Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

I made every textbook mistake at my first startup, which is why I believe I was much more effective at my second one. The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. I worked with an entrepreneur who was to appear at a startup networking event where he was to talk about his company’s plans.

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Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

InfoChachkie

APRIL 1, 2013

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Marten began his story by explaining that MySQL was originally founded as a research project and how it was a nascent startup for nearly a decade before he joined the team.

Oracle 229

Oracle Startup News Press 229

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I think the issue I have always had with investment bank pitches was best summed up in this article about Y Combinator in which Paul Graham apparently made the following quotes. But I think there is a down side that I see in startups that raise artificially at prices above what a normal market might value. International money.

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Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Tech.Co

JULY 24, 2017

Especially in the early days of your startup, when you’re often only months from running out of money, hiring the wrong person can be disastrous. And if, like us, you spend the first six months of your startup under a rock, your social capital may begin to dry up. 4 Ways Startups Can Structure Job Interviews to Avoid Bias.

Networking 82

Networking Startup Software Review Conference 82

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2015

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! In advance of LaunchTN’s flagship conference, 36|86 , June 8-10 in Nashville, Jason shared with me the following three ways an accelerator should add value beyond demo day.

Startup 100

Startup Class LAMP Santa Barbara 100

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 11, 2011

The best part about being a writer who covers startups is seeing revolutionary ideas take shape from their infancy. In fact, I am in Newport Beach a small beach town in Orange County CA, but for the purpose of this article the home to PayDivvy. What makes this even more exciting is I am out of the echo chamber of Silicon Valley.

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Conference Orange County Technical Review Software Review 96

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Acrobatic ninjas, the Austin Police and several livid tradeshow executives – a perfect recipe for a reality television show, but not a great combination for Seth Epstein’s startup, Social Stay. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Parcours Ninjas Vs. The Austin Police.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

This article initially appeared on TechCrunch. The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. I believe it’s flawed. We only want software revenue.”

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. Building Startups for Basecamp. Consider what Paul Graham said in this article. I’ll happily visit and I often meet great teams. It’s exhausting. And so forth.

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Startup Technical Review Venture Capital Email 317

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

In that article I talked about how PR drives: recruiting, employee retention, biz dev deals, funding and even M&A and that often “attribution” to your PR activities is unknown. In a startup this is a mistake. Who cares if they know what you’re delivering today – that’s all about execution.

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Press Startup Writing Training 319

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Lead With Team - Establish credibility with your audience at the outset by graphically depicting you (and your team's) experiences by displaying organizational logos. Follow my startup-oriented Twitter feed here: @johngreathouse.

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Slides Duarte Santa Barbara RSS 258

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I think my mentality to banker pitches was best summed up in this article about Y Combinator in which Paul Graham apparently made the following quotes. The other quote from the article is this: “The other thing they say is that they can’t tell on Demo Day which are the good start-ups. International money. Good vocal variety?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2016

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Startups, much like ancient tribes, are comprised of a small number of people who band together to battle a cruel, hostile world. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! Shepherd the team toward its strategic goals.

Startup 100

Startup Carson Tool Conference 100

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 13, 2012

Note: This is Part V in the Startup Team Building series. You may not realize it, but your adVenture’s Core Team, the senior executives who make the key decisions which drive the company’s strategic direction, is akin to a primitive tribe. free weekly Infochachkie articles! Shepherd the team toward its strategic goals.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give.

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Incubator Startup Resource Seed Funding 87

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2016

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give.

Incubator 106

Incubator Startup Help Resource 106

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2013

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. See my recent article “ Entrepreneurs Learn Best From Business Networking ” on how and where to get started. It takes a team to win the game of business, so take a look around you to see how you are doing so far.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Social Network 108

Tech.Co

JANUARY 29, 2018

Whether you’re an athlete or early-stage startup founder, getting your big break is a dream for any rookie. One of the best places for startups to expand their playbook is to participate in CES 2018 Eureka Park. But getting noticed by the right people is the just the beginning when it comes to launching your business.

Startup 87

Startup Mentor Artificial Inteligence Research 87

Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 28, 2017

But in the process of pulling together those articles on the biggest cities, we uncovered some hidden gems and businesses within the ecosystem. Composed of a three-month boot camp , the program aims to help startups build their brand while figuring out the nitty gritty of finance, manufacture, distribution and sales.

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Incubator Santa Clarita Technical Advisors FAQ 70

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. People attending marquee conferences with rock bands, prominent speakers, Gartner Group prognosticators and lots of other happy customers. Have an in-house professional services team that implements your software.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. Jonathan Strauss took this issue head on in a blog post that I believe every startup founder should read on “ Replacing Oneself as CEO.”

Startup 303

Startup Technical Review Product Blogging 303

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 3, 2018

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. Intrigued, I conferred with Brett after the meeting and identified a number of advantages (some obvious, some less so) that a tech company can derive from a non-traditional fiscal year, especially one which does NOT end on the last month of a calendar quarter (i.e.,

Technical Review 89

Technical Review Startup Resource Organization 89

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

Side Note : Upfront has hired Kerry Bennett as a member of our executive management team to run marketing – please follow her on Twitter here ]. Nearly every startup I have spoken to over the years – including some where I’m a co-investor – talks positively about the support they’ve gotten from A16Z.

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Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. I’m ok with announcing straight away or waiting until you have product or team confidence to release the news. That used to be the standard.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

Here are the additional success factors that are really key to a startup with a services offering: Get your service out of your head and down on paper. Now all you have to do is pass it to the many new members as you grow your team. You have to communicate how your service is the best, to your own team, as well as to your customers.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2015

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. See my article a while back “ Entrepreneurs Learn Best From Business Networking ” on how and where to get started. It takes a team to win the game of business, so take a look around you to see how you are doing so far.

Startup 108

Startup Social Network Mentor Entrepreneur 108

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

In a startup this is a mistake. I was talking a month ago with a founding team who was lamenting the fact that their competitors got way better coverage than they did when they felt that their traffic numbers were > 2x the competition. In this instance I typically recommend that startups NOT hire a big, well-known PR firm.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Tech Coast Venture Network

AUGUST 11, 2015

Ten core values are instilled in every team member. Portions of the budget are dedicated to employee team building and culture promotion. Company culture at Warby Parker instigates “ culture crushes ,” and one reason for that level of success is a team dedicated to culture. Great company culture doesn’t happen on its own.

Examples 100

Examples Company Companies Google 100

Tech Coast Venture Network

AUGUST 11, 2015

Ten core values are instilled in every team member. Portions of the budget are dedicated to employee team building and culture promotion. Company culture at Warby Parker instigates “ culture crushes ,” and one reason for that level of success is a team dedicated to culture. Great company culture doesn’t happen on its own.

Examples 100

Examples Company Companies Google 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. Recently I wrote a post arguing to make the definition of a Startup more inclusive than that to which Silicon Valley, fueled by Venture Capital return profiles, would sometimes like to attach to the word. Think the next big startup can’t come from Dallas, TX? Think again.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Press San Diego 378

InfoChachkie

JUNE 2, 2011

Article first published as Isaac Garcia – Taking Down Microsoft on Technorati. free weekly Infochachkie articles! Teams within large, small, medium sized companies need collaboration tools that are easy to use, fast to setup and accessible from anywhere and everywhere." "Collaboration is really hard.

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Newsletter Conference Marketing Advertising 213

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

For me I’ve stated publicly that 70% of my investment decision is the team and most of this is skewed toward the founders. If you’re already running a startup you know all this. He was having his first ever conference and people from the who’s who of VC firms in Silicon Valley would be attending.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2017

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. See my article from way back “ Entrepreneurs Learn Best From Business Networking ” on how and where to get started. You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. Work on your elevator pitch. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 75

Startup Social Network Networking Mentor 75

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give.

Incubator 98

Incubator Startup Help Resource 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

Here are the additional success factors that are really key to a startup with a services offering: Get your service out of your head and down on paper. Now all you have to do is pass it to the many new members as you grow your team. You have to communicate how your service is the best, to your own team, as well as to your customers.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. One of the masters of this in the startup technology world is Flurry.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2010

Startups are hard. I saw him speak at the Twitter conference last year in LA organized by the Parnassus Group. I’ve always advised teams not to hire bad seeds on their teams. Tags: Startup Advice. When you read the press you only read the glamorous bits. I choose not to work with people like that.

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Blogging Tips Press Startup 407