This is going to be BIG.
AUGUST 22, 2012
You have a million things to get done at your startup, yet you only have a handful of people to do them. How are you ever going to get it done? Who should you hire? What should be the makeup of a founding team? What is the Minimum Viable Team, if you will, for a startup? To make life simpler, I'll take a page from George Carlin, who masterfully widdled down the Ten Commandments down to two simple rules.
Both Sides of the Table
AUGUST 23, 2012
This is one of the best episodes of This Week in VC for a long time. I had the chance to speak with Andrew Siegel who runs corp dev & strategy for Condé Nast (aka Advance Publications). In case you don’t know, they are one of the biggest media companies in the world. They are best known for their magazine titles such as The New Yorker, Wired, Vanity Fair and Vogue.
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Gust
AUGUST 22, 2012
At the threshold of one of the most recognizable landmarks in human history — the sole survivor among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , dating back nearly five thousand years — my host was engaged in heated debate with a rotating phalanx of functionaries. As our group sweltered in the July heat on the outskirts of Cairo , each of these purported minions of the state — none of whom wore a uniform or badge — in turn blocked our entry, determined to exercise the modest amount of authority b
Tomasz Tunguz
AUGUST 23, 2012
We negotiate every day in almost every conversation and exchange, whether it’s rescheduling a flight, asking for a product return or responding to a term sheet. I’ve been reading Getting More , a book by Stuart Diamond, who trains the military, Google and many others on negotiation. Everyone should read it. This book is set apart because it recognizes the nature of relationships, emotion and human nature, forgoing concepts like ZOPA and BATNA.
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This is going to be BIG.
AUGUST 20, 2012
Most entrepreneurs aren't qualified for their jobs--including about 100% of the first timers. Many times, they get backed just because they're smart people working in an interesting area. Sure, they had a demo or a prototype or something, but investors know the product will change. What they're really betting on is your ability to learn--and that starts with your willingness to admit the following: "I don't know what to do.".
Startup Catalyst Brief brings together the best content for the entrepreneurial ecosystem from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Gust
AUGUST 19, 2012
As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short – maybe short on content, but not short on pages! A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. Even if you have an hour booked, the advice is the same.
Tomasz Tunguz
AUGUST 21, 2012
At the center of every startup is a secret. A secret is not an unknown. Rather, it’s something just not widely believed to be achievable or feasible. In other words, it’s an insight. Exploiting that secret should be the aim of every entrepreneur. Leveraging the secret means disruption and ultimately success. The genesis of every secret is the word why.
Berkonomics
AUGUST 23, 2012
There is a major trend shaping up that is worldwide, already identified by hundreds of thousands of startup and small business CEOs. By carefully recognizing and focusing upon the very core of the business, these CEOs are allocating their scarce cash resources to hire the best talent they can find to support that core business, and then reaching out to partners, independent contractors, and other small businesses to provide all other functions.
Both Sides of the Table
AUGUST 19, 2012
It’s been nearly a year since I did This Week in VC on a regular basis. I’ve wanted to come back but had a busy year on the road meeting with investors and making a few investments of my own. But I’m back. I agreed with Jason Calacanis that I would re-launch the show if his team would promise to do the “show notes” for every episode.
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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.
Gust
AUGUST 23, 2012
Startups usually begin with one or two founders who play many roles. The lead founder is likely to wear the hats of Founder, Chairman, CEO, President, CFO, CRO and CMO, while a co-founder may well be CTO, Chief Product Officer, and Programming Team Lead. As the company grows and brings on more people, even in cases where everyone wants to keep the organization ‘flat’, it simply becomes too unwieldy for the CEO to have more than six or so direct reports, or for the CTO to both code ev
Tomasz Tunguz
AUGUST 22, 2012
How much is a social media click worth compared to a email click or a search click for an eCommerce site? Monetate, makers of optimization software for eCommerce landing pages released data answering this question. Channel. Conversion Rates. AOV. CPC Relative Worth. Email. 4.25%. 90.4. $1.000. Search. 2.49%. 82.72. $0.536. Social. 0.59%. 64.19. $0.0986.
Tomasz Tunguz
AUGUST 19, 2012
Developing a sales strategy is critical for software-as-a-service (SaaS) startups. The first step in developing a sales strategy is to build a robust market segmentation. I’ve used data from the US Census to develop a segmentation that reveals some surprising facts about the SMB market and may help inform your startup’s sales strategy. Chart 1: 98% of businesses in the US employ fewer than 100 people. 98% of businesses in the US employ between 1 to 4 people.
Tomasz Tunguz
AUGUST 19, 2012
Developing a sales strategy is critical for software-as-a-service (SaaS) startups. The first step in developing a sales strategy is to build a robust market segmentation. I’ve used data from the US Census to develop a segmentation that reveals some surprising facts about the SMB market and may help inform your startup’s sales strategy. Chart 1: 98% of businesses in the US employ fewer than 100 people. 98% of businesses in the US employ between 1 to 4 people.
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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.
Tomasz Tunguz
AUGUST 18, 2012
Hollywood and Silicon Valley often seems worlds apart. While movie making and startup building may always be very different endeavors, great managers use the same techniques in every discipline to empower their teams, hire the right people, and change the world. Over the weekend, I watched Woody Allen: A Documentary which profiles the great director through the words of his actors, editors and producers.
Tomasz Tunguz
AUGUST 18, 2012
Hollywood and Silicon Valley often seems worlds apart. While movie making and startup building may always be very different endeavors, great managers use the same techniques in every discipline to empower their teams, hire the right people, and change the world. Over the weekend, I watched Woody Allen: A Documentary which profiles the great director through the words of his actors, editors and producers.
Tomasz Tunguz
AUGUST 20, 2012
I love freemium businesses. I have met with many of them, work with one and if I were to start one, this would be my game plan, the characteristics of the product, market, distribution channels, conversion point and team. Product Characteristics. The existing solutions are either email and spreadsheets or software architected before the turn of the century.
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