May, 2018

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Remind Me Why I Love You? (Why “In Person” is Everything)

Both Sides of the Table

You had an amazing meeting with an investor. Your product demo crushed. The dialog was great. They told you how much they loved your space. The meeting was only supposed to last 45 minutes but you ran 90. The assistant tried to end the meeting twice but was shoooshed away. You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence.

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How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Employees

Entrepreneurs' Organization

You know that employees benefit from constructive feedback. You understand that the opportunity to apply helpful criticism helps an employee perform better and even grow more loyal. Still, it’s hard to deliver effective feedback. Even the greatest leaders struggle with providing constructive and beneficial performance reviews. Follow this feedback primer to practice delivering effective criticism. 3 TYPES OF FEEDBACK: Positive: “You’re doing a great job in this area.” Neu

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How can you let a talented employee go to pursue a new career?

Berkonomics

It is tough to lose your best employees wanting to advance their careers. Sometimes you can be the coach, helping them even if it means losing them. And, as in today’s story, sometimes it can mean the beginning of an amazing journey leading to a story for the ages… We’d all like to retain our best managers and employees forever or at least for as long as possible.

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The Most Important Book You'll Read All Year

Tomasz Tunguz

Imagine you came across this ad. Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory and makes you more creative. It makes you look more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and the flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes.

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15 Modern Use Cases for Enterprise Business Intelligence

Large enterprises face unique challenges in optimizing their Business Intelligence (BI) output due to the sheer scale and complexity of their operations. Unlike smaller organizations, where basic BI features and simple dashboards might suffice, enterprises must manage vast amounts of data from diverse sources. What are the top modern BI use cases for enterprise businesses to help you get a leg up on the competition?

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Ramblings On Time Management

Haystack

This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for many months. Ironically, I’ve haven’t had the time for *this specific* post until now, today. I’m writing while all my three toddlers are napping and my wife went to work to get organized. I’ll likely finish this tonight after putting the kids to sleep. This is a post about time — and various attempts at time management.

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Why you should never have a data room — the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever…

Both Sides of the Table

Why you should never have a data room?—?the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. If you stick through to the end I’m guessing I can persuade most of you. Let me start out with my premise: “Data rooms are where fund-raising processes go to die.

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Can Company Culture Be Too Strong?

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Written for EO by Jackie Roberson, writer. In many companies corporate culture is never explicitly defined, but rather implied. It shows up in the way that employees interact with each other, the way they dress and maintain their work areas, the hours they work, and how they conduct business with the outside world. Culture is defined through the satisfaction of the employees and the clients, the way the office is set up, and the benefits offered to employees.

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You are your company’s moral compass.

Berkonomics

Here’s yet another story that you may identify with – or have yet to experience in your business life. It’s one of those that define your leadership for all to see, sometimes based upon decisions made in the moment – such as this one. A story of a CEO’s snap judgment call. Years ago, when I was CEO of my record manufacturing company in Hollywood, I happened to walk around the plant into the press room just as Bobby, one of the employees’ favorite coworkers, was offering stolen merchandise to his

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When Will the Next Wave of UI Advances Happen?

Tomasz Tunguz

Technology innovations swing to a pendulum’s cadence. Sometimes innovations begin with infrastructure changes and reverberate up the stack. Other times, front-end engineers innovate at the application layer, which demand downstream changes in the infrastructure to scale. The last major epoch of front end evolution has celebrated its ten year anniversary.

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How Top Tech CFOs Solve Annual Planning’s Biggest Challenges

Gearing up for 2025 annual planning? Our latest eBook from the Operators Guild is your ultimate guide. Discover real-world solutions and best practices shared by top CFOs, drawn directly from discussions within OG’s vibrant online community. Learn from senior executives at high-growth tech startups as they outline financial planning strategies, align CEO and board goals, and coordinate budgets across departments.

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Different Ways To Invest In Startups: The Opportunity… And The Catch

Haystack

The public’s interest in learning more about and participating in venture capital seems to grow more and more each week. I have written a few posts here lately sharing my own experience and point of view, but then realized we all may talk about “getting into VC” as if it is a monolithic endeavor — and that would not do us or the reader justice.

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Building Broker Relations: Recipe for Successful Coworking Spaces

Deskmag

For many big coworking spaces, integrating broker firms into the sales strategy for their space is the norm. Yet for others, it’s unknown territory. Whilst brokers may have previously been associated with traditional offices, many coworking operators are now utilizing their capabilities to minimise vacancy rates. However, creating an effective relationship with a broker firm isn’t something that happens at the touch of a button; there are ways and means of ensuring the working relationship fully

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How Many Investors Should You Talk to in a VC Fund Raise? And How Do You Prioritize?

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of a series of advice for founders who need to raise money from venture capitalists. The first in the series is “ Lemons Ripen Early ,” which also has a link to other posts. The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed.

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What Every Great Leader Needs

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Written for EO by Jackie Roberson. When you’re managing a business and trying to grow it, being able to lead a team to greatness is key. You know you must hire the right people, learn how to delegate and communicate effectively to be a strong leader. But beyond these basics, what do truly great leaders need? Consider these four key traits. 1. A Growth Mindset.

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Your Fractional Finance and Accounting Team

Mighty Financial specializes in supporting the financial aspirations of small businesses and entrepreneurs. With our comprehensive bookkeeping and precise accounting expertise with decades of experience across diverse financial roles, our team offers tailor-made services ranging from essential bookkeeping to strategic fractional CFO support, catered specifically to the unique challenges of technology companies, startups, and SMEs.

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Global Leader in Salivary Bioscience is Grateful for Ben Franklin’s Investment

Ben Franklin Technology Partners

State College, PA – Salimetrics, a company that is widely regarded as a global leader in salivary bioscience, got its start nearly 20 years ago with an investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and then received additional funding from the program for a buyout of early-stage investors in 2012. The founder of the company, Dr. Doug Granger, a nationally and internationally recognized scientist, pioneered the use of saliva collection methods and salivary ELISA kits which provided con

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A Crypto-Trading Uber Driver and a Billionaire's Spat over Candy - On The Importance of Sticking to Your Strategy

Tomasz Tunguz

At Redpoint’s annual investor meeting earlier this year, I quipped, “The day-trading taxi drivers of the dotcom era have been replaced by crypto-trading Uber drivers.” But over the weekend, a grizzled Uber driver with a mane of grey hair and wind-and-sunburnt cheeks asked me about crypto. “Can you explain to me why public key/private key technology is important on the Blockchain?

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Have you been celebrating each victory?

Berkonomics

Here comes another story. Of course. This one may be like one or more you have experienced in your company. It is a story about focus upon the customer, first. And about reinforcing the culture of the company in support of that important focus by senior management, and by all employees who see that leadership in action…. Some examples of celebration you can use.

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Data Privacy Policy

Deskmag

We are very delighted that you have shown interest in reading artilces on deskmag.com. The use of this webesite is possible without any indication of personal data; however, if a data subject wants to use special enterprise services via our website, processing of personal data could become necessary. If the processing of personal data is necessary and there is no statutory basis for such processing, we generally obtain consent from the data subject.

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Digitalization: 5 Tech Updates That Will Help You Survive The Recession & Thrive

Lack of digitalization decreases business competitiveness. To thrive, embracing modern solutions becomes essential. The approach to digitalization often aligns with a company's business model. This shift not only boosts productivity but also automates processes and improves security. The tech market offers a wealth of technologies tailored for management, planning, and forecasting, replacing outdated pen-and-paper methods.

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How to Talk About Valuation When a VC Asks

Both Sides of the Table

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay.

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This Is the Most Powerful Word You’ll Ever Use in Business

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Written for EO by Jack Anzarouth, president of Digital Ink Marketing. Many new founders and entrepreneurs feel they have to say “yes” to every opportunity that comes their way. But that small word “yes” comes with a big cost. The appeal of “yes”. We get into the habit of saying “yes” to every professional opportunity presented to us for a number of reasons: Many of us have a natural desire to please.

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About this book

Derek Sivers

In my first book, Anything You Want , I told the story of how I started, grew, and sold my company. As part of selling the company, I signed a non-compete agreement that said I couldn’t do the one thing I’d been doing since I was twenty-seven years old. So I had to make a real change in my life. I thought a lot about what’s worth doing, fixing faulty thinking, and making things happen.

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An Ode to the OKR - How to Motivate Greater Ambition in Teams

Tomasz Tunguz

I remember the first time I wrote an OKR (objective and key result) at Google. “You should set your goals so that you attain 70%. That’s success,” my manager told me. “Even better if you have a moonshot goal in there, with a 5% likelihood of success.” I was uneasy with calling 70% goal achievement as success. The habits formed from 17 years of schooling and a 100 point scale run deep.

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PE Mastery: CAPTARGET's Playbook for Quality Lead Flow

CAPTARGET presents a masterclass in M&A deal sourcing. Learn to cast a wide net, embracing seller self-identification. Consistency is the linchpin: keep the origination process steady for a reliable flow of opportunities. Diversify your tactics, employing various tools and vendors. Tech matters! Understand DNS settings, domain authority, and brand presence for optimal outreach.

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Here’s a rule for companies with outstanding loans

Berkonomics

Here is one that is so important to the continued health of a growing company that it cannot be overstated. It’s a bit complex for novices. But hang in there as I explain a bit about accounting classification of assets and liabilities. Differences between types of assets and liabilities. First, let’s be sure we know what is short in term and what is long in term.

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LARGE MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATION PUTS A “NEW SPIN” ON A SMALL LOCAL MANUFACTURER

Ben Franklin Technology Partners

ERIE, PA – More than 15 years ago, a Penn State Erie faculty member, Tom Briselden and his team at Spin-Works LLC, developed an innovative, silicon-carbide radiant tube insert called a SpyroCor. The twisted “Y” design produced non-turbulent, high convection flow creating a high rate of uniform heat transfer. At the time, there were more than 20,000 natural gas furnaces in the United States and Canada, and the cost of fuel was rising.

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How Much Should You Raise in Your VC Round? And What is a VC Looking at in Your Model?

Both Sides of the Table

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It goes something like this … VC: “How much money are you raising?” Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” Founder: “$250k / month.” VC: “So at a constant rate of burn rate you’d be raising enough for 2.5–3 years.

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10 Tips for Creating Top-Notch Presentations

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Written by entrepreneur Jeremy Choi, CEO and co-founder of WPUP Inc. A version of this article originally appeared Jeremy’s blog , where he shares his thoughts on leadership, relationships, fatherhood, entrepreneurship, productivity, and more. . Steve Jobs was arguably one of the best presenters to ever grace a stage. His presentations were inspiring.

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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr