For our video of the week, listen to Sal Khan of the Khan Academy explain Raising Money for a Startup. Sal has such a great, straightforward way of teaching concepts. Enjoy!
From YouTube: Raising money from an angel investor. Pre-money and post-money valuation.
Recently I overheard an entrepreneur in the halls of the Atlanta Tech Village say, “I’m going to be successful like X.” Now, ‘X’ in this case, was a successful company in the Tech Village. The fact that another company, in the very same building, achieved success made the entrepreneur more confident.
Proximity to success inspires entrepreneurial confidence.
The early employee at a startup that goes on to do great things has more entrepreneurial confidence to start their own venture.
The high school student who reads about the entrepreneur down the road is more likely to say “I can do it too.”
The next door neighbor that just had their first successful exit inspires their neighbor to think “what if” on a new idea.
The idea that successful entrepreneurial activity attracts other entrepreneurial activity is real. Inspiration comes from many places and proximity to success is one of them.
What are you doing to increase your entrepreneurial confidence? What are your doing to put yourself around successful entrepreneurs?
Recently I was talking to an entrepreneur and we got into a discussion about the difference between an executive and a manager. Many people claim to be an executive, especially in the startup world, but they aren’t as common as claimed. While executives and managers both manage teams, there are several differences with an executive.
Here are a few ways an executive is different from a manager:
An executive is different from a manager. Entrepreneurs would do well to recognize the difference, especially as the business starts to grow and scale (it becomes more apparent with time!).
What else? What are some more thoughts on executives vs managers?
One of the lead generation strategies that works well, but takes time and engineering efforts to do right, is micro apps. Micro apps are super simple web applications that do one thing in exchange for providing an email address. Just like people are often willing to give their email address to download an ebook, people are also willing to give their email address for use of a simple micro app that provides value. Here are some popular examples:
The key is for the micro app to be meaningful yet self contained with little friction to get value. Often, the value is a tiny piece of what the main product provides such that it’s the same audience and a lead generation opportunity.
The next time you’re thinking about lead generation ideas, consider a micro app.
What else? What are some more thoughts on micro apps for lead generation?
My brother Christopher recently launched his new startup PubNation targeting the problem of ad quality management. As part of building SpanishDict to millions of unique visitors every month, he kept hearing complaints from users about inappropriate ads, but had a hard time tracking down who was showing the ads since everything went through third-party ad networks. Enter PubNation.
Here are some of the features:
The next time you see an inappropriate ad, you’ll know the exact problem PubNation is solving. And, if you know anyone in the media space, please pass PubNation over to them.
What else? What are some thoughts on the idea of ad quality management software?
In the book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, Gino Wickman talks about the people component of a business and shares several insights. One insight is how he assesses potential new hires or internal promotions against a simple framework called get it, want it, and capacity to do it:
The next time you’re interviewing someone for a position, go through the quick get it, want it, and capacity to do it exercise.
What else? What are some more thoughts on the get it, want it, and capacity to do it idea?
After talking to, and working with, several entrepreneurs that raised a Series A round in the past year, I’ve come to better understand a few of the common next steps once the money is in the bank. For most entrepreneurs, raising a Series A is a full-time job such that once it’s done they want to dive back into the business. Only now, expectations and complexity have gone up.
Here are five next steps after raising a Series A:
Raising money is simply a milestone in a long journey, not the destination itself. Follow these five next steps after raising a Series A and set the foundation to achieve the next level.
What else? What are some other next steps after raising a Series A?
Every SaaS startup should track their operational metrics on a weekly basis (not monthly). Now, in the early days it isn’t necessary to track a huge list of metrics as many aren’t meaningful. As the business grows and scales, the number of metrics to track scales as well.
Here’s the definitive list of weekly operational metrics for SaaS startups:
The fastest growing SaaS startups are well instrumented businesses. Everyone in the company should know the goals/OKRs and the corresponding metrics. Use this definitive list of weekly operational metrics for SaaS startups.
What else? What are some more metrics you’d add to the definitive list of weekly operational metrics for SaaS startups?
Our video of the week is from Google Ventures titled Startup Lab Workshop: Meetings that don’t suck. Learn a variety of best practices for different meeting types, the difference between deciders and reviewers, the power of agendas, and more. Enjoy!
From YouTube: Google Ventures Startup Lab | This workshop focuses on what makes for a good meeting, what kinds to avoid, and how to run them effectively. Meetings can suck the life out of a startup, and can prevent teams from executing. When done correctly, meetings can keep everyone informed, help the company move more quickly, and identify and resolve obstacles.
Recently I was talking to an extremely successful entrepreneur about the early days of his software company. After asking a few questions he said, “It took us 15 years to achieve our original five year plan.” Wow, that quote really stuck with me. How many entrepreneurs make a long-term plan and actually achieve it? How many entrepreneurs have the staying power to go 15 years?
Here are a few thoughts on the idea of 15 years to achieve a five year plan:
Entrepreneurs would do well to build a five year plan, and know that if everything goes well, it might very well take 15 years to achieve it.
What else? What are some more thoughts on the idea of taking 15 years to achieve a five year plan?
David Cummings on Startups 