This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 22, 2018

In almost every single investment I’ve ever made, I can think of a singular moment in my relationship with a founder that, no matter what came before or what might come after, defined our relationship. Often times, it came in a very vulnerable and down moment for the founder—perhaps they just lost out on a big opportunity, had someone from the team leave, or they’re running low on capital before sales have come around.

founder 872

founder strategy communities investing 872

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

You had an amazing meeting with an investor. Your product demo crushed. The dialog was great. They told you how much they loved your space. The meeting was only supposed to last 45 minutes but you ran 90. The assistant tried to end the meeting twice but was shoooshed away. You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. One week. Two weeks. Oh, fork.

funders 374

funders pitching board energy 374

A Smart Bear

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

We all know that startups should make decisions quickly. Fast decisions leads to rapid action, which accelerates the loop of production and feedback, which is how you outpace and out-learn a competitor, even one that already has a lead. But some decisions should not be made in haste, like a key executive hire , or how to price , or whether to raise money, or whether to invest millions of dollars in a new product line.

creativity 215

creativity frameworks collaboration advice 215

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 30, 2018

Co-founder of Owned Outcomes Krupa Srinivas explores the value of fear in an entrepreneur’s journey as she describes partnering with a US healthcare intermediary to solve the problem of cataloguing hospital supplies.

innovation 162

innovation hospitality entrepreneurs incumbents 162

Speaker: Wayne Spivak - President and Chief Financial Officer of SBA * Consulting LTD, Industry Writer, and Public Speaker

Join Wayne Spivak, experienced CFO and corporate finance expert, for an insightful discussion on managing cash flow and company profitability.

financing

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

This is one of my favorite insights, since I lived this one in a positive exit from my computer business. Types of business buyers expanded. Most people will tell you that there are two kinds of eventual buyers for your business: financial and strategic. A financial buyer will analyze your numbers, past and forecast, to the n’th degree, and calculate the price based upon the result, after carefully comparing your numbers with those of others in the same and similar industries.

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board technology investing investment 240

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

It’s that time of year, time to look back and reflect on the most significant storylines in the tech, startup, and VC world. A comprehensive post on this topic could be 5,000+ words, but we do not do such things here. We kept detailed notes month by month and today, I tried to organize them by key sections, what you’ll see below.

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startup culture networking investing 165

Startup Grind

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

Aneme Dlamini of Startup Grind chats to Simone Musgrave of Musgrave Gin about perseverance, building an actual business, and bringing your femininity as a force to be reckoned with in the business world. Aneme = A, Simone = S A : Welcome! S : Thanks. A : So, I am not going to go with the traditional ‘background story’ (laughs), I am sure you’ve been asked that many times. S : I have, yeah (laughs). A : Cool. So, to jump right in, you left the food industry after 13 years.

startup 212

startup entrepreneurs advice creativity 212

For Entrepreneurs

DECEMBER 5, 2018

Matrix Growth Academy – Zero to 100 was an educational event held in San Francisco, aimed at providing B2B Founders with a road-map for how to get from Zero to a repeatable, scalable and profitable growth process that would take them to $100m in revenue. Please find below the primary videos for They have been. Startup Help

entrepreneurs 167

entrepreneurs education founder startup 167

Paul G. Silva

DECEMBER 16, 2018

So much food goes to waste in our country every year. So many people are hungry. It is literally cheaper to throw food away than to give it away… until now. A few years ago I had the honor of mentoring Maria Rose Belding when she and her partners at Means Database were in the Valley Venture Mentors startup Accelerator. Her social venture is organized and dreams like a high tech silicon valley startup – but all of that energy is directed to doing good, at scale.

energy 140

energy sustainability accelerator ventures 140

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strategy

Turnkey Office Space

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Business incubators can be very enticing for new entrepreneurs. They promise things like an instant mentorship network, camaraderie with other startup owners, shared resources like office space, and even the potential for funding. However, before you dive into the application process for any business incubator, there are several things to consider. First of all, although … Continue reading Should You Try For a Spot in a Business Incubator? The Pros and Cons → BUSINESS

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incubation mentorship networking entrepreneurs 100

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 1, 2018

Year after year, educators and those invested in education love to speculate about what will take off in the near future. And as far as riveting news goes, nothing quite peaks the interest like new trends that have the potential to fundamentally change learning. In almost all of the commentary from both educators and industry, the mention of AR and VR for 2018’s big trends were ubiquitous.

education 400

education media leadership investing 400

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Why you should never have a data room?—?the the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. If you stick through to the end I’m guessing I can persuade most of you. Let me start out with my premise: “Data rooms are where fund-raising processes go to die.” I have to back up and give you more context.

advice 335

advice entrepreneurs pitching investing 335

A Smart Bear

JANUARY 4, 2018

People said there’s no money in hosting. WordPress is just a toy. After the success of Smart Bear, I should be setting my sights on something big, not this. I’m sure people said similar things to Heather when she joined as our CEO. The Silicon Valley-oriented technology press outlets don’t cover us because we’re not in San Francisco, even though we’re more successful than most of the startups they cover.

investing 175

investing investment leadership construction 175

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strategy

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 22, 2018

Mentorship is one of the best gifts. Having someone you admire invest time and energy in your goals builds successful companies and careers. Likewise, transmitting your experiences to others feels energizing. It’s what being an entrepreneur is about.

peer-to-peer 162

peer-to-peer mentorship entrepreneurs energy 162

Berkonomics

MARCH 8, 2018

Give one percent equity to each outside board member vesting over four years of service. Many early stage CEOs and board members have asked for some guidance regarding pay and time commitments for board members. Here is my best advice, based upon many boards and many years. Pay early stage board members of companies that are not lifestyle businesses one percent of the fully diluted equity in the form of an option that vests over four years of service.

board 102

board consulting advice accelerator 102

Startup Catalyst

AUGUST 15, 2018

We got in touch with Reece Walker and William McCullough, two lawyers from McCullough Robertson, to chat about their journeys. We talked about how startups have changed over the last few years, what support has meant to them, Startup Catalyst missions and their impact, as well as ways to get involved in the startup community. In Conversation with Reece and Will. We had a conversation with Reece and Will and what you’ll see below is a summary of that conversation.

communities 113

communities mentorship real estate startup ecosystem 113

Haystack

NOVEMBER 25, 2018

It’s that time of year, where I — as a committee of one judge, me — select one startup in the tech ecosystem that “broke out” and has the makings of an even larger outcome should things continue to go right. As a little tradition on this blog, I’ve singled out companies starting in 2013 with Stripe ; there was Snap back in 2014; Slack in 2015; took a break in 2016, as I wasn’t inspired to select one then; and last year, 2017, was Coinbase.

incumbents 127

incumbents accelerator collaboration culture 127

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strategy

Startup Grind

AUGUST 19, 2018

In the last decade, we have been able to see an immense growth of technology involvement in education. We're not only talking about using computers in the classroom anymore. Technology, big data and the Internet have started revolutionizing every aspect of education in the recent years. Of course, students are benefiting the most from this technology boom, but they're not the only ones.

education 180

education innovation startup technology 180

Revolution

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Since the rumor mill started regarding the final Amazon HQ2 selections, I have been fielding questions about the validity of the Rise of the Rest thesis. Do Amazon’s selections mean that Rise of the Rest cities will never access the tech economy in a meaningful way? Does it mean that big tech will always choose to invest in coastal cities, further enriching strong startup ecosystems?

startup ecosystem 100

startup ecosystem economic development collaboration communities 100

Paul G. Silva

JULY 16, 2018

When I talk about politics I am filled with sadness and a sense of near powerlessness to make the world a better place. But when I talk to entrepreneurs, I am filled with hope. Where most of us see problems, they imagine solutions… and solutions that scale. Here are just some of the companies blowing me away, all local/ VVM companies making the world a better place! Immigration.

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entrepreneurs education health accelerator 100

Turnkey Office Space

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Flexible and remote jobs have broad appeal in today’s economy, but they’re especially enticing to parents. This demographic values the ability to make their own schedules so they can accommodate their children’s naptimes, doctor’s appointments, and school pickups. However, working from home can be isolating, and these parents usually still need regular child care to … Continue reading Childcare in a Coworking Space? Here’s How Some Companies are Making it Work → OFFICE SPACE

coworking spaces 100

coworking spaces coworking 100

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opportunity

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 24, 2018

It’s that time of year again—the season of people quitting their jobs soon to start a company. I don’t know whether it’s New Years resolutions or end of year bonuses, but I feel like there’s a bit of a peak in people wrapping up previous things looking to start something new.

pitching 313

pitching angel capital consulting enablement 313

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

This is part of a series of advice for founders who need to raise money from venture capitalists. The first in the series is “ Lemons Ripen Early ,” which also has a link to other posts. The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them.

advice 332

advice energy entrepreneurs investing 332

A Smart Bear

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

You roll down the windows and wear a helmet when you take your car to the track. This does not make me less terrified of a fiery death. The American Autocross champion was sitting in my passenger seat screaming at me to not let my foot off the pedal until I bounced off the RPM limiter. She was properly intense. I didn’t know what I was doing, but it’s fun to power through curves in a high-speed tenuously-controlled skid in my Mini Cooper S (plus Cooperworks).

accelerator 195

accelerator strategy culture financing 195

Entrepreneurs' Organization

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

Written for EO by Ashley Fletcher Frampton. Anyone who has embarked on the entrepreneurship journey knows the risks are plentiful. One area of risk that cannot be underestimated is your company’s information technology (IT) system: It can impact everything from data security to business performance.

entrepreneurs 189

entrepreneurs collaboration enablement board 189

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frameworks