A few people have told me that pitching the “first mover advantage” for a startup isn’t always the best thing. Being first doesn’t guarantee success. If anything, being first is fraught with more peril; since you don’t have anyone to copy or compare to. And, depending on how innovative your product offering, you might be […]
The Big Bang Theory of Launching a Product
Many people will tell you the best way to launch a product is to do so early and iterate constantly. I’ve said the same thing, and generally agree with that sentiment. You don’t want to spend a year building a product without any serious customer feedback, without putting your feet to the fire in the […]
Startup Lessons Everyone Should Read
Here’s a sampling of some great startup lessons worth reading about. Your Pitch Sucks. Patrick Lor lays it on the line very succinctly with his post about bad VC pitches. He must have seem some really awful pitches, cause he’s normally quite a “nice guy” blogger. Regardless, every point he makes is correct; they’re not […]
5 Things That Keep Me Awake At Night
Experienced entrepreneurs (who have “been there, done that”) often ask the question, “So, what keeps you up at night?” Short answer: My kids. And more specifically, my younger son, Quinn Alexander Yoskovitz, who recently turned 1 year old. He’s been a bit under the weather, teething like a werewolf and grumpy like a seriously-constipated old […]
5 Quick Tips on Pitching Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of pitching to investors, including angel investors and venture capitalists. It’s a fact of life when you run a venture-backed startup. It’s one of those things that no one ever tells you about raising money — once you start, you never stop. It will take on average 4-6 months […]
May’s Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast
Most people will tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So if you’re in Montreal, and you’re interested in technology and entrepreneurship, you should think about joining us for breakfast on Tuesday, May 13th @ 9am at Bistro, Etc. Here are the details: Tuesday, May 13th @ 9am Location: Bistro, […]
Technology to Sales: The Evolution of a Software Startup
Software startups always start out very heavily focused on technology. They have to be; they’re building some kind of software application and most of their time has to go into doing that properly. Most software startup teams are made up entirely of developers or weighted in that direction. Have a team of 4? I bet […]
StartupIndex: A Great Resource for Canadian Startups
The guys behind StartupNorth and a number of other initiatives, have recently launched StartupIndex, which they describe as, “…a free, community-based index of technology startups and investors in Canada.” It’s similar to CrunchBase and TraveVibes. This is a much-needed addition to the startup scene in Canada. It’s great for Canadian startups but also for others, […]
Personal Branding and the Job Market
If you don’t think personal branding is important, you’re flat out nuts. Nowadays it’s so much easier to brand yourself online – through blogging, social media, networking – and then leverage that effectively offline as well. Bringing your online branding efforts offline is key; because you can’t live exclusively online. And this is especially true […]
Data: A Startup’s Secret Money-Making Asset
The pervading approach to launching a startup is to do it quickly, iterate constantly and make as much noise as possible throughout the process. It’s not a bad way of doing things, and given the lower cost of startup operations, and the nature of consumer web startups in particular, and it’s completely doable. But be […]
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