Curated content on startup strategy.
* Startup Business Strategy
Anchor Content:
* How To Build A Startup: One Board At A Time, Be Yourself, Get Plants (2016-06-15)
Top 11 tips for entrepreneurs. 11. Quit your day job. 10. Get a real office. 9. Be prepared to lose money. 8. Don’t worry about what you can’t control. 7. Change before you have to. 6. Don’t fall in love with your idea. 5. Don’t fall in love with patents. 4. Don’t fall in love with your brand. 3. One board at a time. 2. Just be yourself and you’ll be fine. 1. Get plants.
* Erik Heels – Startup Mentor (2022-05-24)
I am a startup generalist with experience in a wide range of fields: MIT EE graduate, coding, USAF student pilot, DoD acquisitions, Maine Law graduate, publishing, sales, marketing, product marketing, branding, founder, co-founder, patent law, trademark law, connector.
* When To Quit Your Startup (2022-03-17)
Most of the successful startups that we have worked with had their exits 5-8 years after founding. IMHO, if you’ve been at a startup longer than eight years, then it’s probably best to assume that there will be no happy ending.
* Carta Security Bug – Startups Beware (2021-02-18)
Carta (formerly eShares) may not be as secure as you think.
* Startups Should Delete All Of Their Email (2020-12-17)
Security, privacy, unexplained outages. Those are all good reasons to avoid relying on Gmail. (Who would you call if your Gmail account was offline?) But the real reason is more simple. Gmail is a poor excuse for a content management system (CMS). And so much of your email is junk that is not worth saving for one day (much less forever).
* Ron Shaich (Founder Of Au Bon Pain & Panera) Doesn’t Know That He Was My First Startup Mentor (Because I Never Told Him) (2020-11-20)
Do you have a startup mentor that you have failed to thank? It doesn’t take long, and I’ll bet that they would appreciate it!
* All Startups Are Service Providers (2020-08-17)
A VC recently told me that he did not consider himself a service provider. Of course VCs are service providers! VCs provide money and advice, and, in exchange, they hope to get a 10x return on more than 10% of their investments. They’re not selling widgets. The proper question, therefore, is not whether or not startups (or any other companies, for that matter) are service providers; the question is: How excellent do you want your services to be?
* Top 20 Influencers Of Startup Founders (2020-06-17)
I surveyed hundreds of startup founders to see which individuals and companies they follow on LinkedIn. What surprised me most was what was MISSING from this top 20 list: female founders, African-American founders, military veterans, among others.
* Top 10 Cartoons That Explain The New Year’s Resolutions Your Startup Should Make (2018-12-17)
10. Tell stakeholders when you move. 9. Steal ideas from others. 8. Get a co-founder. 7. Get startup-friendly IP counsel early. 6. Know the difference between investors and vendors. 5. #GiveFirst. 4. Quit your day job. 3. Get plants. 2. File trademarks before launching brands or websites. 1. File patents before launching products.
* Book Review: Give And Take by Adam Grant – Inspiration For The Treehouse Series (2018-09-17)
The basic premise of the book is that you can be a giver – in business and in life – and be a champ, not a chump. It’s a book that demands action.
* Startup Accelerator Techstars – Mentor Madness (2018-02-01)
Drinking from the firehose again. Just like startups and adrenaline, the joy of giving back with no specific expectations of return is also addicting!
* Mentors, Mentees, And Mentoring (2018-01-17)
What Parenting And Startups Have In Common. Over the years, I have been the beneficiary of mentors who taught me how to think. They pulled me to the answers without giving me the answers. They also pushed me to be the best version of me that I could be. Many of my mentors have been teachers, but not all. Some have been teachers, yet I never took a single class from them. All of them share a willingness to give for the benefit of others.
* Startup Strategies – Change Your Thinking (2016-11-16)
A Verio lesson taught to me by Buddy Cunningham. Changing our thinking is what separates us from monkeys.
* Startups Have No Right To The Status Quo (2009-05-13)
The only constant is change. The human species has the unique ability to adapt to its environment, to change when necessary, to evolve rather than perish. As the great book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” teaches, responsibility is the ability to choose your own response. But humans are also really good at complaining that things aren’t like they used to be. Get used to it. Things have never been like they used to be. And they never will be. There is no right to the status quo. You have the ability to change. How will you respond?.
* Startup IP Strategy
* Your Startup’s Patent Spend May Qualify For Tax Credits (2020-10-17)
one thing that unfiled, filed, and issued patents have in common is that the money that your startup spent on them may qualify for the research & development (R&D) tax credit.
* Drawing That Explains The Value Of Startup Patent Spending (2019-03-17)
It is very easy for startups to underspend on patent protection. It is very easy for startups to overspend on patent protection. To maximize your return on investment (ROI), you have to spend the right amount.
* IP Deadlines and Startup Vacations (2018-07-17)
Remember to take time off for vacation to recharge your batteries.
* Startup Marketing Strategy
Anchor Content:
* Startups Need A Balanced Marketing Portfolio (2020-03-17)
If you have a balanced marketing portfolio – with your marketing dollars and time divided over multiple channels – then you are far more likely to recover from whatever challenges arise.
* Doing Nothing – A Startup’s Biggest Competitor (2019-07-17)
When you are a startup, your biggest opponent is not competitors, your biggest opponent is doing nothing. So before you try to convince your investors why your something is better than your competitors’ something, you have to convince your clients that doing something is better than doing nothing.
* Don’t Believe Your Own Press Releases (2018-04-17)
If you believe your own press releases, then you may become complacent, which gives your competitors the opening they are looking for.
* Social Networking Expiration Dates (2015-03-20)
Is your favorite social network budding, fresh, ripe, or rotten? Every company has a beginning, middle, and end. (See also the 2012-03-23 infographic “The Rise And Fall Of Online Empires – Will Facebook Survive?”)
* Top 10 Questions Startups Should Ask Before Spending Money On Social Media (2010-09-12)
Social networking is not magic. Startups are sometimes late to the social media game. But does this matter? Not really. Not if you have a plan. And can execute that plan.
* Book Review: Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing (2008-11-18)
By Harry Beckwith. A ready-fire-aim approach (implement first, then iterate to fix mistakes) is generally better than a ready-aim-fire approach (wait for the perfect solution, then implement). Beckwith’s “know where to hammer” story is perhaps the most telling.
* Boxy But Good: Honesty In Advertising (2007-02-01)
It’s the best policy. The 1990 movie “Crazy People” is about an advertising executive who gets sent to a psychiatric hospital for creating honest ads. By ignoring “the rules,” he creates brutally honest – and effective – advertisements. Like the one for Volvo: “Boxy but good.”
* Book Review: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding (2006-11-27)
By Al Ries and Laura Ries. A branding program should be designed to differentiate your cow from all of the other cattle on the range. Even if all the cattle on the range look pretty much alike.
