Sat.Mar 04, 2017 - Fri.Mar 10, 2017

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What You Heard About VCs is Usually Wrong and Why You Can Blame VCs for It

This is going to be BIG.

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 281
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The Snap IPO Happened. What Next LA?

Both Sides of the Table

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
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Reconstructing Cancer Treatment: zPREDICTA Deal Profile

propel(x)

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.

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Secret To SaaS Success: Recognize That You're Not Selling Software

OnStartups

I've been working in the software industry for over 25 years. Pretty much my entire professional career (if you don't count that stint as a night clerk at Red Roof Inn). Back in the late 1900s, when you sold software, you sold software. What your company produced was a large set of properly aligned bits (software). You then got those bits to your customers somehow (floppy disk, DVD, FTP, whatever).

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From Curiosity to Competitive Edge: How Mid-Market CEOs Are Using AI to Scale Smarter

Speaker: Lee Andrews, Founder at LJA New Media & Tony Karrer, Founder and CTO at Aggregage

This session will walk you through how one CEO used generative AI, workflow automation, and sales personalization to transform an entire security company—then built the Zero to Strategy framework that other mid-market leaders are now using to unlock 3.5x ROI. As a business executive, you’ll learn how to assess AI opportunities in your business, drive adoption across teams, and overcome internal resource constraints—without hiring a single data scientist.

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Thinking of Community as Marketing When You're Not Marketing Anything

This is going to be BIG.

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.

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Making the Case for Cultural Fit

Entrepreneurs' Organization

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.

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Startups: What are your odds for success?

Berkonomics

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
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Why the LP Outlook is Good for Venture and Startups in 2017–2020

Both Sides of the Table

Every year Upfront Ventures surveys Limited Partners (LPs) who are the main source of capital that invests in VC funds and thus the main source of capital that goes to startups to get an early-warning sense of the year ahead, leaving aside any Black Swans. The results are in (and the full deck available ) and a few things are clear: LPs are at their most optimistic phase about venture since the great recession of 2007–2009 LPs believe that the venture markets have permanently changed and there a

ventures 286
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Art is useless, and so am I

Derek Sivers

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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State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

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How We Put Culture First to Find the Ideal Business Partner

Entrepreneurs' Organization

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
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A Product Manager's Guide to Moving Up Market

Tomasz Tunguz

After a SaaS startup has gained traction with SMBs and mid-market customers, they often feel a pressure to move up-market. Sometimes, demand for a product is so great, larger customers the pull the company up-market before they are ready. The startup finds itself in a critical position - both the product and the sales motion must evolve quickly. Zack Kass is a friend who advises SaaS startups on their enterprise selling motions and playbooks, refining the account executive profile, and developin

SaaS 40
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Sunday break - time will tell on @rotarywatches timepieces.

Thomas Grota

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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It’s Time to Fight for Your Company’s Cyber Security

Entrepreneurs' Organization

By Scott Krawitz, CEO, People Driven Solutions. While today’s cyber threats have seemingly innocuous names—Poodle or Heartbleed, for example—they can cost companies both large and small millions of dollars. Ransomware, hacking, phishing, worms, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) and malware are just a few of the many ways that criminals access precious information, potentially destroying companies.

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15 Modern Use Cases for Enterprise Business Intelligence

Large enterprises face unique challenges in optimizing their Business Intelligence (BI) output due to the sheer scale and complexity of their operations. Unlike smaller organizations, where basic BI features and simple dashboards might suffice, enterprises must manage vast amounts of data from diverse sources. What are the top modern BI use cases for enterprise businesses to help you get a leg up on the competition?

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How Leaders Stay Productive

Entrepreneurs' Organization

By Ryan Neal, an EO Seattle member as well as president and cofounder of Blueprint Consulting Services . The transition from individual contributor to leader—whether you’re promoted within a company or you start your own business—comes with a unique set of challenges. Chief among them: Maintaining your productivity. Talent and experience help us become influential, even critical, contributors to a business.