February 2012
29 posts
1 tag
That moment when you overhear someone talk about your product not knowing it is your product. #awesome
Feb 24th
2 tags
WatchWatch
I was reminded of Aimee Mullins’ incredible personal journey today.  Worth the time to watch (or re-watch) it this weekend.
Feb 24th
4 tags
Feb 24th
Feb 24th
1 tag
“People who only care about money but not culture are the walking dead.”
– bit.ly/vZH8ik
Feb 23rd
Feb 23rd
2 tags
Dare, Do!: 8 tips for new entrepreneurs →
daredo: Jeff Richards, entrepreneur turned VC recently shared his thoughts on what he’d recommend to entrepreneurs now looking from the other side. It struck such a core with me that I’m going to post it here, it’s thoughtful and true. 1) Keep your options open. The smartest second- and… Good startup advice. The points about rising the right amount of funding at the right price...
Feb 23rd
4 notes
2 tags
Transparency →
I think companies that promote transparency have a far better chance of making it Leaders who “keep it all close to the vest” fail themselves, the team and most importantly the company. I believe fear of sharing ideas with your team is a sign of a weak leader who is too afraid and cannot be successful. A team that talks about problems and challenges openly and honestly is...
Feb 22nd
3 tags
Feb 22nd
BRYCE DOT VC: Talk to Us About Your Problems →
brycedotvc: Before lean startups there was lean manufacturing. And Toyota was the laboratory where many of these lean principles were tested for the first time at scale. So, I’ve been reading up on some of the first hand experiences that came from that formative time that these lean principles were being… One of the best if not the best post from Bryce I have read. Thanks for posting...
Feb 21st
18 notes
1 tag
Best email I have had in months! “…and we got the thumbs up to move forward. In fact, everyone is VERY excited about it.”
Feb 18th
2 notes
“Mobile phones are the most widely used technology in the world. At the end of...”
– The next 10 years in mobile  (via courtenaybird)
Feb 17th
45 notes
Feb 16th
1 note
BRYCE DOT VC: Agreeable Guys* Finish Last →
brycedotvc: A few weeks back, David Hornick wrote a great piece in Wired UK titled, Nice Guys Finish First. Eventually. In it, he talks of his life’s goal as that of being a successful VC without having to be a jerk. He cites a recent study which paints the picture of a successful leader as someone… I just realized that I almost agreed with Bryce. But then I don’t want to be too...
Feb 14th
27 notes
1 tag
“Little programs are delightful to write in isolation, but the process of...”
– You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto
Feb 13th
WatchWatch
livesofourdays: Eric Ries explaining The Lean Startup “A startup exists in order to learn how to build a sustainable business. So it’s unit of progress is not how much stuff it has or how many customers it has, but fundamentally: is it figuring out the mechanics of how to build a sustainable business?”
Feb 12th
3 notes
“Almost anything you build on the web has already been tried in one form or...”
– (via mattmireles)
Feb 11th
1 note
Instead of being afraid to try or fixating on a long-term strategy and high-level thinking, focus on delivering something. 
Feb 9th
Feb 9th
Balterer: The Humility Imperative: CEOs, Keep Your... →
davebalter: Originally printed in Inc., June 23, 2011 [Dave Balter’s ego almost ruined BzzAgent, his fourth start-up, before Tesco’s Dunnhumby bought it for a reported $60 million last month. Here, he implores entrepreneurs to find humility.] This is a message to every entrepreneur, CEO, and leader:…
Feb 8th
2 notes
Inside The Entrepreneur's Brain →
livesofourdays: An interesting read which popped onto my screen care of my delightful chum Dan. Choice excerpt: What have you learned about the way an entrepreneur’s brain works? I’d always just gone and done something new and creative and innovate anytime it struck me. And building a brick-and-mortar business, suddenly I was dealing with stuff that wasn’t innovative, and suddenly I was...
Feb 8th
1 note
“Don’t for a second be lulled into the notion that you are picking employees....”
– Phil Sugar A VC: The Management Team - Guest Post From Phil Sugar (via fred-wilson)
Feb 6th
22 notes
Balterer: The Humility Imperative: CEOs, Keep Your... →
A very good sunday read, and personally inspiring. davebalter: Originally printed in Inc., June 23, 2011 [Dave Balter’s ego almost ruined BzzAgent, his fourth start-up, before Tesco’s Dunnhumby bought it for a reported $60 million last month. Here, he implores entrepreneurs to find humility.] This is a message to every entrepreneur, CEO, and leader:…
Feb 6th
2 notes
Feb 3rd
1 note
Feb 3rd
2 notes
Feb 3rd
2 tags
TechCrunch misses the point on personalization →
A well thought out perspective on personalization. caterpillarcowboy: TechCrunch published an article yesterday about the challenges of personalization and why no one has been able to innovate beyond what Amazon did 10 years ago. Leena Rao makes a good effort in trying to understand the challenges, mentioning the need for intent-based data, making sense of social, and privacy concerns. All are...
Feb 2nd
38 notes
Bijan Sabet: Thinking about Facebook's S-1 and... →
bijan: Today we all read a lot of information about the Facebook S-1 registration. The execution and performance of the company is simply stunning. There are plenty of folks that have written great insights about the key metrics of the business that were disclosed in the filing. I’m not going to… A good read.
Feb 2nd
54 notes
Strong Opinions @marksbirch: Full Time Vs Part... →
marksbirch: At dinner last night with some other angel investors, I had the opportunity to give some thought to the time one puts into being an active angel investor. Many of the folks I met are or were at one point full time angel investors. In contrast though, I would have to classify my own involvement as…
Feb 1st
3 notes
January 2012
48 posts
“I kinda like this: “Right to be forgotten: Individuals would have the...”
– The proposed EU Data Directive reform
Jan 31st
Wow. $2.7 billion under management. →
That is a huge fund.
Jan 31st
Steve Blank's Tumblr: Pivots Versus Crises →
steve-blank: If we accept that startups are engaged in the search for a business model, we recognize that radical shifts in a startups business model are the norm, rather than the exception. This means that instead of firing an executive every time we discover a faulty hypothesis, we expect it as a…
Jan 31st
2 notes
Your Startup is Doing it Wrong →
May I also add to the equation a significant, revenue-generating business model.
Jan 29th
Jan 29th
14 notes
1 tag
Jan 28th
Big data stories →
Great read on the stories hidden in big data. “Rather, data is the enabler for the real target: Insight that is communicated to the right person at the right time, in the right way.” +1
Jan 27th
Sh*t Entrepreneurs Say →
amexopenforum: incmagazine: “I’m not your typical entrepreneur.” “Trust me. Someday equity will be a lot more important to you than salary.” “R & D is only for people who don’t have a clear vision.” “Our culture is the most important thing.” “I can’t tell you what we’re working on. Just know that it will be huge.” “If it’s not at least a $5 billion market it’s not worth our time.” ...
Jan 26th
27 notes
The job of a mentor, advisor or investor is not to make you successful. That is the job of the entrepreneur. It is also why the entrepreneur is the most important part of the equation.
Jan 23rd
1 tag
Jan 22nd
Jan 22nd
269 notes
2 tags
Just do it →
1. Take the small wins. 2. One step, one accomplishment. 3. Avoid the perfection trap. 4. Build energy and momentum.
Jan 21st
Jan 18th
8 notes
“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak...”
– Abraham Lincoln (via rjwalker)
Jan 18th
1 note
Jan 17th
2 notes
Jan 17th
6,317 notes
1 tag
Willing to pay a premium →
People come to the Apple Store for the experience and they’re willing to pay a premium for it
Jan 17th
1 tag
Fund raising is a sale →
A long yet very insightful read on raising capital. Take an hour and really read it. Nobody will buy what they don’t understand. It’s your job to take the complexity of your company & industry and develop a “narrative” that helps investors better understand the context. It’s basically story telling. Don’t under-estimate the power of stories. (via @msuster)
Jan 17th
1 note
1 tag
Jan 17th
4 notes
The Sisqokid: Productize your data →
bsiscovick: I have the opportunity to see many companies doing fascinating things with data at my day job. One truism that needs to be recognized is that generating interesting data is not nearly enough, but rather entrepreneurs need to be laser focused on productizing data. I’ve seen many entrepreneurs…
Jan 16th
6 notes
Steve Blank's Tumblr: The Pivot →
steve-blank: Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas helps form an powerful set of hypotheses and when married with Customer Development it produces a useful scorecard called the Pivot. Customer Development forces you to get out of the building and discover and validate each one of the assumptions behind the…
Jan 16th
9 notes