A startup has the most uncertainty in the beginning. You have no customers. Your team may be incomplete. You may not even fully understand what your market is or even your product.  If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re either in this situation now, or you’ve been there before. Jessica Livingston’s book, “Founder’s at Work” profiles some of the most famous startups of the past few decades (and some you didn’t know) by interviewing founders and asking them what the “early days” were like.
 

There are many challenges facing the startup community, especially for young entrepreneurs. It would be easy to sit around and complain about the status quo, but many of us are working towards solutions.  I'd like to highlight some of those problems and those finding solutions for them:

We can probably all agree that the world is changing at a dramatic pace, right? In fact, the popular video Did You Know? illustrates exactly how fast the world is transforming. This video is from 2008, so as you might imagine some of the data points have moved already. But overall, it distills the reasons that many entrepreneurs see the new world as simultaneously exhilarating and confusing.

As you all know, Massachusetts is putting their best foot forward in an attempt to help Entrepreneurs launch successful businesses. Programs such as Stay in MA, Mass it’s all here, and MassChallenge are working on jump starting the startup eco-system in the common wealth.

So as an Entrepreneur, you have gathered your team, built your prototype, and now hungry for that instant growth substance called “Cash”.

In my previous post, “The Next Generation of Launching Your Company” I explained a roadmap that got you ready for Venture Capital investments. This week, let’s look at a few alternatives:

Much of the Boston Startup Scene is down in Austin for SXSW, but for those of us still here, there are over 25 different Boston entrepreneur networking events and office hours this week. This week is the third week of Mass Mobile Month, a celebration of the mobile industry with tons of events this month. You can learn more about the month at the site MassMobileMonth.com.

It’s not about pushing more hours, longer days, and endless weeks that meld together because you sacrifice your weekends. Working smarter is about being more efficient with your time and knowing what you need to do, when you need to do it, and if you need to do it at all. Here are some tips that can save you time and (hopefully) money:
 

When I was a freshman in college, I took a seminar on entrepreneurship. It was the kickoff program for the then-new School of Technological Entrepreneurship. They brought in CEOs and founders of great local companies to speak to students. One speaker, Russ Wilcox (now former CEO of E Ink), made a lasting impression. After graduation four years later, I started working for E Ink and now I'm an entrepreneur on my own. This was not an accident.
 

In all the discussions about changing the culture in Massachusetts to better promote a healthy entrepreneur ecosystem, a major player has been consistently ignored: Large Corporations.  The role of these organizations on local economies is obvious, and yet when considering how to help startups, they're often forgotten.

Traditionally, every Entrepreneur ran from one Venture Capital firm to the next with their pitch book, power point presentation, and objective of raising between $1 to $2 million to get their company off the ground. Their plan was to hit all the milestones and objectives, raise another $5 million, ramp sales and waited a few years to get acquired or go public.

We're in high gear in the month of March with over 40 different Boston entrepreneur networking events and office hours this week. This week is the second week of Mass Mobile Month, a celebration of the mobile industry with tons of events this month. You can learn more about the month at the site MassMobileMonth.com.