This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 6, 2017

VCs lie. Everyone knows that or at least suspects it. What you don't know is whether they're lying to you or to themselves. I can't tell you how many times I've heard an entrepreneur make a generalization about VCs based on a few meetings that was completely wrong--and they were usually basing their statement off what the VC told them. Often, it's that the company didn't have enough traction, which could mean either one of two things: 1) The VC just didn't like the idea or the founder, but didn'

VC 227

VC education venture capital investing 227

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2017

There are so many moments from the Upfront Summit that I want to share with you — it just takes time to watch through all the videos, do write ups and still do my day job. One of the most exciting thinkers at Summit was Rebecca Kantar, the founder of Imbellus. I was excited to see her perform on stage because I’ve long been telling people how crazy smart, ambitious and talented she is but I was excited for people to hear for themselves.

technology 244

technology founder development entrepreneurship 244

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 29, 2017

By Doug Bonderud, writer and regular contributor for OnDeck. The rate of small business failure is trending downward, Entrepreneur reports. The trend stems partly from savvy business owners who do their homework before putting their product or service on the market. It can also be attributed to the rise of accessible, cloud-based eCommerce tools and accounting solutions, which make it possible for even home-based businesses to enjoy global impact.

financing 130

financing finance support entrepreneurs 130

Berkonomics

MARCH 2, 2017

As an early stage investor, the first test for me is whether “my” entrepreneur is flexible in both the plan and execution of his or her vision (since from experience almost everything about a business plan changes over time), and whether s/he, no matter what age or experience, is coachable. Doctoral theses have been written on this subject. Early stage investor groups often list these traits at or near the top of their list when filtering opportunities for investment.

advice 97

advice entrepreneurs opportunity innovation 97

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technology

Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 28, 2017

Over the last year in particular, Revenue Ops is a term that’s gaining some mindshare in the SaaS world. Revenue operations teams combine marketing operations and sales operations into one team. Yesterday, I heard time a further refinement of this idea: Customer Operations. As one SaaS executive described to me, marketing operations teams are the engines of the marketing team.

SaaS 46

SaaS construction creativity health 46

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 8, 2017

Just had a few conversations with startups around how early to hire for marketing. For most founders, it seems silly to hire for marketing when you don't have a product in market to sell. So, when are you supposed to start marketing? The day it launches? Seems a little late for that. You'd like to have developed an audience to be able to launch your product to--because as any PR person will tell you, relying 100% on other people's audiences can be a tough sell.

communities 150

communities creativity development strategy 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

Mayor Eric Garcetti at Upfront Summit, February 2017 I first sat down with then councilman Eric Garcetti on the Ides of March 2012 — almost 5 years ago exactly. He was running to be the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles and he outlined his vision to “open up the city government to technology and innovation” if he were elected. He wanted to bring the same level of technology focus and energy that Mayor Bloomberg had brought to New York City.

energy 191

energy innovation venture capital capital 191

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 27, 2017

By Jasmeet Dillard, spouse of EO Charlotte member John Dillard and US-East Representative. Formerly known as Spousal Forums, Spousal/Life Partner (SLP) Forums offer the loved ones of EO members a chance to experience the same support, experience-sharing and education that members enjoy. These specialized Forums are becoming more common as members’ spouses and life partners discover the profound benefits of taking their involvement with EO to the next level.

education 130

education leadership support health 130

Berkonomics

MARCH 9, 2017

Well, the numbers don’t lie, even if there are several sources of these statistics. Starting a company is HARD – in so many ways. And risky too. I read several years ago, that the average startup restaurant lasts only about a year. Ouch! Here I am a professional investor in early stage companies, and I attempt to find those with the greatest chance of success and growth in value over time.

startup 106

startup investing investment financing 106

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development

Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 14, 2017

I once asked a VP of Marketing at a top SaaS company how she thought of content programming. What is the right type of content to create? I asked her. She replied with a brilliant little insight, “I look at way the best content marketers in the world do it. The TV networks.” News dominates the early morning. Then, daytime television takes over targeting those who stay at home.

SaaS 43

SaaS sustainability education networking 43

Derek Sivers

MARCH 9, 2017

Art is useless by definition. If it was useful, it would be a tool. For the past twenty years, I was obsessed with being useful. That one measure drove all of my daily decisions: “How can I be the most useful to the most people today?”. That question served me well but had its downsides. It kept me from playing and doing things just for me. It’s no coincidence that I stopped making music twenty years ago.

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 26, 2017

I know a guy. In fact, I know a lot of guys. That’s good because guys are all anyone is looking for these days—or even speaking to. "Software guys." "Hardware guys." "Tech guys" in general. Guys who might want to fund our round. How tired are women of being either excluded in the language of who people are looking for, or being lumped in with men and being described as "Guys"?

culture 243

culture 243

Thomas Grota

MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday break - time will tell on @rotarywatches timepieces. #walkout and keep the sunshine with you. Never stop without a #reason. #preciousTime #rotarywatch #rotarydial #bestcoffeintheworld at @hommage_koeln.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 21, 2017

By Josh Sweeney, an EO Atlanta member and CEO of Atcore Systems, LLC. From the first EO prospect lunch that I attended, members, trainers and board members alike exalted the vast access to entrepreneurs that made up the organization’s global network. And shortly after joining, I received updates that EO had reached 10,000 members worldwide, as well as schedules for upcoming Universities and other global events.

peer-to-peer 130

peer-to-peer board leadership networking 130

Berkonomics

MARCH 23, 2017

I have a good business friend, an experienced manager and teacher with a Harvard MBA, whose deep thinking creativity and intelligence are admired by many. But he dilutes his effectiveness with wordy PowerPoint presentations. It has become a long running joke between us, as I often remind him that most of us have a very limited attention span and ability to recall important points from a presentation.

creativity 97

creativity 97

Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 11, 2017

Most startups go to market with the intent to differentiate their product. Each one of us has an idea what might make a better CRM, marketing automation suite or customer support. Other startups prefer to combine a product innovation with a reinvention of the sales process. The four key innovations in SaaS sales strategies I’ve observed so far are: Bottoms-up.

innovation 43

innovation SaaS education strategy 43

Derek Sivers

MARCH 12, 2017

Imagine the Olympics, where you have the three winners of a race standing on the podium: the gold, the silver, and the bronze. Imagine what it’s like to be the silver medalist. If you’d been just one second faster, you could have won the gold! Damn! So close! Damn damn damn! Full of envy, you’d keep comparing yourself to the gold winner. Now imagine what it’s like to be the bronze medalist.

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B2B marketing

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 20, 2017

It's really easy to be dismissive these days--because people talk a lot of s**t. There's probably no more dismissive group than founders--because you have to dismiss a lot of doubt and negativity on your way to success. However, a lot of founders have a tendency to be overly dismissive--to tell themselves a narrative and stick to that, no matter what anyone else, even if the criticism is warranted.

founder 157

founder 157

propel(x)

MARCH 7, 2017

Imagine if each and every cancer patient got a custom treatment based on their bodies’ makeup, which in turn increased the likelihood of the treatment’s success? zPREDICTA is making this vision reality. By artificially replicating a body’s internal environment, cancer drugs can be effectively tested before entering a human body, allowing drug developers and physicians to predict how a patient will respond to the treatment.

technology 70

technology development incubation entrepreneurs 70

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 10, 2017

By Michael Manning, chief relationship officer at Rocksauce Studios. Good experience and stellar references make job candidates stand out, but culture fit can be the deciding factor. According to a 2016 survey, human resources teams often prioritize cultural fit when looking at recent college graduates—even over referrals, classes and grades. But evaluating fit doesn’t stop when you bring a new employee on board.

culture 130

culture collaboration board support 130

Berkonomics

MARCH 16, 2017

So, what do you think is more important? The quality of your management team, or the plan you execute toward success? Checking with professional investors from angels to VC’s, the answer appears to be near unanimous: the quality of the proposed or actual management team comes in a strong first, before the attractiveness of the business plan itself. The quest for a great management team is not a fluke, but rather a result of backward looks at the failure rate from past investments by those same

advice 97

advice entrepreneurs investing investment 97

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

financing

Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 26, 2017

When I first met Jen Grant, Looker’s CMO, she told me a story from early days of Box, where she was SVP of Marketing. Jen spoke about the importance of creating tension in the marketing message. Aaron Levie, Box’s CEO and founder, spoke at conferences about the future of collaboration. His message: Box will transform the way employees work.

startup 40

startup collaboration education strategy 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2017

Recently Upfront Ventures published its outlook for the technology startup world and venture capital overall titled it “ WTF Happened to Winter ?” The conclusion of our report was that winter did come, but it was mild and short. This was driven by the influx of corporate VCs, foreign VC money, sovereign wealth funds and the new war chests of VCs who raised new funds in the past 18 months.

venture capital 277

venture capital capital ventures startup ecosystem 277

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 7, 2017

By Orrin Klopper, EO member and CEO of Netsurit. When Netsurit decided to seek an opportunity to expand into the North American market, networking with our colleagues at Entrepreneurs’ Organization was the logical first step in finding a like-minded company in the US. Everyone at Netsurit is driven by our mission of supporting the dreams of the doers.

culture 130

culture consulting support networking 130

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 3, 2017

By Bob Bernstein, an EO Nashville member and founder of Bongo Productions. Sometimes things in business and life are laughed off until something happens that forces us to take matters more seriously. As an entrepreneur, my mind generates so many ideas that I started numbering them in emails to my administrative team. I made my Forum mates crack up when I spontaneously quoted Britney Spears to describe this non-stop flow of ideas.

health 130

health hospitality construction creativity 130

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.

strategy