Veterans Day 2013
On Veterans Day 2013 I am grateful to the men and women who have put themselves in harms way to protect our way of life.
Events
Lean Innovation 101 at SF Bay ACM Nov-20-2013
I am trying out a new talk on “What is Lean? – Lean Innovation 101” at the SF Bay ACM on Wed-Nov-20-2013. Here is a brief description: “Lean” provides a scientific approach for creating a product and developing new businesses. Teams can iteratively build products or services to meet the needs of early customers by
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MVP Clinic for Social/Community Apps Wed-Oct-23
If you are planning a new service offering, involving technologies and social interactions between customers, this clinic on minimum viable service can help you learn your way out of conflicting assumptions, lack of relevant data, difficulty understanding service value, and resource constraints. This is especially the case if you need to get adoption by a
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Recap of SVCC2013 Working For Equity Panel
This is a recap of the Silicon Valley Code Camp panel of startup founders who explored what’s really involved in getting a technology startup off the ground in the “Working for Equity Startup CEO Panel.”
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Peter Cohan: Differentiating Your Offers Starts With The First Contact
Another excerpt from Peter Cohan’s very insightful new article “Stunningly Awful vs. Truly Terrific Competitive Differentiation – What, When, and How” From the customers’ perspective vendors are “differentiating”, positively or negatively, with every contact, every meeting, and every deliverable. Let’s explore possible negative differentiation first. How do you feel about: Vendors that cold call you – repeatedly?
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SVCC 2013 Work for Equity Panel of Startup Founders Announced
Join us next Saturday October 5 at 1:45 for the “Working for Equity Startup CEO Panel,” an exploration of what’s really involved in getting a technology startup off the ground. We have four entrepreneurs, an artist, an athlete, a scientist, and a community organizer, who will share lessons learned and take questions from the audience.
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Remarks from “Future of Professional Consulting” at PATCA June-13-2013
PATCA is a non-profit organization created in 1975 specifically to help connect businesses and independent consultants. I was invited to take part in a PACA panel on “The Consulting Landscape: Forward Looking Skills and Practices” on Thursday June 13, 2013. It offered me a chance to clarify my thinking on the future of professional consulting and
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Pictures from 2013 Inside 3D Printing Conference
I saw some very cool stuff at the Inside 3D Printing Conference yesterday. Here are some pictures of a few of my favorites. A scale model from MCOR paper 3D printers. There was lots of toys. This one is from fabbster. But not everything was hard and stiff – check out this personalized rubber shoe
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Peter Cohan: Discovery Conversations Enable Effective Product Differentiation
Peter Cohan has a very insightful new article out, “Stunningly Awful vs. Truly Terrific Competitive Differentiation – What, When, and How“, that outlines how to use discovery conversations to enable effective product differentiation. What follows are some excerpts with additional commentary but the entire article is worth reading.
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Don’t Miss “Capturing Intellectual Property” Silicon Valley Workshop Oct-19-2013
Register for “How to Invent” for free Udemy course at http://www.udemy.com/how-to-invent/ “How To Invent” is a step-by-step guide for non-inventors to start inventing. It is organized as screencast lectures, practice sessions, and quizzes. It offers process for capturing on paper key ideas in your head that you want to document as intellectual property and possibly
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Working For Equity CEO Panel Returns to Silicon Valley Code Camp 2013
We are reprising our “Working for Equity” CEO Panel for the fourth year at the 2013 Silicon Valley Code Camp. Here is the current write-up, we will be adding panelists’ bios in a few days. Many of us in Silicon Valley seek either to found or to be an early employee at a technology startup.
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Audio: Paul Spaan’s Briefing on 3D Printing at May 24 2013 Bootstrapper Breakfast
Paul Spaan worked as a mechanical engineer for more than two decades at major Silicon Valley technology firms before launching Spaan Enterprises to explore his long term interest in 3D printing. On Friday May 24, he shared lessons learned from the installation and bringup of two 3D printers and some examples of prototypes he has designed and
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Set Your PowerPoints on Stun
Q: I didn’t get any questions at the end of a recent demo. The audience was quiet and respectful and our point of contact said “It’s an interesting product, you’ve given us a lot to think about.” But it’s been two weeks and I haven’t had any response to my two follow up e-mails and
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Making Adjustments at the Half for 2013
The four day 4th of July weekend is a good excuse to take a break from the day to day pressures of bootstrapping, reflect on your goals for the year and what you have accomplished and learned so far…and perhaps make some “adjustments at the half.”
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Upcoming MVP Clinics in July and August for Startup Entrepreneurs
Sean Murphy, CEO of SKMurphy Inc will be moderating two upcoming MVP Clinics. These are interactive roundtable discussions were entrepreneurs can present where they are with their MVP and hypotheses about customer, problem, solution, and value. The roundtable will explore issues that founders are having in defining and evaluating their MVP. Bootstrappers Breakfast on July
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Validating Your MVP For B2B Startups at SF Lean Startup Circle Tue-Jun-4
We have been invited back the SF Lean Startup Circle to present our “Validating Your MVP and Value Proposition for B2B Startups” workshop on June 4, starting 5:30pm. This interactive workshop will address: How a B2B startup should think about message, MVP, and launch. Understand who buys your product and how they calculate its value and
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Paul Spaan Offers 3D Printing Show & Tell Fri-May-24 at Mountain View BB
Join other entrepreneurs for serious conversations about growing a business based on internal cash flow and organic profit at a Bootstrappers Breakfast®. Paul Spaan, CEO of Spaan Enterprises, will offer a seven minute briefing on “3D Printing For Bootstrappers” and circulate examples of prototype products he has printed. Paul’s briefing will be followed by our regular roundtable
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Reminder: Successful Consulting Engagements With Startups at IEEE-CNSV Tue-May-21
Quick reminder: I will be moderating a panel on “Successful Consulting Engagements with Startups” at the May 21 IEEE-CNSV meeting. I volunteered to pull this panel together after a long thread on the CNSV e-mail list June about the topic. I have been fortunate to attract three knowledgeable and experienced engineers to take part in the
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Holly DeVito on Basic Financial Controls for Bootstrappers Tue-May-21 BB in Sunnyvale
Holly DeVito presents basic financial controls that need to be in place early for bootstrappers to manage their business and ensure profitable growth.
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Slides and Audio From “How To Bootstrap” ASLCPA Mar-27-2013
Here are the slides and audio from a “How To Bootstrap Your Startup” presentation at an Emerging Business Group Best Practices Seminar at Abbott, Stringham, and Lynch.
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