Attn Student Entrepreneurs: Highland Capital Wants To Help Kickstart Your Business | TechCrunch
VC firm Highland Capital Partners is sounding the horn for their fifth annual “Summer@Highland” entrepreneurship program. The 10-week program aims to provide young, talented entrepreneurs with the environment and resources they need to kickstart their early-stage technology companies. The program is only open...
source: techcrunch.com
Startup Weekend & Tech Cocktail Compete To Recruit Startups For Startup America | TechCrunch
Startup America’s Master Challenge showdown is now underway. This fun, friendly competition pits influential tech groups against each other, to see which one can encourage more startups to join the Startup America Partnership. The winning group gets bragging rights, of course, and will be recognized...
source: techcrunch.com
INSTANT MBA: Don't Think Your Company Is Above The Market
"It’s too easy to seduce yourself into thinking that you’re unaffected by things in your market." McDonald, president and CEO of Precision Therapeutics, a Pennsylvania-based cancer research company, says companies need to be extremely tuned in if they want to remain adaptable...
source: businessinsider.com
How To Nail A Startup Interview: 'We Don't Care What You Look Like, Just Don't Smell'
So you landed a job interview at a startup. Now what? What exactly are you supposed to wear? A suit? Or just jeans and T-shirt? A bunch of startup guys chimed in on Quora about this very topic. Here is what they had to say...
source: businessinsider.com
Apparently, This Is "Sh*t Silicon Valley Says"
Visiting Silicon Valley soon? Or maybe you just moved and want to fit in? Then be sure to watch this video of Silicon Valley cliches, made by Kate Imbach and Tom Conrad. With any luck, they'll turn it into a TV series like Portlandia. Enjoy...
source: businessinsider.com
How to Retain Gen-Y Job Hoppers? Don't Bother | Inc.com
Much attention has been paid to today's job-hopping youth (despite evidence that Boomers have pretty much equally short attention spans for jobs). With the long-term compact between employers and workers well and truly eroded by the rapidly changing tech and business environment, it...
source: inc.com
How to Judge a New Venture in 15 Seconds | Inc.com
When entrepreneurs ask us to evaluate business ideas, we always respond first with the same question: “What problem will your new venture solve?” Their one-or two-sentence answers---10 or 15 seconds at the most---are often enough to predict the future. Too frequently, entrepreneurs...
source: inc.com
Six Lessons in Entrepreneurship | TechCrunch
Editor’s note: Contributor Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo. You can follow him @ashkan. January 23, 2012 marks the 6-year anniversary of my company WatchMojo. In today’s post, I’m taking a look back at six of the most essential...
source: techcrunch.com
How to Sell a Great Idea: 5 Steps | Inc.com
In a world driven by innovation, new ideas are powerful tools for building your career and your bank account. That said, ideas (even good ideas) are a dime a dozen. What really matters isn't whether you've got an idea, but whether you've can...
source: inc.com
How Sara Blakely Got Spanx Started | Inc.com
You Just Watched How I Did It: Tim Gimbell, The LaSalle Network Related Videos Reinventing the Town Square Gary Vaynerchuk: Put a Ring on It Carol's Daughter CEO: When to Let Go More Videos Read more: Big Speech? How to Fight Stage Fright 10 Most...
source: inc.com
How to Stay Married When Starting a Company | Inc.com
The old adage says, "You shouldn’t mix business with family." That especially stands when it comes to spouses working together, and I would generally agree with that statement. However, there are instances when business and family can work out for the mutual benefit of everyone...
source: inc.com
Does Your Business Need Mobile Apps? Bizness Apps (& More) Give You The Premium Tools | TechCrunch
Let’s say you want to give your small business a mobile presence. You’d like to develop some mobile apps, but you don’t have the time, money, or technical skills to do it yourself, and you’re not too excited about the idea of...
source: techcrunch.com
How to Make Money on Facebook | Inc.com
As a small-business owner, you probably don't have the resources that a large corporation employs for online advertising campaigns, but social media consultant and author Brian Carter says that even solopreneurs with limited funds can gain the competitive edge in this vast cyber-arena...
source: inc.com
Here Are The Best Job Boards For Recruiting Engineers For Startups
One of our portfolio companies asked me this week, “Do you all have a list of job boards your portfolio companies have had great success with in recruiting high quality engineers?” The unemployment rate for quality computer scientists/engineers in the major cities right now is...
source: businessinsider.com
How Safe Is The Cruise Liner You're Vacationing On?
This post originally appeared at Travel + Leisure. The Costa Concordia’s accident off the Italian coast is a horrible tragedy, with at least 11 people dead and others still missing. But the industry’s record for safety remains strong: Nearly 14 million people cruise each year...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Don't Be Afraid To Ask Dumb Questions
Today's advice comes from The New York Time's Corner Office interview with American Public Media Group President Bill Kling. "Too often, leaders fail because someone told them they can’t do it. If you don’t know what you can’t do, then you...
source: businessinsider.com
This VC Has Heard 10,000 Pitches: Here's What Works
See Jeff at IGNITION West! Jeff Clavier, managing partner at SoftTechVC, has his hands in many startups. He's closed 114 deals. He's invested in the likes of NetVibes, Mint, and SocialMedia, and five of his startups have been acquired by major companies like Yahoo...
source: businessinsider.com
How This Guy Sold His Two-Year-Old Company To eBay For $75 Million
Last night, Milo co-founder Jack Abraham explained how he sold his startup to eBay for $75 million after less than two years. He was speaking to a roomful of entrepreneurs, investors, and bankers at Rocketspace in San Francisco. Here's where it started: after a...
source: businessinsider.com
REVEALED: The Secret Hangouts Of Silicon Valley VCs
Find out more out the future of disruptive technology and companies like Facebook, Google, Zynga, Disney, NBC and more at IGNITION West! Silicon Valley feels a lot like a big high school. Venture capitalists are on the hunt for the next big idea, so they'll...
source: businessinsider.com
A VC Explains The Six Things You Should Know Before Sitting Down With Him
August Capital partner Howard Hartenbaum, who was an early investor in Skype, tells us what entrepreneurs should do to prepare for a meeting with him: Have a vision of how the future is going to be better than it is today State a problem State the...
source: businessinsider.com
Find your startup’s voice: Why I hired a journalist to run my company blog | VentureBeat
As a CEO of a startup, my online voice – a blog called Greg’s Corner — is the place where I share my company news, try to differentiate myself from competitors, and showcase the value I’m offering. But until about a year ago, my online voice...
source: venturebeat.com
The "Nice Consumer": How She Is Redefining Fashion And Sustainable Consumption - Forbes
I visited the newly-opened Uniqlo giant flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York, over the holidays. Simply put, it is to be experienced—shopper or not, fashionista or not. The store on three levels take shopping to a new experience where fashion meets stage...
source: forbes.com
13 Types of Insurance a Small Business Owner Should Have - Forbes
1. General Liability Insurance: Every business, even if home-based, needs to have liability insurance. The policy provides both defense and damages if you, your employees or your products or services cause or are alleged to have caused Bodily Injury or Property Damage to a third...
source: forbes.com
INSTANT MBA: Know Your Competitors Broadly And Your Users Narrowly
Today's advice comes from our interview with Crowded Room CEO Mike Kestenbaum: "Become obsessed with your market — know your competitors broadly and your users narrowly." When Kestenbaum was a Mergers and Acquisition employee at IAC, he realized there wasn't a mobile product that allowed...
source: businessinsider.com
This Horror Story Shows How SOPA Would Be Bad News For Startups
Joshua Metzger knows first hand how destructive the Stop Online Piracy Act (and its sister, the Protect IP Act) will be to startups if Congress doesn't heed the protests and pull the cork on it. He was the lawyer for Veoh, a once high-flying...
source: businessinsider.com
Cyber Security Startup AlienVault Nabs Seven Senior HP Security Execs | TechCrunch
In September 2010, HP acquired Fortify Software for what Forbes reported was about $265 million and was later folded into HP’s Software Division. Founded in 2003, Fortify makes products and services designed to protect companies from security threats in business software applications, and raised $40...
source: techcrunch.com
How The Led Can Change The Leader - Forbes
In my last column I offered readers the chance to submit leadership topics for consideration with the chosen respondent being offered the chance of co-authoring today’s piece. I received more than 200 submissions from readers across this network, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Facebook. I...
source: forbes.com
Fix Your Broken Recruiting Process in 15 Minutes - Forbes
I used to hate recruiting. It was a huge time suck, too many unqualified people applied, I couldn’t learn enough about them quickly, interviews were excruciating. Here’s my I Used To Hate Recruiting And Don’t Now 5 step recruiting process. Use it when...
source: forbes.com
How Much Time Should You Spend Getting Organized? None | Inc.com
When looking to clear your mind, it's often suggested you might want to start by clearing your desk. Or your inbox. After all, doesn't the sense of order and control generated by getting your to-do list, your correspondence or your calendar in order...
source: inc.com
How to Develop Your Fund Raising Strategy
Raising money is hard. And when you’re relatively new to the process it’s easy to be confused by the process. There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. Of course much of it is conflicting. I’ve raised...
source: bothsidesofthetable.com
Dating Advice for the Single Entrepreneur | Inc.com
There should be a patron saint of start-up spouses. Between the long work hours, high anxiety levels, and years of little to no income, start-up founders are not easy to live with. My own partner (and my friends' partners) take on more at home...
source: inc.com
In late October 2011, John Ham went for a walk. Ham cofounded video site Ustream in 2006 and had been its CEO since. He went on a walk because suddenly, the investors wanted him to leave the company. If he refused, Ustream wouldn't be able...
source: businessinsider.com
TinyProj Shuts Down, Users Sent To TechStars Grad GroupTalent Instead | TechCrunch
TinyProj, a project marketplace started by Forrst founder Kyle Bragger is shutting down. All 8,300 of the service’s registered developers and designers who used the site to find project-based work will now be transitioned over to GroupTalent, a recent TechStars grad. Both companies...
source: techcrunch.com
Young Polling Startup Pollbob Acquires Older Site Misterpoll | TechCrunch
Pollbob, a small, three-person polling startup from New Orleans’ The Idea Village accelerator has just acquired the older polling site Misterpoll. Prior to the acquisition, which closed on Friday, Pollbob had over 12,000 downloads and 7,000 active registered users. With Misterpoll’s 270K...
source: techcrunch.com
7 Lessons On Startup Funding From a Research Scientist
The following is a guest post by Ty Danco. Ty is an angel investor and startup mentor. Read more of his thoughts at tydanco.com. My wife isn't in business, but she is wise in the way of funding. Just as I have experience on...
source: onstartups.com
Splash.FM: A Music Discovery Social Network That Scores How Hip You Are | TechCrunch
Oh, you liked that band since before they were cool? Now you can prove it with Splash.FM. Launching in private beta today, the music social network lets you share songs and raise your Splash score when you help others discover them. Splash.FM lets you...
source: techcrunch.com
5 Funding Lessons From A Second-Time Founder - Forbes
Guest post written by Ranjith Kumaran Ranjith Kumaran is founder and CEO of PunchTab. He previously founded YouSendIt.com. In Silicon Valley, there is no shortage of startups ghost stories. They’ve surpassed the financial fairy tales of dot-com glory days as the number one...
source: forbes.com
How To Start Smart: The Five Things To Know When Approaching An Incubator | TechCrunch
Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Jon Paris, CEO and co-founder of Astrid To-Do. Astrid participated in AngelPad and immediately raised a successful seed round from Google Ventures and other investors. His opinions are his own. Incubators are playing an...
source: techcrunch.com
A City Is A Startup: The Rise Of The Mayor-Entrepreneur | TechCrunch
Editor’s note: This post is authored by guest contributor Jon Bischke. Jon is a founder of RG Labs and is an advisor to several startups. You can follow Jon on Twitter here. On stage at last month’s Le Web conference Shervin Pishevar, a Managing...
source: techcrunch.com
Mobile Game Design: How Evil Monkeys Chased Temple Run To App Store #1 | TechCrunch
This is the story of how a husband and wife team designed a game with more daily active users than anything by Zynga. Now the #1 free iOS game, Imangi Studios reveals its Temple Run has hit 20 million downloads and 7 million DAU. Co-founder...
source: techcrunch.com
How To Launch Your Startup At SXSW For Only $217
I wanted to call this article "Launch and Get Paid at SXSW" but that seems preposterous, outlandish, over-the-top and obnoxious. It flies in the face of traditional thinking where people think it costs thousands and thousands. At the heart of these conference hacks that...
source: businessinsider.com
The Social Media Rabbit Hole: How to Grow Your Networks And Manage Your Time - Forbes
Social Media vs. Social Marketing King Of All (Social) Media The Social Media Band Wagon One of the biggest complaints I hear about social media is that it takes too much time to manage. As entrepreneurs, we are already strapped for time and adding one more...
source: forbes.com
Lessons from the School of Hard Knocks From a Young Entrepreneur | Inc.com
When you're staring a venture as difficult as building a business, in some ways ignorance is bliss. Being unburdened by any real appreciation of the difficulties you’re getting yourself into can be a great boost to confidence, optimism and energy. But this principle obviously...
source: inc.com
This Guy Buys Startups For IBM -- Here's What He's Looking For
Mike Loria is a guy that startups dream of meeting. He acquires companies for IBM. IBM said it would spend $20 billion on acquisitions by 2015 and it's been on a buying frenzy. The company has announced or closed seven acquisitions in about three months...
source: businessinsider.com
How to Succeed Against the Odds | Inc.com
As a coach, I help entrepreneurs through the issues that keep them from their dreams. For the most part I see these individuals as driven, passionate, unstoppable human beings. But after my recent discussion with one entrepreneur, the bar has definitely been raised. Monte Lee-Wen...
source: inc.com
INSTANT MBA: Show Your Employees That You Trust Them To Do Good Work
Today's advice comes from Coinstar President and COO Gregg Kaplan's interview with The Hiring Site. "Hire great people and then get out of the way. Really ambitious, talented people will always be way out in front of you as a manager if you give...
source: businessinsider.com
Lessons on The Journey to Social in Retail, from La Jolla - Forbes
4 Blinks on What is A Social Business? Haydn Shaughnessy Contributor How Social Business Leaders Lead: Scaling Human Effort Rawn Shah Contributor La Jolla Group sells to generation hype, people who live on adrenalin, a generation that already does social in its sleep. La Jolla brands...
source: forbes.com
How a Crowdfunded Gadget Got to CES (and the Apple Store) | Inc.com
LAS VEGAS—As far as Kickstarter success stories go, Kogeto, a start-up exhibiting at this year's Consumer Electronics show, has a pretty outstanding one. Back in May, this New York-based start-up was just another project in need of funding. The company makes...
source: inc.com
How to Squeeze Creativity From Your Employees | Inc.com
Moonbot Studios, a digital animation and development company based in Shreveport, Louisiana, describes itself as "an interplanetary creative expedition of story and art." If that sounds vague—even a bit nebulous—that's because its founders like to keep thing fluid. They're artists first, and...
source: inc.com
INSTANT MBA: You Have Got To Keep Pushing If You Want To Grow
Today's advice comes from Left Brain/Right Brain Productions CEO and Trep Life's co-founder Malachi Leopold's interview with Business Insider: "If you want to continue growing, you've got to get out there and keep pushing. You've got to grow more...
source: businessinsider.com
How should a startup founder value her time? | A Smart Bear
Almost no startup founder values her time properly. Consultants know exactly what their time is worth: their hourly rate. As they say, it’s how much “the market will bear.” When a consultant intentionally doesn’t work for an hour — whether to be with family or...
source: asmartbear.com
The Tim Ferriss Effect: Lessons From My Successful Book Launch - Forbes
If you had a book coming out, and you were brainstorming ideas for how to get people excited to buy it, read it, and talk about it, which would be most valuable to you: 1) a 3-minute segment about your book (which is long by...
source: forbes.com
INSTANT MBA: Why Your Business Plan Should Never Stop Growing
Today's advice comes from VisionIT founder David Segura's interview with Smart Business. “Sometimes people just put a plan on paper, then go and never look at it again. They never ask if the plan is still really representative of who we are as a...
source: businessinsider.com
Case study: How & why to build a consumer app with Node.js | VentureBeat
Node.js has been getting great press for being used to build real-time web applications and fast networking tools that help big web sites run and scale. But is Node just as good a fit for web agencies and developers that build dozens, scores, or...
source: venturebeat.com
Thiel Foundation: Silicon Valley needs to stop requiring college degrees | VentureBeat
Everybody knows that if you’re smart and ambitious, you attend college. Why? Tradition. But if we’re ambitious about creating a better twenty-first century, should we follow traditions from the nineteenth? In the past hundred years, technology entrepreneurs have given us cars, jets, vaccines...
source: venturebeat.com
Owning equity in your company should be as common as owning equity in your home - Chris Dixon
What belongs in common to the most people is accorded the least care: they take thought for their own things above all, and less about things common, or only so much as falls to each individually. – Aristotle * A major policy goal of capitalist countries in the...
source: cdixon.org
Some lessons learned - Chris Dixon
Note: Google was kind enough to invite me to give a short talk at their Zeitgeist conference earlier this week. It was a really interesting conference and I got a chance to meet a lot of people I admire. For my talk, I decided to use...
source: cdixon.org
From Nashville to Boston: How A Startup Accelerator Changed Our Lives
The following is a guest article by Nick Francis, co-founder of Help Scout, a customer support application. When looking back at successful companies, you can always point to a series of defining moments that changed their business for the better. If a critical decision wasn...
source: onstartups.com
How To Pick The Right Idea For Your Startup
The following is a guest post by Kapil Kale, co-founder of GiftRocket, a Y Combinator-backed gift card company. Kapil usually blogs here. As a current startup founder, one of the most common questions I get is how to come up with a good startup...
source: onstartups.com
3 Quick Entrepreneurial Sales Lessons
The following is a guest post by Daniel Tenner. Daniel is the founder of several companies including GrantTree. He blogs about startups and founders at Swombat.com. You can also find him on twitter. 3 Quick Entrepreneurial Sales Lessons "Every no gets you closer to a...
source: onstartups.com
MIT Startup Bootcamp 2011: Notes and Musings
This past weekend was the 3rd annual MIT Startup Bootcamp. It's one of favorite startup events in the Boston area (I spoke at the first one in 2009. Video of my talk available). I didn't get to attend in person this year, but watched...
source: onstartups.com
Forget The MBA: How About a Masters In Startup Awesomeness?
This weekend marks the 6 year anniversary of OnStartups.com (it was launched on November 5, 2005). The OnStartups community has grown -- a lot. There are now over 30,000 RSS subscribers, and 218,000 members in the OnStartups LinkedIn Group -- making it the largest entrepreneurial...
source: onstartups.com
From Deadpool to Acquisition: Lessons From Sprouter's Almost Fail
The following is a guest post by Erin Bury. Erin is the Director of Content and Communications at Sprouter.com, a site that connects startups with expert advice. She's also a startup columnist for the Financial Post. Find her on her blog at erinbury.com...
source: onstartups.com
Lessons Learned: The ink is on the dead trees
I am holding in my hand one of the very first print editions of The Lean Startup. The Zen-inspired design by Marcus Gosling looks amazing in physical form. And in just two weeks, on September 13, 2011, it will be in bookstores everywhere. Read below...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
How do I get my first few customers? | A Smart Bear
It’s one of the hardest steps in a startup, getting that first rube to part with their money over your barely-minimum barely-viable product. Here’s an email I got last week: Hello Jason, I am a big fan of your advice and wanted...
source: asmartbear.com
Lessons Learned: The Last Lean Startup Bundle: claim $3,000,000 in prizes
The Lean Startup Book launches in just under a week. [Forget the verbiage, just show me the deal! OK: do you want 5-100 copies or 100+ copies?] How many copies will this book sell in its first week – real, hardcover, paper copies? If that number...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
How do I sell a general-purpose tool? | A Smart Bear
Frustrated Builder writes: I have a general-purpose reporting tool that automatically creates reports from certain kinds of data sources. But although I have six very happy customers, I’m having trouble finding more. How do I get unstuck? I know people need this tool! I...
source: asmartbear.com
Lessons Learned: The power of small batches
The following is an excerpt from The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses published by Crown Business. In the book Lean Thinking, James Womack and Daniel Jones recount a story of stuffing newsletters into envelopes with the assistance...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
How cold calling (properly) works better than AdWords | A Smart Bear
This is a guest post from Robert Graham — a solo bootstrapper who blogs about the experience. Robert has been working in software since 2005. He is a Ph.D. dropout who spent time working for Google. Someday he’d like to work for himself. When I...
source: asmartbear.com
Lessons Learned: The Lean Startup Book Tour
Today, September 13, 2011 is launch day! And, for me, it's literally a launch into a crazy amount of travel. For the next two weeks, I'm going to do as many events, interviews, and talks as I physically can. I hope you'll join...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
Lessons Learned: Updates from the road
Greetings from Toronto, stop four on my book tour. I thought I'd share a few updates; for a firehose of detailed updates, follow me on Twitter or Plancast. Bundle Deadline Extended First things first: remember the Last Lean Startup Bundle, the one that I said...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
NYC TechStars Member Blueprint Health Announces Its First Class Of Startups | TechCrunch
NYC-based Blueprint Health, a health-focused member of the TechStars Network, is announcing its inaugural class of startups today. The Winter program, which begins on January 9th, will be taking place in a 12,000 square foot loft in SoHo that will be shared with...
source: techcrunch.com
Lessons Learned: Best. Birthday. Ever.
Last week I turned 33, while on the road. I received an incredible amount of good news all at once. First off, I received the big news that you'll get to read if you open up the paper this coming Sunday: The Lean Startup has...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
What's your startup's reserve price? - Gabriel Weinberg's Blog
Here's some acquisition and financing advice: know your reserve price. That's the minimum price (easiest to think about cash in your bank account at close after taxes) that you'd be willing to receive in exchange for your company. Corollary: if it isn't...
source: gabrielweinberg.com
Lessons Learned: Case Study: The Nordstrom Innovation Lab
Today's case study answers a bunch of questions all at once about Lean Startup principles: can they be used inside a Fortune 500 company? can they be used to sell physical low-tech products? can they be used in a retail store? I have been...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
How Forbes Covers CES: Our Unique Model Means We're All Over Las Vegas - Forbes
I often talk about our unique content engine — the knowledge and experience of our full-time staff combined with the power and insights of a distributed workforce — 850 or so expert contributors. The model works wonderfully as we cover the daily world of business. It’s...
source: forbes.com
Recruiting programmers to your startup - Chris Dixon
Here are some things I’ve learned over the years about recruiting programmers* to startups. This is a big topic: many of the points I make briefly here could warrant their own blog posts, and I’m sure I’ve omitted a lot. - The most important...
source: cdixon.org
Lessons Learned: That old-time startup religion
Warning: the video below may be offensive to some readers. It contains irreverent use of religious language. Viewer discretion is advised. So there I was, on stage in front of a large crowd, when Jason says "Has anyone seen the movie Apostle?" That's when I...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
How To Be More Interesting (In 10 Simple Steps) - Forbes
How to be interesting (in 10 stupid-simple steps): 1.Go exploring. Explore ideas, places, and opinions. The inside of the echo chamber is where are all the boring people hang out. 2. Share what you discover. And be generous when you do. Not everybody went...
source: forbes.com
Lessons Learned: STARTUP IS VISION
The following is a rather unusual guest post. One of the more surreal parts of speaking publicly and putting ideas out into the ether is to watch other people run with them. I can't seem to help tuning into comment threads on blogs, news aggregators...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
Lessons Learned: London Calling
Happy New Year! Four months ago, The Lean Startup debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list. Since then, I have been immersed in a non-stop whirlwind book tour of North America, filled with as many events, interviews, and talks as I could...
source: startuplessonslearned.com
INSTANT MBA: It's No Longer Beneficial To 'Manage' People
Today's advice comes from the late author and management consultant Peter Drucker appearing on The WSJ: “The task is to lead people. And the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of every individual." During the factory-era, it made sense to...
source: businessinsider.com
How to Make Great Connections on LinkedIn | Inc.com
The rules of engagement on LinkedIn are fairly clear: first and foremost, you should only connect with people you actually know. Yet millions of people—yes, we're looking at you—are broadening their networks by connecting to people with whom they've never even had...
source: inc.com
When You Should Quit Being An Entrepreneur
I just read about a company that is on its third pivot. When is enough is enough? The founder is young and sharp. He'd be a valuable asset at any other tech company, but he can't seem to throw in the towel. Some pivots...
source: businessinsider.com
Why Bootstrapping Is Just As Over-Rated As Raising Venture Capital | TechCrunch
Editor’s note: Contributor Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo. Follow him @ashkan. Entrepreneurship requires balancing unbridled optimism with delusional foolishness. Most entrepreneurs are mocked and misunderstood until they are wildly successful, at which point the chorus changes from “good luck with that...
source: techcrunch.com
Startup Weekend’s Eventful Year: 260 Events In 202 Cities; Startups Raised $30M+ | TechCrunch
Startup Weekend, whose mission is to kickstart and foster startup communities worldwide through events and networking sessions, had a very lively 2011. According to internal statistics shared exclusively with TechCrunch, the organization held a total of 260 events in 202 cities, in 67 countries (you can...
source: techcrunch.com
INSTANT MBA: Put Yourself In Uncomfortable Situations If You Want To Succeed
Today's advice comes from IAC's Hatch Labs CEO Dinesh Moorjani's interview with Business Insider: "Put yourself in uncomfortable situations, which will allow you to field new challenges with ease, grace, and confidence." In order to overcome challenges and make difficult circumstances manageable, you...
source: businessinsider.com
All Quiet On The Tumblr Front, But Not The Back End: Here's What David Karp Has Brewing
Last year was transformative for five-year-old Tumblr. Tumblr closed the year with 14 billion pageviews in December, up from 3 billion the year before. In September, Tumblr raised $85 million at an $800 million valuation, but since then Tumblr has been relatively quiet. We...
source: businessinsider.com
DailyWorth Grabs $2 Million To Bring Quality Financial Advice To Women — Via The Inbox | TechCrunch
In March of last year, DailyWorth, the personal finance daily email and community for women, raised an $850K seed round led by Robin Hood Ventures, with investors like Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures, Social Leverage, 500 Startups, Venture51, Investors’ Circle, Joanne Wilson, David Cohen, Scott Becker, Peter...
source: techcrunch.com
Does Your Startup Need Beta Testers? BetaBait Will Hook You Up (Now On Email & The Web) | TechCrunch
You could just launch your app without testing it first, but the reality is that more times than not this could have disastrous consequences. So, being the savvy people they are, when entrepreneurs want to test something that they’re about to bring to market, they...
source: techcrunch.com
Forbes.com Video Network | Most Promising Companies: How To Select Capable Managers
Most Promising Companies 30-Yr Mortgages Are Root Of All Evil Why ING Direct chief Arkadi Kuhlmann wants to do away with the 30-yr fixed rate. 2010's Top 5 Financial Pornographers Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard on why you shouldn't believe all market forecasters...
source: forbes.com
This Startup Wants To Help You Live Longer By Giving You Data On People Like You
Find out more out the future of disruptive technology and companies like Facebook, Google, Zynga, Disney, NBC and more at IGNITION West! Chris Hogg, co-founder of 100Plus, is hoping to take advantage of two emerging trends in the startup world by providing analysis of health...
source: businessinsider.com
Calling All NYC Start-Ups: Get PR And Strategic Advice From Potential Investors For Only $50
When I lived in Silicon Valley, if you wanted to pitch your startup at a big event, you would have to pay several thousand dollars to pitch on stage or several hundred dollars to have a booth in a crowded lobby. It’s a tough decision...
source: businessinsider.com
Here's What Yammer Plans To Do With The Money It Will Raise Soon
Enterprise social networking company Yammer is talking to multiple VCs about a new funding round, and may raise up to $40 million in coming months to help expand into new countries and bigger companies. TechCrunch first reported the news earlier this afternoon. In a conversation with...
source: businessinsider.com
How to tell your story in 2-4 minutes…and win | VentureBeat
One of the things I’ve learned over the past two years years while leading the DEMO conference is that great entrepreneurs are able to pitch their company stories clearly and engagingly in about two minutes. I’ve now seen thousands of pitches, and it’s...
source: venturebeat.com
Are Your Employees Destroying Your Business? | Inc.com
Are you a laid-back person or an ambitious one? Are you spontaneous or more of a control freak? Whatever your responses to these questions, most of us feel the answers are pretty fixed. Through experience, will, or perhaps with a great deal of therapy, you...
source: inc.com
Startup Trend For 2012: Sites That Help You Track What You Like Most
Curation is what magazine editors do best -- but the move to online content has changed things a little. Now, users can do their own curation. As a result, the startups that are popular (Pinterest, Quora, and Fab) all have one thing in common: their users can...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Being The Smartest Person In The Room Isn't Going To Bring Your Company Success
Today's advice comes from Bayer CropScience CEO Sandra Peterson's interview with Forbes: “I believe a great leader has better people working for them [who] can do their jobs better than [the leaders] themselves. I am very comfortable not being the expert and actually putting...
source: businessinsider.com
Reaching Consensus: Lessons from the Iowa Caucus - Forbes
The way Democrats run their caucuses in Iowa provides a different model for making business decisions that you should use in some situations. In particular, use it when it is important that the minority be heard. Unlike Republicans who hold a straight vote, Democrats in Iowa...
source: forbes.com
Most investments fail but the few successful ones more than make all the money back — or so startup investors hope. But what sort of returns do these profitable exits bring in? According to a new analysis of all the exits listed in CrunchBase, the average successful...
source: techcrunch.com
INSTANT MBA: Stop Looking For Praise And Start Focusing On Results
Today’s advice comes from AT&T chief technology officer John Donovan’s interview with NYTimes.com's Corner Office blog. “If you figure there’s a karma pool out there floating around for credits, you have to stop playing for credits. I remember the day...
source: businessinsider.com
Crowd-Funding Campaign Lessons Learned: What You Need to Know - Forbes
When you’re starting a new company, coming up with an innovative, profitable business idea is more than half the battle. But acquiring funding to get it off the ground is also key to winning in the early stages of the entrepreneurial game. A common strategy...
source: forbes.com
Want To Know How (Not) To Pitch Your Startup? Look No Further. | TechCrunch
In order to get startups and entrepreneurs thinking about the most effective ways to pitch their businesses, Adeo Ressi of Founder Institute has been encouraging his founders to boil their mission statements down to one sentence, using a simple formula. George Zachary of Charles River Ventures...
source: techcrunch.com
Oxford Historian Creates Silicon Valley's Future - Forbes
If you can’t learn from the past, you’re doomed to repeat its errors and to miss its brilliant insights. That’s one of Kevin Hartz’s credos. With a Master’s in British History and Political Philosophy from Oxford, a Bachelors of Arts and...
source: forbes.com
What's The Best Way To Introduce Yourself To An Angel Investor?
Raising from angels has historically been much different than raising from VCs. Angels have tended to be as inexperienced in early stage tech investing as the entrepreneur who’s raising the money. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of institutionalized angel groups that are...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: "Companies Can No Longer Just Shout — They Have To Listen"
Today's advice comes from a FastCompany interview with Buddy Media's Michael Lazerow: If companies haven't already created rock-solid social media programs, that should be at the top of their agendas in 2012. One of New York's tech stars, Michael Lazerow, recently...
source: businessinsider.com
Apocalypse 2012 or How To Learn to Digest the Chaos - Forbes
We all know data is only relevant in context. If this is the case then why do many headlines in nearly any journal assault the senses with doom and despair or occasionally a message of salvation? Through this roller coaster of information, what are we to...
source: forbes.com
How To Create The Perfect Tagline For Your Business
This article originally appeared on American Express Open Forum. What's daunting and difficult to perfect, vital to your brand, and guaranteed to boost your company's presence and name recognition? It's simple: your tagline. Even for small businesses, it's important to consider the...
source: businessinsider.com
A Stanford MBA On Leading, Mentoring Start-ups - Forbes
Yan-David Erlich grew up in Paris — his father was an engineer with Schlumberger (SLB) who climbed to become its chief information officer — but Yanda, as he is known, stayed in the U.S. and learned what it takes to lead and mentor start-ups here...
source: forbes.com
For a young startup, sometimes you want any funding you can get. For an incubator program, sometimes any startup is what you’re looking for. Finding each other won’t necessarily make either one successful, but more pairings might help overall. Or so believes TechStars, which...
source: techcrunch.com
Exclusive: Groupon Acquires Stealth Silicon Valley Startup Campfire Labs | TechCrunch
Groupon has continued its (talent) acquisition spree with the recent purchase of a hot Silicon Valley startup before they even launched – and with extremely little fanfare. We’ve learned that Campfire Labs, which was founded by ex-Googler Sakina Arsiwala (previously Head of International at YouTube...
source: techcrunch.com
Tampa’s TechStars Network Member Gazelle Lab Opens 2nd Location In Orlando | TechCrunch
Gazelle Lab, the brand-new Tampa Bay-based TechStars Network member which just held its first Demo Day in November, is expanding its operations. The accelerator has just announced the opening of second location in Orlando, Florida, where it will be working with local academic institution...
source: techcrunch.com
The Newest VC Discrimination: If Your Startup Has A Small Team, Investment Is Harder To Get
If you're a small startup without a sizable engineering team, it's going to be much harder to get venture capital backing, Deborah Gage at the Wall Street Journal reports. Gage notes that this has always been a problem, but unlike in the past it...
source: businessinsider.com
Inside Forbes: The Joys and Challenges of Being a Disruptor at a 94-Year-Old Startup - Forbes
Inside Forbes: Our Content Strategy, Brand Power and the Path Forward Lewis DVorkin Forbes Staff The Equation that Sets Forbes Apart From Others Lewis DVorkin Forbes Staff The soul of media: For Forbes, it's editing Lewis DVorkin Forbes Staff It’s been an energizing...
source: forbes.com
5 Business Lessons From the Netflix Pricing Debacle - Forbes
How did Neftlix, an innovative company that put Blockbuster Video out of business and in the process transformed the movie renting business make such a mess of their recent price increase? Here is what happened: Netflix had a DVD-by-mail and online streaming combo...
source: forbes.com
Leadership Lessons from the World's Top Companies: 2011 Year in Review - Forbes
Happy New Year! As you undertake a new job or assignment in 2012, keep in mind the three steps which will help you succeed in a new job or initiative: Get a head start. Manage the message. Build the team. I looked back at the...
source: forbes.com
A Geek’s Guide to China’s Silicon Valley | TechCrunch
Editor’s note: Contributor Kai Lukoff is based in Beijing and is co-founder of the startup blog TechRice.Twenty years ago, Zhongguancun was but farming fields and small houses, far from the city center of Beijing. The ‘cun’ at the end of Zhongguancun literally means...
source: techcrunch.com
INSTANT MBA: If You Think You're Done With A Meeting, You're Probably Wrong
Today's advice comes from Code42 CEO and cofounder Matthew Dornquast's interview with The Line, printed at Minnpost.com:"The difference between the winners and the losers are the ones that spend that little tiny bit more. They're not necessarily smarter, they're not...
source: businessinsider.com
A Few Tips For Developers On How To Get Hired By A Startup | TechCrunch
Not everyone is cut out to work for a startup. It involves a lot of hustling, a lot of nail-biting, pizza-eating, sleeping at your desk, tears, failure, confusion, and on and on. And wearing your startup’s t-shirt. All the time. That being...
source: techcrunch.com
How to Get an MIT Education for Peanuts | Inc.com
How to Get an MIT Education for PeanutsYou may be energetic, ambitious, smart and innovative, but no matter how gifted, almost all youthful entrepreneurs have a lot to learn. Because of a handful of high profile, baby-faced billionaires, there may be a perception that the...
source: inc.com
How to make a millionaire (video) | VentureBeat
Recently, VentureBeat’s Chikodi Chima sat down with Michael Ellsberg, author of The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late, to talk about what it really takes to be successful.Most of us were told by our parents...
source: venturebeat.com
Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?
There are certain topics that even some of the best journalists can’t fully grok. One of them is profitability.I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They...
source: bothsidesofthetable.com
Here's What These 15 Tech Founders Want For Christmas
We asked tech founders what they want for Christmas. We got a range of answers.We thought they'd want the latest gadgets -- so we were surprised by their non-techy answers.Click here to see what tech founders want for Christmas →Click here to see...
source: businessinsider.com
How to manage your company’s online reputation (infographic) | VentureBeat
Many of us are intimately familiar with the rigmarole of personal online-reputation control, especially as the 2011 holiday party season comes to a close. We know to delete any tipsy tweets and comb through Facebook to un-tag ourselves in embarrassing party photos.Just like...
source: venturebeat.com
INSTANT MBA: Your Employees Are Much More Important Than Your Customers
Today's advice comes from Greenleaf Center CEO Kent Keith's interview with SUCCESS Magazine:“The world is increasingly competitive, and the work required for companies to succeed is more knowledge-based and depends on employees being creative and making good judgments ... It makes sense to...
source: businessinsider.com
How This Entrepreneur Went From Mixing Beats To Making Kimchi
This article originally appeared at American Express OpenForumHow does a DJ whose band used to sell pop ditties to reality TV franchises also find himself to be a steadily-growing purveyor of kimchi, the tasty Korean pickled cabbage dish?"By my own personal necessity, " says Kheedim...
source: businessinsider.com
Here's How Robert Scoble Keeps Track Of The Entire Internet
Rackspace's startup liaison Robert Scoble has basically been able to keep track of the entire Internet all by himself.Now we know how he does it.Scoble's computer setup (which he just posted a photo of on Google+) includes three monitors that are showing...
source: businessinsider.com
Stop Your Business From Ruining Your Health | Inc.com
Stop Your Business From Ruining Your HealthAs Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail recently reported, many entrepreneurs put their businesses before their health. Citing a new survey from Manta, the paper claims that the touch business climate this year has led to less healthy living among...
source: inc.com
How One Smart Infographic Saved a Company | Inc.com
How One Smart Infographic Saved a CompanyImagine if your business had to start from scratch--not due to a natural disaster or a fire, but from a rebranding that changed your Internet domain name. That's exactly what happened to Formstack, the form-building company that...
source: inc.com
How I Navigated My First Hire | Inc.com
How I Navigated My First HireI have some public relations needs for FamiliesGo! that I haven't been able to get to and I'm not ready to pay a professional PR firm. So I decided I would try going the intern route. I've made...
source: inc.com
Y Combinator Startup Priceonomics Tells You How Much To Pay For Any Used Product | TechCrunch
You want the best price on things you buy second hand, but finding out how much you should pay is a hassle. Removing this friction from a lucrative part of the purchase funnel is the goal of Priceonomics. The first startup out of the winter 2012...
source: techcrunch.com
INSTANT MBA: This Is How You Create A Culture Of Innovation
Today's advice comes from Harlem Children's Zone CEO Geoffrey Canada's interview with the New York Times:"You have to drive folks to innovate. The tendency in lots of large organizations is to try and find a comfortable place where you think you can...
source: businessinsider.com
Make Your Company Culture Go The Distance | Inc.com
Make Your Company Culture Go The DistanceFun and games course through the heart of the SCVNGR company culture. Visit one of our offices, and you'll probably be hit by a Nerf dart while you're walking down the hall. And the presence of so many...
source: inc.com
VC Reveals Everything You Need To Do To Land Investors For Your Startup
Tom Kinnear has been involved as an investor, board member, or founder in starting 11 companies -- five of them with a combined exit value around $700 million.For 12 years, Kinnear has headed up the Samuel Zell and Ross H. Lurie Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies at...
source: businessinsider.com
How To Take Your Startup International
Letslunch launched in Italy with explosive media coverage! We had mentions on national television, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Millionaire Magazine, and received thriving social buzz all over Italy.Here are the lessons from our experience.Sometimes you get overwhelming demand to launch your startup internationally. Postpone it! Do...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Being Flexible Is More Important Than Being A Hard Worker
Today's advice comes from Canadian Tourism Commission CEO Michele McKenzie's interview with CanadianBusiness.com:"I always value hard work. ... But I think what I’m coming to value more is an ability of a person to work in an ambiguous work environment. I think...
source: businessinsider.com
Startups Return To Reality TV: Producer Of Bloomberg’s TechStars Readies New Show | TechCrunch
Startup founders are the new reality TV stars. No, really! Today, the producer of the TechStars TV show on Bloomberg TV, Cameron Casey, is announcing his plans to film a second startup-focused reality show. This time, the show will follow a group of entrepreneurs out...
source: techcrunch.com
TechStars Seattle Grad GoChime Raises $630K To Help Brands Monetize Social Media | TechCrunch
GoChime, a graduate of the 2011 TechStars Seattle program, is today announcing that it has raised $630,000 from a host of entrepreneurs and angel investors that include Geoff Entress, Walter Winshall, Rob Martin, Kendall Kunz, and Jason Seats — to name a few.What is GoChime...
source: techcrunch.com
How To Found, Grow, and Sell A Social Good Startup (TCTV) | TechCrunch
Most entrepreneurs found companies to solve a problem. Adam Archer founded GamesThatGive to save the world. Archer left Apple in 2008 to backpack across the world, and along the way he was inspired to start the company. GamesThatGive builds social games where users earn money for...
source: techcrunch.com
INSTANT MBA: If You Think You Can Do It Better, Go For It
Today's advice comes from Virgin CEO Richard Branson's interview with The Wall Street Journal:"Think of what frustrates you—and if you're frustrated by something and you feel 'Dammit, if only people could do this better,' then go try to do it better...
source: businessinsider.com
Cornell Wins NYC Tech Campus Bid (How Serious Had Stanford Been?) | TechCrunch
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will announce today that Cornell University has been selected to build a new tech campus on Roosevelt Island, the two organizations say. It’s not that surprising, considering how the negotiations had gone at the end of last week. Cornell...
source: techcrunch.com
How Recognizing Ignorance Can Help Entrepreneurs Make Smarter Decisions | Inc.com
Your Primary Limitation? You're IgnorantYou probably don't know nearly as much as you think you do. I certainly don't. In the spectrum of knowledge even the most insightful human only sees a sliver of light.Here's the beginning of a long list...
source: inc.com
INSTANT MBA: No Matter Which Side You're On, You'll Gain A Lot From Your Mentorship
Today's advice comes from Bupa Australia Managing Director Richard Bowden's interview with CEO Forum:"A big part of benefiting from mentoring is being in a right frame of mind to benefit from feedback and guidance. The other part of it is being able to...
source: businessinsider.com
A VC: How Much To Burn While Building Product
In last week's MBA Mondays, I wrote about burn rates at three stages of a startup. The first stage is what I called "Building Product Stage" and I suggested that a burn rate of $50k/month was appropriate for that stage.I got a fair...
source: avc.com
This Magnetic Art Project: How Does It Work? | TechCrunch
While I find that I like my ferrite-based Kickstarter art projects to be a bit more automatic, the Ferrite Interactive Liquid Sculpture is still pretty cool. It’s a tube containing a Ferrofluid – a suspension of ferrite particles – that is shock-resistant enough to survive...
source: techcrunch.com
BleuFlamme Lets You Make Your Own Custom Shirt In 3D | TechCrunch
If there’s one thing the world needs it’s a service that lets you build a shirt using 3D rendering technology. Sure we could use cars that run on water and world peace, but let’s get the little things out of the way, right...
source: techcrunch.com
INSTANT MBA: Why I Un-followed 16,000 People On Twitter
Today's advice comes from Marketing Zen Group CEO Shama Kabani's interview with Fortune:"When you start, you say yes to everything. As you grow, you need to learn to say no."Kabani, who was named one of Businessweek's top 25 entrepreneurs under 25...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Make Commitments To Your Employees, And Keep Them
Today's advice comes from Arryve co-founder and partner Chris Smith:"Commitments are good business and a serious responsibility. More and more Business 2.0 is all about the equal relationships between the employer and the employee, so those commitments apply to culture as much...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: "Really Great Marketing Is So Simple It Sounds Stupid"
Today's advice comes from Gibson Guitars CEO Henry Juszkiewicz's interview with Alister & Paine:"Really great marketing is so simple it sounds stupid. It’s about your customer. The fact is that most businesses don’t think about the customer at all. At the very...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: There's No Such Thing As A Fatal Mistake
Today's advice comes from Expedia Worldwide President Scott Durchslag's interview with the Associated Press:"It's got to be OK to make mistakes, because you can't be fast and agile in this world, and then also have management telling you, if you make...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: If You Think The Bottom Line Matters Most, You're Wrong
Today's advice comes from coverage of former NYSE CEO and Chairman Richard Grasso speech in The Ticker:"The only thing I had was a desire to learn, grow and hopefully to take people with me who are good people, who wanted to do the same...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: You've Got To Learn Something New Every Day To Beat Your Competitors
Today's advice comes from kgbdeals CEO Patrick Albus:"Learn something new every day. It seems easy enough, but most people do not take the time to learn."Albus credits that wisdom from a grad school professor with shaping his success. By taking time each day...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Be Humble — You Know You've Failed Before
Today's advice comes from Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello's interview with the New York Times:"You’ve got to find a way to be incredibly consistent, so when other people repeat the same thing it conjures up the same picture, the same vision for...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: If You Fail To Make Decisions, You're Asking For It
Today's advice comes from Health Management Associates CEO Gary Newsome's interview with Becker's Hospital Review:"When I've failed to make difficult decisions, typically it comes back worse. I've learned a lot over the years to deal with difficult situations, and the...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Don't Pretend You Know Everything
Today's advice comes from Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang's interview with AdAge:"Let's learn from each other, let's listen, let's set a direction and then all follow it in a very clear way."Lang recently took over the top spot at...
source: businessinsider.com
Behind Closed Doors Of A VC Pitch: Here's What Investors Are REALLY Thinking
Yesterday, a bunch of NYC startups visited General Catalyst Partners for 15 minutes to pitch their businesses.We sat in on a few of the meetings and observed. Some pitches were better than others, some ideas were more developed too.It was hard to read Nitesh...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Don't Coddle Young Staffers — Give Them A Chance To Succeed But Fire Them If They Fail
Today's advice comes from Maddalone Global Strategies CEO Joe Maddalone's post at Forbes:"Put young executives in 'the game' — push them to be great. Our generation understands the risks that are at stake. We don’t want training wheels. We just want an opportunity...
source: businessinsider.com
Make Your Business Plan Slides A Success
There are two major types of angel investors in this world: the ones that would read your business plan and the ones that would rather question you about its contents without actually reading the document. But when you are actually invited to the meeting with serious...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Year-End Bonuses Are A Total Waste Of Money
Today's advice comes from Northeast VisionLink CEO James Moniz's interview with the Hartford Business Journal:"A year-end bonus does little to focus a recipient long-term on the goals of the corporation ... An effective reward strategy would be to have someone focus on...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Leaders Need People To Constantly Point Out Their Blind Spots
Today's advice comes from former IronPort Systems CEO Scott Weiss' post at Forbes:"Most companies don’t have a good mechanism to give the CEO real, honest feedback. Sometimes the board gives feedback, but it’s often based on impressions at board meetings, perceived success...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: You Never Know When You'll Learn The Most Valuable Lesson Of Your Life
Today's advice comes from Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons' interview with The New York Times:"You have to be open and alert at every turn to the possibility that you’re about to learn the most important lesson of your life."Simmons has held...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Lay Out Your Time For Finishing A Project, Then Double It
Today's advice comes from myFootpath founder and CEO J.T. Allen's interview with Capture Your Flag:"The biggest thing with investors is to give them a vision of where you're going and as best you can lay out the time frame -- and then...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Regularly Walking Away From Your Work Will Keep You Sane
Today's advice comes from Mom 4 Life founder/owner Heather Ledeboer's interview with SUCCESS Magazine:"Taking time away from your business can actually improve the quality of your work time because you’ll be excited about 'digging in.' It also requires you to stay...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: When Company Leaders Take A Pay Cut, The Benefits Are Priceless
Today's advice comes from Portugal Telecom CEO Zeinal Bava's interview with the Wall Street Journal:"Today, uncertainty is leading to a lot of volatility. The market seems to overreact to bad news and simply ignore any good news. Investors require clarity and predictability."That...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Never Take Your Eyes Off Of The Bottom Line
Today's advice comes from Electronic Recyclers International CEO John Shegerian's interview with The Columbus Dispatch:"Continue to focus on making a profit, because you can't be a sustainable business and a sustainable business model unless you can sustain yourself."That's the big...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: High-Growth Companies Should Have Succession Plans Like Infosys'
Today's advice comes from former Infosys HR head Mohandas Pai's interview with The Week:"Succession planning is extremely critical for all companies, especially high-growth companies. High growth creates multiple challenges as companies outgrow their leaders. The burnout, too, is very high. A leadership...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: There Are No Truly Democratic Bosses
Today's advice comes from Pfizer general counsel and executive vice president Amy Schulman's interview with the New York Times:"If you’re constantly giving direction and speaking, then you’re really not encouraging conversation. And no matter how democratic you’d like to think...
source: businessinsider.com
INSTANT MBA: Following The Status Quo Is The Worst Thing You Could Ever Do
Today's advice comes from former General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, Jr.'s speech, covered in the Richmond Times-Dispatch:"You can't all be the next Steve Jobs. But you all can bring his entrepreneurial approach to your careers."Wagoner saw his share of challenges...
source: businessinsider.com
Original Foursquare Investor Pitch Deck 2009
Foursquare is one of the biggest, buzziest startups in New York.Scratch that -- anywhere.The local check-in startup raised $50 million this past summer from Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital. It recently reached 15 million downloads and it has been rolling out tons of new...
source: businessinsider.com
Today, another TechStars Network accelerator comes online. Greenville, South Carolina’s “The Next Big Thing,” as it’s called, has been running in stealth mode since its founding in February 2011. But now, the incubator is ready for submissions. Companies can apply for the program starting...
source: techcrunch.com
Advice from startup executives on work-life balance
Can you really have a successful career and a successful family? Maybe.Can you have have both of those things when you work at a startup? That's much more difficult."There's nothing you can do at a startup to lessen the volume of work...
source: businessinsider.com
5 Jobs Every Entrepreneur Should Have Before Starting A Business
Entrepreneurs often wear every hat. Problem is, few entrepreneurs have tried all those hats on before they start a company, so sometimes they fit very poorly—if at all.Since the best way to learn is by doing, here are five jobs every budding entrepreneur should...
source: businessinsider.com
How Uber Is Launching In Its Newest City, Washington, DC | TechCrunch
My girlfriend: We’re late. We need to get a cab to the [Thanksgiving] dinner.Me: I just talked to the cab company and they’re going to take forever. I’m trying Uber.Her: There’s no Uber in DC.Me [checks app]: Oh, look...
source: techcrunch.com
How Fab.com Raised $40 Million With A Lot Of Data And Not Much Pain
Let’s face it, fundraising can be a real pain in the ass for the entrepreneur.It takes up a ton of time that can be otherwise spent managing the business.Sure, it’s a necessary evil, but it’s also typically a big distraction.It...
source: businessinsider.com
4 Principles of Stress-Free Management | Inc.com
In New York. Pregnant. Powerless. In pain. And thoroughly pissed off.In a nutshell, that’s how I became an entrepreneur.We like to think entrepreneurs are driven by a need to change the world or fulfill some unmet passion. But at the exact moment I...
source: inc.com
Your Startup is a Failure. How Do You Feel?
The assumption in Silicon Valley is if you put in your time and work hard, it will pay off."What does it feel like to put blood, sweat and tears into a startup only to realize one day that you need to cut your losses because...
source: businessinsider.com
11 Entrepreneurs Reveal How They Turned Former Employers Into Clients
Question: What are your tips for turning your former employer into a client?Make the Connection"In order to turn your former employer into a client, you need to make the connection from what you did at your day job to what your company offers. If...
source: businessinsider.com
How To Run A Business When You're The Only Employee
These days, independent consulting is one of the fastest-growing sectors in small business. Becoming a solopreneurs, or business of one, is attractive for a number of reasons. Working as an “IC” – the industry jargon for these one-person operations, offers experienced professionals freedom, flexibility and...
source: businessinsider.com
This Is How A Startup Thrived By Starring In A Webisode
You may have noticed that television is no longer just on your television anymore. More companies are discovering the power of online video to engage customers, and are putting up their own Web-based shows. For instance, Dell just aired a six-part Webisode miniseries on...
source: businessinsider.com
How I Learned To Use Failure To Help My Business
In the early stages of my business, I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of doing the "wrong thing" or appearing foolish. Now I realize that failure is a prerequisite for success. In order to figure out what works, we have to be willing to...
source: businessinsider.com
Famed Investor Esther Dyson Knows How To Make Big Bucks About What's Coming Next. So What's Next?
As an investor, Esther Dyson not only gets a glimpse into the future, but appears to live in it as well.Dyson sits on the board of 23andMe (and yes, she got her DNA sequenced), she's paid $3 million to train for space (that's...
source: businessinsider.com
VerticalResponse Buys Social Media Marketing Technology Startup Roost | TechCrunch
VerticalResponse, which provides self-service digital marketing solutions, has acquired Roost, a privately held social media marketing technology company based in San Francisco.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.VerticalResponse users can now sign up to create, schedule, manage and measure their social media...
source: techcrunch.com
The Incredible Story Of How TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky Became A Garbage Mogul
At first, it sounds like another startup fairytale. A 19-year-old Princeton freshman starts a company with the hopes of making a tangible difference in the world, and it grows into a global, multi-million dollar venture.But stories like TerraCycle founder and CEO Tom...
source: businessinsider.com
How Deepak Chopra's Daughter Used Her Spiritual Childhood Lessons To Create A Business
Intent means "purpose." No one understands this better than Mallika Chopra. Taught how to meditate at the age of nine by her world-renowned father Deepak Chopra, an authority in the practice of mind-body medicine and spiritual healing, Mallika is well-versed on how to...
source: businessinsider.com
Chloe + Isabel VC Pitch Deck Tips
Yesterday we grabbed coffee with Chloe + Isabel founder Chantel Waterbury.Chloe + Isabel is a jewelry website that turns each of its users into mini entrepreneurs.Users are encouraged to sell the Chloe + Isabel jewelry lines to friends and at house parties. Chloe + Isabel designs and creates...
source: businessinsider.com
Colin O'Donnell On The Challenges Of Starting A Second Hit Company
Colin O'Donnell knows how to build a successful web-based business. He's done it before, and now he's trying his hand at serial entrepreneurship with Fav&Co, a social media startup.O'Donnell's first go-around was Control Group, where he was...
source: businessinsider.com
Ever Wonder What It’s Like Inside a VC Pitch Meeting? You Can Be a Fly on the Wall Here
I’ve often wanted to let people see what a VC pitch is like to help new entrepreneurs have a better sense of what it’s like to present.Obviously having a camera on will add a small bit of an artificial result because I don...
source: bothsidesofthetable.com
21 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read
We've polled everyone from First Round Capital's Charlie O'Donnell to Steve Blank and Brad Feld in the past few years, and they told us what books have shaped their careers. From Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" to Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art...
source: businessinsider.com
Here's What The Average Tech Startup Looks Like
Between reading GeekWire every day, watching the Tech Stars Seattle Demo Day pitches, seeing the latest infographic from Gist, talking to Angels and VCs, and discussions with fellow venture backed entrepeneurs, I have lately been wondering what the “average” tech startup looks like today.It is...
source: businessinsider.com
5 Tools for Innovation | Inc.com
It’s taken for granted that young technology companies are innovative. They’re new, after all. They have new ideas and new perspectives.Unfortunately, that’s not the reality. Soon after developing their initial idea, most young companies are quickly consumed by execution, not innovation. They...
source: inc.com
Meet the Techstars Summer 2011 NYC founders
TechStars' second New York Demo Day is tomorrow, and 31 founders will present their startups to hundreds of investors on stage.The founders come from all types of backgrounds.A father with a 6-month-old is presenting a local restaurant ordering service. A young couple...
source: businessinsider.com
Mike Cassidy: How to build a $500M company in 500 days | VentureBeat
No one embodies the classic, sniff-it-out serial entrepreneur more than Mike Cassidy, who has now built and sold four companies (Stylus Innovation, Direct Hit, Xfire and Ruba), some of them with very impressive exits.Last week, Cassidy traveled to Turkey for a start-up...
source: venturebeat.com
25 and under tech founders and VCs in Silicon Valley
From venture capitalists to founders, we rounded up 25 super stars who are creating big names for themselves in Silicon Valley despite their young ages.Take Ernestine Fu for example.At age 20, she's the youngest venture capitalist in the Bay Area. The Mensa member...
source: businessinsider.com
This Is How To Fire Your Co-Founder
Start-up life is dynamic and unpredictable. Even the most logically constructed founding teams can have difficulty withstanding unstable market conditions, an aggressive change in the product development roadmap, or a significant pivot in the business model. The reality is that you may one day be...
source: businessinsider.com
Do you need a data scientist? | VentureBeat
Some of the world’s biggest tech companies from Google to Facebook are data-driven, but few startup founders have any idea what a data scientist does, never mind whether they should hire one. Here is VentureBeat’s guide to data science for startups.What does...
source: venturebeat.com
How to Fire Your Co-Founder | Inc.com
Start-up life is dynamic and unpredictable. Even the most logically constructed founding teams can have difficulty withstanding unstable market conditions, an aggressive change in the product development roadmap, or a significant pivot in the business model. The reality is that you may one day be...
source: inc.com
2011 TechStars NYC Startups after launch
Earlier this week, the season finale of Bloomberg's Techstars show aired.Eight of the eleven startups from the incoming class reunited to talk about what has happened in the six months since Demo Day.Some raised financing. Some changed ideas. Some died.We caught up...
source: businessinsider.com
5 Simple Rules To Help Make Your Brand Wildly Successful
When Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg founded their company with a single bar of soap in 1991, they never imagined that one day their cosmetics brand Fresh would be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moet et Chandon.But today, with...
source: businessinsider.com
How Slashing My Number Of Clients Helped My Business Thrive
Don't Try to Be Everything to EveryoneI used to own an IT and development business. I thought that since I didn't have the big overheads like bigger corporations, and I had easy access to inexpensive talent in India (being my home country), I could...
source: businessinsider.com