April, 2015

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Questions from Hunter #MondayMailbag

This is going to be BIG.

'I''ve known Hunter Walk for almost a decade. He found me through my blog and I didn''t think he was real. Hunter Walk can''t be any blog commenters real name, can it? Turns out that not only is he real, but he''s one of the most genuine, thoughtful, and egoless people I''ve met in the startup world--a real breath of fresh air. I look forward to connecting with him when he''s in NYC and when I head out his way.

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Why We Invested in @FerrisApp – A New Kind of Video Sharing App

Both Sides of the Table

We recently released the video sharing app Ferris and announced that Upfront Ventures led the funding in the company in our seed round of $2 million and I personally joined the board. We hit the top spot recommended on Apple’s iOS App Store on the day of the launch, which is a testament to the team and all of their hard work. I wanted to spend the rest of the blog post telling you why we decided to fund the company, how we settled on the final product design and our unique way of launching

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Startup Investment 101: Investment Rounds Explained

Onevest

By Michael Whitehouse Investment rounds are an essential part of the startup investment journey. Something that we state to our members at 1000 Angels , the private investor network that connects startups with investors, is that If you are a new investor in the startup marketplace, then you will need to quickly familiarize yourself with each round. You will encounter them progressively as you negotiate a deal either with a startup founder, or as an investor looking to attract further capital to

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The coffee and wine school of innovation.

Berkonomics

Here’s one for debate around a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Most innovation occurs when creative people are relaxed and thinking about other things. We all can picture the corporate R&D lab with tens of scientists working at white boards, or over computer models, or with prototypes. And we picture programmers working at their workstations or on their portable notebooks creating great new code.

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Digitalization: 5 Tech Updates That Will Help You Survive The Recession & Thrive

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.

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How to Pick Advisors

Guy Kawasaki

Once upon a time there were two engineering PhDs who were clueless about how to start a company. All they knew how to do was code. They were so desperate for money and adult supervision that when an experienced businessperson showed interest and offered to help raise money, they, in their own words, “followed him like dogs.”. However, this adult didn’t know much about tech startups and caused them to make many mistakes in legal and financial matters.

More Trending

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Announcing a new strategic investor and partner at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures

This is going to be BIG.

'I''ve said before that I wouldn''t take on a partner. I didn''t think I needed one, and I''m happy to say that it seems that I''ve done just fine without one. I''ve had the good fortune of investing in standout companies like Canary, Tinybop, Floored, Orchard, and Ringly, just to name a few. The fund is performing really well and we''ve had lots of inbound offers to invest in the second fund, which was being rounded up until recently.

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Understanding Your True Character as an Entrepreneur

Both Sides of the Table

'Why do we do all that we do? Is it for the money? The recognition? Is work a part of life and life a part of work? Is it just the next rung in the ladder after we finish college and join the next grouping of people we’re tied to for a brief period in time? These aren’t generally the thoughts of 20-year-olds. That is the age where you do more than think. “Of course I work!

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8 Ways to Identify the Perfect Startup Investment

Onevest

By Michael Whitehouse If you are considering investing in a startup company offline or online with platforms like 1000 Angels , a private investor network that connects startups with investors, the sheer number of what’s available can be both daunting and comforting. On one hand there are so many startup founders out there that it is very difficult to identify which ones have the best chance of success and producing a profit for investors.

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Money motivates.

Berkonomics

What a title. Of course money motivates. But there is more to it then this. Salaries or hourly wages must be within reasonable limits set by the industry and matched by the competition, both regionally and for the same job classification. But more difficult is the sticky issue of employee incentive compensation. I find that this is an area much more often the subject of a CEO phone call, a roundtable discussion, or a board compensation committee meeting.

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The Big Payoff of Application Analytics

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

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Ycombinator - Where unicorns are born

Don Dodge

Angel investing in tech startups is a gut wrenching and risky business. It sometimes feels like buying $25,000 lottery tickets. Most of them lose, but sometimes you invest in a “unicorn” and make 100 times your money or even more. The MIT Blackjack team figured out how to beat the odds in Las Vegas. Paul Graham from Harvard and Robert Morris from MIT teamed up with Trevor Blackwell and Jessica Livingston to found Ycombinator, and in the process figured out how to beat the odds in tech investing.

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How Faster Sales Cycles Become a Competitive Advantage

Tomasz Tunguz

Sales cycles, the time from acquiring a lead to closing an account, vary quite a bit by industry, product type, and price point. But universally speaking for startups, shorter sales cycles are better. Maintaining a short sales cycle is a competitive advantage for several important reasons. First, faster sales cycles accelerate the discovery of a repeatable sales process.

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VC Value add: Why it probably doesn't matter, but I try anyway.

This is going to be BIG.

'A while back, a larger fund courted one of my portfolio companies heavily. I wasn''t sure if this firm was the best partner for the company, so I reached out to an experienced founder who had been through lots of rounds as both an entrepreneur and an angel investor. He told me the following: There are maybe two or three VCs on the face of the earth that add any value to the eventual outcome of a company, so there''s really just a few criteria that matter. - They should do no harm. - They should

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A Hard Post to Write. Helping @MattLauzon Bring Justice

Both Sides of the Table

'I was contacted today by Matt Lauzon, the founder of Dunwello , who I had met previously when he was running his startup Gemvara. I always liked Matt and found him to be quite thoughtful so I enjoy when he reaches out. This time it wasn’t pleasant. He was asking me for a simple favor. He wanted me to read some information and if I felt both moved and comfortable he wondered whether I would retweet him.

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PE Mastery: CAPTARGET's Playbook for Quality Lead Flow

CAPTARGET presents a masterclass in M&A deal sourcing. Learn to cast a wide net, embracing seller self-identification. Consistency is the linchpin: keep the origination process steady for a reliable flow of opportunities. Diversify your tactics, employing various tools and vendors. Tech matters! Understand DNS settings, domain authority, and brand presence for optimal outreach.

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Onevest Success Story: Recycled Guitars Shakes Up Industry

Onevest

“ A Bohemian is a person, musician, or artist who lives by his or her own rules and believes in love, freedom, and truth.” When you pair up an oil can with guitar strings, only good things can happen. Just ask Adam Lee, co-founder of Bohemian Guitars. The South African native along with his brother Shaun, launched Bohemian Guitars on Kickstarter in June of 2013.

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Reward success and failure. Punish only inaction.

Berkonomics

'Reward failure? That may be a difficult concept for an executive. And there are limits of course. We wouldn’t reward a failure to follow laws, or protect lives, or deliberate endangerment of the company or its people. But should we reward a research team that fails for the fourth time to find the solution to a nagging problem – on the way to a new product?

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Bubble, My Ass: Some Unicorns Might Be Overvalued, But All Dinosaurs Gonna Die.

500 Hats

Summary: pundits argue billion-dollar startups are overvalued, but few realize why public company valuations might also be too expensive.

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How Important Is It For a SaaS Startup to be Profitable?

Tomasz Tunguz

The Information reported last week that in 2014, only 11% of tech IPOs in 2014 were profitable when they became publicly traded companies, an all time low stretching back to 1980, when the figure was 88%. This raises the seemingly absurd question, how important is it to be profitable for a startup? After all, growth is the largest determinant of valuation at IPO , not profitability.

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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

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Community Rot

This is going to be BIG.

Lists are b t. That's what you get a lot of times when you ask people about the latest "25 Startups You Should Know About" in name your tech publication. It's incredibly hard for a tech journalist to know who is actually doing well other than who seems to be good at raising money.or who has actually spent time with them.or who has already been on other lists.

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Can You Build Your Business on Somebody Else’s Platform?

Both Sides of the Table

'Many of you will know that Twitter unexpectedly cancelled it’s contract to allow DataSift to resell Twitter data to 3rd parties. I read the declarations by industry analysts on Twitter that this was “proof that you can’t build a business on somebody else’s platform” and perhaps DataSift should have known better. This misunderstands the situation so I want to clarify things a bit.

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Is Startup Investing Right For You?

Onevest

By Tim Houghten Startup investing may be right for the many individuals in the U.S., if it is done well. Why invest in startups offline or online via platforms like 1000 Angels ? What role should startup investing play in your financial plan? What’s the smartest way to embrace this type of investment? Photo credit: forbes.com. Three Reasons to Add Startups to Your Portfolio Today: Growth Diversification Impact investing Replicating Success Matt Theriault, host of the Cash Flow Savvy podcast on i

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Power is sometimes assumed when not granted.

Berkonomics

'How many times have you heard someone say “Let’s do it now and ask permission later?” It’s a common practice in companies where there is a barrier between levels in the chain of command, or lack of communication between contemporaries. The statement represents a failing at some point in the delegation or communication chain by a higher level of management, and should be taken as a warning that there is a problem greater than the issue handled at the moment.

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Statement of Cash Flows vs. Cash Flow Statement

Speaker: Wayne Spivak - President and Chief Financial Officer of SBA * Consulting LTD, Industry Writer, and Public Speaker

The old adages that "cash is king" and "you can’t spend profits" still hold true today. But however well-known these sayings might be, it requires a change in mindset to properly implement a cash flow management system that predicts your business's runaway as accurately as possible. Key to this new mindset is understanding the difference between the Statement of Cash Flows, a historical look at the source and uses of cash, and the Cash Flow Statement, which uses transaction history and forward-l

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"Money is Local, Impact is Global" for Angel Investing

Onevest

By Michael "Luni" Libes In the traditional world of early stage, Angel and VC investing, money is local. Studies show that over 80% of funding at Angel groups and Series A VCs goes to businesses in the same city/region as the funders. Over in the impact investing space, this rule is not true. Socially and environmentally conscious entrepreneurs are tackling global, planet-scale issues, often well outside the investment hotbeds of San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Seattle, Boulder, and Austin

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Startup Investing: The New Trend in Alternative Assets

Onevest

By Tim Hoghten. By definition Angel Investors are individual investors. But the data shows a rapidly growing trend in accredited investors investing together. This is something that we have experience at 1000 Angels , the private investor network that connects startups with investors. So how are sophisticated investors putting their money to work today?

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5 Tips to Manage Relationships With Portfolio Companies as a Startup Investor

Onevest

By Michael Whitehouse You've found that perfect startup opportunity on 1000 Angels , the private investor network that connects startups with investors, or somewhere else, decided to invest an amount in the project, and now it's time to help that investment flourish. But just how do you move forward as an investor and maximize your impact on a startup?

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Why Unicorns Are No Longer Enough. The Battle for Hendecorns

Both Sides of the Table

'We built MakeSpace’s logistics systems and customer applications (to see all of your items in storage in beautiful photography) in the first year. Then we launched our service in NYC and in just one year captured 2% of all new storage customers in our target demo in just one year with almost no marketing budget. How did we achieve these initial results?

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How to Avoid the Pain and Cost of PCI Compliance While Optimizing Payments

Speaker: P. Andrew Sjogren, Sr. Product Marketing Manager at Very Good Security, Matt Doka, Co-Founder and CTO of Fivestars, and Steve Andrews, President & CEO of the Western Bankers Association 

PCI compliance can feel challenging and sometimes the result feels like you are optimizing more for security and compliance than you are for business outcomes. The key is to take the right strategy to PCI compliance that gets you both. In this webinar, we have a great set of panelists who will take you through how Zero Data strategies can be used as part of a well-rounded compliance and security approach, and get you to market much sooner by also allowing for payment optimization.