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This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. I’m a very big proponent of the “lean startup movement&# as espoused by Steve Blank & Eric Ries. The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do.
It has never been so easy to get a startup up and off the ground these days. Scaling and succeeding is hard, but just to get from napkin to prototype and some users is so much less of a hurdle than it was previously. From a technology perspective, so many parts of the stack have been made easier--from spinning up servers on EC2 and S3, to getting hosted Rails infrastructure on Heroku.
Every entrepreneur has that moment of truth – the one that marks the decision to take the path to entrepreneurship or the path to job security with a larger employer. And down the road a bit, most of us face another when deciding whether or not to go for growth, requiring new investment and increased risks. My moment of self-confrontation came many years ago when deciding whether to leave behind the relative comfort of a good income from my one person operation or hire my first employee to allo
[Follow Me on Twitter] “People get ready, there’s a train a comin’” - The Impressions From Zacks via Yahoo: Mark Vickery, On Thursday March 24, 2011, 4:58 pm EDT “BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (NasdaqGS: RIMM – News) beat its fiscal 4Q EPS estimates by 2 cents per share, but missed slightly on quarterly revenues and [.].
AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.
Last night I had the great privilege to interview Bill Gross , one of the Internet’s true pioneers. To say he has had an impact on the web would be an understatement. His impact has even helped a small country gain admission to the United Nations. All of that are in this week’s episode of This Week in VC. Summary notes, as always, provide below.
This post originally ran on TechCrunch. Blogs. We all read them to get a sense of what is going on in the world, peeling back layers of the old world in which media was too scripted. By definition, you read blogs. But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? Absofuckinglutely. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. 1.
This post originally ran on TechCrunch. Blogs. We all read them to get a sense of what is going on in the world, peeling back layers of the old world in which media was too scripted. By definition, you read blogs. But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? Absofuckinglutely. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. 1.
This post originally ran on TechCrunch. Startups. We know the mantra: Team matters. Is this philosophy exaggerated? Overrated? Cliché? No. Team is the only thing that matters. Whatever you’re working on now, the half-life of innovation is so rapid now that your product will soon be out-of-date. Your existence is irrelevant unless you continue rapid innovation.
The most common questions I’ve gotten over the past week have been a variant of: Was SXSW worth it? Was it just one big party? Should I go next year? Why do your eyes still look so bloodshot? (And I’ve learned a new term, I arrived home with SxSARS). As you may know I outlined my rules for maximum impact at events / conferences before SXSW began.
I was hanging out the other day with my buddy Jody Sherman, founder & CEO of EcoMom. I was an angel investor in his company, made a bunch of calls on his behalf and then I personally sent it out on AngelList. Through this process he raised $2 million. When I described to people why I initially invested my calls went something like this, “He’s taken kicks to the face for nearly 2 years and is still standing.
I just back from my fifth SXSW and if my voice is any indicator, I had a great time. In the days to come, there will be a lot of back and forth analysis over who "won" SXSW and whether or not there was a breakthrough technology to watch out for. It stems from the Austin conference's reputation for being a kingmaker. But where did that come from and is it well deserved?
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?
There's nothing that used to make me feel more like a pompous VC than when I would respond to an entrepreneur by saying their idea isn't big enough--that a success for them would likely be too small for what our firm was looking for. Even though First Round is a small, seed stage fund and we don't have the kind of approach that forces more money on an entrepreneur than they need, the idea of calling something too small made me feel uncomfortably close to that mindset.
Investments in innovation can often have unforeseen positive ripple effects. Back at the end of 2008, when the economy was in the tank, and funding was tough to come by, NYC Seed, a small local fund with some government and local academic backing supported my startup, Path 101. Owen Davis, the fund manager, didn’t get the return we were hoping for when we pitched and we had eventually closed up shop.
This is an interview you’re not going to want to miss, I promise. Mike is a no BS guy, has all the attributes I look for in a founder and says things like, openly shares knowledge and opines without a filter including this one, “whoever invented uncapped convertible debt should be spanked!&# Love it. Mike Yavonditte is the founder of the “super hot&# Hashable , a startup out of NYC that has been described as a “ Mint.com for Social Capital ” Mike sold his previous company, Quigo , t
This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. For the next four days if you’re in the tech industry you’re going to hear a non-stop stream of information about SXSW. It’s the time of year when many new startups are struggling to rise above all the noise and be heard. And when everybody is shouting it becomes overwhelming. I’m actually in Austin at the moment.
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After the weekend kerfuffle over AngelList I was reading Brad Feld’s post on Signal vs. Noise. It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. that it’s sometimes hard to know when to pay attention and when to keep your head down. Mostly during the day I’m in meetings or doing work.
If there’s a jobs startup within 2000 miles of NYC, I will see it. Everyone sends me startups in this space because of my experience with Path 101 and my passion for helping people with their careers. I feel terrible, because I hate these meetings and couldn’t be less interested in this space. I love helping entrepreneurs and want to add value, but I just can’t help but say the equivalent of “RUN!!
This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I know what you’re thinking – link bait title, right? Wrong. I will stand 100% behind my assertions in this post. Justin Bieber is unbelievably entrepreneurial and most of you will never know it because he serves a target demo that doesn’t include you. I promise you can learn from him and this movie.
I have to move my flight back to NYC on Sunday, so I called them today to cancel and try to recoup the fare, at least as credit. The fare cost $199 one way. First thing I have to deal with is the automated computer IVR that spends ten minutes trying to understand my confirmation number. Then, when it finally gets it right, a real human tells me the cancellation fee is going to be $150.
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I’ve written before about my love for Disqus. I’m not an investor – I just love the product. So now Facebook has a new commenting system. They’ve been around for a while and when they first announced this initiative I knew the day would come when people would start saying, “should I replace Disqus?&# I started telling people privately that I thought Google should buy Disqus for the same reasons Facebook wants to own commenting in the first place.
When I was down at Startup Riot in Atlanta, someone handed me their business card. I didn’t even have any on me. He asked, “So, are you guys over business cards in New York?” Funny thing is, we kind of are. It’s rare when anyone hands me a business card these days. Nine times out of ten, I’m meeting someone in person because we already got each other’s contact info somehow.
Give me your phone number and I’ll text you about my brand. You can’t text back and you’re going to have a heck of a time passing it on. Who forwards text messages? Sound interesting? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Now imagine that I’m a Mets fan. (Ok, so I am… but it’s really kind of unbelievable given the way things have gone, so you might have to just imagine it…) I don’t go to games by myself.
I've written a bunch about Hashable and I use it more now than I ever have before--for one simple use case: sending you my business card. Carrying around business cards is an archaic waste of time, yet adoption of Hashable for solving this is going slower than I'd expect given it's usefulness. The problem is that the people who know about Hashable, even a lot of the people who use it, identify it with the introductions feature.
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.
I’m a fanboy of our own portfolio… and so was the media this week. Let’s see… Gmail’s magical disappearing emails caused huge traffic and signsups at Backupify , thanks in no small part to the 100’s of articles that mentioned the company as a way to protect your data, like this how to from Business Insider and coverage in Time. One King’s Lane got nice coverage in Venture Beat on how social features make e-commerce hot again.
This insight is one that is so important to the continued health of a growing company that it cannot be overstated. First, let’s be sure we know what is short in term and what is long in term. Long term debt is taken on for the acquisition of fixed assets such as equipment, cars, facilities and acquisitions of companies or their assets. Short term debt is often composed of accounts payable to the trade or employees for expenses, payroll liabilities, accrued but unpaid vacations, customer dep
I am constantly surprised when speaking with entrepreneurs and CEO’s who act puzzled and a bit flustered when I ask, “So what is your mantra? Tell me about your company in ten words or less.” Almost every one begins a long explanation of their business that is nearly impossible to follow, let alone recall a few moments later. And each lost an opportunity to tell their story in a memorable way that has power and boosts their enterprise value in the minds of the listener.
Many companies have made the mistake of using the forecast to plan and executive hiring of new employees so that they could be trained and up to speed when the demand arrives. Although such a practice does add to overhead by bringing employees aboard before they become economic contributors to the bottom line, there is much to be said about service quality by having trained employees on the front line when the customers want and need them.
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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