In the olden days, most people followed a waterfall method. It involved writing “complete” specifications on exactly what had to be built, how it would be built, how it would work, look, etc. You’d have the “complete” package of documentation up-front and then you’d start coding. Seems like eons ago… Then we were introduced to […]
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Visualize Your Website to Crystallize the Value Proposition and Target Market
It’s quite common for early startups to lack clarity around their core value proposition and target market(s). There’s a temptation to go wide on both – offer lots of different value to lots of different people. But generally that doesn’t work. A focus on a specific, differentiated and compelling value proposition targeting a specific, well-defined […]
So You Want to Run a Startup Accelerator…
Everywhere you turn there’s a new startup accelerator launching. Time will tell if that’s a good thing or not, but as I said in my last post, if you’re not doing it [an accelerator] to make money, you’re doing it wrong. The feedback was mixed, which doesn’t surprise me, since there are many accelerators operating […]
Finding Your Startup’s One Thing
With five startups in Year One Labs (all at various stages of our process), you start to see some fairly clear patterns. One of the biggest hurdles at Year One Labs is moving from the Probe Phase to the MVP Phase. I’ve talked about this process in more detail a few times. The gist of […]
How To Run a Business Model Hackathon
A tech hackathon is typically a half-day to two-day event where teams get together and build a product in a very short period of time. They’re always fun and interesting, often organized around specific platforms (like Foursquare), and a great way to meet new people, get into a community and test your chops. At Year […]
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 […]
Founder Failure
Yesterday, Chris Poole (known as ‘moot‘, founder of 4chan) shut down his startup (which created Canvas and DrawQuest). You should go read his post: Today my startup failed. The TechCrunch post is good too, and highlights just how hard it is to get real growth in a consumer startup. One quote stood out for me: […]
6 Things You Need to Pivot Successfully
Pivot. We’re all familiar with the word — and many people now roll their eyes when they hear it. The word has been bastardized, overused, and taken out of context. But it doesn’t mean pivots aren’t important. Dont hate the word, hate the people that use it incorrectly and ignore its importance. Pivot. Say it […]
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