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Articles by Startup Lessons
Playing the Long Game in Venture Capital
Silicon Valley and the media industry that surrounds it values youth. The culture is driven by the 20-something irreverent founder with huge technical chops who in a “David vs. Goliath” mythology take on the titans of industry and wins. It has historically been the case that VCs would rather fund the promise of 100x in a company with almost no revenue than the reality of a company growing at 50% but doing $20+ million in sales.
How You Can Achieve a Step Change in Your Fitness Before Summer
Just 21 months ago I couldn’t have jogged 2 miles in under 20 minutes and now I can run 3 miles in 21 minutes or more to the point I can pretty easily run 7.5 miles in an hour. I’m not super human and while I’m a decent athlete I wasn’t born with super genetics, extra doses of motivation or an unusual ability to tolerate suffering.
How I Lost 65 Pounds In 18 Months Without Any Fad Diets or Gimmicks
June 2019 (left) and November 2020 (right) I’ve been reluctant to write this blog post because historically I don’t like talking about weight. But I’ve been promising to publish how I lost 65 pounds in the past 18 months without any fad diets or gimmicks to try and be helpful to others. I have a plan, I know it works and for the friends and family who have followed what I’ve done they’ve equally lost a lot of weight.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Jodie Davis of The American Cuckoo Clock Company
Hatched from a different kind of chick, Jodie Davis’s inner muse tested this world this way and that. She didn’t quite fit in anywhere — until a boyfriend’s intended insult became a gift of clarity. For him, “You live in a rubber duckie world,” was a put down; for Jodie it was the crystalizing moment.
Iryna Shevchenko: “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before Became A Founder”
As a part of our series about strong female leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Iryna Shevchenko. Ms. Shevchenko is a Facebook Group Expert & founder of Savvy Action Taker Entrepreneurs Academy for Online Coaches. Her expertise is teaching entrepreneurs how to generate leads ORGANICALLY from Facebook groups. Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Komal Dangi: “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became the CEO of VeriKlick”
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the story about what brought you to this specific career path? I have always believed in the strength, endurance, and power that women have to offer at home, in society, and in the business realm. I started VeriKlick based on a void — not only to help other CEOs and entrepreneurs successfully staff their businesses with qualified personnel, but to prove to myself that I could make my dreams come to fruition and be a role model to all women.
Bryan Williams of Belli Skincare: “Remember, People Are Your Power”
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path? Having spent 20 years in sales and marketing, learning every aspect of managing a business, I always had a strong ability for leading projects and managing multiple aspects of a business. An opportunity presented itself in the health and beauty industry to manage a skincare brand, which allowed me to put my entire skillset to good use.
Kara Nortman Was Just Promoted to Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures. Here’s What it All Means
Today we’re announcing that my partner Kara Nortman is becoming Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to welcome her to her new role. As with all promotions, the reality is that Kara was already acting as a senior leader at our firm and also in the industry at large. She had all of the skills and traits we sought — leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building — and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed.
5 Takeaways on adapting a podcast into Spanish
Here’s how we produced the first-ever kids podcast translated into Spanish, during a pandemic. I never thought that an unlikely one-time collaboration during a pandemic would result in the production of the first-ever kids podcast adapted into Spanish. We are proud to present the first season of Tumble en Español, a co-production between Tumble and my company, La Coctelera Music, produced exclusively for the Himalaya podcast platform.
Goal Driven Versioning: A Better Schema for Product Releases
Oh, the MVP! The incredibly popular concept that took over the world of software over a decade ago when Eric Ries changed the way we think about product-market fit. The idea of a Minimum Viable Product was indeed worth its weight in gold at a time when the most significant risk for companies was to ship too late, miss the market, bet everything on unproven assumptions that led nowhere. I’d like us to entertain the thought that our industry has finally outgrown the MVP.
Building or re-building your MVP? Focus on one thing; delivering an outcome to the customer
Photo by Yu Hosoi on Unsplash Foreword: I’ve written this article for anyone who has used the term ‘MVP’, but is yet to have repeated success with launching them and scaling beyond a first few customers. The talk around MVPs has got very complicated. “It should be minimal yet valuable”. “It shouldn’t scale”. “Just reduce the non-essential features”. All of this are true, but they just describe what an MVP looks like. They — and most articles — miss the core reason why an MVP exists in the first place.
How to Build an Audience Using a Lean Startup Strategy
“Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop is at the core of the Lean Startup model.” — Eric Reis, The Lean Startup Many writers are like entrepreneurs. They think success happens overnight with a fully designed masterpiece. But like entrepreneurs, most writers must pivot to find success. This was true of my experience. It took me a long time until I learned to test my ideas first before committing time and energy to the winners.
4 Key Takeaways of Building a Product Team
About 18 months ago, Elium raised 4m€ with the ambition to scale its teams and revenues. To sustain this growth, together with the executive team we decided to restructure the company and double its size. As a direct result, I became Head of Product. I wanted to share what I’ve learned after doubling both product and engineering teams. The first value expressed in the Agile Manifesto is “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.” In my opinion, this is absolutely key for a product team.
What I Learned From 3.5 Years as a Product Leader at a VC Backed SaaS Startup
I first heard of Elium, formerly known as Knowledge Plaza, in 2011. I was attending a very small startup event where Gregory Culpin presented the company and its market vision. Even though Elium already had some traction and gained many flagship customers, they were still doing on-demand development for other companies to cover their costs. It appeared that Talentsquare was their “last distraction”.
Why “Bootstrapping vs Raising Capital” is the Wrong Question for Startup Founders?
“Bootstrapping vs Raising Capital” are the binary terms that many people view the continuum of fundraising options. In my many years of experience, this is a gross misunderstanding of what lies ahead for new founders. Money doesn’t usually fall from the pockets of the well informed investor like rain in a storm. A more likely title should be “you are going to be bootstrapping because most people won’t give you a lot of money for a long time.”. Not quite as appealing of a title?
COVID-19’s Impact on Early Stage Venture Capital
This may actually be one of the best times in history to raise early-stage capital. Common knowledge at this point is that deal volume is down considerably from pre-crisis times, but less clear is how early-stage startups have been impacted since most coverage we’ve seen is focused on large later-stage funding activity. Also unclear is how much valuations have been compressed (especially in California where VCs have long felt valuations were inflated).
There is such a thing as too much money
Docker was (and still is) a fantastic developer productivity tool, probably the most momentous change after the introduction of Linux. Then VCs came and gave them $300M: it truly was the beginning of the end. Yesterday, Protocol published an interview with Docker’s “fourth CEO in less than three years,” which provides a reasonably accurate, if not entirely “candid” account of all that went wrong at Docker.
Nevertheless, She Persisted: Holly Liu Shares Advice to Founders About Braving Hard Times
Concerned about how to navigate these uncertain times while operating your startup? Here is some practical advice from someone who has been there, and whose company “lived” to tell the story. Holly Liu is the co-founder of Kabam, a mobile gaming company. In 2008, Kabam’s Series B term sheets were signed. On the day the money was to be wired, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns collapsed and the Great Recession of 2008 began.
Funding in the Time of Coronavirus
I am due to speak at the SaaStr conference next week: Wednesday, March 11th at 10:45 AM. I had originally signed up to talk about the “VC Market Trends” overall but it seemed inauthentic to speak about VC funding without addressing the virus in the room. So I wrote a brand new deck outlining some Upfront views on what we may see in the funding markets ahead.
Don’t Think of Your Startup as a ‘Family’
There’s a much better term you can use Illustration: handmade with ❤ by Ariane Frida Sofie In the early years of my company, we did not extend an employee’s one-year-long contract because their performance was okay, but not outstanding. Also, we were in the middle of a financing round and had to save on cash. It was a perfectly rational decision. However, since it was the first instance that we had let go of somebody under such circumstances, the rest of the team was confused.
“5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became CEO of Semper Smart Games,” With Jim Moran
Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Jim Moran, the founder and CEO of Semper Smart Games, and the creator of the award-winning Election Night! board game and the patent pending PlaySmart Dice system. Originally from Amherst, Massachusetts, he served in the Coast Guard for 24 years after graduating the Coast Guard Academy in 1992.
4 Principles of Successful Startups
An early-stage startup only needs two things: sales and development Image: MirageC/Getty Images Few things are certain when launching a business, but there is a consistent strategy that I’ve seen used in highly successful startups. It took me a while to understand the nuances of this strategy, when it works and doesn’t work, and its many different forms.
The Biggest Startup Strategy Myth (and How to Deal With It)
Your company will never grow bigger than the initial strategy behind it Image: Constantine Johnny/Moment/Getty Images “We have a strategic plan. It’s called doing things.” — Herb Kelleher (co-founder of Southwest Airlines) In my early years, that quote hung in our office and it was reflected in my leadership. I remember an employee telling me that he wanted to work “more strategically,” and I had no idea what he meant.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Jana Farmer, founder of Ms Jana’s Candy
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing…Jana Farmer. By 2009, Jana Farmer had been making homemade candy for family and friends for years. As the popularity and demand of these delicacies only increased, she decided to shift her hobby to a full-fledged business. After various career paths, Jana began to pursue her candy business at the age of 68. In 2017, she launched Ms Jana’s Candy.
“5 things I wish someone told me before I became a CEO” with Genevieve D. Caruncho-Simpson, Interim CEO at Texas Health Aetna
As a part of our series about powerful women, I had the pleasure of interviewing Genevieve D. Caruncho-Simpson. Genevieve joined Texas Health Aetna as chief operating officer in April 2017 and currently serves as the company’s President, COO and interim CEO. In this role, Caruncho-Simpson provides overall management and oversight of strategic and operational plans, member services and clinical programs, strategic partnerships and initiatives, as well as outsourced services.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Benjamin Fonzé
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”? I grew up in the countryside, spending a lot of time outdoors. I was in love with nature, biology and animals in general, and quickly decided I was going to be a veterinarian. But at around 14 years old, I got my first “computer class”. It was very basic, but I instantly fell in love with computers. I saved up some money until I was able to buy my first computer and my life changed forever.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Author Allison Fallon
An interview with Phil La Duke Nobody is smarter than you — this might sound strange to say, since you can for sure find coaches and mentors who know things you don’t know and will help you learn what you need to learn to grow and get better at what you do. What I mean by this is don’t forget that nobody out there is more equipped to do the thing that you are doing than you. You were born for this.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Mark Edelson of Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Edelson. Since co-founding Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant in 1996, Mark Edelson transformed a personal home brewing hobby into an influential, award-winning career. He has been instrumental in securing 70 prestigious beer awards over the course of 21 years for the Wilmington, DE-based brewery and restaurant group.
“5 things I wish someone told me before I became a COO” with Samantha A. Flax
As a part of our series about powerful women, I had the pleasure of interviewing Samantha A. Flax the COO of Flax & Associates, LLC. Ms. Flax is responsible for all day-to-day operations, administration, human resources, marketing and business development for the firm. Ms. Flax is a Florida licensed attorney and member of the Florida Bar and Southern District of Florida. She is also a licensed insurance professional in both property and casualty as well as surplus lines in the State of Florida.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Nicola Knobel from My Inner Creative
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”? Sure! I grew up in South Africa and when it came time for me to finish school and head to university, my mother told me that I needed to choose a “real job”. I had ALWAYS been creative and wanted so badly to do something in the creative space, but at the time it wasn’t really considered a “career”, so ended up studying an undergraduate in Science.
Hiring for “Culture Fit”: Attracting and Assessing Talent
Talented people, reaching their potential whilst working towards a common goal — employees who perceive “culture fit” are more engaged, more productive, and more revenue-generative as a workforce. Despite growing evidence on the commercial results of “culture fit” — a 4x increase in revenue growth according to Forbes — there’s still plenty of misleading content out there on “culture fit” and how to achieve it.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Julie Berg of Dressed to Deliver
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Julie Berg. Julie is the founder and CEO of Dressed to Deliver, an online boutique of designer maternity, and labor and delivery gowns.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Nita Tandon of DALCINI
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nita Tandon. In 2010, Nita stepped away from her career as a pharmaceutical and biotech professional and walked into her new role of mother. The year prior, Health Canada banned the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles.
“From Avocation to Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby into a Career” with Matt Hendricks of Thirsty Dice
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”? In undergrad I studied communications, then in grad school I focused on business and information science. Understanding the problem and the people is really important to me. Ten years ago, my wife and I went to Toronto for our anniversary. I’ve loved board games my whole life, and I practically dragged her into a board game café there.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Jennifer Quinn Williams, of Saint Louis Closet Co
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Quinn Williams, President and Founder of Saint Louis Closet Co. While in her first semester of Saint Louis University graduate school, and while working part-time at three restaurants, Jennifer decided to do what she loved: change people’s lives through custom organization.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Elise DeCamp of Ocelot Market
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Elise DeCamp. Elise is a powerhouse female entrepreneur based in Brooklyn, NY. Originating from Kentucky, she prides her parents entrepreneurial ventures in planting the seed to pave her own way in the start-up world.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Cherlyn Chong, Founder of Steps to Happyness
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cherlyn Chong. Cherlyn is the founder of Steps to Happyness, where she is a breakup recovery and dating coach for high-achieving professional women. Currently living between California and Singapore, she serves an international clientele, helping these ambitious women succeed in their love lives the same way they do in their careers.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Michael Davidson of Black Infusions Vodka
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Davidson. Michael is the owner and CEO of Black Infusions, an artisanal spirits collection that includes Black Fig and Gold Apricot Vodkas.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Angelica Ventrice of Fit for
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”? I grew up in Long Island, NY with my parents and younger sister. Growing up, the only thing I ever felt I was good at was getting straight A’s. I loved to dance, never played sports and could barely run a mile in those silly PT tests because I was so chubby. I was pretty nerdy and in all honors classes; I was heavier with acne and very insecure growing up.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Jamie Montz founder of The Original Stretchlace
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jamie Montz. Jamie spent her childhood between Boise, Idaho and Seattle. She’s since returned to recreational town of Boise, where she lives with her husband of 17 years — and their three sons. The 43-year-old is a first-generation American and the first college graduate in her family.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Rob Lee of Swift Passport & Visa Services
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”? It all starts with my mother and father. I’m very fortunate to have them in my life, and together they planted the seed of adventure in my mind at a very young age. Especially in his younger years, my dad was an explorer and world-traveler. The stories he told my brother and I were always incredible and exciting — the places he’d been, the people he’d met, the sights he’d seen.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With John Cafarelli of Ernest Supplies
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing John Cafarelli, the Founder of Ernest Supplies. Growing up in New York as the son of a builder, John learned at an early age the value of a guy having the right tools in his toolbox to be successful. He designed Ernest Supplies based on a similar premise of giving a guy the tools he needs to feel confident and look his best.
5 Effective Email Marketing Tips to Increase Your Conversion Rate
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels Despite the rise of social media apps, emails still remain to be an integral part of people’s lives. In fact, the number of global email users is expected to grow to 4.4 billion by 2023. As a marketer, it’s an important channel to reach out to your target audience. Plus, it can give you huge returns. For every £1 that you spend on your email campaigns, you can get an average return of £32.28.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Kieran and Deborah O’Keeffe
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Deborah and Kieran O’Keeffe, COO and CEO of SkiBro. SkiBro is a marketing, aggregation, and booking platform for ski lessons headquartered in Val d’Isere, France.
“5 things I wish someone told me before I became a CEO” with Naomi Neilson, CEO of Native Trails
As a part of our series about powerful women, I had the pleasure of interviewing Naomi Neilson, founder, CEO, and chief visionary of Native Trails. Founded in 1996, Native Trails was built on the foundation of Naomi’s passion for artisan tradition, sustainability, and fair trade practices to bring the work of undiscovered artisans from central Mexico to living spaces throughout North America.
Inovia CTO Summit 2019
I had just attended Inovia CTO summit, it was a one-day round-table discussion amongst the invited portfolio CTOs. The discussions were led by top CXO/VPs from Dropbox, Amazon, and Microsoft. Here are my top findings: The development of a career ladder is central to the scaling of the engineering organization. It forms the backbone around which budget, hiring, and retention can be structured.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With David Lee VP at Estars Studios
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing David Lee. Since the fall of 2017, David Lee has led the production team for Estars Studios as Vice President of Operations, responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s production including the World Showdown of Esports (WSOE) series and white label business.
“From Avocation to Vocation - How I Turned My Hobby Or Passion Into a Career” with Konrad Bergström of X Shore
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing…Konrad Bergström, the CEO & Founder of electric boatmaker, X Shore (www.xshore.com). Konrad is a leading Swedish entrepreneur whose various innovations have been recognized for excellence in export, design, communication, marketing, technology and fashion.
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Former NFL Manager Reed Duchscher
Thank you so much for joining us Reed. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”? I grew up in the geographical center of North America, which is Rugby North Dakota. Small town of 3,000 people in the middle of nowhere. My parents have been married for over 40 years and my Dad owned his own insurance agency which he recently sold. What was the catalyst from transforming your career in the NFL into Night Media? Can you share the story of your “ah ha” moment with us?
“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Devin Carlson of Archer Components
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”? I’ve always been fascinated with building and taking apart devices to learn how they worked and what made them fail. Throughout my life I’ve been an avid cyclist and have spent many hours in the saddle of all sorts of bikes. When the opportunity came along to build something for bicycles I couldn’t wait to jump in. What was the catalyst from transforming your hobby or something you love into a business?
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