Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2010

I recently wrote a post about avoiding the “ Deferred Life Plan &# and some related thoughts about personal productivity that came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four Hour Workweek. I would love to say that I’m the productivity guru. Tim Ferriss gave this extra emphasis in his book.

Product 280

Product Startup Email Technical Review 280

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. Is Funding a Worthy Announcement? The short answer is yes, absolutely.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

One of the most frequent questions entrepreneurs ask about when they raise a little bit of money or are getting close to launching their first product is whether they should hire a PR firm. And you need somebody who is committed to keeping up your presence in blogs, social media and other online forums. In a startup this is a mistake.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2013

On my most important ones I spend as much time figuring out what to cut out as I do putting into the writing of it. Many people write email without a “call to action” or reason they’re writing the email. Write to one person at a time. This is critical and was the reason I sat down to write this post.

Email 415

Email Writing Software Review Startup 415

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2010

Take AVC.com, the blog by Fred Wilson. He wrote a blog post that always stuck with me about how there are regulars on his blog who hang out there a bit like “Cheers&# just having a chat with a metaphorical beer in hand. I picked questions that I had already covered in depth on my blog and answered them in shorter form.

Blogging 301

Blogging SEO Startup Writing 301

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2013

I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your offering, even before you have it, is a most cost effective approach in time and money. The biggest excuse most startup founders mention is too much to do building a product, mapping strategy, investors, etc. Populate your team.

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. If you asked me to tell you a list of three of the best decisions in my life, I can certainly tell you that regularly writing is one of them. Why You Should Write. Why You Should Write. Kanye West.

Startup 191

Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

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. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? I am a VC.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2015

1/ Twitter started off positioned as a micro-blogging platform but in the end became more of an RSS reader. It forces clarity of writing & discrete ideas. 8/ Twitter eventually takes best of organic uses & builds into product. . 8/ Twitter eventually takes best of organic uses & builds into product.

Blogging 150

Blogging Tool RSS Platform 150

TechEmpower

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

synopse I have written a blog post about TFB and object pascal - yes, we added our object pascal framework in round 22! So the user can write its business code with high level of abstraction and safety, but the framework core could be tuned to the assembly level, to leverage the hardware it runs on.

Framework 409

Framework TechEmpower Java Paramount 409

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A It’s why I always work hard to find images for my blog posts & why all of my keynote presentations are visual rather than bullet points with words. The need for creativity extends well beyond product design. What exactly is visualization?

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

Because market is such a broad topic, I’m restricting these lessons to PR marketing (as opposed SEO, SEM, product marketing, etc.). My general rule is that it’s good to be stealth in the early days while you’re building your product and testing your market. It’s a buggy product but pretty damn cool.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

On my blog I’ve been hesitant to take the topic head on. But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? In it she observes that only 3% of the comments on this blog are from women.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Blogging 341

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2014

Just back from vacation and also some work travel and want to get back to blogging so expect a few posts over the next couple weeks. I’ll try to get write-ups shortly but for now here is an overview of my interview with Nanea Reeves – President and COO of textPlus. Company Organization.

Technical Review 315

Technical Review Blogging RSS Organization 315

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. If I check Twitter it’s usually because I’m waiting for a meeting to start and I never write posts during the day. By having 5 or 6 blog posts with different points of view they could draw more inferences.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

Fred Wilson wrote a Tweetstorm and then did a blog post on the topic. I never asked Marc why he stopped blogging but I presume it is some combo of having started a venture capital firm (which you might guess takes a bit of time) and also allowing some air time for his then-less-well-known compadre. Engagement. Many people. Any people.

Social Media 307

Social Media Blogging Media Startup 307

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. And if you are – what on earth are you reading such a boring blog as this?!?

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. I divided success into the phases of venture capital and 18 months into writing my first check here was my view (details on each in the link above). 5 years ago. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10. The monkey on my back.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

You have to build a product that people really love. There has been all sorts of discussions about marketing on blogs lately. Let me say this – whether you believe in marketing at startups or not, I think we’d all agree that you can’t have a great marketing program around a mediocre product. He knew this.

Entrepreneur 398

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Blogging 398

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 11, 2010

I haven’t written a blog post in a week. And for the last few evenings I decided to get through email rather than blog. It was interesting for me to read Fred Wilson’s email bankruptcy blog post this morning. It’s not just the spammers or marketers trying to sell you products or services.

Email 265

Email Startup Writing Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

We had agreed to a stated internal policy that even though taking this stance would mean our product would have considerably less traffic it was an important part of what we felt our long-term brand represented. I had outlined a blog post in support of their efforts and was ready to publish it. The company had their holding statement.

Press 336

Press Blogging Journal News 336

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

It got me thinking, which for me is always the sign of a good blog post. Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - I think Robert’s right.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). It super charges a business that is closer to product delivery.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2015

Blogging is one of the best ways to do this and build a brand, even before you have a product or service. Thus I recommend that every entrepreneur start blogging in parallel with solution development for the following benefits: Get customer idea feedback before you commit resources. Let that ideal co-founder find you.

Blogging 110

Blogging Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media 110

TechEmpower

AUGUST 7, 2023

Here’s a graphic from Socal CTO that illustrates the roles as they change over time: In its earliest days, a startup’s top need is often to produce a product. It’s understandable - a hands-on developer can produce a product. Check out our blog post 53 Questions Developers Should Ask Innovators. And how can you tell?

CTO Hire 260

CTO Hire Develop Development Fractional VPE 260

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Upon graduation from Wharton, John and Kyle launched a startup based upon a simple, pedestrian product: a computer mouse shaped like the head of a golf driver. Putting their expensive educations to good use, they aptly named their novelty product a "MouseDriver". blogging, in a sense. From 35 To 500 Readers. every three weeks.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2010

He had followed me on Twitter and sent me a nice message about my blog. So when I saw the merely mortal Tristan with a normal sized Twitter following I clicked through to his link, saw his blog, saw that he was a second year at Stanford and just thought, “hey, he seems like an interesting guy. before having 300k followers!).

Social Network 347

Social Network Networking Blogging RSS 347

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

Start by building just enough of your product to get early CAC and CLV signals (they won’t be perfect). Then use what you’ve learned in this blog post to decide if the numbers validate your business model, or if you need to rethink your approach. Please write us at blog@techempower.com !

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Slides Technical Review 260

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Recently I wrote a blog post about how I hated losing, but I embrace it. Fred Wilson wrote on his blog this week about learning from failures here and quoted Obama’s speech from tonight: you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. This is part of my ongoing series, “ Start-up Lessons.&#.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

I was talking with an early-stage founder who has a product vision and wants to get it built. He wanted to get input from me on what he's doing, and he wants to begin to ask developers what it would take to build his product. Me : Product definition, use cases, feature list, wireframes, comps, really whatever you have.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2014

This blog started from a series of conversations I found myself having over and over again with founders and eventually decided I should just start writing them.It When second place isn’t good enough because we live in winner-take-most markets. The desire to be better than anybody else in one’s field.

Competition 394

Competition Startup Writing Marketing 394

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Start-up Lessons. &# If you want to subscribe to my RSS feed please click here or to get my blog by email click here. I’m reluctant to put it into writing because people get so passionate about this issue and many disagree. It’s hard enough to build a successful company.

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Tracy is knowledgeable enough to talk tech and swap design & product stories with other founders, but she realized early that networking amongst this group and reading and writing in their journals would not bring her more customers. So Tracy began keeping a blog about … (what else?)

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

In this article you’ll discover how to start a blog that makes money. There are four types of blogs; written blogs, video blogs, photo blogs and a combination of these. We’ll primarily be discussing written blogs. There are two different components to make money blogging. Let’s discuss. Not really.

Blogging 83

Blogging Email Writing Sites 83

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

” Part of the beauty of blogging that in two sittings Fred was able to influence what was built over the next 12 months. I’ve wanted to write a blog post called “Mobile Second” for a long time to make this point more forcefully. I believe in integrated products. then mobile is awesome.

Web 334

Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2011

On this blog I’m often trying to combine lessons for entrepreneurs and market commentary. I have long wanted to write about FNAC (feature, not a company) because it’s part of my normal lexicon to push teams that present to me to think harder about where the economics in their industry is coming from. It lingered.

Email 270

Email Writing Blogging Competition 270