Venture Hacks

There were a lot of good comments on yesterday’s Do you know any idea investors? post. Here’s a few of them.
Michael Staton says:
“I’d say if you can’t bother to build it yourself, get potential customers lined up, build revenue on an easier offshoot, or convince someone else to build it in their spare time, then [...]

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A reader asks:
“I’m an entrepreneur looking for seed investment. All I have right now is an idea and a pitch. I’m presently pitching friends and family and it has been very positive. Do you know any other idea investors I should approach?”
Investors want to see products and preferably traction unless you already have a significant [...]

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Mike Cassidy’s talk on building companies fast is a must-read for all entrepreneurs:

(The slides are here if you don’t see them embedded above.)
Mike founded Stylus Innovation (sold 2 years after launch for $13M), Direct Hit (sold 500 days after launch for $500M), and Xfire (sold 2 years after launch for $110M).
I originally saw Mike’s talk [...]

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We usually quote other people’s genius in our Twitter feed but, once in a while, we throw in a tweet of our own. Here are a few of the popular ones:
You don’t need permission to start a company. From investors, co-founders, or anyone else.
Trying to recruit while you’re in “stealth mode” is like punching yourself [...]

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The latest great quotes from the VH Twitter feed: twitter.com/venturehacks (RSS):
Kleiner Perkins
“Entrepreneurs do more than anyone thinks possible, with less than anyone thinks possible.” – John Doerr
“If the reason you’re taking on a mission is for the money you’ll make, I believe you’ll fail.” – John Doerr
“Where most entrepreneurs fail is on the things they [...]

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[Ed: I enjoyed Tony Wright's contrarian article, Half-Assed Startup, when I first read it on his excellent blog. Tony, a founder of RescueTime (Y Combinator), argues that you can start a company while you're otherwise employed. And he explains how to do it. Tony kindly agreed to re-publish his article on Venture Hacks. Take it [...]

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