Blog
3 key lessons for tech founders
By Neil ThanedarThe startup world has never been so crowded. Launching a tech startup is cheaper than ever, and jobs at traditional companies, especially for new graduates, are tough to find. Whether you recently founded a new startup, or if you’re just considering working for an existing one, it is important to understand both the huge challenges and exciting rewards that lie ahead. I still have decades of knowledge left to gain, but my experiences founding my first two companies have exposed me to great lessons that I use every day.Here are three lessons that have helped me to get out of my comfort zone and build excellent teams, products and companies:1. Solve a new, difficult problem. Naval Ravikant, founder of ...
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Nurturing the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs
By Ayesha KhannaEntrepreneurs are interested in solving social issues in new ways, and the $2.7 trillion market focused on social impact investing proves it. To help ensure social entrepreneurs are armed with the resources they need to succeed, Points of Light launched the Civic Accelerator, in partnership with Village Capital and with generous support from the PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. and Starbucks Foundation. The Civic Accelerator is the first start-up accelerator program focused on “civic ventures” – enterprises that inspire, equip and mobilize people to create positive change.To truly solve today’s complex problems, we need breakthrough ideas that are scalable, leverage technology, and engage people...
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Startup America opens doors for TourWrist
Our membership in Startup America Partnership has opened doors for TourWrist that we didn’t even know existed. For example, this month, American Airlines in-flight magazine, American Way features TourWrist Founder and CEO Charles Armstrong. The full-page Innovator series interview resulted from an introduction by Startup America Community Evangelist Erika Batey to American Airlines Strategic Partnerships Manager of Startups and Small Business Maggie Finch. The article succinctly tells the TourWrist story. ‘”If a photo is worth a thousand words, then a panorama is worth a thousand photos,” TourWrist founder and CEO Charles Armstrong says. “TourWrist empowers travelers to shoot, view and...
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The impact Startup America LIVE had on my business
By Brian HandriganCo-founder & CEO, Click With Me NowMaybe it’s just me, but every day when I log on to LinkedIn it seems like the overwhelming majority of articles are about starting a business. How to know the right time… How to overcome your fears… Lessons from the edge… etc… In our current environment, entrepreneurs are being touted as the Midas touch that’s going to transform our economic environment into gold.So great… you have an idea (or you borrowed one), maybe a little money (or none), you have some free time on your hands, and you take the leap. But you need more than money, right? You need connections. You need access; and if it’s a tech startup you had in mind, how do...
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Mentorship is vital to driving innovation
By Matt HuntThis post originally appeared on Under 30 CEOIf you had the choice between exploring a cave alone with no flashlight and exploring a cave with an experienced guide who carried a torch, which would you choose? Alone in the dark, you might still be able to use sound and touch to make it through the cave, but you would be doing a lot of guesswork. Clearly, it would be an easier (and more enjoyable!) journey with a guide.The same goes for navigating an organization. Innovation-oriented leaders need to be paired with mentors who have traveled the organization’s winding path and can offer a greater understanding of its unique politics and methods.How Does Mentorship Help?How does a good mentorship program benefit newbies ...
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Meet the NEXT teams from SXSWi
This modified post originally appeared on the Startup Weekend blog.After pouring over applications of teams from all over the world, NEXT chose 10 amazing teams to be a part of a very special event at SXSW. In partnership with Startup America, Steve Blank, Bob Dorf, and some amazing mentors and coaches, NEXT powered by Startup Weekend hosted a special SXSW version of our Customer Discovery program. The teams squeezed through a program that normally takes 3 weeks in just 3 days. Check out some of the amazing teams below. Digital Tip Jar"Digital Tip Jar was created at CODEMKRS Super Bowl Hackathon and was the winner of Whale Tank. It continues to SXSW to bring musicians digital tips" ...
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Talking members, media and money at Startup LIVE
We’re so happy to welcome hundreds of new members that we’ve met at Startup America LIVE at SXSWi. Our newbies were introduced to the power panels, office hours, and networking that we bring to every Startup America LIVE. WSJ’s Sarah Needleman, PandoDaily’s Hamish McKenzie, and Inc’s Eric Markowitz couldn’t over-emphasize the need to tell a story when you’re pitching journalists (VIDEO). It’s not a sales pitch, and almost always you need to appeal to a wider national story (even for local press). As soon as you say you’ve been covered by a publication’s competition, your story loses appeal. Think about the publication’s audience when you pitch – do they care about...
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How I got funded at SXSW
By Mara LewisLast year my startup, Stopped.at, participated in the Dolphin Tank at SXSW. The feedback I received from the judges panel was invaluable; "Don't be afraid to brag about my past accomplishments, and make sure I include my investment 'ask' at the end of the pitch, so VCs know exactly how much money we need to raise".Following Dolphin Tank, I was approached by an angel investor from NYC who heard my pitch and loved the problem Stopped.at was solving. Three months later, Stopped.at closed our first round of funding with this investor. Had it not been for Startup America and Dolphin Tank, this investor and I would have never crossed paths. Startup America's events at SXSW last year put...
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The Entrepreneur's Hoax, and why I won't play along
By Sharon SchneiderThis blog originally posted on Built in ChicagoIt seems like such an innocuous question: “How’s business? Everything going well?” People just want to be encouraging. They really are rooting for you and they just want to hear that a company they like (and an entrepreneur they like) is doing well.I’ve read that the standard reply in Silicon Valley is to say something like “We’re crushing it!” and all I can think is Thank God I don’t live in Silicon Valley. If someone in Chicago said that to me I would raise my eyebrows and think they had been watching too much Entourage.But what do I say? And why does it matter?It matters because you’re probably not crushing it....
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Magnum Data Centers
Picture the internet – the physical space where it lives. Not easy, right?The internet isn’t some magical entity floating amongst the birds. Web pages, hosted apps, and anything else living on the World Wide Web actually live on physical servers located all across the country.Businesses have to keep their information on a server in their own office, sacrificing space that could be used for staff or other supplies, or keep it in a data center. Picture rows and rows of computers… then multiply that image a few times, and you’ll get a section of what a data center looks like.While most of these data centers are located in major metro areas, Magnum Data Centers, a data center focused on helping startups, is in...
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Call me, daily
When it comes to phone services, there are plenty of options. Traditional workplace desk phones are being replaced by internet-based VoIP technology, but there are still a host of options in that space. We caught up with Georgia startup founder Frank Park to see how he separates his system.Tell us about Telonium.Telonium is a hosted business phone system provider for small to mid-size companies. We give you everything you need for top-of-the-line telecommunications. But unlike other companies, we actually help integrate other applications right into your working phone system. Gone are the days of your phone system stuck in your data closet. Our cloud-based phone system makes your business more efficient.What inspired you to start...
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Create and sell with Look Merchant
Why do retailers sell individual items like skinny jeans, a silk blouse or leather handbags - when shoppers really want to buy entire looks or outfits?Every retailer knows that “looks” drive sales. It’s why you see them on mannequins and in shop windows.But when it comes to ecommerce, creating and selling a look is hard to do. That’s why shopping in a store can seem so much more fun than shopping online. Shoppers get to see things together, envisioning entire looks or outfits.Look Merchant from Digital Scientists lets an ecommerce store merchandise any of its items together into a look that sells. We caught up with CEO Tom Klein to get more information.Tell us about Look Merchant.Look Merchant works with any...
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Our Startup America Regions are all over the news!
Have you been recently featured in the media? Let us know.
Recent News:
10/19/12 - Startup Communities Across the Country, Huffington Post (Startup America Partnership)
10/19/12 - Bonfyre partners with Powder Keg Conference 2012, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO & Startup IA)
10/17/12 - Food Waste In, Renewable Energy Out: Startup Re-Nuble Is Crowdfunding the Local Green Economy, Huffington Post (Startup DC)
10/17/12 - Powder Keg aims to blast Indy startups onto national scene, Indianapolis Business Journal (Startup IN & Startup MO)
10/17/12 - Featured Startup Pitch: Founded by a group of teachers with tech backgrounds, ActiveGrade seeks to fundamentally change the way grading is done in schools, Startup Beat (Startup IA)
10/03/12 - How Tory Burch Created A $2 Billion Empire In Less Than A Decade, Business Insider (Startup America Partnership)
10/01/12 - Voices of the Tech Community: What do Ecosystem Need? The Miami Herald (Startup FL)
9/20/12 - Entrepreneurs make pitches as Startup Maryland and its studio bus rolls into UMBC, The Republic (Startup MD)
9/20/12 - USF-led partnership awarded $1 million to launch new companies, Tampa Bay Business Journal (Startup FL)
9/19/12 - Startup Bus tours Maryland, stops in Baltimore area to promote entrepreneurship, Baltimore Sun (Startup MD)
Startup America at DEMO Fall 2012:
10/11/12 - Startup Connection: Nourishment for mind, body and soul, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO)
10/05/12 - The 14 Most Interesting Startups To Emerge From DEMO, TechCrunch (Startup CA & OR)
10/04/12 - St. Louis startups look to cash in on DEMO showing, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO)
10/04/12 - St. Louis’ Click With Me Now, Evtron Pitch At DEMO 2012, Techli (Startup MO)
10/03/12 - DEMO Gods: Birds, brains, and the best products of the season, VentureBeat (Startup CA)
10/03/12 - BRIEF: Stamford's eBrevia Wins Scholarship for Tech Conference in Silicon Valley [The Hartford Courant], Bloomberg Businessweek (Startup CT)
10/03/12 - LifeStyleFeed brings the Seventh Art to restaurant selection, VentureBeat (Startup DC)
10/03/12 - Playing recruiter: This startup pays you to find your friends jobs, VentureBeat (Startup DC)
10/03/12 - Don’t like checking your mail? MailGapp may have your solution, VentureBeat (Startup HI)
10/03/12 - Itography hopes to lure advertisers to location-based virtual collection game, VentureBeat (Startup TX)
10/03/12 - Weekend warriors: Track your fitness with Novusport’s social mobile sports game, VentureBeat (Startup TX)
10/03/12 - Today, birdwatching. Tomorrow, saving the entire planet!, VentureBeat (Startup CA)
10/03/12 - Demo Fall 2012: Creating More Focused Social Networks, PC Mag (Startup OR, DC, IA, VA)
10/03/12 - Demo Fall 2012: Business and Commerce Applications, PC Mag (Startup MO & Startup CT)
10/03/12 - Stamford's eBrevia Wins Scholarship for Tech Conference in Silicon Valley, The Hartford Courant (Startup CT)
10/03/12 - RecBob takes the work out of after-work sports, VentureBeat (Startup IA)
10/03/12 - Watch RecBob’s DEMO presentation at noon (Live stream), Silicon Prairie News (Startup IA)
10/02/12 - Meet The 8 Startup Winners From Startup America’s DEMO Contest, Nibletz (Startup TN, OR, IL, DC, CA, IA, CT, MO)
10/02/12 - Cut through the legal fog with computer-generated summaries, Global Reporter (Startup CT)
10/02/12 - Cut through the legal fog with computer-generated summaries, VentureBeat (Startup CT)
10/02/12 - Birdeez app flies toward birdwatchers' iPhones, TechHive (Startup CA)
10/02/12 - Bonfyre Takes on Private Mobile Sharing with New App Focused on Real Life, Not Newsfeeds, Herald Online (Startup MO)
10/02/12 - Three St. Louis startups launch products at California conference, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Startup MO)
10/02/12 - This Barrel Is Ready to Roll! Launching Our Tech Startup, HuffingtonPost (Startup DC)
10/02/12 - For big-ticket items, social shopping needs more screen-sharing, VentureBeat (Startup MO)
10/02/12 - Flite’s new Touch Ad Studio lets top publishers actually make money on mobile, VentureBeat (Startup CA)
10/02/12 - Bonfyre launches mobile app to combine private with social sharing, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO)
10/01/12 - CoPatient Launches Online Platform to Audit & Appeal Medical Bills on Behalf of Patients, Sacramento Bee (Startup OR)
10/01/12 - D.C. job-search start-up launching at DEMO in Silicon Valley, The Washington Post (Startup DC)
10/01/12 - D.C. at Demo: High School CEO debuts Hallway, The Washington Post (Startup DC)
09/30/12 - Hills Bank and Trust promotes four, The Gazette (Startup IA)
09/29/12 - RecBob wins Startup America contest, will pitch next week at DEMO, Silicon Prairie News (Startup IA)
09/13/12 - Click With Me Now wins a trip to DEMO, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO)
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