When added to my volume of Facebook messages, LinkedIn requests, blog comments and Tweets my head is definitely below water.  So I scan it for the most important messages to be sure nothing urgent has popped up. At Accenture one of the most valuable tools they used when we were young programmers were “point sheets.” I recently wrote a post about avoiding the “ Deferred Life Plan ” and some related thoughts about personal productivity that came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four Hour Workweek. I

Let’s start with a discussion of existing social networks and then how to approach people on them. Second, I don’t want to clutter up the stream of information that I have in my Facebook newsfeed with information on people with whom I don’t have a relationship. LinkedIn.  The I sometimes think that certain advice is BGO (blinding glimpse of the obvious) and doesn’t warrant mentioning.  But But then people’s actions tell me otherwise.

Good idea & plan: You must start with a good idea and a PowerPoint deck (my outline is here , scroll down mid way).  Jarl And a great product starts with the founder. Quick caveats: having fewer investors (3-5) is better than many investors (10-15) and PLEASE make sure you hire a great lawyer who has experience in doing start-ups to avoid pitfalls that will make VC harder down the line.  Also, This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC . Last night I attended a DealMaker Media (whom I love because they always host such great discussions) panel on raising

Arnold Waldstein , who stops by periodically on my blog and always leaves relevant comments, made the observation that, “if I want to connect with you, I’ll engage with you on this blog …from there, a follow on Twitter, a link on LinkedIn are closing the loop of connection rather that opening a cold door.”  Many people who want to get to know me send me a LinkedIn invite, connect on Facebook or more recently follow me on Twitter.  I’ve been thinking a lot about comments lately.  I recently wrote a post about how to get access to people at conferences

So the key question is: How can I leverage my network? One Page Networking Tool One of the best things I've seen done by a person doing a search was to provide folks he knew with a one pager that roughly contained: Background - two sentences Job Sought - two sentences Company Characteristics - geography, size, industry, etc. Or look at funding activity if you are considering start-ups. For some reason over the past week, I've been asked by three different people I know about job opportunities that might fit them. Since, I've given them the same advice, I thought

Individuals use social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo as career-advancing tools, even more useful in a down economy. Social networking sites and microblogs are used not only to build company brands, but to foster productivity; social media tools help build communities around the question, "What are you working on?" Top officers of some of the leading social media websites and tools (including Facebook, MySpace and Yammer) Just a quick note that I'll be moderating a Technology Council Event : Social Networking as a Business Strategy May 19, 2009 - Culver City Social networking media are used on a daily basis to grow businesses and expand career opportunities.

My goal was to help you learn how to build a startup that leaves a legacy, from the man whose work changed the world. You can connect with him on Twitter , Facebook , LinkedIn and his blog . The best businesses are not cooked up by MBA’s with reams of data and business plans.  How did Jimmy Wales get the world to help him write an encyclopedia? And what could YOU learn from his experiences to help you build a business that leaves a legacy?

The topic is: Betting Your Company On An Internet Platform? A very interesting topic, especially for those of us involved in developing for start-ups. The basic conclusion was that it was a bit premature if you were talking about a serious, funded start-up. Interesting term used in a ZD Net article - Platform as a Service (PaaS) Unfortunately, Peter sells the promise and ignores the I'm blogging from the CalTech Enterprise Forum . At the CTO Group that I organize in Santa Monica, we've had lots of discussions around this.

I attended the Los Angeles Dealmaker event that featured several angel and seed-stage investors on the panel:  Jarl Mohn, Scott Sangster ( Organic Startup ), Rob Hayes ( First Round Capital ), and Thomas McInerney (TGM).  The Every entrepreneur has had emails or telephone calls go unanswered, or has felt like giving up after navigating around a VC website in search of an email address only to find the dreaded black hole of info@[name of vc].com. The audience of entrepreneurs were witness to some candid discussion on how to make contact, structure deals, and manage relationships with angel investors as well as some of the differences between angel investors and venture capital investors.

Our startup interview this morning is with Josh Stomel , founder of ResumeBucket (www.resumebucket.com), a new web site that is focused on helping people share their resumes with the world. Stomel--who is bootstrapping the startup from his recruiting firm, NeoHire--explained the site to us. What's We also provide the consumer a slew of tools, that will help them upload their resume What's the idea behind the site? Josh Josh Stomel: ResumeBucket is a portal that allows consumers to simply put their resume online, within seconds.