April 2010

The Entrepreneur's Most Underrated Resource: Time

Submitted by Jason Evanish on Thu, 04/29/2010 - 7:39am

When you're working on a startup, there's so much you can spend time thinking about: What are the right collaboration tools for your team? Do you need office space together? How much money do you need to get the business off the ground? Who do I need to talk to? And as you work to answer these questions, you can often find yourself bouncing from question to question, challenge to challenge without considering what's really most valuable: your time.

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Northeastern’s IDEA Gap Funding Event

Submitted by Ashkan on Wed, 04/28/2010 - 8:57am

IDEA hosted its first bi-annual ‘Gap Funding Event’ providing the opportunity for the finalist to receive $10,000 in capital to support the growth of their venture.

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Marc Gedansky: What is a "Qualified Prospect?"

Submitted by Jason Evanish on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 7:26am

Before there was Social Media, SEO, or Hubspot, companies had to engage with prospects in a very strange way - they actually had to talk with them, often in person.  The following is a story of face-to-face qualification. I was doing booth “duty” at a large trade show in New York for a company that sold sophisticated software to large corporations.  Our targeted audiences were people who worked in large organizations and consultants who could help us get into those corporations.

 

All attendees were given badges that contained their contact info in electronic form so that exhibitors could easily capture that info by scanning those badges with an electronic “wand”.

 

While standing in our booth, I noticed one of our young and eager marketing employees latching on to anyone who came near her.  She would cheerfully introduce herself, smile, and ask if she could scan their badge.  Unfortunately, no one turned her down.   

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Book Review: Mastering the VC Game by Jeff Bussgang

Submitted by Jason Evanish on Mon, 04/26/2010 - 7:23am

As a young entrepreneur, it’s not easy to understand how venture capital really works. There are tons of horror stories that spread through the community like urban legends and phrases like “Term sheets” and “Down Rounds” can sound foreign.  Amidst all of these questions is an aura of uncertainty about how the whole system really works. Fortunately, there’s Jeff Bussgang’s book, Mastering the VC Game to help. 

 

This book should be a must read for any young entrepreneur who thinks they may ever want funding. It’s that good. Here’s a few reasons I love the book:

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Your Weekly Boston Entrepreneur Events Guide: GreenhornTV Ep.23

Submitted by Jason Evanish on Mon, 04/26/2010 - 12:02am

This is another big week in the entrepreneur community. There are over 34 different Boston entrepreneur networking events and office hours this week. Check out the show and notes below to find out all about them and all the other great happenings in the community this week.

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Morgan Polotan: Getting Fit Without a Gym

Submitted by Jason Evanish on Thu, 04/22/2010 - 12:35am

 So you're now eating healthy on a budget, and you want to know how you can continue to save money by getting fit without a gym. Well, you're in luck because you literally don't have to buy anything besides some running shoes. Here is the basic breakdown:

Response to PopSignal Post: Student Initiatives

Submitted by Jason Evanish on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 8:28am

As many of you know, earlier this week Jay posted a thread from the PopSignal LinkedIn group which was discussing the question, "Is Boston Short Angels or Good Companies?"  It raised a lot of great questions and arrived at an answer that makes a lot of sense to me: it's self fulfilling...we need more of both and more of either will cause more of the other.

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Danny Wong: Practical Public Relations Advice for Startups

Submitted by Jason Evanish on Tue, 04/20/2010 - 12:16am

All startups wish to be featured on MSNBC, the New York Times, Mashable and other huge media outlets, and some really awesome startups do. But how can a new, small startup manage to close media features and mentions without paying a $5000+ monthly retainer? Here's a few pieces of advice I've learned along the way:

 4 Ways to do Public Relations Cheap

 

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CAST Principles of Quick Pitching!

Submitted by Ashkan on Mon, 04/19/2010 - 9:33am

We all know that preparing that investor pitch or powerpoint deck is not the easiest presentation to make; but at least it rehearsed. Follow the CAST principles of giving a quick pitch and you should be good to go for those presentations on the fly!


Content
You must know what content you want to cover in the allotted time. Lay it out either in your head or a note card/piece of paper to make sure that you hit all the points that you need to.

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GreenhornTV Ep.22: Go Big or Go Home

Submitted by Jason Evanish on Mon, 04/19/2010 - 1:51am

This is another big week in the entrepreneur community. We have major events coming up on many of the days, with another episode of DartBoston's Capitalize, the TechHub Foosball League Championship and a collaborative episode of Pokin Holes.  In addition to these awesome events, there are over 24 different Boston entrepreneur networking events and office hours this week. Check out the show and notes below to find out all about them and all the other great happenings in the community this week. And don't forget to check out the Greenhorn Connect Calendar for all your Boston entrepreneur networking events and office hours needs.

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Jeanine Michealsen: 7 Keys Principles to Jump Start Wellness in Your Company

Submitted by Ashkan on Thu, 04/15/2010 - 11:40am

Today wellness is evolving rapidly and playing a key role to enrich a stronger corporate culture.  There are new research findings every month that support the premise that wellness and disease management have a long-term impact on health care costs.  When starting a company be sure to include a wellness strategy from the beginning to set the stage for keeping your health care costs down.  It is easier to have it in operation than it is to start one once you get your compan

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Book Review: ReWork

Submitted by Ashkan on Wed, 04/14/2010 - 8:50am

Evaluating ReWork as a traditional book would be a mistake, because it’s not like regular books. Technically, it’s 273 pages, but there’s realistically only about 70 pages of real content.  At first glance, that may be alarming, but the level of quality in the limited words in this book make it all worthwhile.  The immense buzz in the startup community is well deserved.

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