Startup Whisperer Blog
What Is Your Stock Worth?
I just did a rather lengthy post on the newly minted Seattle 2.0 site about 409a valuations. I am re-posting it on the Whisperer. I am super excited to be a regular contributor and thanks to Marcelo and Alyssa for driving it. Seattle needs more resources like this to better support our entrepreneurial spirit in…
Build A Business On Your Own Soil
This is an interesting post from Nick O'Neill on allfacebook.com titled, The Future of Widgets on Facebook: Dead. The post details how Nick's application has been severly impacted by the recent UI change on Facebook. It reminded me of the perils of relying on someone's platform for your own business. We've seen this story before. …
Credit Crunch and venture capital
Some interesting data from the recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree report on trends in venture capital. In Q2 2008, states that more than half of the US regions experienced a decrease in investment levels (both in number of deals and total investment). Its not a surprise that later stage investments saw the greatest jump in total deal…
Don’t Be Spastic
When you are working on a startup, it is really easy to be myopic on your own venture. Frankly, startups own much of your life in their early stages. You tend to forget that not everyone may be moving at the same pace as you are. I was reminded by this recently when I got…
Run For The Hills?
In recessions you typically see a migration of ad spend from brand awareness to performance. This has been true in the online world before and it will be true this time. In fact, great companies emerge from recessions. John Battelle's book Search chronicles Google's rise as a search provider during the bubble burst in 2001. …
BlogWorld Vegas: Affiliate Marketing Secrets for Blogger
Another panel that I enjoyed was the, "Affiliate Marketing Secrets for Bloggers" panel with affiliate super-stars: Mike Allen (Shopping-Bargain), Shawn Collins, and Tim Jones. The panelists echoed some of the main themes in the monetization tracks as well as non-monetization tracks that bloggers need the following strategies: Have a plan for the long-term Your blog…
BlogWorld Vegas: How To Make Money On Your Blog
Hello from BlogWorld Vegas. There is a lot of enthusiasm in the air. The vibe hear reminds me of the scrappy, folksy entrepreneurs that you see amongst eBay Power Sellers. The attendees are very engaged and their is a lot of business and enlightening discussion happening in and outside of the conference. One of the…
Passion Gives You The Eye Of The Tiger
Famous investor and successful entrepreneru, Peter Thiel, recently was covered on TechCrunch saying that the best predictor of a startups success is the salary that he/she decides to pay themselves. You could make the case that how hungry the CEO is creates an engagement and focus on the enterpriseversus someone who is paying themselves a…
Like Kane in Kung Fu
Catchy title but I have not been traveling much. I haven't been venturing out on the speaking circuit for awhile. With my wedding/honeymoon, fund-raising, family, etc., its been a busy summer. I would love to catch-up with you at the following events if you are around: 40 under 40 event, Sept 18th WTIA panel, Sept…
Bringing Sexy (Charts) Back
Pictures do speak louder than words. I loved how Ross Perot could wax prophetic about the economy by dumbing down macroeconomic policy to a series of charts. At the end of the day, there are a lot of different variables that drive your business. You should already have a ongoing communication to your Board and…
Great Online Marketing Program In Seattle
I am an advisor for the UW Advanced Interactive Marketing program. Its a great new course that is available for professionals to really hone their online marketing chops. There are some solid instructors behind the course. One of my friends, Ben Straley, is an instructor and is super knowledgeable in the social media marketing. If…
Local search still sucks
I rarely blog about product ideas but I was just inspired by a frustrating experience recently. The localexperience is just plain bad. I was recently trying to find an ideal fence contractor and it was a big waste of time. Sure, citysearch, urbanspoon, and yelp do a great job on restaurants, bars, and lightlife but…
