October, 2017

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Why You Shouldn't Put VCs on a Pedestal

This is going to be BIG.

Influencers. Kingmakers. Sharks. Power brokers. Visionaries. There are a lot of ways the startup world describes venture capitalists that portrays a certain power dynamic, real or perceived, that I believe is at the heart of so many of the industry's problems. The industry treats VCs as if they hold all the cards, and the worst behaviors of investors reflect that.

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You can have two Big Things, but not three

A Smart Bear

Forget work/life integration for a minute. How much time do you have, regardless of partitioning? From your 24-hour daily allotment, the 1950s-style break-down is 8 hours for work, 8 for home and commute, and 8 for sleep and ablutions. So, “work” and “home” are the two things in which you can spend 40+ hours per week. This is the amount of time it takes to tackle something huge.

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Facing Your Fears: Parenthood and Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs' Organization

By EO member Ben Welch-Bolen. Fear is a basic human instinct bred into our DNA to help us avoid danger. Without a healthy fear of falling, fire, spiders and clowns—ok, maybe not clowns?our lives might be significantly shorter. But fear isn’t our only basic drive; we’re also compelled to propagate our species. These two instincts collided for me on 20 April, 2016, when my wife delivered a clever knock-knock joke to inform me that I would soon be a dad.

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Startups Are Winning the Remote Work Game. Here’s the Data That Proves It.

OnStartups

Today the State of Remote Work 2017 report revealed that 63% of people in product and engineering roles work remotely at least once per week, which is 21% more than the average. Along with key findings on how remote work is changing the workplace, the report also revealed that startup environments may be a particularly strong match for remote work. Why might that be?

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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Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business.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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Why cash is only one measure of employee happiness

Berkonomics

Close. In 1981, Herb Cohen wrote and published “ You Can Negotiate Anything ”, an excellent guide to great negotiating. I’ve read and reread the book a number of times and find myself using the techniques often in many areas of my life. One of his lessons remains clearly on my mind and is a variant of the old “You name the price and I’ll name the terms” challenge that works so well in negotiation.

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I Can Be Difficult

This is going to be BIG.

Last week, I heard the word "difficult" describing investors twice. Once was about me and once wasn't. The founder and investor relationship is, in fact, a difficult one to get right. Both sides walk in with a lot of cognitive biases and style differences unique to every pair. Meanwhile, the work of trust building is hard and takes a long time. In one instance, there was an investor holding up a round after agreeing to sign off on something verbally.

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How entrepreneurs and executives can work with private equity and VC funds

David Teten VC

I presented a few weeks ago to the American Marketing Association Executive Forum on how their members can work with and earn money from private equity and venture capital funds. I discussed all of the major engagement models: Expert Networks, Consulting, Interim Executives, Advisors, Board Members, Deal Executives, and Executives in Residence/Entrepreneurs in Residence.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization - Untitled Article

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Stacey Brewer’s journey is marked by a passion for giving back. Together with fellow EO Johannesburg member Ryan Harrison , she founded SPARK Schools in South Africa in 2013. “W e’ve always been passionate about giving back to a country that has given us so much over the years,” says Stacey. “As it turns out, entrepreneurship was the vehicle to do just that.” While pursuing an MBA at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Sandton, South Africa, Stacey saw an op

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2017 Private SaaS Company Survey – Part 1

For Entrepreneurs

For the sixth year in a row, we’re proud to work with KBCM Technology Group (formerly Pacific Crest Securities) to share results from a survey of over 400 private SaaS companies. The survey represents deep benchmarking data and insights on growth and operations of private SaaS companies. Thank you to the readers of forEntrepreneurs who participated in.

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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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How to make a small problem into a big one.

Berkonomics

Allowing small problems to escalate into big ones is simple. Just ignore the signs for long enough and the job is done. It takes far more energy to review regularly the key performance indicators you’ve established for each individual and yourself. But a small excursion caught early and corrected saves massive corrective resources later. Take for example the manufacturing company with a small quality problem in one component, resulting in a test failure rate above the norm.

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Important Changes in Revenue and Profitability Definitions for SaaS Companies

Tomasz Tunguz

Starting in January, public software companies will report their financials using ASC 606. Normally, accounting changes are not that interesting, but ASC 606 will change several of the key attributes and benchmarks SaaS startups use. The two most important changes are changes to revenue and profitability. Today, all software revenue is recognized ratably over the contract period.

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My Least Favorite Part of Venture Capital

This is going to be BIG.

I'm a lead investor. That means I'm usually the first person to put down a price on what your company is worth--a dollar value on months, if not years, worth of your work, blood, sweat, tears, stress, etc. "Here's a piece of paper that says how much I think your dreams are worth." The reality is, any price that I put down at the stage that I invest isn't going to feel like enough--and if it doesn't feel like enough, I'm probably grossly overpaying.

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The fundamental lesson of the forces governing scaling startups

A Smart Bear

Idealistic founders believe they will break the mold when they scale, and not turn into a “typical big company.” By which they mean: Without stupid rules that assume employees are dumb or evil, without everything taking ten times longer than it should, without wall-to-wall meetings, without resorting to hiring anything less than the top 1% of the talent pool, and so on.

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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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Moving Forward, Step by (Sweet) Step

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Loren Brill didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur. In fact, it was a medical diagnosis that ultimately led her to start an all-natural cookie dough business called Sweet Loren’s. As a first-stage entrepreneur, she struggled to talk shop with her peers. The EO Accelerator program changed that. Not only did she reach her US$1 million mark, but she also discovered a network of friends, supporters and advisors.

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2017 Private SaaS Company Survey – Part 2

For Entrepreneurs

We recently released Part 1 results of our private SaaS company survey in partnership with KBCM Technology Group (formerly Pacific Crest Securities). This is the sixth annual survey we’ve produced together, which provides data to help SaaS companies benchmark their performance against their competition. In Part 1, we covered growth rates, go-to-market trends, operational aspects, and cost structure.

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Even a taste of ownership motivates employees.

Berkonomics

Close. How about employees all the way down the line and through the corporation? How do we align them to the goals and strategies of the enterprise? Obviously for the appropriate individuals, a bonus program aligned to the department’s goals is appropriate. But how about awarding stock options for all employees? I discovered the power of ownership early in my management career, establishing an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), once popular as incentive compensation as well as a tax write-o

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The Implication of Secular Increases in SaaS CAC

Tomasz Tunguz

One of the major trends facing SaaS companies today is the rising cost of customer acquisition. Data on this trend has been difficult to find. Fortunately, Patrick at ProfitWell sent me his survey results across about 800 companies. The chart above shows the increasing cost of customer acquisition on a per company basis. Those surveyed have observed a ~65% increase in cost of customer acquisition over the last five years.

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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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The Cold E-mail and the Crazy Big Idea: Industrial Organic Announces Seed Round

This is going to be BIG.

"Hi Charlie, I've requested a meeting with you during the first week of March. Here are ten reasons why you should take the meeting." This is an e-mail I got from Amanda Weeks in February 2014, and the beginning of a two and a half year journey that culminated with Brooklyn Bridge Ventures leading a pre-seed round for Industrial Organic that kicked off about a year ago.

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One Small Change I Made That Improved My Daily Mental State

Both Sides of the Table

We all have a pretty good idea about things that drag down our productivity or suck up time that would be better spent on more fulfilling activities. Two years ago I made a commitment to stop bringing my mobile phone into my bedroom and with like a 95% compliance rate this made a big improvement. At nighttime I don’t check my email or social feed right before bed, which helps me from having last-minute anxiety before going to sleep.

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Inside the EO Accelerator Program

Entrepreneurs' Organization

We had a chance to speak with cryptocurrency investor Philippe Theunissen (PT) and brand consultant Qin Guo (QG) in Shanghai, and here’s what they had to say about their experiences as EO Accelerator participants. EO: HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT THE EO ACCELERATOR PROGRAM? QG: My business is in brand consulting. I actually started working for this company and now I own and operate it, so I have a lot of responsibilities and challenges.

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2017 SaaS Survey Infographic

For Entrepreneurs

The third annual forEntrepreneurs SaaS Survey Infographic shares top highlights from this year’s SaaS Survey results! You can find the full 2017 survey results here: Part 1 shares growth rates, go-to-market trends and cost structure Part 2 covers application delivery methods, operational costs, gross margins, contract terms, churn rates, capital requirements and accounting methods.

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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.

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Would you pay a high achiever more than yourself?

Berkonomics

Close. Recently I was asked to review an offer letter for a senior director of business development. The CEO was concerned that he was offering far too much in the form of incentive compensation, with bonuses that could greatly exceed the base salary if all the bonus items were achieved. I asked the CEO to imagine what the company would look like if all those bonus-expensive items were completely achieved in one year.

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Monte Carlo Simulations of Inside and Outside Sales Teams in a SaaS Startup

Tomasz Tunguz

Recently, a VP of sales told me about the way he views the dynamic between inside and outside sales. Inside sales is the drumbeat, a highly predictable sales organization whose consistency enables outside sales to swing for the fences. I never heard it expressed quite this way, but I do think there’s some truth to it. To prove it to myself, I ran a Monte Carlo simulation for hypothetical startup.

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Let Gratitude Guide You to Success

Entrepreneurs' Organization

If there were an easy way to reduce sick days, boost team morale, make happier customers, and create a more pleasant work environment, you’d probably try it, right? What if it could also make you physically and mentally healthier, and even extend your lifespan? And what if it is free? Good news. This magic cure already exists. It’s gratitude. Study after study has shown gratitude helps people become healthier, happier, and more successful, and it can impact your business in the same ways.

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Facing Failure: A Q&A With Franziska Iseli

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Every person—and every entrepreneur—has experienced defeat, and plenty of us are familiar with the adages about failure being a pathway to success. Such sayings are often crafted with the benefit of hindsight. Thomas Edison, for example, had long since developed the light bulb when he could assert, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”.

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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