Category Archives: startups

Unicorn pressures and startup failures

Posted on April 26, 2016 by

The startup anti-patterns section of my blog summarizes the repeatable ways startups waste time & money and, often, fail. Learning from startup failure is valuable because there are many more examples of failures that successes. (Anti-)Patterns become more noticeable and … Continue reading →

Posted in angel investing, Anti-pattern, startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Startup anti-pattern: platform risk

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

One of the fastest ways for a startup to grow has always been to ride on the shoulders of a successful platform: from Microsoft/OSS in software to AWS in cloud computing to iOS/Android in mobile to Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest in social to … Continue reading →

Posted in Anti-pattern, startups | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Startup anti-pattern: ignorance

Posted on March 4, 2013 by

Listening to a startup pitch a few weeks ago I had to exercise effort not to shake my head in disbelief. The presenters were describing the products and business model of an established company I was very familiar with and … Continue reading →

Posted in Anti-pattern, startups | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Top startup anti-patterns

Posted on March 3, 2013 by

Following my post on the value of startup anti-patterns, with the help of readers of this blog and friends from the startup ecosystem, I put together a list of the more common ones that I encounter. The list used to … Continue reading →

Posted in startups | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

The value of startup anti-patterns

Posted on February 26, 2013 by

The TechStars Boston spring startups are looking very promising. At the mentors dinner tonight I had conversations with several of the companies and a common question came up: “What makes startups succeed?” My usual answer to this question is along … Continue reading →

Posted in FastIgnite, startups | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Startups and intellectual property: how much is a muse worth?

Posted on January 25, 2013 by

Startup founder agreements has been the top post on my blog for a long time. The post has become much more valuable due to the many interesting questions & situations described in the comments. Every now and then, a comment … Continue reading →

Posted in startups | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Raising money for revolutionary startup ideas

Posted on September 22, 2012 by

Between the work we do at Swoop and some big idea startups I’m advising, revolutionary innovation has been top of mind for me recently. That is why the following statement Richard Feynman makes in a lecture about the difficulty of … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, Swoop, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Startup Weekend Rocks

Posted on April 28, 2012 by

Startup Weekend has become a real force for fostering entrepreneurship. I had the pleasure of speaking at the BostonEDU Startup Weekend kick-off yesterday. Some of the ideas were impressive and I do expect to see a couple of interesting companies … Continue reading →

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Marketing Secrets of Successful Startups

Posted on September 14, 2011 by

I am thrilled about the speaker line-up for the FutureM Marketing Secrets of Successful Startups event sponsored by Shopximity. It’s tomorrow, Thu 9/15/2011, 11:30 – 1:30pm at CSN (177 Huntington Ave in Boston, 24th floor). Hope to see you there! [Tweet to tell your followers … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Media, startups | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How to set up reference checks

Posted on May 3, 2011 by

Swoop (what used to be Shopximity) is in full-on recruiting mode. We are looking for both experienced and up-and-coming full stack developers who love startup life, open-source tools, cloud deployment and are deeply plugged into the tech ecosystem. I’m having a … Continue reading →

Posted in startups | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments