January, 2014

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Putting Tom Perkins Comments into Context

Both Sides of the Table

'Tom Perkins is one of the founding members of the venerable venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins. He just had his Mitt Romney moment and his name will forever be etched in the collective consciousness of the tech community for this terribly insensitive and tone deaf letter to the Wall Street Journal. The headline of Mr. Perkins letter to the WSJ?

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Fundraising Done.and Now for the Real Work

This is going to be BIG.

'I''m announcing two things today. First, I''ve finished raising the first Brooklyn Bridge Ventures fund--tallying $8.3 million. This is what I set out to do just about two years ago when I first broke out on my own and started raising, so I''m thrilled to say that it has finally happened. I''m not going to do too much of a victory lap, though, because it bugs me a little when startups do it, and I''m a startup, too.

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Entrepreneurs Relish The Challenge More Than Money

Gust

'Image via Flickr (Creative Commons). Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. On the average, the entrepreneurs I know are living on Ramen noodles. But one thing they all seem to have in common is a love for learning and change. They rush in with a passion to better the world, and money is just an indication of their progress.

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Build a company – not just a product.

Berkonomics

'Some businesses are built around a single idea. And sometimes that idea is just too small a slice of the big picture to be interesting to investors. There was a recent investor event where I was keynote speaker, on stage only after several panels of experts had wowed the audience with their predictions and observations. One of the panelists made a point that resonated with me.

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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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The Best Times of Year to Raise Capital for Your Startup

Tomasz Tunguz

Aside from a startup’s internal considerations about the right time to raise money, founders should weigh the seasonality of the fund raising market when planning their raise. There’s a rule of thumb batted around the valley that the worst times to raise capital are in the dog-days of summer and after Thanksgiving. As it turns out, this aphorism is only a half-truth.

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More Trending

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Understanding the Underbelly of Online Marketing & Why You’ll Lose if You Don’t

Both Sides of the Table

'Yesterday I wrote a post about “ growth hacking ” and why I thought it was wrong that people were hating on the term unnecessarily. It’s worth a quick read. My argument is pretty simple. If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group.

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Local Schwag Bearers

This is going to be BIG.

'Stick around long enough in a big tech community and you''ll see your share of big company evangelists come and go. They''re always hired with the best of intentions--someone meant to be the eyes and ears on the ground for a company trying to turn today''s future stars into tomorrow''s big customers. They support entreprenership because they see the ROI: Be helpful to a startup now, be there when they''re high on promise and low on cash, and you could be the platform that the next Facebook runs

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What are some ways you can keep track of startups you are evaluating/diligencing/investing in?

Gust

'This is obviously a softball question that I’ve been Asked to Answer, as I’m the Founder/CEO of Gust. The answer, of course, is Gust —because that’s exactly the purpose behind the platform! Gust is the infrastructure that underlies much of the professional world of early stage finance. It is used by hundreds of thousands of companies in 195 countries to organize all of their investor relations material; it is used by over a thousand angel investor networks, venture capital

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Ready, aim, fire. Really?

Berkonomics

'You’ve surely heard the variations on this theme. “Ready, fire aim” was popular in the 1990’s, accredited to any of several authors. I used the term to describe my efforts in the artificial intelligence field, experimenting with new devices, the lisp programming language, and our first trial installations. It seemed an ideal way to describe a scrappy, entrepreneurial activity.

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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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Understanding Japan

Derek Sivers

This essay is adapted from an excerpt of the great book “ A Geek in Japan ” by Héctor Garcia. It is the first chapter of my new Japan 2014 book. If three Japanese people are talking together, and a fourth one joins the conversation, he will apologize upon approach for breaking the harmony of the group. Why? In Japan, everything looks like it works to perfection.

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The Go-To-Market Challenges of B2D Companies

Tomasz Tunguz

Last week, I spent some time at HeavyBit , the community for developer focused companies in SoMa, chatting with a few companies reaching scale. Across a handful of meetings, a recurring theme surfaced for these B2D (business-to-developer companies). How should their sales and marketing apparatuses be built? Do the field sales models of infrastructure companies or the inside sales models of software companies apply when the initial user is a developer?

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Please Help Me Congratulate Jordan Hudson as @UpfrontVC’s Newest Investment Principal

Both Sides of the Table

'Happy official New Year’s, all. It’s that time of year where we think about new beginnings. And there’s none that makes me happier than to announce that Jordan Hudson has been promoted to a Principal at Upfront Ventures. Please help me congratulate him by Re/Tweeting this post (and following him if you don’t already). What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures?

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Changing my mind about blogging

This is going to be BIG.

'I''ve been dolling out career advice ever since I walked into college with a paid internship in finance. I seemed to know what I was doing, so lots of people asked me for help. I spent a lot of time thinking about what seemed to be driving my career and the paths of others, because I wanted to make sure I really believed that the advice that I was sharing could work.

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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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Which angel investing journals are the most useful, either online or in print?

Gust

'There are actually no angel investing ‘journals’ per se, because there simply are not enough active, professional angel investors to make a market. There are, however, quite a few blog posts on the subject, although most are written for an entrepreneurial audience, rather than angels themselves. And there is one really excellent weekly podcast to keep you up to speed.

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How to make a business partnership a success

Berkonomics

'By JJ Richa. Dave’s note: Our guest insight this week is from JJ Richa. JJ is a successful entrepreneur and technologist giving back to the entrepreneurial. community in many ways, including his weekly Internet TV program on entrepreneurism, and participation in several mentoring programs. . Business partnerships have their advantages and disadvantages.

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Understanding Vietnam

Derek Sivers

This essay is by Jeremy Wellard, who is based in Hanoi. This is the first chapter of my new Vietnam 2014 book. The only thing most people know of Vietnam is the Vietnam War. In Vietnam, they call it the American War, and it’s just old history. There is so much more to this youthful, thriving country. Vietnam has long been considered the cultural and artistic heart of Asia, and the Vietnamese are the “Italians of Asia”.

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The Technology that's Taking Data Science by Storm

Tomasz Tunguz

Given all the momentum of the NoSQL movement, it would be easy to write off SQL-based technologies as forgotten, or simply standing still. But there’s a tremendous amount of innovation occurring in SQL databases. Amazon’s Redshift, an elastic data-warehousing solution launched in late 2012 is the most salient example. Redshift’s ability to process huge volumes of data is breathtaking.

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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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What I Would Look for When Choosing a VC – Knowing What I Know Now?

Both Sides of the Table

'Picking a VC is hard. You don’t really have much to go on to decide who would make a good fit. Reputation of firm? Of partner? Deals done in your industry? It’s a bit of all of these. I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs.

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The Rules of Inclusion

This is going to be BIG.

'I was talking to a female engineer turned product manager last week about her experience as one of the few women at a hackathon. While she didn''t experience anything particularly negative, she still didn''t feel particularly welcome. When you''re one of only a few people who look like you in a place, if the event is a free-for-all, it''s tough to break into new groups and connect with strangers.

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Entrepreneurs Must Not Confuse Action With Results

Gust

'Image via CEOAfterLife.com. Too many entrepreneurs confuse actions with momentum and results. We all know someone who repeatedly tells us how “busy” they are, when it’s hard to see what they get done. Momentum is moving things forward (mass x velocity). Founders or employees in constant motion, but with no momentum, will never get off the ground. It is true that motion in any direction is often better than no motion at all.

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The five C’s of Business Partners: a marriage without the sex

Berkonomics

'By Richard Sudek. Dave’s note: Our guest insight this week is by Richard Sudek, an associate professor of entrepreneurism at Chapman University Graduate School of Business. He is Director of the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurism and Business Ethics, and Chairman Emeritus of the Tech Coast Angels, the largest angel group in the United States.

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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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Understanding Singapore

Derek Sivers

This is the first chapter of my new Singapore 2014 book. When I tell people I live in Singapore, the most common misunderstandings I hear are: “How can you live in that sterile squeaky-clean police state?”. “Isn’t that where they cane people for chewing gum?”. “Disneyland with a death penalty! Haha!”. “What part of China is that in?”. I’m not surprised when people misunderstand Singapore, because it requires a little explanation.

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What the Nest Acquisition Means for the Internet of Things

Tomasz Tunguz

As recently as six months ago, it was easy to disregard the Internet of Things (IoT) as just a theoretical market that Cisco measured in the trillions , but whose potential never seemed to materialize. That’s all changing. The past year ushered in a new era for the Internet of Things for three reasons. First, venture capitalists invested nearly $1B of capital in the IoT in 2013, more than 3% of all VC investments by dollars.

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Understanding the Politics of Tech Startups

Both Sides of the Table

'Many startups these days are started by young, technical or product founders who are in the idealistic phase of their lives and careers. Thus I hear many talk about “radical transparency” when virtually ever experienced operator in my inner circle talks knowingly about that naiveté. It’s not that I don’t love idealism – I was young once, too!

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Don't be undressed on the internet

This is going to be BIG.

'Someone dropped the phrase "Rollover App" to me the other day--referring to the first app you open up when you wake up. It was funny and true.and kind of sad. I realized the other day that the very first thing in the morning that I do is check various things on the internet--and it''s because my phone is my alarm. That alarm clock is the trojan horse that the internet uses to sneak into my day.

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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