Steve Sammartino had a thought provoking post on “Niche Marketing & Startups” that opened with this: The niche market is great for well resourced companies doing innovative stuff. Not so for startups. Gaining traction with any new product or company is inherently difficult. We ought sell to anyone who’ll buy our stuff. Get the message […]
Focus On a Niche Increases Your Chances For Success Read More »
It’s hard to test customer development theories: you cannot step into the same river twice and you cannot step into the same market twice.
Customer Development and Its Discontents Read More »
Steve Blank gave a thought provoking talk at the Startup Lessons Learned Conference on “Customer Development 2.0: Why Accountants Don’t Run Startups” (slides here and related blog post “Why Accountants Don’t Run Startups” which is part of a category of blog posts on “Durant vs. Sloan“). He also referenced Robert Shedd‘s list of startup accelerators
Steve Blank Plans to Crowdsource E-Schools Read More »
Vivek Wadhwa wrote a great post recently called “Ditch the Biz Plan and Buy a Lottery Ticket” which oddly enough contains a number of good pointers for bootstrappers. His opening paragraph explains the title (emphasis added) Hardly a day goes by when I don’t have a rookie entrepreneur ask for advice on raising money from
Vivek Wadhwa’s Pointers for Bootstrappers Read More »
You can follow @skmurphy to get these quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until the end of the month when they are collected on the blog. Enter your E-mail if you would like new blog posts to your inbox.
Quotes for Entrepreneurs – April 2010 Read More »
Results as of April 28 from a recent Bootstrappers Breakfast poll recommend Vistaprint and Overnight Prints printers. Staples, iPrint.com, and uprinting.com also have recommendations. If you would like to take the poll, visit http://www.bootstrappersbreakfast.com/blog/2010/04/16/business-card-printers/
Business Card Printer Poll Results Read More »
Update July 24, 2012: you may also be interested in Startup Lessons Learned Conference 2011 Coverage Roundup Entrepreneurs Need a Community of Practice, Not a Movement Overview The Startup Lessons Learned Conference (#sllconf) was Friday April 23rd, 2010. This post is an effort to capture press coverage and blog commentary on the conference that will
Startup Lessons Learned Conference Coverage Roundup Read More »
I came across an interesting conference going on today that seems related to tomorrow’s Startup Lessons Learned Conference: the Lean Software & Systems Conference with a hashtag #lssc10. It looks like this is the second year and last year it was held in Miami in 2009. It’s managed by the Lean Software and Systems Consortium.
Lean Software & Systems Conference Recap Read More »
I blogged about the “Startup Lessons Learned Conference on April 23” about three weeks ago and now the conference is tomorrow (April 23rd) in San Francisco. Whether you are planning to attend in person or at a remote streaming session (more than 60 locations are available see http://www.sllconf.com/streaming ) I think the best way to
Tips For Getting the Most out of SLLConf (Live or Streaming) Read More »
We are working with a semantic technology firm to develop a new portal that will track EDA related blog posts and other content announced via an RSS, Atom, or other feed protocol . Our goal is to provide a richer level of aggregation and analysis than an RSS reader with 200 feeds offers today (see
Do You Want to Track 200+ Electronic Design Automation Feeds? Read More »
It’s easier to become very good at two or three things than the best at one specific thing: this “Jack of all Trades” strategy applies both for career and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Jack of All Trades Read More »
I would be interested in talking with other consulting or professional service firms that are using Central Desktop or other wiki systems to collaborate with clients or deliver services. For example, when we give workshops we also put the text of the relevant workbook into a custom workspace for each attendee. Also, as a part
Do You Use a Wiki to Deliver Services or Develop Content? Read More »
Create and Deliver Surprisingly Compelling Software Demonstrations “Do The Last Thing First” — the recipe for a Great Demo! When: Wednesday, Sept 15, 2010 8 am – 5 pm Where: Moorpark Hotel, 4241 Moorpark Ave, San Jose CA 95129 Cost: $590 Before Aug 28: $566 This is an interactive workshop with Peter Cohan geared especially
Great Demo! Workshop on Sept 15, 2010 Read More »
A baker’s dozen of common mistakes that I have seen founders make preparing and delivering new product introduction demos and presentations.
Common Mistakes in New Product Introduction Demos Read More »
Building an Expertise Based Startup (Part 2) I asked two weeks ago in “Are You Building An Expertise Based Startup?” about a model for an expertise driven company that I have been working on for more than year. Have come across two other references that I think bear the concept. From a post by David
Building an Expertise Based Startup (Part 2) Read More »
Four keys to success in any career, but especially as an entrepreneur, are: self-mastery, expertise, connections, and perseverance.
Self-Mastery, Expertise, Connections, and Perseverance Read More »
We see a number of entrepreneurial opportunities for innovation in medical care in practice areas where the patient pays for outcomes.
Entrepreneurial Opportunities for Innovation in Medical Care Read More »
Two key tasks we help early stage teams with are preparing for and executing successful negotiations. Honesty in negotiation is key to a long term deal.
Honesty in Negotiations Read More »
We had a situation earlier this week where a potential competitor started to use the name of a client’s service for a similar offering. Fortunately the client had registered the trademark it last year and we were able to politely bring this to the incipient competitor’s attention. They have notified us that they will stop
Cost Effective Approaches to Trademarks Read More »
There is something very seductive about a ramjet engine, it has no moving parts, and all you need to do is pour jet fuel into it: the fuel catches fire and generates a tremendous amount of thrust. This is the attraction of the two sided market. Just get enough “users” or “prospects” or “buyers” and
Be Wary of Relying on a Ramjet For Early Growth Read More »
