Both Sides of the Table
MAY 27, 2016
I was speaking recently to the team at NuOrder , an LA-based company we’re an investor in about “realism in startups” — an impromptu talk I have given to any of our portfolio companies who ask. During the Q&A I was asked about how I make investment decisions in early-stage businesses. I was asked again in an LP meeting later in the week and then again at a founder breakfast gathering we hosted yesterday.
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 16, 2016
It's very easy to think that there is a clear cut difference between the really great ideas and the really bad ones. You believe that no matter when you get pitched, you'll usually do a good job of telling the difference between the two. Sure, most of the really low chance of success stuff--things in unworkably small markets, unprepared founders, or ideas that lack a clear user value proposition--falls away pretty quickly.
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Entrepreneurs' Organization
MAY 27, 2016
Giving back to the next generation of entrepreneurs has never been more rewarding. Just ask EO Philippines, who from 31 March to 3 April, held their MyEO Next Gen Bootcamp 2.0—entitled “Bizwars”—in Makati. In all, 43 participants representing two chapters (EO Philippines and EO Perth) came together to teach teenagers the importance of personal leadership, collaboration, innovation and nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit.
Startup Lawyer
MAY 18, 2016
I previously wrote that accelerator documents should be easy. At the time, I thought accelerator documents should be easy primarily because of the potential adverse selection problem for the accelerator. In other words, the more difficult the terms or onboarding process (including the investment documents), the more likely the best startups would choose a different … Continue reading → The post Accelerator Investments Should Be Convertible Equity appeared first on Startup Lawyer.
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Berkonomics
MAY 19, 2016
Sometimes you need to hire a specialist already trained in a single narrow task. But for most of us, we’d do far better hiring someone who has proven from past experience to be a “jack of all trades” able to fill many positions, do many tasks, learn and perform in many situations. You’d be going against the grain of advice by many who state that trained, experienced new hires will benefit the organization, raise the level of enterprise expertise, and fit in and contribute immediately.
Startup Catalyst Brief brings together the best content for the entrepreneurial ecosystem from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 28, 2016
I’ve been online for nearly 30 years (yes, there was CompuServe and Prodigy before the www), blogging for 10 and using social media tools since the earliest days. I love to watch networks evolve, see how crowds gather and communicate and curate and share. Twitter was the most unique social sharing platform that had emerged in my experience because it unintentionally innovated on a constraint of 140 characters (initially so that it could send messages as SMS, which it self had a size constraint).
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 22, 2016
There's no possible way I can get up to speed on what a founder knows about their industry, plan, goals, or team, in just a few hours or even days. Hell, I could spend weeks on it and, hopefully, it wouldn't make a difference. You should know way more about this than I ever could. That's why the consistent theme among the very worst pitches I take are the ones where the entrepreneur asks me what I think--about everything.
Entrepreneurs' Organization
MAY 26, 2016
This article was originally published on Inc.com. Kim Ades is an EO Accelerator participant from Toronto and the president and founder of Frame of Mind Coaching , helping clients reach new levels of success in both their professional and personal lives. EO Accelerator, a program run by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) , enables early stage entrepreneurs to catapult their companies and empowers them with tools for aggressive business growth.
Startup Lawyer
MAY 16, 2016
Tech Wildcatters, the original Dallas accelerator, is hosting their first pitch day of 2016 on May 26th at the House of Blues in Dallas. Here’s the streamlined agenda: 12:45pm — Accredited Investor Preview 1:30pm — Doors Open to General Public 2:15pm — Program/Pitches 3:30pm — Happy Hour It’s free to attend, but be sure to register … Continue reading → The post Tech Wildcatters Pitch Day May 2016 appeared first on Startup Lawyer.
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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?
Berkonomics
MAY 26, 2016
Dave’s note: The week, we again welcome Kim Shepherd as our guest author, with her blunt, on-the-target style. As always, you should enjoy her insights for management… By Kim Shepherd. You have enough on your plate without having to hold your employees’ hands or peer over their shoulders. In fact, the ideal scenario is to follow Lee Iacocca’s strategy: “I hire people brighter than me and then I get out of their way.” Of course, in practice it’s not tha
Tomasz Tunguz
MAY 22, 2016
To thrive, venture capital firms must perform three things well: raise capital from limited partners, source companies to invest in, and pick the best opportunities. Historically, each of these three activities has been highly centralized in a small partnership often perched on Sand Hill Road. But new networks are changing this. The latest called DAO attempts to decentralize all three at once.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 13, 2016
In case you missed it, the press yesterday ran several stories questioning the viability of a wireless charging company I invested in… Continue reading on Both Sides of the Table »
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 18, 2016
Amazon is opening up retail locations. Think about that. The very behemoth that made bricks and mortar into dirty words thinks it's important to have a physical presence in a storefront. Makes you think about everyone trying to turn their digital presence into just another location, but in the cloud. Competing with Amazon online is a loser's bet that smart retailers can't afford to make.
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Entrepreneurs' Organization
MAY 17, 2016
Entrepreneurs are always looking for the special ingredient that will make their team work better. More often than not, a stronger bond comes from taking the team to a new setting with different challenges–outside the office. We asked members of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s (EO) Boston and Nashville chapters to share what methods they’ve used to strengthen their teams outside of the office.
Surdna Foundation
MAY 6, 2016
Since the end of the Great Recession, almost 12 million jobs have been created — but most have been in low-wageoccupations and at places like strip malls and fast-food restaurants. Average wages for working Americans have dropped 23 percent. It’s become clear that job creation does not equate to lasting economic change. In order to reverse the troubling trends we’re seeing, we no longer find it defensible to focus on job creation alone.
Berkonomics
MAY 12, 2016
Dave’s Note: Our special guest author this week is Kelly Graham from Decision Toolbox, Inc. You’ll enjoy her take on one of the basic issues of our business-personal lives… By Kelly Graham. Finding work–life balance is one of the most abused clichés in business today. Why? Because there is no such thing as work–life balance in corporate America today.
Tomasz Tunguz
MAY 30, 2016
We each know that focus is the most effective way to work, but hearing the mantra to focus doesn’t help narrow our scope. What’s the best way to focus? Start with the premise that everything is noise and then work to find the exceptionally valuable or important things for each day and for each project. That’s the thesis of a book called Essentialism.
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Both Sides of the Table
MAY 19, 2016
I’ve spoken before about our desire at Upfront Ventures to fund really big ideas that solve hard problems, are science led and if successful will both have a positive effect on people’s lives as well as make great financial returns. We’re not Pollyannaish about this. We believe that it is incrementally harder to differentiate on simple Internet products or mobile apps and while great companies are built doing this, our goal as a fund is to try and fund things that can be 100x returns if they wor
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 16, 2016
There aren't many people who get the chance to analyze venture capital fund return data. You'd have to work for a very limited number of fund performance tracking firms, like Thomson Reuters, Cambridge, etc., or be an institution big enough to see a ton of different funds over time. So when someone gets access to a dataset, no matter how incomplete, it's no surprise they'll rush into making lots of declarative statements about how the asset class performs without even a reasonable gut check.
Entrepreneurs' Organization
MAY 4, 2016
Ludwick Marishane won the EO GSEA Global Finals in 2011. Here is his TED Talk, “ A Bath Without Water ,” from 2012 in Johannesburg, along with a transcription. So I grew up in Limpopo, on the border of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, a little town called Motetema. Water and electricity supply are as unpredictable as the weather, and growing up in these tough situations, at the age of 17, I was relaxing with a couple of friends of mine in winter, and we were sunbathing.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 7, 2016
You Need to Find Your Mojo A Chip On Your Shoulder A few years ago I wrote a blog post on entrepreneurs with a chip on their shoulders. I think it’s an important read. A chip on one’s shoulder as in, “F**k the system, it’s broken and I want to fix it” is exactly the energy I look for in entrepreneurs. My internal compass says that “country-club” entrepreneurs struggle to make as big of an impact because it’s really hard to totally change a system that you’re part of and have a vested interest in
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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.
Entrepreneurs' Organization
MAY 31, 2016
Diving into entrepreneurship can be a scary thought for many, but it can also be a worthwhile endeavor. Rusty Shelton, an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) member from Austin, is president of Advantage Marketing and co-author of Mastering the New Media Landscape: Embrace the Micromedia Landscape. We asked Rusty about what he has learned during his entrepreneurial journey – here’s what he had to say.
Entrepreneurs' Organization
MAY 19, 2016
This article was originally posted on Inc.com. In remarks at Inc.’s annual GrowCo conference on Wednesday, the entrepreneur, investor, and Internet advocate divulged the most valuable lessons he’s learned since he launched the hugely popular website in 2005. After many years away, Alexis Ohanian , the serial entrepreneur, investor, and open-Internet advocate, recently returned to the helm of Reddit , the huge user-curated news site, along with his co-founder and college roommate, Ste
Entrepreneurs' Organization
MAY 9, 2016
Starla Tyler hasn’t pitched her business on Shark Tank. She didn’t graduate from Harvard or another prestigious Ivy League school. She doesn’t even have a business degree. And yet, the 34 year-old former teacher and mother of two from Highland, California, recently passed a milestone most entrepreneurs aspire to but few achieve. In 2015, after less than four years in business, her toy makeup company Little Cosmetics generated over $1 million in sales.
Entrepreneurs' Organization
MAY 6, 2016
There’s a reason that agility has become a popular buzzword. The power to both think and act quickly is a defining factor in any startup’s success. Those that get hung up on outdated processes risk failing due to their own sluggishness. Some startups try to anticipate how their staffing needs will shift as they grow, which Ben Horowitz calls “ the scale anticipation fallacy.
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