Building and Managing a Learning Process
If you accept the premise that we are living in an age of accelerating change, then you have to build and manage a learning process for your startup.
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skmurphy
Seven Quotes on Learning and Measurement From Marty Neumeier
In July I posted “Ten Design Thinking Quotes From Marty Neumeier. Mr. Neumeier has continued his drip irrigation of brilliant insights on twitter at @MARTYneumeier so here are seven of his recent ones related to learning and measurement.
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Bootstrapper Breakfasts in December 2010
We have added two Holiday Bootstrapper Breakfasts in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, continuing a tradition started two years ago of running two breakfasts that week at 9am. Any of these December breakfasts are a great opportunity to take some time to not only recap 2010 but also look forward for 2011.
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What Are You Doing to Obsolete Your Product?
A story from my interview process at Cisco. I asked “what are you doing to obsolete your product?”
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Find Early Customers In Forums
“Communities already exist..think about how one may help a community to do what they want to do.” Mark Zuckerberg As a rule of thumb if you cannot find a forum (broadly defined) that has already collected a chunk of your prospects–a target rich environment–then one of three things is true: You are in a nascent
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Quotes For Entrepreneurs–November 2010
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.
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Keeping Your Customers’ Trust
Earning and keeping your customers’ trust is essential to your success as a startup. Gerald Weinberg’s “Secrets of Consulting” offers “11 Laws of Trust” as a guideline for establishing and maintaining successful business relationships.
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Advising Entrepreneurs
I spend a fair amount of time advising entrepreneurs, both informally when solicited and formally when I have been retained–and sometimes even when I have not been asked for advice. Here are some key principles I follow.
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“Getting More Customers in 90 Days” Workshop Dec-8-2010
I am pleased to be able to offer our “Getting More Customers” workshop again next month. We will cover a variety of proven marketing techniques for growing your business: attendees will select one or two that fit their style and develop a plan to implement them in their business in the next 90 days. Speaking
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Three Bootstrapper Breakfasts This Week
We have three Bootstrapper Breakfasts this week in Silicon Valley: the Dublin/Pleasanton breakfast was re-scheduled a week earlier to avoid falling on Thanksgiving. This is also our first San Francisco Breakfast in a new location: Sandbox Suites at 567 Sutter near Union Square. Tue-Nov-16-20 Sunnyvale 7:30am register Thu-Nov-18-2010 Dublin/Pleasanton 7:30am register Fri-Nov-19-2010 San Francisco (Sandbox
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Three Quotes from Glenn Kelman on Entrepreneurship
Three quotes by Glenn Kelman on entrepreneurship that speak to entrepreneurship as self-actualization, partnerships, and depression.
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How Conferences Will Persist: Rebooting DAC
There comes a moment in a roller coaster ride when everything seems to come to a stop for an instant: you are just cresting the top of the rise and the amusement park is spread out all around you. Time stands still for a moment that seems like it might last forever. And then slowly,
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Veterans Day 2010
On Veterans Day 2010 we honor those who have served in the military and lived: this year I want to recognize one veteran for his service in WW2.
Build On Your Passion With A Basic Model And Numbers
What follows is a chat transcript from an hour long conversation I had with a entrepreneur recently. I have cleaned up all of our typos and removed or modified some identifying information. The basic business was for a website to arrange services for travelers. I wanted the entrepreneur to move beyond his passion for the
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Fall Back 2010
“The time will come when Winter will ask you what you were doing all Summer.” Henry Clay I took the extra hour I had today and made a list of a few key things I want to accomplish before the end of the year. Many of these I can use your help or feedback on,
Fall Back
Daylight savings time ends tonight in Silicon Valley: we get the hour back we lost in the Spring. So tomorrow is technically a 25 hour day, something I wish for when I can’t prioritize. We have eight weeks left in 2010 and there’s not enough time left to accomplish everything I wanted to this year.
Good Decision, Bad Outcome
You never have complete information, if you do it’s a choice not a decision. You have to evaluate a decision in the context of the information that was available at the time. “Good Decision, Bad Outcome” When I first heard someone use this phrase it took a few weeks to sink in. Too often we
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Spend Some Time On How To Disprove Your Hypotheses
There is a strong temptation for founders to prioritize their efforts on the basis of “What is the simplest thing we could do here to prove this hypothesis about our product or our business?” It’s often more fruitful to consider what evidence would disprove your hypotheses and what is the simplest thing you could do to
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What To Do When An Early Prospect is Excited
Here is another excerpt from my September interview with Gabriel Weinberg. This one is focused on what to do when you encounter a B2B prospect who is excited about your product and this is only the first or second time this has happened with someone who wasn’t a friend or prior associate. The short answer
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Entrepreneurs Sign The Front Of A Paycheck
Entrepreneurs sign the front of a paycheck. They take prudent risks and create functional businesses that provide value to customers, employees, suppliers, investors, and partners.
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