CINA Holiday Mixer
The 2007 CINA Holiday Mixer had a nice turnout: it was networking followed by a traditional twelve course Chinese lunch.
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Seeing The Elephant: The Entrepreneur’s Challenge of Integrating Advice
To “see the elephant” entrepreneurs must work toward a holistic perspective by integrating advice and conflicting views from a variety of sources.
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Entrepreneurs, Luck, and Silicon Valley
2003 reflections on the dotcom crash–the year I started SKMurphy, Inc., and 4 rules of thumb from Richard Wiseman on making you own luck.
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How To Ask An Expert For Help
Entrepreneurs often have to ask an expert for help. Here is some common mistakes to avoid and suggestions for how to make a positive response more likely.
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Are You Generating iPod Fishbowl Leads?
While at the Sales 2.0 Conference on Oct 30, 2007, I attended a panel presentation titled Lead Qualification & Cultivation. The complete transcripts are available at the Sales 2.0 portal, I have extracted Stu’s opening story to pair it with one of my own about iPod fishbowl leads. Lead Qualification and Cultivation Panel Moderator: Stu
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On-line Tools for Startups
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
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CINA Holiday Mixer Sat-Dec-15
CINA Holiday Mixer Set for Sat-Dec-15-2007 I have been invited to emcee this year’s CINA Holiday mixer, it will be held at Fenwick on Saturday December 15, from 10am to 1pm (with lunch included). It should be a lot of fun. The CINACon 2007 Showcase participants in attendance will be asked to answer three questions:
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One Name or Two for Product and Company
Athol Foden was a guest speaker at today’s Bootstrapper Breakfast and he brought his passion for naming and deep knowledge of the issues that around it. One question that came up this morning–and comes up with a lot of very early stage teams–is whether or not to name the company the same as the product
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Legal Issues: Q&A with Pete Tormey of Action Patents
Today I was able to sit down with Pete Tormey, founder of Action Patents. Pete is a registered patent agent who specializes in providing patents for Software, Electronics, Life Science Instrumentation and Business Methods. Legal Issues: Q&A with Pete Tormey of Action Patents From blogs to entrepreneurial events, patents are always a controversial topic. This
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21 Great Questions for Developing New Products
Here are 21 great questions for developing new products, the checklist is from “Breakthrough Thinking From Inside the Box” by Coyne, Clifford, and Dye; the commentary is mine.
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Entrepreneurial Innovation Comes More From Borrowing & Combining Than Invention
I came across a good quote on innovation and invention in a 2004 article in Fortune Magazine by Harold Evans called “What Drives America’s Greatest Innovators“ (emphasis added) [The] defining characteristic of the innovator: a determination to bring a brainwave into the bustle of the marketplace. […] More innovations come from borrowing and combining than
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Finding And Adding People Successfully to Your Startup Team
Finding and adding people successfully to your startup team is a key skill and set of processes you need to master for growth.
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We Added a Second Idea to Revenue Workshop on January 19, 2008
To keep our workshops interactive we limit them to a dozen people. We’ve got two seats left in our Thursday December 6th “Idea to Revenue workshop” so we have added a second one Saturday January 19, 2008. This one will be held at the Moorpark Hotel in San Jose. We got a number of requests
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Three Points About Seeking Investment
Three key points about seeking investment.
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Think You Have a Great Name, Think Again!
We have all heard of brands like Google, Cisco, Nike, Starbucks , and Lowe’s. Have you ever wondered how these companies got a great name? You probably haven’t heard of Ansearch , N-TRON, InSport International, Caribou Coffee, and Handy Andy. To me Ansearch sounds more like a search engine than Google, N-TRON seems more like
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The Best Feedback From Your Early Customers Is a Story
The best feedback from early customers is a story: this post explores four kinds of stories you should listen for and how to take advantage of them.
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The Best Way To Get Feedback From Early Customers Is a Conversation
Resist the temptation to minimize the time you spend to get feedback from early customers. Focus on depth of insight. This can come only from conversation.
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Idea to Revenue on January 19, 2008
This event is Sold Out, No Walk-Ins accepted. Please sign up for waitlist we will be offering it again in 2008. Invest four hours now to save months later finding a path to revenue: most software startups fail after they have working functionality but before they find their market. You will leave this workshop with
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Using Web 2.0 Technology to Enable Strategic Selling: A Sales Executive Forum
I have had two interesting conversations with friends who are frustrated with some of the internal deficiencies within their companies. Both of my friends are accountants, but work for different firms and in different departments. However, they are both part of itinerant work forces and have the same problem. While out of the office, they
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Planning Will Save a Software Startup Money
One of the best ways to save money is to plan ahead: as simply as possible while being explicit about assumptions, defining what constitutes minimum acceptable forward progress, and identifying what results would justify external investment. For an example see Guy Kawasaki’s blog for Oct-1-2007: Financial Models for Underachievers: Two Years of the Real Numbers
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