This is going to be BIG.
DECEMBER 28, 2013
'There is a controversial interview with Paul Graham floating around and I''m left to wonder why we''re still paying attention to guys like him. He is accused by people of being, at best, oblivious and at worst, sexist. I''ve never sat down with the guy, so I can''t speak to that, but I''m tired of hearing about the same voices over and over again when I''m not even sure they''re relevant.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 6, 2013
'Without DogVacay my Thanksgiving would have been ruined. That’s a fact. And I’m not an investor. I just had to tell this story. It’s a great one about entrepreneurship, friendship and the collaborative economy that is helping families in need across the world. The Background. Every year my family meets in San Diego for Thanksgiving.
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Gust
DECEMBER 29, 2013
'Image via HealthyBodyLife.com. I’ve been advising and mentoring startups and growth companies for years, and find myself always pushing them to try something new, for the sake of growth and survival. When you try new things, you make mistakes, and I’ve seen many. Smart companies learn from their own mistakes, but some don’t pay enough attention to other people’s mistakes.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 19, 2013
' By: Arthur Lipper. In the process of raising funds to create and develop a business, entrepreneurs make many statements to those they seek to attract as investors. In my years of investing, I’ve developed a set of tough questions that are sure to elicit both information and a vibrant dialog – questions not on the usual checklists of angel groups or investors.
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Tomasz Tunguz
DECEMBER 15, 2013
Financial statements are a Rosetta Stone for startups. They reveal the strategies and the tactics of how to bring a product to market. These are the ten metrics I look at when sifting through a startup’s operational model, whether when considering an investment or in a board meeting. Revenue growth indicates how quickly a company can grow under the current way of doing business.
Startup Catalyst Brief brings together the best content for the entrepreneurial ecosystem from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
This is going to be BIG.
DECEMBER 4, 2013
'When governments go through leadership changes, it is generally expected that their whole staff gets replaced. It''s a bit weird to comprehend for those on the outside. When a new CEO for a company is hired, you might change out a few people, but you wouldn''t replace all the key folks. The turnover would be detrimental to company culture. Same goes for a baseball team.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 3, 2013
'I’m super proud to announce that DataSift has just completed a $42 million financing round coming at the end of a year where its revenue grew several hundred percent year-over-year. Considering our revenue is SaaS revenue this achievement is even more remarkable. The timing of the announcement of this investment couldn’t have been timed more perfectly if we tried.
Gust
DECEMBER 15, 2013
'Image via niaje.com and www.yec.co. There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. Yet, according to many sources , over 90 percent of all businesses are started and grown with no equity financing, and many others would have been better off without it.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 12, 2013
'Investors love it when entrepreneurs draw little or no money from their startups. It extends the cash available for research and other necessary fixed costs and gives the fragile, young company more “runway” to get to breakeven. But when forecasting the ultimate viability of a business, many times an entrepreneurial founder uses a low, unsustainable salary rate for him or herself in order to show early breakeven.
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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?
Tomasz Tunguz
DECEMBER 12, 2013
On January 8, 1966, the New Yorker profiled Buckminster Fuller for the first time. During a trip to a Maine island with the journalist Calvin Tomkins, Fuller said something tremendously prescient: Fuller proposed a worldwide technological revolution…[that] would take place quite independently of politics or ideology; it would be carried out by what he calls “comprehensive designers” who would coordinate resources and technology on a world scale for the benefit of all mankind,
Derek Sivers
DECEMBER 19, 2013
Looking around the room. “Why am I here?”. It’s a useful question to ask often. Either it will re-focus your reasons for being where you are, or it will make you realize your reasons have expired and you should be somewhere else. In a little apartment in Singapore, I ask it again. “Why am I here?”. Because of the brilliant and fascinating people here.
This is going to be BIG.
DECEMBER 2, 2013
'If I was going to start a venture capital fund around a theme, I''d pick something a little different. Forget Enterprise, or Mobile. It wouldn''t be "networks" or any other standard classification of startup. No geographic focus. I''d start a fund around "Play". Play, it seems, is making a huge run and should be positioned for success for a long time.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 17, 2013
'One of the questions I’m most often asked by CEOs is how to hire sales people. I’ve written a lot about recruiting and hiring at startups including my controversial post on whom not to hire and my rapid response to the flame war. I’ve also written extensively on sales and on which sales execs to hire and how to think about the different kinds of sales leaders.
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Gust
DECEMBER 22, 2013
'Image via Entrepreneur.com. The first question most people seem to ask when contemplating a new startup is where they will get investor money. That’s certainly a valid question, but all the money in the world won’t make your business work if you don’t have a plan to use it, or hate what you are doing. I suggest that there are several important questions before assuming that funding is the gate to your success.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 5, 2013
'The biggest error in planning may not be spreadsheet calculation error. Or cost estimation. It is most often missed assumptions about the market, the competition, the speed of adoption, or other critical metrics you’ve researched, or selected, or even just guessed at to create your plan. Where did you get the data to drive your assumptions of market size or market share?
Tomasz Tunguz
DECEMBER 10, 2013
The traditional theoretical price demand curve is often drawn like this. The chart makes two points: there is some relationship between price and demand / revenue opportunity, and customer segments underpin that relationship. Each segment demands different products to satisfy different needs and presents a different revenue/profit opportunity. Even if the details are very hazy, price demand curves are useful tools to inform product strategy and prioritization.
Derek Sivers
DECEMBER 8, 2013
Yesterday I procrastinated, tinkered, and wasted time, doing nothing of any value. Then this morning, I found out that one of my best friends died yesterday. He was out on a bike ride on a quiet street when a car swerved into the bike lane, killing him instantly. We shared my online music account. I see he had just downloaded the entire Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young catalog yesterday before he left on his ride.
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This is going to be BIG.
DECEMBER 6, 2013
'Over the last few years, we''ve seen a lot of technologies start out in the consumer world and "infect" the enterprise. This creates a large opportunity for companies who see consumer trends and understand enterprises well enough figure out what it will take to get them to participate. This is essentially the bet that Box has made relative to Dropbox.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 9, 2013
'Most board meetings are “update meetings” where management downloads its status to a group of investors. These outside board members spend most of the board meeting trying to reacquaint themselves with the company’s business and critical issues. This is hardly ideal and some simple changes could help management avoid both issues.
Gust
DECEMBER 1, 2013
'Image via ExecutiveSky.ch. I hear many executives and professionals in large corporations talking about their dream of jumping ship, and starting their own company. What they don’t realize is that the longer they wait, the more big-company habits they are acquiring, which will make their eventual decision harder and entrepreneurial efforts less and less likely to succeed.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 26, 2013
'Guest Post by William Fisher. Dave’s Note: William Fisher is CEO of Quicksilver Software, a software and Internet game development company in Southern California. Bill has survived multiple cycles in the game industry, and writes here his thoughts about his longevity in a volatile niche. I think the number one factor in my endurance is building strong relationships with members of my team, so that they are supportive when things go badly, as they sometimes do in this business.
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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.
Tomasz Tunguz
DECEMBER 9, 2013
Raising money for a startup is expensive. The typical legal fees for a Series A are about 1% of the total money raised: roughly $40k on $4M. Of course, this doesn’t factor in the time for the process and the dilution of the investment. But if your startup is considering an IPO be prepared to pay eight times as much in fees. Across 360 venture backed technology IPOs in the last 10+ years which on average raised $107M, 8.8% of the dollars the startup raises in the initial public offering is
Derek Sivers
DECEMBER 11, 2013
Over dinner my friend Valerie said, “I’m not worried about someone finding out my secrets, because secrets are just facts, right? So if someone is going through my private things, for example, and gets upset about what they find, then that’s their problem, not mine!”. I liked that attitude, and kept thinking about it. Later as we were leaving, I helped her put on her coat, and picked up her purse.
This is going to be BIG.
DECEMBER 19, 2013
'The other day, I looked at some real estate space on behalf of one of my portfolio companies. The owner sent me this. Maybe I just don''t have enough imagination or lack of the requisite architecture degree. At least it''s better than showing an actual picture of what the office looks like now, after the last tenant trashed the place on their way out.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 10, 2013
'Recently I wrote the first post in a series on board meetings, entitled, “ Why You’re Not Getting the Most out of Your Board ,” which focused on the need to prepare properly, set good objectives and discuss mostly strategic topics. Even if you follow this game plan meticulously your board meeting can be taken off course by well-intentioned board members who lead you down a rate hole.
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