entrepreneurs posts, articles, and infographics

8 Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur

March 13, 2012 by Small Biz Bee
with 132 views

When you think about the people in the world who are highly successful, making money beyond their wildest dreams, and hear their success stories, do you wonder what it was that brought them success? Were they just lucky, or superbly talented, or did they just have a product that was seriously needed in the marketplace? [read more]

Entrepreneurs Should Take Surfing Lessons

January 8, 2012 by Steve Mordue
with 157 views

Learn to fail gracefully by learning to fall gracefully. [read more]

Entrepreneurs Teach VCs to be VCs

October 24, 2011 by Fred Wilson
with 25 views

Isaak Karaev stopped by and left a comment in yesterday's thread. Isaak is one of the first entrepreneurs I backed in my career. I got involved in his company Multex in the early 90s, almost twenty years ago now. I backed him again more recently. It was the first investment we made at Union Square Ventures and we sold that company a few years ago. [read more]

Third Leg of the Stool

June 6, 2011 by Jeff Cornwall
with 27 views

In two previous columns, we began looking at the "three-legged-stool" -- that is, whom small businesses need as supporting advisers. The first two legs were a business-minded attorney and a CPA.The final leg of the stool is a business banker.Because bankers are generally not able to lend money until businesses are well established, many... [read more]

Entrepreneur Need-to-Know: Basics Of IP Ownership

April 12, 2011 by Albert Wenger
with 137 views

I don’t have the time or interest to look at the latest in the Winkelvoss and Ceglia vs Facebook/Zuckerberg sagas. But even just the headlines serve as good reminders that as an entrepreneur you need to know some things about IP law so that you don’t run afoul of it. In particular, I continue to meet people starting... [read more]

Don Quixote Syndrome

April 11, 2011 by Jeff Cornwall
with 182 views

Passion is what drives entrepreneurs. Passion is often what pushes us to take the risk to launch our venture. Passion is also what keeps us going when we face the many hurdles and roadblocks that are inherent in almost every entrepreneurial endeavor. Passion is what helps us break into the market and convince a... [read more]

True Story: Why I Lied to You When You Called

April 7, 2011 by Tim Berry
with 124 views

>I’m a bit embarrassed about this story. It’s about lying. You’ll see if you read on that it wasn’t bad lying, not tricking anybody for any bad reason. But it’s a true story, so I’m posting it here because 1.) it might be useful to somebody; and 2.) I’m curious about how often it happens. Did you ever see the television commercial... [read more]

I Encourage Entrepreneurs To Ignore The Word “Bubble”

April 4, 2011 by Brad Feld
with 120 views

“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.” – Macbeth Every time I hear the word “bubble” I think of that quote from Macbeth. I also think of Tulip Mania and the South Sea Company which purportedly was the source of the concept of an economic bubble. And then I remember Charles Mackay’s classic book “... [read more]

And They Said it Would Never Work: Runway Loan Program for Entrepreneurs

March 31, 2011 by Jeff Cornwall
with 40 views

A few years ago we received a seed gift from a donor who has now become our major benefactor for the Center for Entrepreneurship here at Belmont. [read more]

Pushstart adds a new start-up seed accelerator to the Australian tech scene

March 31, 2011 by Ross Dawson
with 101 views

Today at the excellent SydStart event is the official launch of Pushstart, adding to the increasingly rich network of support available to tech start-ups in Australia. There are two key elements to Pushstart: a mentor matching service, bringing together a pool of currently over 50 mentors with start-ups through the year, and a Start-Up... [read more]

Back to the Future: Are we Entering a New Internet Bubble?

March 24, 2011 by Bob Apollo
with 57 views

Steve Blank, author of the acclaimed “Four Steps to the Epiphany” has learned more than most entrepreneurs about the secrets to engineering a satisfactory valuation and exit. And he’s identified how those routes to liquidity have changed over time. Now he’s suggesting (and he’s not alone) that we may be entering a New Internet... [read more]

Getting The Band Back Together

July 2, 2010 by Fred Wilson
with 416 views

We've backed a lot of serial entrepreneurs over the years. It is one of our favorite things to do. About half of our current portfolio is led by serial entrepreneurs who are working on their second, third, or fourth startup.One hard choice an entrepreneur faces is whether to put the band back together.On one hand, you want to bring some... [read more]

Super Angel Ron Conway – Nice Guys Don’t Always Finish Last

May 6, 2010 by Joey Lo
with 181 views

Rapper will.i.am and Ron Conway | Image: Maria J. Avila Lopez, Mercury News Ron Conway is the Robert Pattinson of angel investors. Hell, if Conway had a gig on Twilight he’d turn all the bad vampires into good ones! So how did the angel investor who endowed Google and PayPal become so very successful? Conway is often referred to as... [read more]

Why I Hate Those Huge Market Numbers

March 8, 2010 by Tim Berry
with 127 views

It happens way too often: entrepreneurs proud of some huge completely unattainable market numbers. They show us billions of dollars. They think that’s a good think, like it’s important. And I hate it. As an investor, as a business plan contest judge, or as a teacher, I don’t really care how many billions of dollars are spent on this... [read more]

How to Bring a Partner, Co-founder or COO into Your Business

March 4, 2010 by Grier Graham
with 241 views

According to Innovators Forum guest blogger Bob Goedjen It's not unusual to realize that as a solo-preneur you've reached the end of your expertise and that you need to bring someone else into your business. Even if you have employees, there are times when a partner can share the load. But how do you find a partner, vet a... [read more]