A Smart Bear

AUGUST 22, 2017

Product teams have been repeating the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) mantra for a decade now, without re-evaluating whether it’s the right way to maximize learning while pleasing the customer. Well, it’s not the best system. It’s selfish and it hurts customers. We don’t build MVPs at WP Engine. The motivation behind the MVP is still valid: Build something small, because small things are predictable and inexpensive to test.

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transportation energy culture collaboration 280

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 24, 2017

I don't think there's ever a time when I feel more like I'm raining on parades as when founders tell me how interested other VC firms are in investing. I've seen it time and time again where founders, understandably apprehensive about fundraising, read too much into their engagement with investors--especially non-partners at firms. The founders will say things like the following--and then comes my splash of cold water, which is honest, but also makes me feel like the bad guy, or not enthusiastic

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founder investing investment VC 311

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 22, 2017

Company retreats come in all shapes and sizes. Whether you opt for luxury accommodations or woodsy lodgings, what’s most important is organizing a variety of activities and workshops that bring out the best in your team. Research retreat ideas and come up with an environment that will work for your organization. Consider consulting with a professional retreat planner.

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coworking consulting construction culture 130

Berkonomics

AUGUST 24, 2017

Close. Let me illustrate this insight with a personal story. As my enterprise computer software company which produced innovative lodging systems for hotels and resorts grew quickly, we found ourselves straining to keep up with the hiring and training of good customer support representatives, a critical part of the equation then and still so today in the 24-hour environment of hotel front desk operations.

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support innovation 97

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Generative AI is upending the way product developers & end-users alike are interacting with data. Despite the potential of AI, many are left with questions about the future of product development: How will AI impact my business and contribute to its success? What can product managers and developers expect in the future with the widespread adoption of AI?

development

Tomasz Tunguz

AUGUST 22, 2017

A founder asked me if we had reached the point that SaaS is commodified. “Can you build a venture scale SaaS company anymore?” He made three key points to support the argument. First, the technology barriers to starting a SaaS company continue to fall. Amazon, Google and Microsoft provide sophisticated, scalable, and easy to use infrastructure as a service.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 25, 2017

By Kristen Harris, EO Columbus member and Co-Founder of Portfolio Creative. . In hiring it’s important to remember people are not commodities, individuals are not interchangeable. Even with equal skills or experience, every person is unique, and so is every company and role. It’s important to find the right person for the right position—that’s an Ideal Fit.

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peer-to-peer creativity culture opportunity 130

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 24, 2017

In this excerpt from his new book, Stupid Enough to Succeed: The Millennial Entrepreneur’s Guide to Achieving Business Hypergrowth , Jeff Naeem shares tips for successful delegation. Let’s start with the “D” word. You have to let go and trust other people to get things done. Trust their training. (Or train them better!) Here’s how smart delegation can work for you: ENROLL THE EMPLOYEES IN THE SOLUTION: It’s the difference between giving orders and people taking OWN

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leadership board creativity development 130

Tomasz Tunguz

AUGUST 20, 2017

We’ve seen quite a bit of volatility in the valuations of publicly traded software companies over the last 5 years. In 2014, the average software company traded at 7.7x forward revenues - the sum of projected revenues over the next 12 months. Two years later, that multiple dropped 57% to 3.3x. Today, we’re exactly where we were in 2013, at 5.4x, which is coincidentally, is the average over this time period.

SaaS 57

SaaS 57