SKMurphy Blog - Page 68 of 118

Tristan Kromer Joins Book Club’s Panel on Networking Skill Development

Books, Events / By Sean Murphy / May 15, 2012

We continue our review of “The Innovator’s DNA” by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton M. Christensen with a focus on networking, which the author’s define as seeking serious conversation with individuals from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and expertise. Here is a quote by Ronald Burt on creativity from idea brokerage (condensed from page 117): “People connected […]

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Book Club: Chapter 5 – The Innovator’s DNA

Books, Events / By Theresa Shafer / May 14, 2012

Call-in Book Review recorded on May 16, 2012 Tristan Kromer, Steve Hogan and Sean Murphy discuss the book and specifically Chapter 5 on networking. Chapter 5: Discovery Skill #4 Networking The Innovator’s DNA by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton M. Christensen Practical and provocative, The Innovator’s DNA is an essential resource for individuals and teams

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Founders Story: Arun Kumar of Kerika

Founder Story, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / May 10, 2012

The following interview is constructed from e-mails and skype calls from February to April 2012 with Arun Kumar of Kerika. See also this video: https://vimeo.com/24502212 and the Kerika blog for more info on Kerika. Founders Story: Arun Kumar of Kerika Q: Can you talk a little bit about your background I started off as a

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Seth Godin “Trust Is Even More Scarce Than Attention”

Rules of Thumb / By Sean Murphy / May 9, 2012

“Trust is even more scarce than attention.” Trust doesn’t scale, it’s built up by repeated interactions over time. That’s what makes it so important.

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Three Tips from Sid Faulkner For Preparing To Sell Your Startup

5 Scaling Up Stage, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / May 2, 2012

Sid Faulkner, CFO of Ciranova gave a talk today on “Navigating the Treacherous Path of Mergers and Acquisitions” at an event at Abbot Stringham and Lynch. Mr. Faulkner was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Oak Technology, Inc. where he led the 1995 initial and secondary public stock offerings, established an active program of

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Quotes For Entrepreneurs–April 2012

Quotes, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / April 30, 2012

You can follow @skmurphy to get these hot off the mojo wire or wait until the end of the month when these quotes for entrepreneurs are collected on the blog. Enter your E-mail if you would like new blog posts to your inbox.

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Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts on TED.com

Rules of Thumb / By Theresa Shafer / April 23, 2012

An interesting TED talk by Susan Cain on the power of introverts: how introverts impact innovation and creativity. Here are some key points she makes (see full transcript) When it comes to creativity and to leadership, we need introverts doing what they do best. A third to a half of the population are introverts. You

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Four Excerpts from the Valve Employee Handbook That Belong In Yours

5 Scaling Up Stage, Rules of Thumb / By Sean Murphy / April 20, 2012

A link to the Valve Employee Handbook made it to front page of Hacker News recently and I can see why, it makes for very interesting reading.

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Standing Out From The Crowd

Customer Development, Lead Generation / By Theresa Shafer / April 18, 2012

Postcards offer a practical and cost-effective way to reach business prospects. Here are some examples of how they can assist you in standing out from the crowd.

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Focus on Delighting Early Customers Over Accumulating Followers

3 Early Customer Stage / By Sean Murphy / April 17, 2012

Focus on delighting early customers over accumulating followers. You need proof of deep value in a niche over small value dispersed over a large market.

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A Storm Driven Sparrow

Quotes / By Sean Murphy / April 15, 2012

Two excerpts, one from H. Rider Haggard and one from Venerable Bede, that use a sparrow in flight as a metaphor for the evanescence of a man’s life.

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Michael Malone “Good Friday: A Day to Contemplate Your Life”

Quotes, Silicon Valley / By Sean Murphy / April 6, 2012

Some Good Friday thoughts by Michael Malone on success in Silicon Valley and the need to contemplate your life from time to time.

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The Technology is Nothing Without the Team

2 Open for Business Stage, 3 Early Customer Stage / By Sean Murphy / April 4, 2012

The technology is nothing without the team. Teams listen to customers and translate technology into supported products.

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Worry About Scaling After You Find Your Niche

4 Finding your Niche / By Sean Murphy / April 3, 2012

It’s very hard to forecast the rate of adoption of a genuinely new offering in an emerging market, one that is discontinuous with current practice. A focus on scaling is premature until you have proof of value and have found your niche.

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A Beta Customer Is Not A Tester Or A User But An Early Customer

3 Early Customer Stage, Favorites, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / April 2, 2012

“Beta customer” blurs beta tester, beta user, and early customer. If you sell to business, beta customers are early customers, not beta testers.

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Quotes For Entrepreneurs–March 2012

Quotes, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / March 31, 2012

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Startup Stages Overview Video

1 Idea Stage, 2 Open for Business Stage, 3 Early Customer Stage, 4 Finding your Niche, 5 Scaling Up Stage, skmurphy, Startup Stages / By Sean Murphy / March 25, 2012

Here is our Startup Stages Overview video, it explains our startup stages model and the risk reducing milestones that separate each stage.

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Founder Story: Luc Burgun, EVE

EDA, Founder Story / By Sean Murphy / March 24, 2012

This originally appeared in my “Entrepreneurial Engineer” column in EETimes as “No longer a startup, EVE aims for top tier of EDA players” on Mar-29-2011. I have added some additional hyperlinks in this version. Dr. Luc Burgun is co-founder and CEO of EVE. He has more than sixteen years of experience in EDA in both

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Structuring Business Relationships: Employees, Contractors, Alliances, Partners and Co-Owners

Events, skmurphy / By Theresa Shafer / March 23, 2012

Structuring Business Relationships with Employees, Contractors, Alliances, Partners and Co-Owners is a core challenge founders must manage.

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CTO Mastermind Open House

Consulting Business, Silicon Valley / By Theresa Shafer / March 19, 2012

We are launching a new CTO Mastermind group in response to several requests from entrepreneurs who wanted an advisory board of peers. CTO Mastermind Open House Saturday March 24, 2012 9-11am Ground Floor Silicon Valley, located at 2030 Duane Avenue, Santa Clara, We are launching new Mastermind groups in response to several requests from entrepreneurs

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