This is part of my ongoing series “ Start-up Lessons. ” often talk with entrepreneurs who are kicking around their next idea.  Sometimes Imagine you pour 5 years of your life into your next gig and it starts to become successful.  Would When I hear entrepreneurs say that they’re kicking around ideas with 8221;  If you want to subscribe to my RSS feed please click here or to get my blog by email click here . In the Beginning …

Why listen: Roger teaches you what he learned from a startup that spent $20 mil before closing. Why listen: Marcus teaches you how to get your customers to help you build your business. Why listen: Timothy teaches you to network with bloggers to create an insanely successful book or startup. 1.     Rosalind Resnick - Founder of NetCreations Why Why listen: Rosalind bootstrapped a company that she eventually took public.

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers ” written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ).  If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have. I know that people have an allergy to lawyers out of fear of being screwed.  Much of this is unfounded – some is not. 

It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. Francisco Dao came up with the idea of letting 10 companies that weren’t selected for Twiistup to do a presentation the night before to a group of people and let the audience pick one company to win the final slot at Twiistup.  I Most people suck at presenting to big groups.  It’s This was evident at the Twiistup pre-event company pitch last week at UCLA.  Francisco

This is part of my ongoing posts on  Startup Advice .  There are people who tell startups that they should hire the most senior people that they can find.  It is tempting because you not only see that they were VP Sales at 3 other startups but also that they have great access (according to their resume) to senior executives at companies you’re trying to target.  Only Hire A+ People Who Punch Above Their Weight Class I’m not one of those. 

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful .  I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. wanted to also post the series here to have it as a resource on my blog for future entrepreneurs who stop by.  So what skills does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?  If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I

I started with a “top 11″ list – only because I couldn’t fit them into a top 10.  But But in the end I ended up with 12.  So But there are a lot of things that become norms in the VC industry that always drove me crazy from entrepreneur’s side of the table.  They Translation This is part of my series on Entrepreneurial DNA that was originally published on VentureHacks .  I I know this series has been running for a while (and is getting long in the tooth) – I promise it’s nearly over.  I

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful .  I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity . Street Smarts - OK, so you’re a tenacious person – you never If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I

If you don’t already read Chris’s blog you should – it’s very well written, often takes a strong POV and speaks from an entrepreneur’s perspective but with a huge knowledge of the technology investors as well.  He Start by defining the problem you’re solving – I see way too many early-stage entrepreneurs who start their companies with a product definition rather than a market problem.  You Chris Dixon wrote a blog post last week titled, “ Techies and Normals ” in which he defined “Techies” as people who are not just “early adopters” but also have more of a geeky, technical, product bent.  Normals

This is part of my series on  what makes an entrepreneur successful .  I originally posted it on  VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur :  Tenacity .  I So we as VCs search for entrepreneurs/founders I I then covered  Street Smarts ,  Ability to Pivot ,  Resiliency ,  Inspiration and Perspiration .