Delighting users is incredibly hard. Most startups don’t even try. That results in boring (although occasionally effective and useful) web applications. Some startups try too hard and end up overloading their applications with flashy funkiness that doesn’t add any real value. They might get an A for effort, but they won’t keep users happy through […]
8 Questions on How to Prepare for VC Meetings
Lately I’ve been answering questions on Sprouter and having a lot of fun doing it. Hopefully it’s useful to the people asking as well. Not surprisingly, a lot of the questions are about VCs and investors – how to pitch them, what to pitch, how to prepare, etc. It’s a popular topic and something I’ve […]
Localmind Available on the iPhone
Localmind is now available on the App Store. Please go download it. And then feel free to come back… Localmind (which I invested in through Year One Labs) is all about getting answers to questions you have around you. You can ask questions of anyone checked-in at a location. Currently, Localmind supports Foursquare, Gowalla and […]
Year One Labs Invests in Assemblio
We’ve just made our fifth and final investment through Year One Labs. The startup is called Assemblio, founded by Jonathan Abrams and Elan Dubrofsky. Assemblio is in the event planning space; but we don’t have any additional details to share at this time. We met Jonathan and Elan through the Google Hackathon that we ran […]
Before You Start-Up Ask Yourself This Question
“Is it REALLY worth building?” Too few entrepreneurs really ask themselves this question before starting up their business. In some cases, entrepreneurs don’t even think to ask themselves the question. Sometimes, entrepreneurs just lie to themselves. Regardless of why entrepreneurs don’t ask the question it’s often a fatal mistake. A lot of people are starting […]
Year One Labs Invests in Customer Support Startup by Dov and Mitch Amihod
We made the announcement yesterday on our blog – Year One Labs has completed its fourth investment in a new customer support startup founded by Dov Amihod and Mitchell Amihod. Yes, they’re brothers. And strangely enough this is our second investment in a brother team (previously we invested in Garry and Ken Seto, Please Stay […]
The Challenging Pace of Lean Startup
Some people think of startups as sprints. Some think of startups as marathons. My take: They’re marathons that you have to sprint through. Most successful startups take a long time; the truth about “overnight success” is that it’s never really accomplished overnight (or even over a few nights.) We’re seeing a lot of early exits, […]
Lying to Yourself is a Leading Cause of Startup Failure
Although I did complete a Psychology degree at university, I’m no psychologist. And I’m no self-help guru either. But the more I think about startups and entrepreneurs, the more I think that one of the leading causes of startup failure is lying. Not lying to other people, but lying to oneself. People lie to themselves […]
Piggyback and Steal: Startups Need to be More Parasitic (In a Good Way!)
In a recent NextMontreal tech podcast (which I participate in on a weekly basis), I used the phrase, “piggyback and steal.” I thought it was reasonably catchy, so I jotted it down for this blog post. Without context it makes no sense, so let me add some. During the podcast I was talking to Frederic […]
Interrupt Users to Increase their Adoption and Engagement
You want someone to use your product, then get in their face and force them to. I’ve made this argument before. One of the biggest challenges for any startup is engagement – acquiring users is hard, keeping them is usually much harder. And even when users say they love your product or think it adds […]
Founding Partner at 