March, 2016

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How to Decrease the Odds That Your Startup Fails

Both Sides of the Table

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. In our industry we applaud the efforts for entrepreneurs to have tried and we know that today’s failure can bring the experience for tomorrow’s success. We also know that even though many of us who are experienced in startup successes & failures look at businesses and say, “That will never work” (as many people said about Uber) or “You can’t make any money in that business” (as many said

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How to Fill a Building Full of Tech and Startup People

This is going to be BIG.

815 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY - A former turn of the century era bank building that will soon house creative folks. Don't you just hate it when you own an old building made like no one makes buildings anymore in an up and coming area--and you've got no cool startupy/creative/tech tenants in it yet? I know, I know--we've all been there. Well, have no fear, I've got your solution right here.

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From Accelerators to Venture Capital: What is best for your startup?

Gust

With startup growth up 61% since 2014 and more investment programs emerging, it can be overwhelming for founders to know just where to jump in. As the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet, MassChallenge has helped 835 startup companies around the world, who have raised over $1.1 billion in funding and created over 6,500 jobs. We have seen startups at.

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Mobile Marketing is the Future of Small Business Nomads

Entrepreneurs' Organization

As the owner of a commercial art gallery for more than 24 years, I never imagined that people would buy art online, or that I would be selling to them without any prior relationship or connection. I had seen the importance of developing mutual trust and respect with clients, and per tradition, I would nurture these working relationships over a period of years.

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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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The seven attributes of a highly successful start–up CEO

Berkonomics

Dave’s note: This week we welcome guest author, David Friedman, to tell us about his favorite startup CEO, and his take after interviewing her – asking for her list of attributes for startup success. . By David Friedman. I met Kirsten Mangers several years ago after she successfully sold her startup, Webvisible. Kirsten is the founder of ChickLabs , an incubator that focuses on helping primarily women entrepreneurs.

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More Trending

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The Long Economic Case for Snapchat

Both Sides of the Table

Yesterday I wrote a primer on how to use Snapchat for my peer group of “over 30” people who don’t yet “get” Snapchat. Today I want to talk briefly about why I believe Snapchat is an important media company. If you still don’t get Snapchat please read the primer or follow me on Snapchat for a week or two because how I create “stories” on Snapchat is more of a use case for modern media than perhaps some teens use the product so it may resonate more

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Why I don’t promote

Derek Sivers

Every day, someone asks me to promote or announce something they’ve created. Every day, I have to say no, no matter who or what it is. It upsets me every time. Almost everyone I know is a creator. Everyone has made a song, site, video, book, business, or project. Most of them are quite good. I want them all to succeed. I hate to play favorites. But if I announced them all, my site and feed would be a daily firehose of “check it out”.

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Conscious Capitalism

Fink About It

In June of 2010, something really extraordinary happened in the world of Philanthropy. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet began recruiting for what is known as “The Giving Pledge.” As many of you know, the giving pledge is a promise made by the wealthiest individuals in the world, mostly billionaires, to give away the majority of [.]. The post Conscious Capitalism appeared first on Fink About It.

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10 Tips for Family Business Success

Entrepreneurs' Organization

By Frank Fantozzi, an EO Cleveland member and President and Founder of Planned Financial Services. The family business model can be extremely rewarding for entrepreneurs, especially when it comes to creating a legacy that brings about pride, honor and family fulfillment. However,?as family businesses expand, they face unique performance and governance challenges.

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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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How can I trust that my virtual employees are working?

Berkonomics

Dave’s note: For the second week, we welcome my co-author of “Get Scrappy,” Kim Shepherd, to give us her answer to the oft-repeated question: “How can I trust that my virtual employees are working?” You’ll recall that Kim is an expert here, managing her company of over one hundred employees around the world literally from a post office box – with every one of them, including herself, working from home in a virtual environment.

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Your Customer's Top 3 Priorities

Tomasz Tunguz

What are your top three priorities in your job right now? If I asked you that question, I suspect within a minute or two you could articulate them. Is the software you are selling at your SaaS startup solving one of those three needs for your target customer? And, if it is, does your software meaningfully differentiate along one of the key competitive axes that your customer cares about?

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Why You Should Put Yourself Out There and Try New Products

Both Sides of the Table

In 2006 I started using Facebook and most of my friends & colleagues thought I was strange. They thought it was like MySpace and why did I need a MySpace page? In 2007 I started using Twitter and most of my friends & colleagues wondered why people would care what I ate for lunch. In 2008 I started VC blogging. I had blogged when I was an entrepreneur.

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Five Ways to Nail your Pitch and Win Over Investors

For Entrepreneurs

There are many opinions on creating a pitch deck and presenting to potential investors, but there is still a big gap between what entrepreneurs perceive to be important and what investors really value during a pitch presentation. This post is the first in a series, where we will provide real examples–the good, the OK, and.

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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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Ask A Founder: Startup Lessons Learned from Work Truck Solutions’ Kathryn Schifferle

Gust

Kathryn Schifferle, Founder and CEO of Work Truck Solutions, turned being a woman in work trucks into an oversubscribed $2.1 million round. We sat down with Kathryn as she shared what her fundraising journey was like, the startup lessons she learned, and her advice to fellow founders, especially women. Here is what she had to say: HK: Tell. Read more >.

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Want to Insure Your Business for the Future? Focus on Your Customer Experience

Entrepreneurs' Organization

By Cindy Koebele, EO Minnesota member and President of TitleSmart, Inc. , a full-service title insurance company. . The title insurance industry, like many others, has faced incredible change over the past few years. I started TitleSmart, Inc. in 2007 during the collapse of the housing market, precisely because I believe change and chaos breed opportunity.

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Brother, can you spare a rockstar? How else to get that next hire.

This is going to be BIG.

I get a lot of "Do you know anyone for this?" e-mails. It's good to know what people are searching for, but the chances that an investor knows the right person are quite low. Here are five tips for improving your chances: 1) Hire someone to do the blocking and tackling. This is a volume game, just like sales. In my estimation, you need to reach out to roughly 100 people to score 10 interviews to hire 1 person.

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Disruptive Innovation in SaaS by Competing with Non-Consumption

Tomasz Tunguz

Clay Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor, asserted in a recent interview that we understand only half of the marketing puzzle: the marketing science involved in a competitive ecosystem, when consumers are buying millions of products. In these markets, concepts like Westendorp Price Sensitivity and conjoint analyses work. But to incite disruption requires a different set of marketing skills.

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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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What Do LPs Think of the Venture Capital Markets for 2016?

Both Sides of the Table

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. While I’m not an LP, the following post represents my discussions with more than 100 LP firms – specifically ones that do fund VCs – and full survey data from 73 firms , so I’ve tried to capture the essence of what I’ve learned.

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The Close: New Rules for Hiring Executive Candidates

For Entrepreneurs

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. When Polyvore CEO Jess Lee was looking for a CFO, she found everything she wanted in Cheryl Dalrymple: incredible experience, shared values about how to run a company, and immediate personal rapport.

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Leaping off the cliff: Making your business virtual

Berkonomics

Dave’s note: I am so pleased this week to introduce my co-author of “Get Scrappy,” Kim Shepherd, CEO of Decision Toolbox. Her firm is a model of a virtual company, with over 100 employees and absolutely no office other than a post office box. Wow! You’ll enjoy her style and resonate with her message. Here’s Kim… By Kim Shepherd.

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Letting Go To Level Up In Business

Entrepreneurs' Organization

By Brian Scudamore, an EO Vancouver member and founder of O2E Brands. We’re a nation of hoarders. I should know; my company 1-800-GOT-JUNK? became famous on a TV show that deals solely with helping people buried in their own junk. The first hoarded home I ever entered had a stockpile of soup cans that could have lasted well into the 23rd century. Hoarding “stuff” is bad for people, and it’s even worse for entrepreneurs.

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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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Happy, Smart, and Useful

Derek Sivers

There are three things to consider when making life-size decisions: What makes you happy. What’s smart — meaning long-term good for you. What’s useful to others. We have a tendency to forget one of these. For example: Smart and useful (but not happy). This is the stereotype of the strict parent who says, “You will go to the best school, get perfect grades, get a degree in law or medicine, and make lots of money.

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A Technology Innovation Leading to a Go-To-Market Advantage

Tomasz Tunguz

What do you look for in SaaS companies? It’s hard to answer this question concisely because there are so many different ways of building a great software business. The best way I’ve found to describe it is a technology innovation leading to a go-to-market advantage. That’s how I answered the question in the 20Minute VC podcast with Harry Stebbings.

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How to Decrease the Odds That Your Startup Fails

Both Sides of the Table

Many startup businesses — tech or otherwise — fail.

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A Resource Guide: Hiring For Growth

For Entrepreneurs

At Matrix Partners, we’ve collectively hired many people by starting our own companies and as investors, and written lots of advice for startup founders. We’ve put together the following articles into a comprehensive resource guide for you to reference as you navigate through the stages of your hiring process. The advice will help you hire the best talent and scale.

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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.