Do More Faster
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Newman, Ari, 138, 143–144, 316, 317, 350
Newman, Josh, 187
News Corporation, 37, 38
NewsGator, 40–42
NewsGator Technologies, 39–42
Newmerix, 44
New York City Techstars, 35
Next Big Sound, 4–5, 10, 15, 59–61, 107–109, 140, 243, 245, 351
Noncompete agreements, 85
Nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), 13
Nontechnical cofounders building balanced teams with, 107–109
issues with having more than one, 107
role of, 108, 109
Noyce, Robert, 81
Obama, Barack, 181
Occipital, 4, 10, 137–138, 169–171, 221, 352
Odeo, 34
Odysseus, as early mentor, 327–328
Office 365, 167
Ogilvy, David, 87
Olson, Emily, 27, 115–117, 328, 350
Oneforty, 4, 103–104, 352
OneTrueFan, 215
OnStartups (blog), 83
Open Angel Forum, 230
Opportunity costs, 214
Organic Motion, 135
Origin Protocol, 349
O'Sullivan, Mark, 79–81, 307, 328, 353
Outlook News Aggregator, 39–40
Packard, David, 81
Page, Larry, 81
Pain focusing on, during fundraising, 253–54
look for solutions to, 21–24
Pandora, 10, 59, 107, 243, 351
Parcells, Bill, 189
Parkwhiz, 351
Passion, 17–18, 301–303, 309
Path, 334
Paul, Sunil, 345
Performance One Media, 139
Photobucket, 37–38
Pincus, Mark, 345–347
Pinpoint Technologies, 71, 231, 232–233, 332
Pioneer Square Labs, 123
Pitches investors' questions during, 243–244
practicing, 244–245
showing versus telling in, 251–252
Pivoting, 10–11, 219–220
Planning versus prototyping, 39–42
Platt, Michael, 279–281
Play, turning work into, 309–310, 324
PlayQ, 10, 235, 351
Plug, pulling, 63–66
Polis, Jared, 51–53, 81
Porter, Sean, 76
Powell, Colin, 188
Powers, Jeffrey, 4, 10, 137–138, 169–171, 352
PR representatives, 40
Problems focusing on, during fundraising, 243–244
looking for solutions to, 21–23
Product, 191–220 entrepreneurs' obsession with, 191
finding whitespace with, 197–199
investor decisions based on evaluation of, 240
overview of, 191
Product development. See also Features avoiding distractions during, 205–207
critical mistake of lack of customer input in, 4, 47
early release for feedback during, 193–195
focusing on what's important in, 201–202
knowing your customer and, 209–211
metrics to measure customer behavior during, 203–204
pivoting during, 10–11, 219–220
relationship with big companies during, 213–214
willingness to throw things away during, 215–218
ProFlowers, 51–52, 53
Prototyping, 39–42
Public relations (PR) representatives, 40
Quality over quantity approach, 183–186, 341
Quantcast, 61
Racial diversity, 342–343
Rackspace, 68, 69, 76, 165
Radio Userland, 39
Raindance Communications, 63, 64, 65–66
Raising money. See Fundraising
Rally Software, 195
Ramen, 43
R&D programs, 224–225
“Random days” for meetings, 75–76
Randomness, being open to, 75–76, 325
Rayani, Samir, 61, 108, 351
Reddy, Vikas, 4, 10, 137–138, 170, 352
Redfin, 124
RedLaser, 4, 10, 169, 170–171, 352
Reed, Phil, 306
RegOnline, 209–210
Reinacker, Greg, 39–42
Relationships cofounder conflicts in, 83–86
with competitors, 199
dealing with behavior issues in, 130–131
importance of, 56, 111–113, 131
with investors, 222, 249
with lawyers, 280
with mentors. See Mentors
Techstars and developing, 1
Release dates, being specific about, 179–180
Research on angel investors, 229
on potential mentors, 92–93
product development using, 149
on target markets, 198
Research grants, 224
Return Path, 99–100
Ries, Eric, 153–156
Rigopulos, Alex, 301
Risk, in pursuit of big companies, 213, 214
Risk mitigation, 248
Riya, 219–220
Robertson, Niel, 43–44
Robots, products using, 55–57
Rock Band (game), 136
Roomba, 55, 56–57
Sabet, Bijan, 49–50
Sacca, Chris, 17
Sack, Andy, 205–207 Techstars Seattle, 338–340
Safari, Attila, 209
Saldana, Isaac, 21–24, 151, 352
Sales, and founders, 111–113
Scaling, timing of, 5, 171
Schroll, Mike, 166
S-Corp, 269, 270, 274
“Screw Me Once” rule, 129–130
Search to Phone, 44
Seats, Jason, 165–167
Seattle Techstars, 35, 123, 338–340
Section 83(b) elections, 291–292
Seed investors, 239–241
Self-funding, 85, 235–236
Selling role of founders, 111–113
SendGrid, 4, 21–24, 151, 166, 253–254, 352
Sensobi, 193, 352
Service Metrics, 43, 44
Shah, Dharmesh, 83–86, 194
Shah, Munjal, 219–220
Showing versus telling, in pitches, 251–252
Silicon Flatirons Center, University of Colorado Boulder, 19, 273, 275, 334
SimpleGeo, 291
Single proprietorship, 273–274
Size of startups, 169–171
Skype, 193
Slicehost, 165
Slow Ventures, 334
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, 224–225
Smith, Andy, 138, 183–186, 319–320, 349
SnapEngage, 209
Social Leverage, 309
Social networks aggregator for managing feeds from, 352
applications for, 235
collecting data on users of, 37–38
conference organizers and, 175–176
for fitness, 183–185, 349
fundraising using, 175
importance of, 325
mobile, 33–34
startup in, 334
for travelers, 25, 350
Tribe as early example of, 346
Socialthing, 199, 291, 293, 333, 352
SOFTBANK, 346
SoftTech VC, 115, 239
Sole proprietorship, 273–274
Solo founders, 103–104
Solon, Mark, 305–308
Southwest Airlines, 189
Spark Capital, 49, 50
Specific, being, 179–180
Sphero, 63
Spotinfluence, 249
SRS Acquiom, 261
Staples, Tom, 205
Starbucks, 45, 47
Startup culture, 123–127
Startup Visa, 19
Startup Week, Techstars, 341
Startup Weekend, Techstars, 341
Starz Media, 17
State laws, and company structure, 277–278
Stewart, Potter, 123
Sti
cky Notes, 235–236
StockTwits, 309–310
Structure of companies. See Company structure
SupportSoft, 346
Survey Gizmo, 209
Sweeney, Megan, 188
Taylor, Jon, 277–278
Teams balanced, 107–109
getting away and relying on, 325
TechCrunch, 31
TechStars Boulder location of, 334–336
Demo Day at, 44, 140, 217, 244, 335, 337
diversity and inclusion at, 344
evolution of, 331–344
expansion to other cities by, 184–186
founding of, 53, 331–333
free tools used at, 165–166
future expansion of, 341–342
gold shirt ceremony at, 131
Innovation Bootcamp of, 342
motivations for starting, 331–333
Network Engagement Program of, 342
open source approach of, 331
quality over quantity approach in, 185–186, 341
“random days” for meetings at, 75–76
Techstars accelerators Boston, 35, 185–186, 336–338
Boulder, 35, 186, 334–336
intensity of, 1
London, 35
New York City, 35
number of, 341
Seattle, 35, 123, 338–340
starting one in your community, 340–341
Startup Week and Startup Weekend of, 341
work-life harmony activities in, 295–296
Techstars Autonomous Technology Accelerator, 133
Techstars Demo Day, 44, 140, 217, 244, 335, 337
Techstars Foundation, 342–344
Techstars FounderCon, 131
Techstars Global Accelerator Network, 186
Telling versus showing, in pitches, 251–252
TempMine, 145–146, 353
TenXer, 43
Termination. See Firing
Term sheets, 261–263
Tevelow, Jesse, 10, 234–237, 351
Thinidentity Corporation, 139
Thompson, Jason, 344
Throwing things away, 215–218
TicketFly, 76
TimescaleDB, 352
Tonx, 350
Tools, free, 165–167
Torbit, 283, 351
Trada, 43, 44
Tradervue, 39
Tribe Networks, 346
True Ventures, 143
Trying versus doing, approach 7–8
Tunnel vision, avoiding, 49–50
“Turning the knife” approach in fundraising, 253–54
Twain, Mark, 189
Twitter, 34, 43, 103–104, 181, 201, 218, 310, 352
Two-strike rule, 129–131
Uncork Capital, 59, 107, 239, 241, 243
Union Square Ventures, 50, 181, 182
Universal Records, 59
Universities, and entrepreneurs, 275
University of Colorado Boulder Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, 274, 275
Silicon Flatirons Center, 19, 273, 275, 334
Unrelated business tax income (UBTI), 270
Urban Engine, 183, 319, 349
Uretsky, Ben and Moisey, 67–68, 349
Useful Systems, 352
Vacations, 323–326
Valeski, Jud, 218
Validated learning, 153–156
Valuation, fair, 257–259
Vanilla, 79–81, 167, 353
Vaynerchuk, Gary, 177
Venture capitalists (VCs) alternatives to raising money from, 223, 225
angel investors as bridge to, 223–224
C-Corp structure and, 269–270
cold calls and random emails to, 251
financing tradeoffs using, 85
video presentations to, 251–252
VentureDeals.com, 263
Vesting, 283–286 agreements for, 279–280, 283–285
schedule for, 291–292
Viacom, 136
Video presentations by entrepreneurs, 251–252
Village Global, 187
Village Ventures, 306
Vision communicating within company, 125
culture of people aligned with, 125
DigitalOcean founders with, 67–69
as fundamental building block, 11
importance of a bold vision, 55, 56, 57
iRobot founding with, 55, 56, 57
mentor's help in shaping, 248
reconciling focus and, 71–72
size of company and, 171
supporters attracted by, 113
taking small steps to achieve, 171
Vocus, 33n
Walks, meetings during, 317
Wallstrip, 309–310
WalmartLabs, 283, 351
Walters, Matt, 165–166
Warner, Bill, 145–147 Techstars Boston and, 185–186, 336–338
Welch, Alex, 37
White, Alex, 10, 15, 59–61, 107–109, 243–45, 351
Whitespace, finding your own, 197–199
Wildfire Communications, 145
Williams, Ev, 34
Wilson, Fred, 181–182, 346
WordPress, 29–32
Work, turning into play, 309–310, 324
Working effectively, 137–189. See also Efficiency admitting being wrong and, 139–141
anecdotes versus data in, 157–159
bias toward action in, 187–189
email tips for, 162–164
free tools for, 165–167
learning from failures in, 175, 181–182
metrics and using your gut in, 149–150
quality over quantity approach in, 183–185
quick decision-making in, 143–144
specific release dates in, 179–180
using advice in, 145–146
validated learning in, 155–156
Work-life harmony, 295–326 challenge of finding, 297–298
definition of, 295
example of habits and structure in, 298–299
following your heart and, 305–308
getting away on vacations and, 323–326
myth of working constantly versus, 295
not being indispensable and, 313–314
out-of-office meetings and, 315–317
overview of, 295–296
practicing your passion and, 301–303
self-assessment of, 324
staying healthy and, 319–321
Techstars accelerator's activities for, 295–296
turning work into play and, 309–310, 324
Wozniak, Steve, 81
XO Group Inc., 213
Yahoo!, 22, 81, 215
Yang, Jerry, 81
Zeisser, Michael, 213–214, 357
Zenie Bottle, 63–65, 328
Zola, Natty, 25–27, 151, 307, 316–317, 350
Zynga, 181, 345, 346, 347
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