VentureBeat | News About Tech, Money and Innovation Guy Kawasaki’s 10 Questions to Ask Before You Join a Startup | M I realize that in this job market, maybe you can’t be choosy about a job offer, but you should still understand what you’re getting into. If you are considering working at a startup, you should ask these questions. 1. How much money do you have in the bank? This is a simple question. You just want a number. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Guy Kawasaki is the co-founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web. 10 Essential Online Tools for Your Startup Finding the tools you need when you first start a new business can be difficult, but luckily there are more and more web applications to ease some of that pain. You can take care of just about any challenge from designing your logo to even answering the phone … yes, via the Web. No longer are you shackled by what your locale offers you when you have the entire world at your fingertips. We’ve gathered up 10 of what we feel are the most essential tools for your business to use when you’re first getting started online. 99Designs: Choosing a designer for your logo, site, stationery, Twitter background and so on can be an extremely scary prospect. No matter how much someone may recommend a designer, if your personalities don’t gel, then the work will show that. Amazon Web Services: Hosting and bandwidth costs are a quick way to run up bills for your company, but with Amazon Web Services (AWS), you get several solutions that are all pay-as-you-go.
VCs And Super Angels: The War For The Entrepreneur It’s a lot like the Cold War – most of the really interesting fights among startup investors – and there are lots of them – occur behind the scenes. Publicly everyone gets along just great. But declining returns, too much capital and the disruptive force of a new breed of angel investors has created enough tension in the system that some frustrations are beginning to boil over. And in some cases, the gloves are coming off. And entrepreneurs can and do get caught in the cross fire. Until very recently there was an established pecking order with venture capitalists. Today things are much more complicated. But the last several years have seen the rise of the cheap startup. An entire generation of entrepreneurs have stopped thinking about hitting up those top tier VCs as their first step in the startup process. And those angels aren’t shy about trashing the VCs. The VCs, for their part, fight back more quietly. And without those occasional but huge exits, the entire ecosystem can fail.
BeagleBoard.org - default VCs say they’ll invest, hire and sell more in 2011 Venture capitalists say they will invest more in 2011 as hiring in the sector heats up and selling begins to shake off the lingering woes of the financial crisis, according to a study released today by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Dow Jones VentureSource. The survey polled 330 venture capitalists in the U.S. and 180 CEOs of U.S.-based venture-backed companies between Nov. 29 and Dec. 10, 2010, looking for their views on where they see VC investment headed in the coming year. Still, despite the initial upbeat nature of the report, it is clear that many venture capitalists remain worried about a bubble developing in Silicon Valley and are divided about how fundraising will shape up over 2011. Of those surveyed, more than half (51 percent) of VCs said they expect venture capital investment to pick up in 2011. Of VCs who said they would risk it and invest in companies in their earlier stages, 30 percent said they plan to co-invest more with angels.
How to sell your software for $20,000 I guess you can either sell $20 software to 10,000 people a year, or $20,000 software to one business a year that buys 10 seats, and either way have a pretty good lifestyle business. I don't know which is easier, but I did the latter. When it was just myself and I just needed to get that one customer a year, I thought it was a pretty good life. So here's my ideas if you're thinking of going that route: 1. Find software out there that sells for $20,000 a copyThe idea is you don't want to try to come up with something new. Also with something "new" you have to convince businesses or organizations they need it, and that takes marketing money and extra time overcoming their resistance to a new concept. That's why I think it's easier and cheaper to start with a "better" version of an existing product, because customers will already know what it does and know they need it. As for finding software that sells for $20K a copy, I don't really know where to go. 2. 3. 4. 5. See? Government Follies
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