Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. In our industry we applaud the efforts for entrepreneurs to have tried and we know that today’s failure can bring the experience for tomorrow’s success. We also know that even though many of us who are experienced in startup successes & failures look at businesses and say, “That will never work” (as many people said about Uber) or “You can’t make any money in that business” (as many said

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 27, 2016

I get a lot of "Do you know anyone for this?" e-mails. It's good to know what people are searching for, but the chances that an investor knows the right person are quite low. Here are five tips for improving your chances: 1) Hire someone to do the blocking and tackling. This is a volume game, just like sales. In my estimation, you need to reach out to roughly 100 people to score 10 interviews to hire 1 person.

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Gust

MARCH 21, 2016

With startup growth up 61% since 2014 and more investment programs emerging, it can be overwhelming for founders to know just where to jump in. As the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet, MassChallenge has helped 835 startup companies around the world, who have raised over $1.1 billion in funding and created over 6,500 jobs. We have seen startups at.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 28, 2016

By Frank Fantozzi, an EO Cleveland member and President and Founder of Planned Financial Services. The family business model can be extremely rewarding for entrepreneurs, especially when it comes to creating a legacy that brings about pride, honor and family fulfillment. However,?as family businesses expand, they face unique performance and governance challenges.

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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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Berkonomics

MARCH 24, 2016

Dave’s note: This week we welcome guest author, David Friedman, to tell us about his favorite startup CEO, and his take after interviewing her – asking for her list of attributes for startup success. . By David Friedman. I met Kirsten Mangers several years ago after she successfully sold her startup, Webvisible. Kirsten is the founder of ChickLabs , an incubator that focuses on helping primarily women entrepreneurs.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2016

Yesterday I wrote a primer on how to use Snapchat for my peer group of “over 30” people who don’t yet “get” Snapchat. Today I want to talk briefly about why I believe Snapchat is an important media company. If you still don’t get Snapchat please read the primer or follow me on Snapchat for a week or two because how I create “stories” on Snapchat is more of a use case for modern media than perhaps some teens use the product so it may resonate more

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 2, 2016

815 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY - A former turn of the century era bank building that will soon house creative folks. Don't you just hate it when you own an old building made like no one makes buildings anymore in an up and coming area--and you've got no cool startupy/creative/tech tenants in it yet? I know, I know--we've all been there. Well, have no fear, I've got your solution right here.

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Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 6, 2016

The startup fundraising market in 2016 has been difficult to characterize. Punctuated by a concentrated decline in public tech stocks, the sentiment in Startupland has changed from resolute ebullience to a calmness approaching caution. Two months in, we can analyze January and February data. This posts analyses US headquartered information technology companies which VC-led investment rounds, except for the $793M Series C in Magic Leap , which I excluded as an outlier.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 8, 2016

As the owner of a commercial art gallery for more than 24 years, I never imagined that people would buy art online, or that I would be selling to them without any prior relationship or connection. I had seen the importance of developing mutual trust and respect with clients, and per tradition, I would nurture these working relationships over a period of years.

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Berkonomics

MARCH 10, 2016

Dave’s note: For the second week, we welcome my co-author of “Get Scrappy,” Kim Shepherd, to give us her answer to the oft-repeated question: “How can I trust that my virtual employees are working?” You’ll recall that Kim is an expert here, managing her company of over one hundred employees around the world literally from a post office box – with every one of them, including herself, working from home in a virtual environment.

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Derek Sivers

MARCH 16, 2016

Every day, someone asks me to promote or announce something they’ve created. Every day, I have to say no, no matter who or what it is. It upsets me every time. Almost everyone I know is a creator. Everyone has made a song, site, video, book, business, or project. Most of them are quite good. I want them all to succeed. I hate to play favorites. But if I announced them all, my site and feed would be a daily firehose of “check it out”.

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creativity 52

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2016

In 2006 I started using Facebook and most of my friends & colleagues thought I was strange. They thought it was like MySpace and why did I need a MySpace page? In 2007 I started using Twitter and most of my friends & colleagues wondered why people would care what I ate for lunch. In 2008 I started VC blogging. I had blogged when I was an entrepreneur.

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Fink About It

MARCH 24, 2016

In June of 2010, something really extraordinary happened in the world of Philanthropy. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet began recruiting for what is known as “The Giving Pledge.” As many of you know, the giving pledge is a promise made by the wealthiest individuals in the world, mostly billionaires, to give away the majority of [.]. The post Conscious Capitalism appeared first on Fink About It.

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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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Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 20, 2016

What are your top three priorities in your job right now? If I asked you that question, I suspect within a minute or two you could articulate them. Is the software you are selling at your SaaS startup solving one of those three needs for your target customer? And, if it is, does your software meaningfully differentiate along one of the key competitive axes that your customer cares about?

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 22, 2016

By Cindy Koebele, EO Minnesota member and President of TitleSmart, Inc. , a full-service title insurance company. . The title insurance industry, like many others, has faced incredible change over the past few years. I started TitleSmart, Inc. in 2007 during the collapse of the housing market, precisely because I believe change and chaos breed opportunity.

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Unvalidated Learnings

MARCH 15, 2016

Next Stop: Europe. Captain Train Joins Trainline Every year, €70bn worth of train tickets are sold in Europe. However, given that the continent’s rail system is split between a multitude of rail operators, currencies and countries, the industry is fragmented and ticketing is a complex affair. And with the European Commission pushing for ever more competition, the direction of travel is clear: more choice for the consumers, more complexity for the distributors.

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For Entrepreneurs

MARCH 23, 2016

There are many opinions on creating a pitch deck and presenting to potential investors, but there is still a big gap between what entrepreneurs perceive to be important and what investors really value during a pitch presentation. This post is the first in a series, where we will provide real examples–the good, the OK, and.

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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.

technology

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

$30 million. That’s how much Invoca raised and we’re announcing it today. It is an heroic accomplishment in a brutal fund-raising market in which only market leaders can bring in that sort of money. But the story started more than 6 months ago. And the narrative may tell you something about your own journey one day. We started planning our fund raising as much as 14 months ago.

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Gust

MARCH 8, 2016

Kathryn Schifferle, Founder and CEO of Work Truck Solutions, turned being a woman in work trucks into an oversubscribed $2.1 million round. We sat down with Kathryn as she shared what her fundraising journey was like, the startup lessons she learned, and her advice to fellow founders, especially women. Here is what she had to say: HK: Tell. Read more >.

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Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 17, 2016

Clay Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor, asserted in a recent interview that we understand only half of the marketing puzzle: the marketing science involved in a competitive ecosystem, when consumers are buying millions of products. In these markets, concepts like Westendorp Price Sensitivity and conjoint analyses work. But to incite disruption requires a different set of marketing skills.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 14, 2016

By Brian Scudamore, an EO Vancouver member and founder of O2E Brands. We’re a nation of hoarders. I should know; my company 1-800-GOT-JUNK? became famous on a TV show that deals solely with helping people buried in their own junk. The first hoarded home I ever entered had a stockpile of soup cans that could have lasted well into the 23rd century. Hoarding “stuff” is bad for people, and it’s even worse for entrepreneurs.

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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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Unvalidated Learnings

MARCH 15, 2016

Next Stop: Europe. Captain Train Joins Trainline Every year, €70bn worth of train tickets are sold in Europe. However, given that the continent’s rail system is split between a multitude of rail operators, currencies and countries, the industry is fragmented and ticketing is a complex affair. And with the European Commission pushing for ever more competition, the direction of travel is clear: more choice for the consumers, more complexity for the distributors.

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For Entrepreneurs

MARCH 9, 2016

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. When Polyvore CEO Jess Lee was looking for a CFO, she found everything she wanted in Cheryl Dalrymple: incredible experience, shared values about how to run a company, and immediate personal rapport.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. While I’m not an LP, the following post represents my discussions with more than 100 LP firms – specifically ones that do fund VCs – and full survey data from 73 firms , so I’ve tried to capture the essence of what I’ve learned.

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Derek Sivers

MARCH 3, 2016

There are three things to consider when making life-size decisions: What makes you happy. What’s smart — meaning long-term good for you. What’s useful to others. We have a tendency to forget one of these. For example: Smart and useful (but not happy). This is the stereotype of the strict parent who says, “You will go to the best school, get perfect grades, get a degree in law or medicine, and make lots of money.

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strategy 74

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