This is going to be BIG.

MAY 22, 2014

'I could spend a lot of time writing a long diatribe about what it means to create a brand, or I could just show you three videos that Tinybop , a company I seeded in 2012, made as part of the marketing for their new app, Plants. Consider the bar raised. As a biased investor, I not-so-humbly submit that this is the most creative thing any startup in New York City has ever produced as part of a launch: Plants by Tinybop from Tinybop on Vimeo.

creativity 276

creativity startup 276

Gust

MAY 18, 2014

'The days are gone when a techie or a genius could build things in his garage and customers would find and buy the product, based purely on the “wow factor” of the technology. New technologies are everywhere today. People have seen so much that they are blasé, or actually fear pure technology. They want a personable brand, before they will consider the product.

media 166

media strategy education networking 166

Berkonomics

MAY 22, 2014

'By Bill Payne. Bill Payne has been actively involved in angel investing since 1980, funding over 50 companies and mentoring over 100 more. He is the recipient of the coveted “Hans Severiens Award form the Angel Capital Association, its highest honor. . The sale of equity in private companies is regulated by the Securities Act of 1933, which requires that the company either register with the SEC or meet one of several exemptions (Regulation D).

angel investing 79

angel investing angel capital entrepreneurs investing 79

Tomasz Tunguz

MAY 22, 2014

BYOBI is an acronym I first heard on a telephone call with a VP of Technology at a large corporation. The word is almost unknown today, but I think that it will be one of the largest trends to impact data in the next five years. BYOBI means Bring Your Own Business Intelligence. This VP of Technology was struggling to enable the sales people, marketers, engineers and others within his business to access the data they needed.

enablement 40

enablement SaaS disruption innovation 40

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technology

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

'In my Twitter bio is says that I’m “ looking to invest in passionate entrepreneurs ,” which almost sounds like I was just looking for a cliché soundbite to describe myself. Yet along with “authenticity” they are two of the key attributes I look for when I meet with companies I may consider funding one day. Passion is also the featured heavily in nearly every presentation I give to entrepreneurs or on college campuses or in talks with MBA students.

peer-to-peer 419

peer-to-peer startup entrepreneurs education 419

Derek Sivers

MAY 17, 2014

Be careful when you say you like or dislike something, because you could change your mind soon. The first time I heard Tom Waits’s music, when he was a guest on David Letterman , I thought it was so horrible that it must be a joke. Even years later, when I heard him again, I hated his music passionately. But then I heard his cover version of the Cole Porter song “It’s All Right With Me”, and loved it.

health 40

health 40

Tomasz Tunguz

MAY 18, 2014

Fenwick’s report on the state of the venture market and I came across these three data points that summarise one facet of the market in Silicon Valley succinctly: 11 venture backed companies raised funds at a valuation of over $1 billion in Q114, more than did so in all of 2013. Hedge and mutual funds participated in 23 venture deals through mid-April, compared to 41 in all of 2013.

ventures 40

ventures investing investment enablement 40

Gust

MAY 17, 2014

'Although that’s probably not the right question to be asking (because the right investor is one who is investing in you as a businessperson, not you as a minorityperson), some firms and groups specializing in this sector are NMAN, the National Minority Angel Network ( [link] m/ ), MAIN, the Minority Angel Investor Network ( [link] investor… ), and Jalia Ventures( [link] ventures.com/ ).

ventures 142

ventures networking investing investment 142

Tomasz Tunguz

MAY 21, 2014

I’m a perpetual freeloader. Like a houseguest who has overstayed his welcome with hundreds of people, I depend upon the generosity of strangers - in particular, software teams. I’ve used HelloFax to sign documents for years, but I haven’t paid them a nickel. The same is true for GMail, Google Docs, TripIt, TypeKit, UberConference, LogMeIn, Evernote, the list goes on.

SaaS 40

SaaS frameworks support sustainability 40

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development

Tomasz Tunguz

MAY 19, 2014

At an Internet of Things conference last week, I took part in a panel in which we discussed the future of connected devices. Will simple products win or will complex products dominate in the IoT?, we were asked. I think the question misses the point and raises another problem about the Internet of Things more broadly. It’s not about Things. It’s about Services.

enablement 40

enablement energy SaaS technology 40

Tomasz Tunguz

MAY 20, 2014

One of the single most effective tools SaaS companies can use in order to grow faster isn’t tweaking the product in a particular way or implementing an AB optimization framework or adopting new marketing tactic. Rather, it’s financial judo for structuring contracts and cash collection. Cash is the lifeblood of startups. Cash empowers management teams to invest in all kinds of growth mechanisms.

SaaS 48

SaaS startup frameworks health 48