VentureBeat

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: Surefire ways to get rejected by an angel investor and clearing up lean startup myths

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

Shoestring marketing for startups – Young companies typically don’t have the budget for a substantial marketing campaign, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As you search for your niche and your company evolves, serial entrepreneur Scott Olson offers advice… Continue Reading

The five biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make

The tricks to success change all the time, but the keys to failure are consistent. Serial entrepreneur Jerry Kaplan put together this list in a lecture in Stanford University’s entrepreneur thought leader speaker series in 2003 – but it’s as relevant today as it was… Continue Reading

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: Bootstrapping lessons and how injuries can teach you about investing

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

Sustainability: The ‘must have’ holy grail – While making your product a ‘must have’ to customers is hard, maintaining that status is even harder. Bernard Moon, vice president of Lunsford Group, runs down a few ways to stay on top.

Do… Continue Reading

Start-up studies: A pop quiz

There’s a classroom exercise that the Stanford technology venture program hits its students with each year: If you had five dollars and two hours, what would you do to make as much money as possible? STVP Executive Director Tina Seelig discusses the query and how budding entrepreneurs… Continue Reading

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: Are VCs sexist? And throwing a kick-ass launch party for next to nothing

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

The VC gender gap – Are VCs sexist? – The Venture Capital game is a boy’s club. Jeff Bussgang, general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, would know as he sees it every day – which caused him to wonder: Is… Continue Reading

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: Must haves vs. nice to haves and a particularly harsh lesson learned

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

How to make friends and influence people (and convert them) – Social media can be a good marketing tool for your company, but if you’re able to become a trusted resource for people via Facebook or Twitter, then you’re really on to… Continue Reading

Optimism on the rise for tech start-up execs

The fledgling signs of life in the economy are bringing optimism to the technology start-up sector, according to a new survey from one of the country’s top law firms.

72 percent of the respondents in Foley & Lardner’s fifth annual Emerging Companies Study said they expect… Continue Reading

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: Firing your customers and looking beyond pre-valuation dollars

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

How to fire your customers – Believe it or not, there are times where it’s best for a company to dump its customers. Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank discusses when – and more importantly how – to do this.

Negotiating VC funding? Look beyond… Continue Reading

Does your company really deserve VC money?

Investment firms hear from thousands of entrepreneurs every year, so making your company stand out from the crowd is crucial. Beth Seidenberg of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers lays out the five factors her firm looks at when deciding whether a start-up deserves funding in… Continue Reading

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: The infinite to-do list and ways to avoid an ugly layoff

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

5 ways to create a great mobile web site – As the number of mobile Internet users has doubled in the past year, the number of Websites that cater to that audience has failed to keep up. Steve Ives, co-founder… Continue Reading

Trendspotting: Look to the horizon, not around you

It’s easy to pick up the trends of today – and it’s not a particularly big challenge to spot tomorrow’s. But the best place for start-ups to look is much further down the road, says Michael Moe, a founding partner at ThinkEquity in this entrepreneur… Continue Reading

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks… – Venture capitalists are in the business of saying no – but Flybridge Capital Partners general partner Jeff Bussgang notes that the hardest position to be in is when the idea is a great… Continue Reading

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: Learning from losses and why you shouldn’t trust a VC under 40

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

Win when you lose – 10 guidelines for loss analysis – Learning from your losses can yield great dividends, but it’s not easy. Serial entrepreneur Scott Olson offers 10 ways to help you determine what went wrong – and how… Continue Reading

Is the tech boom over for entrepreneurs?

There are a lot of tech start-ups launching these days, but Tom Siebel, Chairman of First Virtual Group (and founder of Siebel Systems) says they’re more bells and whistles than real breakthroughs. In this entrepreneurial thought leader lecture given at Stanford University earlier this year,… Continue Reading

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: Balancing work and family with a start-up and surviving near-death experiences

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

Launching a start-up and having a family life: It’s possible! – A work/life balance is hard enough in the corporate world. For entrepreneurs, it can seem impossible. Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank knows this firsthand, but has come up with… Continue Reading

Skills of great entrepreneurs

Being smart and working hard isn’t a guarantee of success in the entrepreneurial world. Outside influences often have a bigger say in the fate of your company than you do. But Randy Komisar of Kleiner Perkins, in this talk given at a Stanford entrepreneur summit… Continue Reading

Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: Growth drivers, social media marketing and should entrepreneurs be more like teenage girls?

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:

5 milestones to reach before raising venture capital – Many entrepreneurs assume once they’ve got an idea, the next thing to do is raise venture capital. That’s naïve, says Mike McDerment, the co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks. Here are the… Continue Reading

Too much funding can be toxic for start-ups

The dream is a common one for entrepreneurs – find start-up capital and find as much of it as you can. But being cash rich isn’t always the best move for your company.  Mike Maples of Maples Investments, in this talk at the Stanford Technology… Continue Reading