Date archives "March 2011"

Marc Andreessen on Venture Capital

http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2457

Marc Andreessen is another very successful serial entrepreneur that I look up to. This video compromises of him been asked some great questions about both, venture capital and entrepreneurship. If you don’t have time to watch the whole video click through on the video to watch snippets from the talk. I particularly like “Defining the Voice of a Start-up”.

Dropbox Lessons Learned

Dropbox is one of those products that I use on a daily basis. It has completely removed my need for USB sticks. This presentation goes over the starting stages of Dropbox, and then onto where they went from idea to execution. It provides a great roadmap for companies that are building products in categories that cause a fundamental shift in existing behavior.

As a side note, if you haven’t signed up for dropbox yet. Please check it out Dropbox.

5 Solid Startup Lessons

I really liked this short video on some of the major lessons that were learned during the Box.net journey. The five take-aways are:

1. Do something that was not possible three years ago.
2. Do something you are extremely passionate about.
3. Don’t compromise.
4. If you feel comfortable, you’re probably not doing it right.
5. Don’t write your obituary too early.

In my opinion point number 2 is really important. Without a passion for what you are doing, after year #1, things become far too difficult to handle. This is the point at which I see many people throw in the towel. Whatever problem you are solving, make sure that it is one you have ideally set yourself and want to create the solution for.

March 23rd: Required Reading

I tend to do a lot of reading online on a daily basis. I come across many articles I enjoy and believe would be useful to a lot of individuals, specially those who read this blog. Hence, I will be posting one entry weekly with a list of the best posts I have read during that week.

How to Raise a Successful VC Round or Series A

Engineering vs. Design

On the Importance of Trusting Your Gut

Titles and Promotions

Cultivate Existing Customers

You shouldn’t apply to YCombinator if…

Hire the Least Likely Candidate

How can I tell if I am failing at my entrepreneurial venture or start-up?

Building a Sustainable Side Project

Running Lean Community MVP

The Democratization of Entrepreneurship

I reference Steve Blank in many of my posts. His methodology of customer development is in my opinion mandatory reading for any entrepreneur. Many times I get emails asking about certain aspects of the framework. This video however does a far better job of getting major points across.

I would highly recommend that everyone take an hour out of their schedule and watch this lecture if you have not done so yet.