Start ups
Worry About People Listening To You, Not About Them Stealing Your Ideas
Ross | December 7th, 2010If you have a great idea for a new business, should you freely share that idea with others? What if they steal your idea? Many entrepreneurs and small business owners obsess about keeping ideas confidential. The vast majority of entrepreneurs and small business owners should be far more concerned about people listening to their ideas, [...]
Groupon, Cinderella and Opportunity
Ross | December 2nd, 2010Most people know the classic folk tale Cinderella. It’s a story about a young woman living in obscurity and neglect who unexpectedly finds love and happiness. Cinderella’s story illustrates something that we often forget. There’s only one Cinderella. In our efforts to achieve success, we often try to emulate successful people and companies. Basketball players [...]
Small business and startup issues: choosing the wrong software
Ross | November 30th, 2010More than ever, small businesses and startups must execute and bring their software-based products or services to market quickly. As Groupon has demonstrated, there is often (but not always) a huge first-to-market advantage. One risk of moving fast involves selecting software technologies that allow you to bring your products/services to market quickly, but that ultimately [...]
Small business and startup issues: paperwork galore
Mike | November 29th, 2010Last year’s healthcare bill, love it or hate it, contained a provision that slipped in under the radar, but that will have a substantial impact on small businesses and startups. The bill contains two important changes to how 1099s have been used historically. First, 1099s will now have to be issued for goods as well [...]
Building Great Software: Less is More
Ross | November 23rd, 2010My experience with crowdSPRING over the past several years has proven to me that with few exceptions, startups and established companies should strive to keep their software features simple. Simple features allow you to release software more often and to iterate and leverage feedback from users. Time and time again, we’ve made the mistake of [...]
Business plans for entrepreneurs – Part II: research
Mike | November 22nd, 2010A couple of weeks ago, I started a series of video posts for entrepreneurs on creating a business plan. I very much believe that this part of the process is critical to building a strong company. The short video below contains my thoughts on the research process. I hope you enjoy and will look forward [...]
Business plans for entrepreneurs: the three ‘Rs’ – Part I
Mike | November 8th, 2010Some have argued that a business plan is not necessary when starting up your venture and that entrepreneurs can better spend their time on other things. I strongly disagree and argue that the very process of writing a business plan leads to a stronger, more sustainable business. In the following short video (the first in [...]
Small Business Marketing: Google Boost
Ross | October 26th, 2010Google has released a new tool – Google Boost – that allows small businesses to connect with potential customers via Google Adwords. The program is still in beta and available to select local businesses in San Francisco, Houston and Chicago. Boost allows local businesses to create online search ads right from their Google Places account [...]
On vs. In: the entrepreneur’s dilemma
Mike | October 25th, 2010One of the challenges entrepreneurs face every day is about managing their own capacity. Finding time to think, to plan, and to strategize gets more difficult the larger your business grows. Every day we have to find a balance between the day-to-day chores involved in operating a business and the high-level planning that goes into [...]
