This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Just once I'd like to see a pitch deck with a slide for the hiring plan and *most* importantly, how they're going to execute it. VCs talk about customer acquisition and competition as critical parts of the pitch--when 99% of the time the real answers are: a) Well, we'll do some PR, some social, some paid when we figure out what a customer is worth, some BD. and. b) No one's even using *anything* in this space yet, so our true competition is apathy and lack of awareness.

investing 277

investing investment angel investing pitching 277

Gust

OCTOBER 16, 2012

September’s Startup Map showcases the latest trends in startup profiles created on Gust between September 1 st and September 30 th. Some of the entrepreneurs chose to keep their startup profiles private and therefore are labeled as unpublished in this month’s map, and were not included in the trends analysis. In September the US has once again shown the highest concentration of startups, even though there was a decline when compared to the month of August.

startup 155

startup education development entrepreneurs 155

Tomasz Tunguz

OCTOBER 16, 2012

The first mobile phones were purchased by corporations and given to employees. Thirty years ago, most people used computers at work but not at home. Most of the innovation flowed from the enterprise into the home. Today, it’s very much the opposite. The big trends in enterprise trace the opposite movement both at the software layer and the device layer: consumerization of IT means using consumer channels to acquire customers and bring your own device (BYOD) means 66% of employees bring their own

innovation 40

innovation technology development investing 40

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 18, 2012

“He’s not in right now.” “I am going to the doctor at that time.” “I paid only two dollars a unit to your competitor.” Whether not true and used to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, or whether used to gain an advantage in a negotiation, these little business lies are acceptable because they achieve their intended result without actually hurting the other party.

peer-to-peer 63

peer-to-peer culture 63

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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.

technology

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 16, 2012

RA Dickey of the New York Mets is the closest I've ever had to a sports hero. His story of overcoming child abuse, a missing arm ligament, a decade in the minors and going on to reinvent himself in his mid-30's using a pitch few have mastered is nothing short of inspirational. I took the afternoon off a couple of weeks ago to see him win his 20th game of the season at Citifield.

pitching 259

pitching frameworks construction consulting 259

Tomasz Tunguz

OCTOBER 17, 2012

Every social service aims to achieve massive growth and deep engagement. But if forced to choose just one of these attributes, I would pick engagement every time. An active user base implies product/user fit for a social service. Aside from the core functionality of social services, which is a solved problem (profiles, messaging, feed), the essence of a social startup is culture - the values of the community, the mores, the manners of interaction.

culture 40

culture communities startup 40

Gust

OCTOBER 14, 2012

Ryan Blair book image via Amazon. It’s a well-accepted axiom in the investor community that entrepreneurs learn more from their failures than their successes. Thus a well-explained startup failure often can actually improve your odds of funding in the next go-round. Yet, there is no doubt that the best strategy is to learn from someone else’s mistakes, so you can enjoy the millions that someone else lost in learning.

entrepreneurs 174

entrepreneurs leadership strategy communities 174

Gust

OCTOBER 16, 2012

This summer I conducted our third annual survey of the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies recently funded by angel groups in North America. Access to our 2010 and 2011 surveys can be found at 2011 Valuation Survey of North American Angel Investor Groups. We received data from thirty groups of the fifty angel groups from whom we requested data.

energy 169

energy data collection angel capital networking 169

Gust

OCTOBER 15, 2012

An impromptu Twitter debate arose among Fred Wilson, Dave McClure, Mark Suster, Chris Dixon and others about convertible debt, priced equity rounds, and the nuances of early stage financing. It was such a good discussion that Fred asked that someone Storify it. I’ve done that here and expanded it with some additional references, background info and light commentary.

financing 140

financing finance angel investing investing 140

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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.

development

Gust

OCTOBER 16, 2012

I like this a lot. The executive summary: . Dropbox Co-Founder Drew Houston believes false mythologies about tech company founders do a disservice to aspiring entrepreneurs. While many people think all tech founders start with world conquering visions, says Houston, the reality is that founders learn one day at a time just like everyone else. This less-than-two-minute video comes from Stanford’s Ecorner , its online entrepreneurship center, which is a great resource. .

founder 119

founder entrepreneurship entrepreneurs 119

Gust

OCTOBER 18, 2012

This isn’t a question of hypocrisy, because the two roles aren’t at all analogous. Plato’s definition of beauty was “fitness to the end in view”, and the skills and characteristics that make for a great VC are quite different from those that make for a great entrepreneur. Think of it as the difference between the best spy working for the CIA or MI5…and the best spy recruiter tucked away on an academic campus keeping a keen eye out for those with high potential

ventures 152

ventures venture capital VC startup 152

Tomasz Tunguz

OCTOBER 15, 2012

Freemium businesses' marketing techniques are immensely powerful. They drive large amounts of users to try a product and convert some small fraction of those to paid, upending the enterprise sales model. In some sense, freemium businesses are real world Monte Carlo simulations. Because of the large volume of users using the product, freemium businesses can generates gigabytes of interaction data and conversion-to-paid data, which makes these kinds of startups particularly well suited to data sci

startup 40

startup 40