3 ways to improve entrepreneurial success

John Osher, developer of the low-cost spin toothbrush, was a successful entrepreneur because he thought differently. William Sahlman, professor at Harvard Business School, breaks down the three most important factors in Osher’s success in this entrepreneur thought leader lecture given at Stanford University in 2007

Incubator BoomStartup unleashes its first class of Utah startups

Startup incubators continue to spread across the country, and one of the latest is BoomStartup , a Utah-based organization that’s graduating its first class of entrepreneurs next week. If you’re a San Francisco/Silicon Valley snob like me, Utah might not seem like a great place for an incubator.

5 critical places to manage your online identity

(Editor’s note: Jim Fowler is the co-founder of Jigsaw, a Web-based B2B directory. He submitted this column to VentureBeat.) You probably know the importance of establishing and maintaining Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles – but there are plenty of other sites and directories where hiring managers, recruiters and potential clients – or investors – may find your profile. Myriad sites and services collect business-to-business contact data and pass it on to large and small companies that are looking to make connections or recruit new hires

11 observations on workplace gender wars

(Editor’s note: Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank is the author of Four Steps to the Epiphany . This column is an abbreviated version of a post that originally appeared on his blog .) My two daughters are now in college and have put their toes in the working world with summer jobs.

11 observations on workplace gender wars

(Editor’s note: Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank is the author of Four Steps to the Epiphany .

Freemium: A business model startups can’t ignore

(Editor’s note: Jason Katz is Founder and CEO of Paltalk, an interactive video community. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.) The word “freemium” may be less than four years old, but the business model it describes – offering basic service access for free and then charging for advanced features – has been around for decades and is utilized by some of the Web’s most successful companies

GrocerEye cofounder demonstrates the secrets of a great pitch (video)

Alain Raynaud is a mentor at TheFunded’s Founder Institute and the founder and chief executive of Fair Software . Why do other entrepreneurs seem to raise millions without breaking a sweat, while everyone you pitch to never calls you back? Tweaking words on your PowerPoint deck may be a waste of time, if we look at the winning co-founder pitch during the Founder Conference earlier this month.

Here’s the best way to value your startup

(Editor’s note: Scott Edward Walker is the founder and CEO of Walker Corporate Law Group, PLLC, a law firm specializing in the representation of entrepreneurs. He submitted this column to VentureBeat.) A reader asks :  I’m the founder of a mobile apps startup, and we’re starting to get some incredible traction.  I’ve been bootstrapping the venture for the last year, but I’d really like to raise about $2 million to scale this thing.  If a VC invests $2 million, what percentage of the company will he own? Answer: It depends upon the value of your company prior to the investment (commonly referred to as the “pre-money valuation” or “pre”).  The VC’s percentage ownership is calculated by dividing the amount of its investment by the post-money valuation of the company (which is equal to the pre plus the amount of the investment)

Backup service Backblaze almost acquired by … someone

Backblaze , a startup that offers an easy way for users to continuously back up their hard drive , is a making a rather unusual announcement on its blog this morning — that it was almost acquired. Cofounder and chief executive Gleb Budman writes that the Backblaze accepted an offer from a larger company and everything was just days away from being finalized, before everything fell through

The 5 biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make

Screw-ups are inevitable when you’re launching your own business. Entrepreneurs are often less clear about their company’s purpose than they thought they were – or hit roadblocks they didn’t anticipate and don’t know how to handle.

Next Page »