It takes a long time to be an overnight success. It’s very important how your tell yourself and others the “story so far” of your entrepreneurial journey.
Be Careful How You Tell Yourself “The Story So Far” Read More »
For Silicon Valley our favorite location to meet clients is American Executive Center. Depending on the requirements for the meeting we use a number of places outlined at meeting locations. Full Calendar is another great source for meeting venues. It’s a great list and far more encompassing than ours. Enter “venues” in the search form.
Need a Conference Room? Read More »
I think the best approach to crafting strategy is the view that strategy is a hypothesis and metrics are the data for testing the hypothesis.
Strategy is a Hypothesis Read More »
Some key takeaways from a blog post by Matt Maroon on “Why Not To Do A Startup”
Highlighting Matt Maroon’s “Why Not To Do A Startup” Read More »
If you missed us at SDWest last week, here are pointers to firms and organizations we had in the Startup Resource Center. Brighter Naming name your company, product, or service Fortis General Counsel is a law firm comfortable with bootstrappers Action Patents Pete Tormey registered patent agent (see interview) Boitano Sargent, and Lilly accounting firm
SKMurphy’s Startup Resource Center at SDWest 2008 Read More »
Jotspot Emerges From The Bowels of Google Rob Hof notes–hat tip to Ross Mayfield–tonight in “Jotspot Returns as Google Sites: Wiki Style Collaboration” (emphasis added): Ever since Google bought the wiki-based online application startup Jotspot in late 2006, people have been wondering if it had disappeared forever inside the bowels of the search giant. Tonight,
Jotspot Emerges From The Bowels of Google Read More »
In response to requests from prior workshop attendees we’ve added an afternoon session to the March 8 Great Demo! workshop that will address advanced topics. You are welcome to attend if you have attended an earlier Great Demo! workshop, or you can register for both the morning and afternoon sessions on March 8. Lunch is
Advanced Topics Session Added To The March 8 Great Demo! Workshop Read More »
Last week I had lunch with Mike Lanza, a serial entrepreneur, who I met at the SDForum Startup SIG in September ’07. He gave a thought provoking presentation on his entrepreneurial career, bootstrapping a company, and working with VC’s, which I blogged about here: Mike Lanza: Starting Companies Without Venture Capital. I thought a more
Founder Story: Mike Lanza’s Lessons Learned from Two Startups Read More »
Join us at SDWest 2008 March 3-7, the conference offers with both business and technology tracks and has an interesting mix of sessions for software entrepreneurs. In addition to the technology oriented sessions you would expect, the conference has added a “Business of Software” track that should prove valuable to folks in–or planning to be
SKMurphy goes to SDWest 2008 Read More »
Some tips on forming an advisory board that assume you are currently bootstrapping and will be soliciting advice and feedback from a variety of sources: friends, former co-workers, other entrepreneurs, customers, and partners.
Forming an Advisory Board Read More »
If your New Year’s Resolution is to speak more, here are suggestions for how to find speaking engagements.
Where Can I Find Speaking Engagements? Read More »
Software companies typically have to convince prospects to adopt new technologies based on their shared history, their service track record, and their ability to accurately predict and deliver real results that overcome the cost and friction of adopting new tools and methodologies. There are a number of lessons we draw on to help startups fostering
Fostering Technology Adoption: Early Customers & Early Revenue Read More »
To “see the elephant” entrepreneurs must work toward a holistic perspective by integrating advice and conflicting views from a variety of sources.
Seeing The Elephant: The Entrepreneur’s Challenge of Integrating Advice Read More »
I am an small business owner. We are virtual team and use many on-line tools. These are ones that we actually pay for and use everyday: Calendar: WebEx, Central Desktop Contacts: WebEx, Central Desktop Design: Lucky Oliver for photos Logo Design: Logo Company, Logoworks Managing Money: Quickbooks Wiki, On-line Docs & Spreadsheets: Central Desktop Project
On-line Tools for Startups Read More »
Some tips for planning in a bootstrapped startup. Planning is a means not an end, but without planning, everything encountered is completely new.
Planning in a Bootstrapped Startup: a Model from Will Kamishlian Read More »
Success for a bootstrapper is a startup with positive cash flow; this enables ongoing market exploration and additional investments in innovation.
Success for a Bootstrapper Read More »
Three tips for attending a trade show and scoping out breakthrough innovations: Start on the perimeter and work you way in to the main floor. All the innovation is in the startups booths on the outside. Before the show spend some time checking out exhibitors’ websites. Especially if you are not familiar with the company
Looking for Innovation at a Trade Show Read More »
How do you plan when you are in a small software startup? Big company methods are not a good fit. Here are three tips for planning a startup.
3 Tips for Entrepreneurs Planning a Startup Read More »
productIf you have an idea for a software product, here are seven questions to help you develop and refine your idea.
I Have an Idea for a Software Product, How Do I Get Started? Read More »
Getting feedback after engaging with a client or even after an introductory meeting with a prospect is important. A couple of survey tools that we use are iContact and Survey Monkey. They are easy to use and low cost. Survey Monkey has some nice templates. The survey tools are useful when you want to ask
Getting Feedback on your Work Read More »
