Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 6, 2020

Like the downturns in 2008 and 2001, this has been a very trying time for entrepreneurs running startups. While some level of stress is inevitable if you are running a startup, times like this can ramp up the stress factor considerably. Here is advice I collected for dealing with the stress of running a startup: 1.

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Gust

JUNE 19, 2012

Thoughts on startups by investors that fund them & entrepreneurs that run them. Investment and startups problem : we all want disruptive and game-changing businesses. Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. A large percentage of startups never apply to either. Subscribe by email.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Tracy DiNunzio isn’t your typical Silicon Valley startup founder. She did her first tech startup after the age of 30. Tracy was an artist throughout her 20′s but she watched her then husband found a tech startup. So Tracy began keeping a blog about … (what else?)

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Final startup grind from msuster. And the folks at Startup Grind have been kind enough to invite me to present this morning in Mountain View on the topic. PMs are a vital part of a tech startup. Be careful about board construction. And what your views / tips for early-stage startup teams are. figure out roles.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

Even when I’m not the one being sued I find myself being dragged into deposition after deposition and my blog (along with all my emails) are being served as evidence. He signed a release and remained on the board. I started writing about problems when founding a startup years ago but the problem has gotten worse.

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This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

I have one failed attempt at a startup under my belt as a founder and I don't have any particularly usable skills that anyone would pay for like selling, designing, building, etc. Conferences, startup blogs, meetups--they're all filled with people telling you how to build your company. Most startups fail.

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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 found myself in violent agreement with Fred’s blog post(s).

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

What person hasn’t crouched at an airport to get 18% extra on one’s battery before boarding an airplane? Startup Lessons' The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives.

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NZ Entrepreneur

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

Launching a startup in New Zealand is exciting, but navigating the accounting side of things can be tricky. In this blog, we’ll break down everything you need to know, from choosing the best business structure to getting professional help. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Sue de Bievre, Beany Founder.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

Through other people, I've learned a ton about investing, being a better board member, building a portfolio and building a firm. If you're the first marketing hire and you don't have the privilage for working for someone you can learn from, as is often the case in a young startup, you're going to have to look elsewhere for guidence.

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Dream It

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

We did a previous dose on 5 things investors wish startups knew. Managing Partner, Steve Barsh , sat down to give us 5 MORE things investors wish startups knew. Keep reading for some more of the most common mistakes startups make when pitching and for Steve’s tips on how to fix them. Go here if you missed it.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

It’s a very important concept for me because in a startup you are constantly under pressure and have way too many distractions. Make them widely available inside the company and share your most important goals with your board. Commitment & urgency are key drivers of success in startup businesses. On measurement. In 6 months?

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

And that person has almost certainly chosen specifically to be a startup lawyer over serving other types of customers because he or she enjoys working with entrepreneurs. She was lamenting that some startups simply see their PR company as merely somebody who corrals the press when you want to get some inches. EXECUTIVE RECRUITERS.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

Many board meetings are bored meetings. This is a shame since the value that the right board could add is immense if you select the right board members and manage them effectively. This is a shame since the value that the right board could add is immense if you select the right board members and manage them effectively.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

Investors let him control the board as long as he continued to make them paper rich, and then actually rich--so they couldn’t technically force him out. Take the story of luggage startup Away’s CEO Steph Korey. Don’t get me wrong--the mental and emotional well-being of startup employees is a serious issue. The second reason?

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 28, 2020

Given these benefits, many investors take great interest in a startup’s social mission. Startups that embrace and exemplify a clear social mission from the get-go will have an easier time attracting much-needed backing. You, as the leader of the startup, should be personally passionate about your CSR mission.

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TechCrunch

JANUARY 27, 2023

Chroma , a startup working to build a new type of audiovisual entertainment specifically for mobile devices, is now adding a Twitter co-founder to its board. The venture most notably incubated the blogging platform Medium. However, in 2013, Stone and the others shifted their focus to individual startups.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2011

I wrote an entire blog post about this in the past highlighting my belief that you should hire people who “punch above their weight class.” If I bring them on board now, how do I not reduce the motivation from those that I have already hired? This post originally ran on TechCrunch. We know the mantra: Team matters. It’s a mistake.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Board Meetings. Startups Are for Doers. But trust me when I say that my observations across many startups (and other companies, frankly) is that not enough time goes into thinking. Startups are filled with the stresses of the here and now and it’s hard to break out of this mold of focusing two feet in front of you.

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 1, 2010

Here’s my best attempt to shed some light on the most common misconceptions about building a company here in NYC: Misconception #1: There’s no money in NYC for startups… and the money that’s here isn’t smart or experienced money. Should they work on your “real time” web startup or write code that processes a million trades a minute?

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This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

I''m not going to do too much of a victory lap, though, because it bugs me a little when startups do it, and I''m a startup, too. When you blog, tweet , Instagram , etc., Fundraising is not the goal, it''s the means to an end. That''s also why I''m finally launching a real website at brooklynbridge.vc. So there ya go.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

I’m a very big proponent of the “lean startup movement&# as espoused by Steve Blank & Eric Ries. In the late 90′s I saw a dangerous trend creeping into the startup world, which was that companies were suddenly raising huge amounts of money too early in their existence. This post originally appeared on TechCrunch.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Most lawyers that work with startups are willing to work on a deferred payment schedule.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

I often advise startup companies not to try and pin all of your brand equity into an announcement. Simply – we believe it’s hypocritical to sit with tech startups every day and talk about the need to innovate while ourselves making no major changes. who is talking about putting in up to $30 million in our startup.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. Keeping a blog has been great because so many entrepreneurs have written me with questions about their companies and I’ve gotten to know many of you personally through the process. I think the best VCs act as a sounding board for management. There are many great VCs.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” When I started blogging it was because I was inspired by Brad Feld. I always wanted to work with Brad for this reason so I started blogging because I figured if transparency worked for Brad I would try the same approach. What hogwash.

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Gust

OCTOBER 26, 2014

When someone asks me for the best way to fund a startup, I always say bootstrap it, meaning fund it yourself and grow organically. Despite all the focus you hear on external investors, over 90% of startups today are self-funded. Most startup founders already do this, rather than take a salary, to improve their offering.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

I’m going to save that for a future blog post. Let me start by saying two things: Events like this are invaluable to startups because the significant value comes from building the network across portfolio companies and the discussion one can have with your peer group. Greycroft – Why Accountants Don’t Run Startups.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

Santa Monica is the place where the highest concentration of early-stage startups are created if you consider also the contiguous geography of Venice Beach. Startup Advice' But in Los Angeles, Santa Monica is akin to SoMa in San Francisco, Cambridge in the Boston area or Flatiron / Union Square in NYC. That seems pretty superficial!”.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

We then spoke about startups. Again, Seth: “One of the things I noticed when I looked around at startups is that often the founding teams hired people just like themselves. Startups shouldn’t be like this. And I’d recommend them to any talented startup founders out there.&#. And there you have it.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! The same kind of tasks that a startup team has. I had a 3-hour board meeting with another. I sent an email to another about what I thought we should cover at his next board meeting and what was missing from the deck he sent. Plus, he’s a loyal reader of this blog.

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This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 11, 2014

I''m super proud of Rob, Ben and the whole Backupify team--and this is particularly special for me because Backupify was the first investment I ever made as a VC, and the first board I ever sat on. I started reading a great blog called Business Pundit in 2004. It was written by a guy about my age down in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. I have blogged about some of the downside consequences of the changes and the private information I have says the consequences are much worse than is reported in the press since few people publicly talk about. Does he blog about venture capital and try to advise entrepreneurs?

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

It’s why I always work hard to find images for my blog posts & why all of my keynote presentations are visual rather than bullet points with words. This applies equally to VCs, startups & big company executives. When I write a blog post I often see the words before I write them. These are all creative processes.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. I have sat on a board with Howard and have known him a few years. As a courtesy if you enjoyed his write-up please check out his startup company, ChannelStack. What is ideal board structure? How to run a board meeting?

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2019

A Startup I’ve Been Excited to Tell You About for Years A few years ago I spent time in prison with Trevor O’Brien , the founder of Projector. When we got out of prison Trevor began describing the startup he and his co-founder, Jeremy Gordon , wanted to build. This is certainly true in how startups raise money from VCs.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

Since I answer this all the time anyway I thought it might make an interesting blog post. When I was running startups I felt like a horse with blinders on because I was super focused on the content management market and ignored many other markets. Then I spent many years as a startup CEO. That’s true.

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