Author: stevewoda Page 3 of 13

So you have the next great technology business idea, but you don't have a background in programming. You'll need to recruit a programmer who not only can design, write and test online and mobile code, but also share your passion and bring your vision to life. Your initial idea might be to hire a consultant or outsource those duties, but you may want to consider bringing on a software developer as a partner.

Hiring a software developer as an employee isn't always easy. Due to the proliferation of companies seeking web and mobile application developers, the best programmers are in high demand, says Amy Hoover, executive vice president and partner at Atlanta-based Talent Zoo, an advertising, marketing and technology recruitment service. And, if, like most startups, you don't have the resources to pay a great software engineer a salary on par with what a company like Google can pay, then you're probably at a disadvantage. Software engineer salaries in the U.S. can range from $53,000 to more than $140,000 per year, according to EngineerSalary.com. 

via www.entrepreneur.com

If you are a tech entrepreneur, but you don't know how to code, you are going to have to recruit a few folks to your cause to help you get your business up and running. This is not easy to do! I have been a tech entrepreneur for more than a decade and this is easily one of the greatest challenges for non-coders.

This article provides a few ideas for how to tackle the challenge. Good stuff.

The Kindle Fire is the tablet you need at the price you'll be willing to pay. The $199 device comes packed with content and features that are arguably better than what's available on the iPad, and at a fraction of the price. Wow.

Crucially, Amazon's powerful content library is already familiar and useful—many people already have dozens of Kindle books, for example. And Amazon has sneakily set its Prime members up with memberships that allow them to instantly stream thousands of movies and TV shows.

The device is light, can be held in one hand, and has a beautiful display. Not only that, Amazon built a special browser for it called Silk. Amazon is backing Silk with its Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure, meaning the device does almost none of the processing. The idea is so brilliant I can't understand why no one tried it before*. Sites will load on Fire faster than they have on any other mobile device. Again, wow.

via www.technologyreview.com

Obviously, folks are excited about the Kindle Fire. It will be interesting to see if it can actually live up to the hype.

If you’re lucky enough to get approached by a big company that wants to buy yours, remember it is usually not choosing between buying you or buying your competitor.

It’s often choosing between buying you or setting up shop to compete with you. As soon as buying you becomes more expensive than competing with you, it’ll compete.

via www.theglobeandmail.com

Very important advice. Don't forget that folks that want into your business have three choices… Buy you. Partner with you. Compete with you.

If you an acquisition is too expensive, you might just find that you have a new competitor. As the author suggests… Don't overplay your hand.

“Early to bed and early to rise/makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” [Attributed to Ben Franklin, but really unknown.]

It turns out, not only is this old bromide not accurate, it may be just the opposite. In two recent studies (one of which is abstracted on the net, the other one is not) by the University of Liege and by a Japanese researcher Kanazawa (here is the link to the Liege abstract) night owls are actually better able to handle a day than the “larks,” who are up at the crack of dawn each morning. And according to Kanazawa’s study, they are, generally speaking, people of higher intelligence than the “morning people.” Both studies also showed that night owls tend to get more work done, and resist the pressure to sleep better than the larks.

via www.careerealism.com

Fascinating!

What do customers really want? Answer: Customers want simple solutions to complex problems.

Unfortunately, complex, thorny problems usually don't have simple, easy answers — and when they do, they're of the simple-but-hard-and-painful variety.

A lot of good companies lose sales to less-conscientious competitors — competitors who are more comfortable over-simplifying and (often) over-promising.

Good business owners frequently find themselves in a quandary: do they also engage in their competitors' pernicious brand of deceit, or continue telling the truth and losing their shirts in the marketplace?

via www.wilsonweb.com

Complexity is a difficult challenge for marketers, but is also an opportunity. If you can find a way to communicate simplicity, you will acquire more customers and advocates, and others will more easily spread your message via word of mouth.

This article provides three thoughts on how you might tackle complexity. Good read.

“UKnow.com’s uKnowKids service is a parenting tool, really a parental intelligence system — kind of like business intelligence for the CEO of the household. We help parents keep their kids safe from online bullies and bad guys. We focus on social media and mobile technology and give parents the information they need about their kids’ online activities to take action if necessary.

“Kids receive an average of 100 text messages a day, and 80 percent say they sleep with their phone so they don’t miss a text.

“The uKnow.com portal allows parents to log in to a dashboard where they can see their child’s digital activities — everything from texts to Facebook posts. The child knows it’s there because he or she provides the appropriate passwords. The idea is to engage with the child. We datamine for changes in behavior or new information. Parents may not want, or have the time, to read every text, but they may want to know if their child’s interactions with a specific contact spike or decline suddenly or if there are risky activities occurring, such as sending a large amount of photos to a new contact. UKnow.com sends an e-mail alert, which they can use to intervene as necessary.

via www.washingtonpost.com

A nice article about my latest venture in the Washington Post.

Many professional athletes have incentive-laden contracts based on performance.

Last month, NFL quarterback Michael Vick signed a new $100 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, making him one of the highest paid athletes in football. When the contract amount was announced, it was not immediately apparent (unless you dug a little deeper) that only $40 million is actually guaranteed. This "base pay" is only 40% of the compensation package, leaving 60% at risk, based on performance. In even simpler terms: for every $1 of base pay Vick can earn an extra $1.50 based on results.

This ratio provides the proper risk versus reward for both parties. Vick will earn his whopping $100 million only if he stays healthy enough to lead the team for the next six years and only if he achieves certain on-field results. The variable amount in his contract must be "re-earned" each year. This demonstrates that organizations are willing to pay a high premium for great performance.

via www.fastcompany.com

I love it. Pay for performance models benefit from positive selection because only the best performers are willing to put their pay at risk in return for higher returns. This is signaling at its best!

New businesses are getting off the ground with nearly half as many workers as they did a decade ago, as the spread of online tools and other resources enables start-ups to do more with less.

The change, which began before the recession, may be permanent, according to some analysts.

via online.wsj.com

With my first venture in 2000, buySAFE, we raised millions of dollars of financing before writing our first line of code. With my most recent venture, uKnow.com, we built our product, acquired bunches of customers, and earned hundreds of thousands in revenue well before we ever started our Series A fundraise.

Why? Because you can do more with less these days. Good stuff.

Business models are developed
by visualizing all of the "working parts" that make up a business.  A traditional business plan, on the other
hand, is most often a formal, written document that provides details about how
an entrepreneur intends the business to operate. 

Learning to develop a sound
business model helps ensure that everything that is critical to the success of
the business is in place and working in harmony. 

Developing the business model
depends fundamentally on engaging real customers very early in the creation of
the business so we have a better chance of offering what the market really
wants. 

One of the biggest benefits I
have seen from using business modeling over writing a traditional business plan
is that it allows for adaptation.  We use
what we learn from the very beginning of the start-up to make changes in our
business model as we uncover who our customers really are, what they really
want, and how best to put everything in place to ensure that we deliver what we
promise to them.

This process is known as
"pivoting" the business model. 

via www.drjeffcornwall.com

Imagine trying to convince a Yankees star pitcher to join a new, unproven Major League Baseball franchise. An impossible task? Not necessarily. Corey Reese, co-founder and CEO of Ness Computing, took on the tech-world equivalent of the challenge–and succeeded.

Reese wanted Apple engineer Scott Goodson, a member of the team that developed the iOS platform for the iPhone and the iPad, to decamp from Apple and join Ness as director of engineering. It was 11 months before Reese got a yes out of Goodson. What did it take?

via www.entrepreneur.com

Terrific article about one of the most important aspects of building a great startup… recruiting superstars to the team!