January, 2010

article thumbnail

Building Products for Mass Adoption

Both Sides of the Table

Chris Dixon wrote a blog post last week titled, “ Techies and Normals &# in which he defined “Techies&# as people who are not just “early adopters&# but also have more of a geeky, technical, product bent. Normals (or “Muggles&# as Catarina Fake called them) are people who, unlike Techies, don’t just use products simply because they’re infatuated with them and with showing the world how cool it is that they’re using the latest tech product.

advice 348
article thumbnail

The 5 things that startups can learn from Lady Gaga (cc @ladygaga)

This is going to be BIG.

I’ll admit it: Everytime I hear that familiar “Ra-ra, ah-ah ah-ah, Ra-ma ra ma-ma, Ga-ga ooh la-la”, I crank up the volume. The outlandishly costumed fellow former Upper East Side prep schooler has garnered some serious mass appeal over the last two years. But what can you attribute Ms. Germanotta’s success to, and moreover, what can the average tech startup learn from it?

startup 218
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Raising money for your business: What are the options?

Berkonomics

This post will be perhaps a bit longer than usual, but certainly of great interest for those with interest in or have need for more capital… This stage is critical to many businesses and a passing option to others, depending upon the capital efficiency of the enterprise. Some businesses require very little capital and the founder is able to self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale).

mix-use 69
article thumbnail

Android or iPhone? Wrong Question

abovethecrowd.com

[Follow Me on Twitter] In a recent New York Times article, Kathryn Huberty, a Morgan Stanley analyst was quoted suggesting that Apple’s iPhone is the key catalyst for an important new technology trend. “Applications make the smartphone trend a revolutionary trend – one we haven’t seen in consumer technology for many years.” This argument rings [.].

article thumbnail

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Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business.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.

article thumbnail

How to Work with Lawyers at a Startup

Both Sides of the Table

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 know that people have an allergy to lawyers out of fear of being screwed. Much of this is unfounded – some is not. If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have.

startup 318

More Trending

article thumbnail

What Makes an Entrepreneur (7/11) – Detail Orientation

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. The full list is now posted there if you want a sneak preview. I’ll try to add a few extra comments in my posts to keep in interesting. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity.

article thumbnail

Productivity Hacks: Voicemail, Folders & To-Do’s

Both Sides of the Table

I recently wrote a post about avoiding the “ Deferred Life Plan &# and some related thoughts about personal productivity that came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four Hour Workweek. I would love to say that I’m the productivity guru. Unfortunately my wife reads my blog and she’d log in and add comments to dispel this rumor (she keeps me honest.

advice 280
article thumbnail

Digital Health Becoming a Reality

Both Sides of the Table

Bill Gates once famously said that people tend to overestimate the impact of technology in the 1-year timeframe and underestimate its impact in the 10-year timeframe. That’s always stuck with me. I tend not to go into heat when I hear the latest buzz on the tech blogs about the latest gadgets. But when I read thoughtful pieces on the future of technology I start to imagine where our lives will be in 10 years.

health 278
article thumbnail

Inaugural Open Angel Forum Was a Success

Both Sides of the Table

Last night I attended the inaugural Open Angel Forum event started by Jason Calacanis , a fellow LA resident. Jason started the Open Angel Forum in response to his frustration that entrepreneurs were being charged by some angel organizations to present at their events. He wrote an excellent blog post on this topic. As a former entrepreneur, I’m a big supporter of Jason’s goals.

advice 254
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

This Week in the New York Innovation Community – February 1st, 2010

This is going to be BIG.

Welcome to Social Media Week --the one week out of the year where we get to tweet and blog about social media! Hopefully, you can find a way in to some of these events as most are sold out. Try the waitlists. I think you'll have a good shot at getting in. If not, just try to slip the dude at the front door a few Twitter followers. Monday, February 1st 10:30AM Branding the Future with Social Engagement, sponsored by Pepsi Refresh The opening session of Social Media Week will focus on a top-level

article thumbnail

Op-Ed Columnist - More (Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs - NYTimes.com

This is going to be BIG.

We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of “Start-Up America.”. via www.nytimes.com. Tags: Politics.

article thumbnail

This Week in New York Tech - January 11th

This is going to be BIG.

If you need to replicate yourself to attend any of these events, remember: Don't make a copy of a copy! Tuesday, January 12th 6:30PM Agile UX at the Economist (Waitlist only) The Economist online will share their experiences, successes and lessons learned around practicing user-centered design in an Agile development process. This includes user research and testing, Drupal-based surveys, collaborative design tools using Google docs and a Drupal-based site called Good Ideas that supports collabor

article thumbnail

BREAKING: iTablet product warnings leaked

This is going to be BIG.

I can’t tell you how I got this, but I hear that the iTablet user manual comes with a whole host of unexpected disclosures: Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to The Apple iTablet. Caution: The Apple iTablet may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds. The Apple iTablet contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.

article thumbnail

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

article thumbnail

Entrepreneur-product fit

This is going to be BIG.

At First Round , I often hear the term “product-market” fit. Since we often invest before the big “hockey stick” traction that bigger VCs wait for, a lot of times the company is still trying to tweak exactly what service or application will take off in a given market. Sometimes they’re testing various pricing models…other times they’re not sure if it’s a partnership strategy or a direct sales effort that will get the most uptake.

article thumbnail

This Week in the NYC Innovation Community – January 25, 2010

This is going to be BIG.

To get this list in your inbox each Monday morning, sign up here. This just in: Six states have now lifted the marriage ban. You are now free to marry the soon to be released Apple Tablet in California, New York, Arkansas, Ohio, Maine and Vermont. The rest of you will just have to go to one of these events to try to find human life partners: Monday, January 25th 6:00PM The Future of Music: with Lyor Cohen, CEO Rec.

article thumbnail

This Week in the NYC Innovation Community – January 18th

This is going to be BIG.

You can get posts like these e-mailed to you once a week on Mondays by going here. Am I the only one that thinks that perhaps Steve Jobs will be introducing two Apple tablets next week. made of stone. from a mountain? Seems like anything less would be a letdown. Oh, and btw. big miss on someone not doing a diversity hack-a-thon on Monday. That would have been awesomesauce.

article thumbnail

Dear MBAs who want to work at startups

This is going to be BIG.

So you just finished up the year at Harvard/Wharton/Stanford/NYU, etc. and since your lifelong dream of being a banker doesn’t seem like a viable route anymore, you’re thinking that a startup might be the place for you. (You’d much rather be a VC, but you’re smart enough to know that there are like 8 junior VC positions open a year, so you’re looking for a backup.

startup 335
article thumbnail

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

article thumbnail

Outside investors want liquidity, not love.

Berkonomics

Taking in angel or venture money requires a setting of an entrepreneur’s expectations that may come as a shock at least at first. From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering. There is no middle ground.

VC 67
article thumbnail

What Can You Learn from the 4-Hour Workweek?

Both Sides of the Table

A couple of years ago I read the popular book, “The Four Hour Workweek &# by Tim Ferriss. It was recommended to me by my friend, Net Jacobsson , who was trying to do some basic Life Hacking. If you’re not familiar with the term it’s basically trying to help all of us who are deluged with technology to find ways to cope with the masses of information without having it ruin our lives.

advice 295
article thumbnail

What Makes an Entrepreneur? Cojones (7/11)

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. I then covered Street Smarts , Ability to Pivot , Resiliency , Inspiration and Perspiration.

article thumbnail

Op-Ed Columnist - Who’s Sleeping Now? - NYTimes.com

This is going to be BIG.

Being in China right now I am more convinced than ever that when historians look back at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, they will say that the most important thing to happen was not the Great Recession, but China’s Green Leap Forward. The Beijing leadership clearly understands that the E.T. — Energy Technology — revolution is both a necessity and an opportunity, and they do not intend to miss it.

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

How to Not Suck at a Group Presentation

Both Sides of the Table

Most people suck at presenting to big groups. It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. This was evident at the Twiistup pre-event company pitch last week at UCLA. Francisco Dao came up with the idea of letting 10 companies that weren’t selected for Twiistup to do a presentation the night before to a group of people and l

advice 362
article thumbnail

How to Present at Big Meetings without Going Down a Rat Hole

Both Sides of the Table

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Congratulations. You’ve found a VC partner or principal who has invited you to the Monday partners’ meeting. Or on a sales campaign you’ve finally gotten your project sponsor to take you to the “executive committee&# where decisions are made and budgets are agreed.

advice 318
article thumbnail

The Yo-Yo Life of a Tech Entrepreneur – A Cautionary Tale

Both Sides of the Table

TechCrunch ran my article yesterday as a guest post but I wanted to have a copy here for anybody who missed it and for future readers of this blog. This is a slightly longer version and also has an update at the end. TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitiv

article thumbnail

Why Yelp should pay attention to not shooting itself in the face (and what ripping off Foursquare and taking big money from Elevation mean)

This is going to be BIG.

Back in July, I wrote a piece called “ Why Yelp (…and every single retail establishment) Should Support Foursquare ”. Whitney McNamara referred to as the “post that launched 1000 VCs”, but it was really meant to open up a dialogue between an innovative little company hyperfocused on an important piece of data—when people show up to venues—and a bigger company dependent on relationships with venues.

ecology 170
article thumbnail

Building Healthy Innovation Ecosystems for Your Projects

Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic

Every startup and innovation project exists within an ecosystem that either helps or hurts that project. As innovation managers, we need to keep a pulse of that ecosystem and make sure we're helping those innovation projects we're managing every step of the way. In this webinar, Nick Noreña will walk through an Innovation Ecosystem Model that he and his team at Kromatic have developed to help investors, heads of product, teachers, and executives understand how they can best support innovation in