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If You Don’t Define Your Personal Brand the Market Will

Both Sides of the Table

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. It will affect your ability to get the right jobs and promotions as well as your ability to attract talent and capital.

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10 Marketing Lessons for Early-Stage Tech Startups

Both Sides of the Table

Most people totally advise against stealth. I actually like finding entrepreneurs who are more circumspect, less braggadocios and generally more planned about their actions. Where Stealth is Bad – I do meet entrepreneurs who clearly fall on the other side of spectrum and are totally closed. Be careful about this advice.

Marketing 380
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What is the Right Burn Rate at a Startup Company?

Both Sides of the Table

There are many times when being overly capitalized before you’re ready is a negative. Plus, most early-stage M&A fails so this isn’t likely a good use of capital for a young company). Availability of Capital. In these kinds of businesses I’m on the record as advising “ Ring the Freakin Cash Register.”

Startup 383
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Some Career Advice for Aspiring Tech CEOs

Both Sides of the Table

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” ” My friend Ian Sigelow wrote about this last week and advised people not to take on this kind of job.

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How to Handle a VC Presentation with No Deck

Both Sides of the Table

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. That notes only told part of the story.

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Most Common Early Start-up Mistakes

Both Sides of the Table

I often talk with entrepreneurs who are kicking around their next idea. If you live somewhere where this is the case you’re better off discussing with your employer that you may from time-to-time work on private projects outside of work hours and you want their clearance in writing that this is OK. Register a company.

Startup 365
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Frank Addantes FounderBlog: Startup 5.0 – I’m just going to chill out for a bit… (OK, for a month…)

Frank Addante

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. . Venture Capital Funding 7. I decided that I was going to consult/advise a few companies and relax for a bit.

Startup 40