This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 6, 2017

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'

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 10, 2017

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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Berkonomics

MARCH 9, 2017

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.

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OnStartups

MARCH 7, 2017

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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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 The tech market offers a wealth of technologies tailored for management, planning, and forecasting, replacing outdated pen-and-paper methods.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.

MARCH 8, 2017

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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Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 5, 2017

Every software company competes with another — if not directly, then at least for budget. With global IT spending flat to down in 2015 and 2016 , software businesses are fighting for share of wallet. At this point, the critical marketing imperative is to start a conversation with a receptive buyer, and do it thousands of times per year. But how? I met a master software marketer last week, and he shared some of his wisdom.

creativity 40

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

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.

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Derek Sivers

MARCH 9, 2017

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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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 8, 2017

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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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

Thomas Grota

MARCH 5, 2017

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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propel(x)

MARCH 7, 2017

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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Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 6, 2017

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

SaaS strategy development support 40

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 6, 2017

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.

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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.

opportunity

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

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

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