Admitting Failure

3 Startup Lessons I Learned the Hard Way Over the past decade, I've spent most of my professional life building startup businesses. In thinking about what I've learned, I realized that the most valuable lessons can be boiled down to three simple lessons: The middle sucks. Your idea doesn't matter. There is no secret to startup success.

New Web Site Encourages Charities to Admit Errors - World View For the past two years, I’ve called for charities to admit their failures. I wrote about this issue just last week. So I’m happy to announce that on January 14, a new Web site was launched to provide a platform for admitting mistakes, and it’s aptly named admittingfailure.com, created by Engineers Without Borders Canada. That organization and GlobalGiving have both already included stories of their own mistakes. In addition, Engineers Without Borders Canada released its 2011 Failure Report, detailing more projects that did not achieve full success.

Business Card Design Starter Kit: Showcase, Tutorials, Templates - Smashing Magazine Advertisement Professionals in any field should always keep business cards on them because you never know when you’ll meet a potential client, partner or like-minded person. Despite their small size, business cards are one of the most powerful and handiest marketing tools. Not only do they create a link between you and your new contact, they’re also a quick way to give a great first impression. Business cards promote your skills and achievements and serve as a little container for big ideas. Don’t underestimate the process of designing business cards; a well-made card does not just share your contact details: it generates further sharing and buzz. 10 Inspiring TED Talks for Startups The mission of TED (Technology Education Design) is to promote "ideas worth spreading." And as such, there is plenty of material that entrepreneurs - folks definitely interested in spreading their ideas - can find inspiring in the recordings available on TED's website. We've gone through the archives and hand-picked some of our favorite TED talks for startups. Granted, it's hard to select just ten to feature here out of the 700-some-odd videos available.

Low Overhead Doesn't Equal High-Quality Philanthropy - World View A series of posts about the misconceptions created by charity Web sites continues today. Misconception No. 4: Low administrative costs are a good indicator of the quality of the organization According to Money for Good, the amount spent on administration costs is the number one item that donors look for when deciding whether or not to give. The problems caused by the incessant need to keep overhead at a minimum are well laid out in the Stanford Social Innovation Review’s article “The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle.” This misconception is probably the hardest one to break for two reasons. First, many charity rating systems use overhead costs as one of the primary factors in determining nonprofit scores.

6 Rules of Starting a Business | Startup Launchr Tough to read? Click here and view the presentation in full-size “What kind of business should I start?” Most aspiring entrepreneurs ask this very question during the beginning of their journey into business. 6 ReadWriteStart Lists: Our Best Startup Advice - ReadWriteStart In a recent conversation here at ReadWriteStart we were talking about what readers want most. Beyond stories about where the latest funding opportunities are found, and beyond wanting to know what startups are doing that works, we know that sometimes our startup readers just want some simple practical advice. Towards that end we've posted many a list. And now it's time for a review. Here are six of our best lists in abbreviated form. From how not to kill your startup, to public speaking, to funders to follow, we at ReadWriteStart want to help.

Preschoolers better at navigating iPhone than tying their shoes Hand a two-year-old child a shoe and she will probably end up throwing it. Hand her an iPhone, however, and she'll navigate through it to find her favorite app in no time. Those are two lessons that I (and other members of the Ars staff) have learned first-hand in recent years, but it's not just us. According to a new survey from security software maker AVG, kids can grasp new tech skills long before they even learn how to do normal kid things, such as swimming or tying their shoelaces.

15 Steps to a More Productive Workday Freelance designers, as well as those who work for small design studios, often face the challenge of getting the most productivity out of their time and achieving maximum efficiency. While this can be a struggle for anyone in a more “typical” job, freelancers have added distractions, unique challenges, and no one to hold them accountable. To be a successful freelancer you’ll have to place a priority on productivity and find ways that work for you. How to create a profitable Freemium startup (spreadsheet model i Click to download Freemium spreadsheetBackground on this discussion Last year, the stupendous Daniel James co-hosted a talk with me on Lifetime Value metrics for subscription and virtual goods-based items. You can see the video/outline for the talk, Daniel’s commentary, and a mindmap of the talk (scroll to the bottom of the post). As part of the talk, we worked on a spreadsheet model for freemium businesses that we didn’t get enough time to work on – so I’m going to cover it in this post!