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Category Archives: startups
What constitutes a startup mistake?
Through a tweet from David Skok, I was reminded of a Paul Graham essay on the 18 mistakes that kill startups. Here they are: 1. Single Founder 2. Bad Location 3. Marginal Niche 4. Derivative Idea 5. Obstinacy 6. Hiring … Continue reading
Posted in startups
Tagged lean startup, Paul Graham, startup lessons, startup mistakes, startups
16 Comments
Better Advertising backs self-regulation
Better Advertising has a new web site. Check it out. Also, our corporate blog is up. The current post outlines the three pillars of behavioral targeting self-regulation: Education, to empower consumers Transparency, to make clear who is doing what to … Continue reading
Posted in Advertising, FastIgnite, startups
Tagged Advertising, Better Advertising, FastIgnite, online behavioral advertising, privacy, self-regulation, startups
2 Comments
Competing for competition’s sake
I don’t agree with Vivek Wadhwa that losing a business plan competition is better than winning it. However, I do think that business plan competitions force many teams to aim for the wrong target. Here is the comment I left … Continue reading
Posted in startups
Tagged business plan competition, entrepreneurship, MIT 100K, startups, TechCrunch, Vivek Wadhwa
14 Comments
Personality test for entrepreneurs
I’ve had several interesting conversation following the article on negotiating a better series A deal. Entrepreneurs write and ask for advice on a specific situation. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to give specific advice in these cases without a fair amount … Continue reading
Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital
Tagged financing, personality test, Series A, startups, VC, Venture Capital
1 Comment
Which type of investor makes the best board member?
A few days ago, WSJ’s startup & VC blog referred to an NVCA study where entrepreneurs complained about the lack of operational experience in some VC board members. I’ve been an entrepreneur as well as a VC. The biggest travesty … Continue reading
Space matters (Facebook certainly thinks so)
I visited Facebook’s new space a few months ago. VPE Mike Schroepfer gave me the tour. I did like it a lot, although I found a few of the areas quite dark. Maybe it was the jet lag. See the … Continue reading
A new spin on pitching and fundraising
Every conference having anything to do with entrepreneurship and venture capital has the obligatory “pitching & fundraising” panel. I’ve been on enough of them to have a sense of how disappointing they can be for the audience. Experienced folks hear … Continue reading
Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital
Tagged angel financing, funding, fundraising, MIT Emerging Technologies Conference, MIT EmTech, pitching, seed financing, startups, VC, Venture Capital
5 Comments
The great terrible CraigsList
Lots of press recently about CraigsList given Y Combinator’s call to entrepreneurs last year to find a way to create a more for-profit version. The call was repeated again this year. Lots of analysis followed with plenty of opinions about … Continue reading
Startups VCs are dying to invest in
VCs have a big problem. Many entrepreneurs just don’t want to solve big problems anymore. After hearing the fifth socially-responsible-Twitter-client-running-on-fuel-cell-powered-unlocked-iPhones pitch this week, it’s understandable how VCs want to take August off. So, in the interest of helping everyone, I’m … Continue reading
Don’t Ignore The Least Common Denominator
Good post by Fred Wilson on the ubiquity and ease-of-use of SMS messaging: Don’t Ignore The Least Common Denominator. Two points worth adding: SMS is completely portable across the world, which is particularly important in developing countries where the majority … Continue reading
Posted in Mobile, startups
Tagged least common denominator, Mobile, SMS, startups, text messaging
2 Comments