Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 27, 2023

We first met at Harvard Business School as young students in 1989. When we decided to invest in a startup, it was because we saw a unique combination of a strong idea with a solid team. When we decided to invest in a startup, it was because we saw a unique combination of a strong idea with a solid team.

entrepreneurs 251

entrepreneurs startup advice angel investing 251

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 23, 2023

This is also a ridiculously lazy way to decide not to parse any ideas in a multiple trillion-dollar industry. If Jack Dorsey decided that travel was the next thing he wanted to solve after founding multi-billion dollar companies like Twitter and Square (X and Block?) So, really, it’s not that they don’t want to do travel.

incumbents 370

incumbents VC pitching investment 370

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

DECEMBER 9, 2020

In this conversation she did with the Gotham Gal a few weeks ago, she talks about how she and her co-founder Matthew decided to work on cybersecurity versus many other ideas they had. I love that they had the “would I be proud to work on this?” ” test.

founder 302

founder entrepreneurship 302

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea. Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. Far from it.

funders 362

funders culture incumbents technology 362

Paul G. Silva

APRIL 7, 2020

If your startup/organization/team struggles with ideation (the process of coming up with ideas), you fall into one of two camps: Those who struggle to come up with any ideas. Those who come up with plenty of ideas but struggle to identify which ones are worth pursuing. Step 2: Ideate – Use your MAD to inspire ideas.

peer-to-peer 213

peer-to-peer consulting education board 213

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

How does one come up with the right idea to start a company? Do VCs really take risks on ground-breaking ideas any longer or do they just fund businesses once there is proof of traction? Building any business is hard, all-consuming, frustrating and fraught with personal challenges. But really it’s something I look for.

incumbents 270

incumbents entrepreneurs education pitching 270

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 20, 2012

I was talking to an entrepreneur the other day, and I asked, "Do you feel like you have a good idea of how you should be spending your time?". not deciding what to eat for breakfast) is so important to me.". I've been there--for the last six months of my startup I really had no idea how to save it.

peer-to-peer 407

peer-to-peer pitching consulting creativity 407

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

To be honest, these meetings never really work out and I''ve decided they''re just not worth spending the time anymore. It skips the whole vetting process for me--so I wind up giving time to a bunch of companies whose business model I might find problematic from the get go. It''s more than enough for you to get the idea.

pitching 369

pitching finance financing incubation 369

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2013

Except … there was a waiting period to have the owner decide if they wanted you. He and his wife hatched the idea for DogVacay and decided to go for it. I absolutely loved the idea from day one and told Aaron so. and upload that. That could take a few hours and believe it or not I didn’t have a few hours.

collaboration 344

collaboration VC accelerator consulting 344

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 2, 2025

Even the top partners at Benchmark and Sequoia get half-baked ideas pitched to them. Good deal flow or not, its super easy to keep busy as an investor. Just because youre busy doesnt mean any of it is worth fundingespecially if youre not diversifying your sources. Not every stream is full of chocolate and candy.

VC 195

VC pitching B2B marketing networking 195

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 6, 2021

Having previously worked in some of the largest companies in the world and earned an MBA from a prestigious university, I had no idea what I signed up for, but it didn’t take me long to realize that working there was the best professional decision of my life. He began to describe his latest business acquisition and—suddenly!—

entrepreneurship 299

entrepreneurship opportunity entrepreneurs leadership 299

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 19, 2024

The excitement of building your own business can quickly fade when faced with the reality of resource constraints. However, even though the path to success may be challenging, remember that countless thriving companies started with only a great idea and sheer determination. You can, too!

startup 238

startup strategy collaboration communities 238

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2013

She opened 2 businesses – a bakery and then a restaurant. I had a business class seat due to status of flying a lot and my family was in economy. And she decided it wasn’t really important to make me pay since the seats were unoccupied. What steps do you still need before you decide to go with us?”

advice 416

advice entrepreneurs entrepreneurship leadership 416

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

Sam’s goal was to build a tech company fulfilling the need for storing physical items in the cloud and to build a nationally-scaled business that would be hard to compete against. How valuable are these legacy businesses? And they have. Innovation. The value prop is pretty clear. And here’s the thing.

real estate 364

real estate startup disruption incumbents 364

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2024

A couple of years ago, I had the idea that I wasn’t alone in thinking this way—that if you could make it easy to for VCs to meet a bunch of folks in a finite amount of time, they’d be open to the idea knowing that some of these founders might be early in the progress. We had 70 investors sign up!

communities 356

communities consulting creativity advice 356

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 29, 2020

Contributed by Shawn Johal, business growth coach, leadership speaker and co-founder of DALS Lighting, Inc. Life is busy, and focus is hard to come by. Life is busy, and focus is hard to come by. Do you ever feel overwhelmed with no idea where to start? Nikola Tesla. Overwhelmed” is often our default mode.

energy 313

energy peer-to-peer leadership support 313

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

At 12.30pm in the afternoon the idea to create the video was hatched. And the end of the Maker Studios show, Epic Rap Battles of History , the end the show ways “Who won, you decide?” One idea I’ve been searching for is a platform that enables the creation of serialized programs with audience participation. .

peer-to-peer 380

peer-to-peer media creativity disruption 380

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

I was recently contacted by an entrepreneur who was consider a few different business models for his company. They become obsessed with why the problem exists and they start chipping away at ideas for solving the problem. Or whatever seemingly hair-brained idea that would make a Tiger Mom panic and wonder how it had all come to this.

VC 353

VC advice consulting frameworks 353

StartupNation

MAY 23, 2025

Yet, despite all the buzz and frenzy around it, the business failed. So, does that mean you don’t have the slightest chance to bootstrap a business with little money and keep it afloat (ideally, thriving)? As I’ve already slipped the spoiler in the title, you can start a business under $100. Business Toolkit.

media 78

media B2B marketing mentorship collaboration 78

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 27, 2020

Agonise over whether or not you need business partners. If you can afford it, don’t have business partners. The tenth entrepreneur without the headache is usually the one without a business partner. For me, not having a business partner is one less problem. Ai-Ling Wong—founder at The Decorateur. Measure Twice.

advice 325

advice entrepreneurs creativity culture 325

A Smart Bear

AUGUST 22, 2017

” As in: “What’s the ‘Slick’ version of your idea?” Although not called SLC, there’s a popular meme in product circles that neatly encapsulates the idea of SLC in a diagram: The Modes of Transportation example from the Spotify product team: A skateboard is a SLC product. Ask your customers.

transportation 280

transportation energy culture collaboration 280

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 17, 2024

Founders need to shift their thinking to an assumption of understanding—that investors who see thousands of pitches per year probably do understand what a founder is doing the vast majority of the time, and have simply decided that the risk/reward for investing in their company simply isn’t as good of a deal as others they’re currently looking at.

startup 415

startup micromobility consulting hospitality 415

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

I had no idea Clubhouse even existed until registrations on my company’s domain registry.club exploded. I have heard celebrities, influencers and successful entrepreneurs all espousing their thoughts and ideas about topics they understand in a surprisingly intimate environment. I am the founder of the relatively new domain extension “.club,”

entrepreneurial ecosystem 227

entrepreneurial ecosystem incubation collaboration entrepreneurs 227

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

For starters let me use “CEO” as a proxy to include her “inner circle” which might mean co-founders or might just mean senior execs of the business. They can’t wait to hear your brilliant idea. You left our team to work on THAT idea? We decided not to sell. The Mind of the Founder.

startup 417

startup peer-to-peer VC culture 417

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

When Sam Rosen brought me the idea of MakeSpace 3 years ago we both marveled at some obvious facts. They are the classic case of the Innovator’s Dilemma because they fundamentally can’t innovate on their product and can’t lower costs or their business craters. And where they see stability we saw a sitting duck.

strategy 282

strategy peer-to-peer incumbents real estate 282

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

You have to decide where to lean in on follow-on rounds. You have to decide how hard to help with downstream marketing for your deals. Why is this exact person building this business? It’s these transitional times that can often determine the long-term arc of a business. A little Groucho Marx always helps.

VC 374

VC investing investment entrepreneurs 374

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 3, 2015

I watch management team hedge by building multiple products and spreading resources too thinly versus having strong conviction in their core ideas. I want deciders – even in they don’t agree with me. All advice you receive is too generic to help you – you need to decide for yourself in your exact situation.

advice 332

advice peer-to-peer startup frameworks 332

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. But alas I must scale with businesses and make money. It literally can put you out of business. And so must you. I have written about the next phases many times.

board 338

board energy finance financing 338

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 14, 2021

One way we encourage and support young entrepreneurs is through the EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) , EO’s premier competition for college and university students who own and operate a business. What inspired you to start your business? Entrepreneur first, business after.” GSEA already impacted my business.

entrepreneurs 286

entrepreneurs pitching communities media 286

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative

NOVEMBER 5, 2021

When you develop a business, it is necessary to create personalized content to engage your most targeted audience and loyal consumer base rather than assume your market is an international population, who may not be interested in your brand. Develop a strategic and flexible team with diverse ideas. government.

sustainability 246

sustainability strategy mentorship construction 246

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Therefore, when an investor passes, they’re very likely to believe that there’s some other factor at play other than just being a poorly thought out, unworkable, too small or otherwise problematic idea. What we do not know is how many people are deciding to seek out venture capital from each group. It’s not me, it’s them.

advice 476

advice pitching venture capital VC 476

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 28, 2021

Contributed by Julia L F Goldstein, the founder of JLFG Communications , which helps businesses share their world-changing ideas through clear and concise content. During an online business workshop in December 2020, the presenter asked me whether our venture was a hobby or a business. Running a business.

entrepreneurs 306

entrepreneurs strategy sustainability finance 306

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Basically, the idea is that you take a chip and slide it down a wall, watching it bounce off of a bunch of springy little sticks on its way down. I like the fact that it forces you to structure your thinking and to make ideas progress linearly and so I feel like my thinking is better for it.

peer-to-peer 359

peer-to-peer board communities leadership 359

Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 9, 2021

It made me feel busy and useful. It kept me and the business stuck. When I could no longer avoid the truth, I decided to get selfish. With my ideas, my time, my focus and my attention. Putting everyone else’s needs before mine turned out to be an easily executed but less-than-clever leadership flaw. A waste of time.

leadership 296

leadership creativity energy education 296

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Entrepreneurs are supposed to have insights that others don’t have and we’re supposed to be good judges about which entrepreneurs and executives have both the most clever ideas and the right skill sets to do transformational things against all odds. So I tell people we’re fundamentally in the people business. Nothing fancier.

venture capital 363

venture capital capital ventures VC 363

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

I recommend you read Fred Wilson’s recent blog post about the need for a well articulated business strategy before pushing a particular business model. He then brought her to board meetings so nobody could accuse him of not having a business model. I know that the acronyms or business sayings change over time.

strategy 401

strategy startup peer-to-peer advice 401

Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 24, 2020

In April 2020, Alex Yastrebenetsky and fellow leaders at his organization, InfoTrust , decided to launch a No Layoff Pledge which will last through 1 July 2020. But Alex decided to take his idea even further, encouraging other business owners to make the same pledge. “We, We’ve been in business 24 years.

entrepreneurs 284

entrepreneurs peer-to-peer innovation communities 284