Funny Dilbert: I Can Fail at Any Speed You Like
The daily Dilbert caricature this morning put a smile on my face this morning (image below). Lean Startup methodology is all about rapid prototyping and "Failing Fast". According to Dilbert, given a crappy idea, he can fail as quickly or as slowly as you'd like
The Early Stage VC Decision Making Process Infographic
Interesting infographic from Anna Vital in San Francisco, from the Kickstarter campaign "Becoming an Entrepreneur" Kickstarter campaign. Trying to get inside the mind of an early stage VC investor. Infographics could help dyslexic entrepreneurs to access the valuable insights that are currently "locked" in books or blog posts. The idea came to Anna as she is dyslexic herself.
“Indecent Proposal” For Startup Founders
Would you accept an offer of $8000 to build an MVP for that idea you've been toying with and had no balls to act upon. It seems that while the cost of creating a startup has significantly declined, and the barriers to entry enable literally almost anyone to start a technology startup, there's no substitute for the passion, focus and attention of the founding team and it's unlikely to be artificially produced in a "Lab" environment or by simply providing a small amount of capital.
Israeli Tech Funding & Exits in 2012: Lots of Chutzpah but Show Me Your Instagram
Groucho Marx could have been talking about the Israeli hi-tech sector when he said “I made a killing on Wall Street a few years ago…I shot my broker”. In 2012, as Israeli exits topped $5.5 billion, there was reason to celebrate but plenty of cause for concern.
CES 2013 Preview: What Happens in Vegas, STAYS in Vegas
This week marks the annual orgy of PR excess known as the Consumer Electronics Show. More than 150,000 (mostly male) visitors, many sporting T-shirts with mysterious acronyms like “4K in HD3D”, will alternate between 2 million square feet of exhibition space and the craps tables. Unfortunately for the 3,200 exhibitors, their marketing dollars will be squandered. Although I will predict a few likely trends, when it comes to CES, what happens in Vegas really does STAY in Vegas.
Content is King…Even on Wall Street
Traditional media companies had an amazing year on Wall Street. While the Dow Jones Index increased a respectable 6.7%, the US Broadcasting and Entertainment Index surged 40%. In fact, other than Sony (dragged down by its hardware business), 6 of the top 7 media conglomerates substantially outperformed the NASDAQ 500.
VC Cafe’s Top Blog Posts in 2012 and year in Review
As 2012 comes to an end, I thought I'd put together a 'best of' list of VC Cafe's stories throughout the year. It seems like 2012 was the year of throwing spaghetti on the wall by founders and investors alike, in the hopes that some of it would stick. It was nevertheless, an extremely productive year, packed with content and news.
“Pay with a Tweet” and Other Growth Hacking Examples
There are however, many clever ways to acquire users in the early stages, when your startup has no brand recognition. In the post, "Introduction to Growth Hacking for startups" we went through the basics of these techniques. Below are a few examples of startups that use Growth Hacking to get their word out and bring new users to their service.
2012 – The Year in Apps
Nearly 100,000 new developers created applications this year for the App Store, which rakes in 4x more revenue than Google Play. With the number of App Store applications now topping 1 million, application discovery platform Appsfire has released a fascinating end of year infographic about the App Store.
Learning Should Be Your Top 2013 New Year’s Resolution
Make learning and development a key resolution in 2013. If you're a startup, you are by definition competing with the smartest people in the world - either large companies or fellow entrepreneurs who are hoping to disrupt large companies. Your skills can both enrich you and increase the chance of serendipity, the "magic" moment when seemingly unrelated concepts form an orignal thought in your head.
Steve Blank’s Customer Development on One Diagram
This was just too good not to share. In a nutshell, start by talking to customers. Come up with a minimum viable product and test product market fit. Avoid building junk that users aren't asking for. Did you find something that is repeatable and scalable in your tests? now it's time to find a business model that captures the value for the product or service you are providing to customers.