success. Partners can extend a company’s reach, add new audiences, enhance its value, expand its capabilities, and even boost its reputation by association. Marketing Week pointed out that behemoths like Amazon and Adidas have grown larger as a result of […].
YoungUpstarts
JANUARY 18, 2019
by Samuel Dinnar and Lawrence Susskind, co-authors of “ Entrepreneurial Negotiation: Understanding and Managing the Relationships that Determine Your Entrepreneurial Success “ Eighty to ninety percent of all start-ups will fail. While there are many reasons for this, one of the biggest problems new ventures face is poor negotiation skills.
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 13, 2019
I’m sure we have all seen entrepreneurs with high levels of passion and confidence touting an idea that seems to make very little sense to us. Of course, we never see ourselves in this mode, yet we need to recognize that all humans see reality differently through a built-in set of “cognitive biases,” based on their own unique background of experiences, training, and mental state.
Haystack
JANUARY 14, 2019
When I moved back to the Bay Area in early 2011, the technology and startup sector didn’t feel as big or expansive as it does today. In that time, Twitter was just getting its sea legs, the Quora private beta was one of the hottest tickets in town, and TechCrunch was the de facto powerhouse in tech/startup media attention. During this time, when we didn’t really understand the stakes of what technology would hold for us all, it was relatively easy to know the investments made by the top VC funds
ReadWriteStart
JANUARY 15, 2019
Perhaps the biggest lesson that marketers have learned in the last few years is that throwing money at marketing tactics doesn’t necessarily deliver a relational return for the investment. Instead, even with the leanest of budgets, today’s marketing investments deliver a greater return when they are thoughtfully conceptualized and executed. That’s why many marketers have […].
YoungUpstarts
JANUARY 18, 2019
You might have heard by now about the amazing benefits of cloud-based software and services, but haven’t yet tried them for yourself. Many business owners are implementing cloud contact centers to improve their operations. Indeed, a cloud contact center can transform the way you do business by helping you manage all your customer contacts in one place as well as providing a seamless communications experience for live agents and customers alike.
Up and Running
JANUARY 15, 2019
A lot of people call themselves entrepreneurs—but in reality, they’re not. They’re idea machines, or “wantrepreneurs.” They want to make something of themselves, but they don’t have the skills or the hustle to make things happen. Without that, a wantrepreneur’s ideas aren’t worth anything. If you really want to succeed as an entrepreneur, you need to start learning the ins and outs of business.
The Next Web
JANUARY 14, 2019
Boris is the wise ol’ CEO of TNW who writes a weekly column on everything about being an entrepreneur — from managing stress to embracing awkwardness. You can also get his musings straight to your inbox by signing up for his newsletter! By now your New Year’s hangover should be over, and you’re finding out how difficult it is to maintain your New Year’s resolutions.
ReadWriteStart
JANUARY 18, 2019
Creating a high-quality product is just one part of building a profitable business. The reality is that a myopic focus on product development can ultimately prevent you from achieving your business goals. Unfortunately, this notion is one that many growing companies don’t understand until it’s too late. For most companies — and all early-stage startups […].
YoungUpstarts
JANUARY 16, 2019
Finding the right people to fill out your positions at the workplace or your business can be a challenge, especially since you always need someone who is reliable and who will be good at the job. A lot of times, recruitment agencies run into problems trying to figure out who would be best for their positions, and these can be put a lot of pressure on the company has a whole.
Version One Ventures
JANUARY 15, 2019
Hiring is key to the success of any business, but it can especially critical for startups. Most founders appreciate the importance of making good hires; however, when a startup is scaling rapidly, process often gets left behind. In our experience, successful recruiting is a combination of process discipline and checks and balances. Here are three things every startup should implement in their recruiting process: 1.
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