Startup Competitive Market Analysis
Every startup founder needs to learn how to do a competitive market research analysis. So where do you start? There is nothing worse than pitching your idea to an investor and having them say something like, “Oh, you’re just like X Company that was just funded.” That might be when you have an “eyes wide
Read MoreHow to Split Startup Co-Founder Equity
This post was originally named: Awkward Co-Founder Discussions, I changed the title to make it easier to find from the main site. How should co-founders split equity in a startup? What should you discuss before formation of the company? This post outlines the discussions that you need to have, including a framework for those discussions.
Read MoreEvery Idea is Crazy – Right Before it’s Real
One of the things I love about startups is that ability that a founder needs to have to see a vision before it happens. A friend of mine called it the “power of focus!” You’ll hear people around startup often say “it’s not the idea that matters, it’s execution” that is partially true. There were
Read MoreInvestors Pay for Your Future, Not Your Past.
It’s time to incorporate your new startup. All the dreams and limitless possibilities lay in front of you! It’s all rainbows, butterflies and unicorns! So what do you need to know about approaching investors in this state of optimism and euphoria? Investors are investing in your future not your past You see every little thing that
Read MoreLive Blog – Lean Launchpad NY @sgblank #3
Feedback from Lunch Groups – participants met for lunch both days and discussed problems/solutions around different topics: emerging markets, Accelerators in Healthcare, launching in low density markets, etc. Customer discovery isn’t just about getting out of the building but getting out of the country How do you profile the teams? Psychological, technical skills, etc Hacker
Read MoreFather’s Day for Entrepreneurs
My Grandfather opened one of the first Electronic and Telephone companies in Southwestern Washington in 1908 in his hometown of Camas. The Company did phone line and equipment installation. That was the era when phones had no buttons – just a heavy earpiece, microphone and lever to tap to get an operator. He sold the
Read MoreWhere are you on your Entrepreneur Journey?
Here’s a great infographic from Co-Founder’s Lab.
Read MoreWhat’s the next Billion $$ Market?
There’s a great survey on Quora about the next Billion Dollar markets. As of Today – the highest voted answer is by Nathan Ketsdever, a Nashville based Entrepreneur and self-proclaimed Fan Boy of Steve Blank – Paul Graham – David Cohen. Here are some of the ones that stood out for me, for good and
Read MoreWhen Incremental Change Isn’t Enough
I was meeting with a company last week that had completed the build of their product, launched and was getting great customer feedback – just not the use case that they had expected. The good news: they have validated the idea. The bad news: it wasn’t what the original customer nor was the current front
Read MoreCan I buy you a coffee? Meeting Checklist
The call usually starts like this. “I was told by <name> that you could help me with <funding my startup, improving my startup idea, a financial model, finding a co-founder or a good developer , blah, blah, blah.> ______________, can I buy you a coffee?” I love helping startups! I think I overcompensate for not having found
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