How to Be the Obvious Choice
Suzen Pettit
by Suzen Pettit at Omaginarium
“This seems like a lot of work for God’s sake. I have a website. I have a Facebook account. I send emails. I am a busy so and so. Why do I also need to be creating all this “content”?”
Let’s discuss amongst ourselves:
From Startup to $1B IPO: Why early Operations strategy matters
by Ram Krishnan, Advisor & Retired Operations Executive
To build a high value company, an entrepreneur must convince investors that the addressed market is large, that the company is capable of meeting market demand and that the profit margin can be maintained regardless of market conditions. In addition to the revenue and profitability requirements, such financially attractive markets are characterized by tough quality requirements and rapidly eroding average selling prices (ASP). A good example of such a market is the smart-phone market where annual volumes are in the hundreds of millions, selling prices erode at 20-25% per year and quality requirements are stringent.
SHARED, an Innovative Work-space for Creative People, Launches in San Francisco
We just met Marilyn Yu, an award-winning author/artist/designer, and her new creative work-space sounds amazing.
SHARED takes the idea of co-working and applies it to the different types of space that creative people need. It has office space, work space, and a shared work shop with tools and equipment. In addition, SHARED has space for meetings, classes, and events.
SHARED is a space for creative people to work and collaborate together. It is based in the belief that together we can create greater things than we could individually or in isolation.
Highlights:
How Startups Win by Providing Exceptional Customer Support
Steve Hoffman
In today’s highly competitive world where any startup can launch a new service practically overnight and compete with you, how do you differentiate yourself? One way is by providing exceptional customer service.
If you run a startup, your biggest hurdle is probably customer acquisition. It’s expensive to acquire new customers. Most startups spend a huge amount of time worrying about how to get customers cheaply, but they often overlook what it takes to keep them. This is where customer service comes in. There’s no better way to retain customers and have them recommend you than by outdoing your competitors when it comes to service.
Three Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur
Karen Milde, CEO and Co-Founder, Reframe Marketing Inc.
1. Belief
Successful entrepreneurs begin their business with a vision – a dream. They act on these dream by taking small steps towards accomplishing their goals. With every step entrepreneurs get closer to attaining their ultimate goal or vision. However, not all steps are easy to take. Nothing worth fighting for is easy to attain, especially when beginning a business. Successful entrepreneurs only made it through difficult times by being strong-willed. They never let pessimism stand in their way.
How do Startup Incubators Work?
Jay Adelson talks about how startup incubators work. He discusses the pros and cons of being funded by one. Jay also offers tips and advice on pitching them.
The 10 Myths of Entrepreneurship
This is a fun, little animated video that dispels the myths of entrepreneurship. What does it take to be a great entrepreneur?
Guy Kawasaki: The Top 10 Mistakes of Entrepreneurs
Guy Kawasaki speaks at the UC Berkeley Startup Competition (Bplan) at the Haas School of Business.
Guy Kawasaki is the former chief evangelist of Apple and co-founder of Garage Technology Ventures. Here he explains the top ten mistakes that entrepreneurs make. His talk covers all stages of a startup, from inception to exit.
How Many Startups Fail?
Everyone seems to think that their hot tech startup will make them a billionaire by their mid-20s, but that’s not always the case. What are the actual chances a typical startup will succeed?
Click here to View Info Graphic
Eric Ries talks about The Lean Startup
Eric Ries is the creator of the Lean Startup methodology and the author of the popular entrepreneurship blog Startup Lessons Learned. He previously co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU.
In 2007, BusinessWeek named Ries one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech and in 2009 he was honored with a TechFellow award in the category of Engineering Leadership. He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups, and has worked as a consultant to a number of startups, companies, and venture capital firms. In 2010, he became an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School.
Five Forces vs. Blue Ocean Strategy
Do you innovate and move to uncontested territory or improve in exisiting markets?
Do Nothing: How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader
The curse of a manager is that feeling you have to do more to get your team to be productive. The irony is that sometimes doing less is more. When a leader steps back, it allows the executive team to do more, which empowers them. The most affective leaders delegate almost everything they do to staff, thereby freeing themselves up to see the big picture and plan for the future.
Very few tasks should actually be completed by the leader. Leaders should spend most their time acting as a facilitator and orchestrator. If you take the metaphor of an orchestra, the leader is the conductor and shouldn’t be down in the music pit trying to play the cello and violin.
What They Don’t Teach in Business School about Entrepreneurship
A group of entrepreneurs talk about what they learned in the trenches that they never could have learned in a classroom.
Lean Startup’s Eric Ries on Building Accountability into the Production Flow
One of the big themes at this year’s Lean Startup Conference was ”innovative accounting” which Ries admits is not as popular as Lean Startups other bumper sticker-sized philosophies, but it’s still very important nonetheless.
This video and article was produced by David Spark, who was reporting for the New Relic Blog (http://blog.newrelic.com) at The Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco.
Steve Blank on Teaching and Practicing Entrepreneurship
Considered by many as the godfather of Lean Startup methodologies, Blank talked about how he’s scaling out the teaching and hands on lab process of starting a business.
This video and article was produced by David Spark, who was reporting for the New Relic Blog (http://blog.newrelic.com) at The Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco.
US CTO Todd Park on Embedding Lean Startup in Government
US CTO Todd Park on Embedding Lean Startup in Government – Interview with U.S. CTO, Todd Park (did you know we had a CTO?) about how the U.S. Government has successfully embedded Lean Startup methodologies.
This video and article was produced by David Spark, who was reporting for the New Relic Blog (http://blog.newrelic.com) at The Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco.
Techniques for Working Smarter Not Harder
We asked attendees at The Lean Startup Conference what they were going to do to work smarter not harder in 2013. There are some really good tips in here. Learn from them.
This video and article was produced by David Spark, who was reporting for the New Relic Blog (http://blog.newrelic.com) at The Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco.
Developing a Customer Profile Helps with Selling
Karen Milde, CEO and Co-Founder, Reframe Marketing Inc.
To determine what the customer wants, needs and desires, most companies and business will develop a customer profile. It is also helpful when doing marketing analysis and advertising since you will have a list of targeted customers. There could be more than one customer profile as products are different and can be matched up with suitable customers. Below are some tips when developing a customer profile.
1. Collect a customer’s characteristics. They are the foundation of your customer profile. Consider the age, gender, marital status, household size, employment status, location, income, occupation, education level and country of birth of your potential customers.
The Hierarchy of Facebook vs. Google
by Ruby Claire of HierarchyStructure.com
Inspite of their similar origins, internet market giants Facebook and Google vary a lot in their purpose, beliefs and goals.
Google began in 1996 when Larry Page and Sergey Brin took their PHD project and started bringing it to life as a business. They brought into the market a new system of managing the webpage importance by a term called “PageRank”. This is determined by the number of pages that link to the website.
The High Price of a Bachelors Degree!
by Ruby Claire of EducationRequirements.org
To obtain a Bachelor’s degree from a top university is growing more expensive year after year. The reason seems to be the very simple: a Bachelor’s degree can improve the earning capabilities of an individual by a large degree — excuse the pun!
It is estimated that at least a million dollars more can be earned over a working lifetime (25-64) with a Bachelors degree compared to those who lack one.
Basic requirements, like food and medical costs, are now 3.5 and 7 times what they used to be 30 years ago, while the higher education costs rose to 12 times in the same time period.
Peter Fenton and Jess Lee on becoming a CEO
Peter Fenton, Benchmark Capital, introduces rising star Jess Lee, 1st time CEO of Polyvore. Together they explore the defining characteristics of a successful CEO within the context of determining the potential of a 1st time CEO.
In this seminar, entrepreneurial leaders share lessons from real-world experiences across entrepreneurial settings. Speakers include entrepreneurs, leaders from global technology companies, venture capitalists, and best-selling authors. Half-hour talks are followed by a half hour of class interaction.
How Many Times Should You Try?
ANSWER: “As many as it takes…”
- “Exceptional people take exceptional risks.” – S.S. Hoffman
- ”Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” – Audrey Hepburn
- “So many people can be responsible for your success, but only you are responsible for your failure.”
- “There are two types of pain in this world: pain that hurts you, and pain that changes you!
- Sometimes the wrong choices bring us to the right places.
- ”You are afraid to die, and you’re afraid to live. What a way to exist.” – Neale Donald Walsch
Why Reinvesting in Your Business Could Hurt Your Retirement Future?
by Neil Jesani the CEO of BeamaLife
A recent Wall Street Journal study showed that more than half of the 799 small business owners surveyed, 56% considered their business as their retirement plan, or at least had their retirement plan tied to their business. And because of the economy, most of them are expected to retire after age 65.
This statistic disturbed me! How can anyone tie up all of their money and time into one retirement plan option?
Now don’t get me wrong.
International Founder Stories: Italy
Our partners at Waveplay created this video. In this episode, Aldo Cocchiglia, CEO of CenterVue Inc., shares his story of expanding business from Italy to Silicon Valley. He provides advice to founders around the globe who plan to do business in the U.S., including adapting products for the U.S. market, establishing a U.S. sub, intellectual property issues, and how venture capitalists think.
WavePlay’s International Founder Stories: Italy from WavePlay LLC on Vimeo.
How do Women Entrepreneurs fit into Incubator & Accelerator Programs?
by Inessa Obenhuber, Angel Investor & Business Expert
-In your experience, do enough women get involved in early-stage companies, such as applying for incubator or accelerator programs?
I’m happy to say that in the past 3 years the number of women who started their own companies has doubled. According to Kaufman Foundation only 3% of all tech startups are led by women. This is not nearly enough. We would love to see many more female leaders to come forward.
Seven Reasons Why You Should Launch Your Startup in Singapore
by Pardeep Boparai, founder of Janus Corporate Solutions
Pro-business policies and a strategic location have made Singapore a favored destination in Asia for global corporations. Its swank Marina Bay financial district is home to some of the largest global brands in technology to finance – it houses Google’s Southeast Asian headquarters, as well as the sprawling trading floors of companies Barclays Capital and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
International Founder Stories: Norway
Check out WavePlay’s International Founder Stories: Norway, the third in our series sharing the stories and advice of international founders who have started up or expanded business to the U.S. In this episode, Jostein Svendsen, CEO of WeVideo, shares his story of starting up a business in Silicon Valley. He provides advice to founders around the globe who plan to do business in the U.S.
International Founder Stories: Holland
Check out WavePlay’s International Founder Stories: Holland, the second in the series sharing the stories and advice of international founders who have started up or expanded business to the U.S. In this episode, Ronald Mannak, Founder & CEO of Yobble and Air Guitar Move, shares his story of leaving Holland and couch surfing while starting up a business in Silicon Valley. He provides advice to founders around the globe who plan to do business in the U.S.
Power to the Online People
People power has moved from the streets to the information highways…
- 30 billion pieces of content shared on Facebook
- 900 million Facebook users
- Online gamers solved an AIDS protein problem
- Facebook & Twitter used to organize democracy protests Tunisia, Libia, Egypt, Syria, etc.
- 90,000 Egyptians are now on Facebook
- January 27th, Facebook saw 6 times more traffic than Google
- There are more internet-connected devices than people on this planet
- Fiber signals travel 200,000 km per second
- The Internet is both reactive and proactive
- 10 million online signatures protesting SOPA
How to Endure the Startup Marathon
Starting up a company is not easy. You’ve got to be an endurance runner to make it to the end of the race. Coming up with a great idea and getting a team together is just the first step in what can be a 7+ year trek to going public.
Along the way, you’ll have to cope with all sorts of tough questions, including the following:
- Do you pick a small problem to solve or a big one?
- What goals do you set?
- Who funds your company at the beginning of the race?
