Blog

For startups entrepreneurs, there’s is often a blending together of business models and sales models. Here’s a way to think about it, for both tech and non tech companies. Business Models Business models include the purpose, strategy, competitive advantage, ecosystem (Partner and Channel) and of course the product or services. Too often we take these

One of the weekly components of the Founder Institute Semester is the “Hot Seat”. Where founders have a chance to pitch their idea/company to the three mentors plus the local Director. During the Hotseat sessions for some Founders in Bogotá Columbia, I was watching as one of the Founders was having a challenge taking feedback

I recently had the chance to host a group of mentors for office hours @StartupRiot in Seattle – Thanks to Jimmy Kwan at Turnstone for providing the furniture, it was the best the Bar at Showbox Soho has ever looked! We accepted applications from over 41 companies that requested office hours for Founder Institute Mentors.

Created by: MBAOnline.com

There is no doubt that startups and startup ideas run in trends. One of the things I try to gauge as I meet with entrepreneurs during our Ideation Bootcamps for Founder Institute is what are the current categories that are trending for startup ideas – but unlike a Twitter trend this is totally unscientific. To

Recently, I had a chance to judge a business plan competition for one of the universities in Seattle. One of the contestants at the event was a services company that wanted to be the “Best (services type) firm in Seattle.” But they also wanted to offer cheap services to showcase their capabilities… (Before I’m perceived as

Interesting ranking by Henry Blodget (and team at Business Insider) on they top 100 private tech companies. Facebook, Zynga, at the top of the list LinkedIn rounds out number 10. http://www.businessinsider.com/digital-100

Chris O’Brien wrote a great artcile today on SiliconValley.com on http://www.siliconvalley.com/opinion/ci_16085562?nclick_check=1 “I am constantly impressed by the crazy amount of energy entrepreneurs spend hatching innovative services, so I have never understood why they seem to spend so little time figuring out their business models.” The article covers three models, Deal, Virtual Goods and Apps

Conway: During The Bubble, 77% Entrepreneurs Failed. Now, It’s Around 40% Today, during our Social Currency CrunchUp, angel investor Ron Conway had some interesting data to share for the first time. Conway says that his company, SV Angel, has recently done an audit on the over 500 companies they’ve invested in over the past 12 years. And he was