The Perfect 5-Year Startup Revenue Plan (or Perfectly Amusing)

September 29, 2013

I’m always amused to see 5-year revenue forecasts of early stage startups. I too made similarly amusing revenue forecasts when we stated AccelerEyes. It is, unfortunately, a somewhat standard practice for startups to share 5-year revenue projections with potential investors. Applicants to Venture Atlanta are asked to share their 5-year revenue projections (unless that changed this […]

Read the full article →

Ideal Customer Profile

September 27, 2013

Last night, I went to a fellow EO member’s grand opening of a his newest store in Buckhead. He runs Onward Reserve, a men’s clothing store. As you walk in the store, you can’t help but understand that the store caters to a particular look and particular clientele. Southern young men. Georgia boys. Their focus […]

Read the full article →

Defending Turf

September 26, 2013

When you gain ground in a battle, you erect defenses to keep the turf. The same is true in markets. As startups gain turf, they start finding the need to defend their turf from other startups and other BigCos. Fred Wilson put up a post that says you should ask yourself, “How would an entrepreneur […]

Read the full article →

Inviting Spam with Open Arms

September 23, 2013

I have no fear of sharing my cell phone number and email address broadly and widely. I’ve been doing it for years. It invites spam; lot’s of spam. So what? Gmail filters it all for me, like magic. And I don’t answer calls from people I don’t know. It’s a solved problem. When I comment […]

Read the full article →

Concoction Startups

September 22, 2013

In the past month, I met two different people trying to build businesses based on their own concoctions. They are literally mixing ingredients to try to discover something new. The first is trying to make naturalistic lip balm from local beeswax. I donated all the available beeswax from my hive to that effort. The second […]

Read the full article →

Spirit of a Pirate, Execution of a Navy SEAL

September 21, 2013

“Entrepreneurs are prone to mythologizing the early days of their businesses, yet these stories mislead those who aspire to follow in their footsteps.” –Bill Aulet in the WSJ Earlier this month, Bill Aulet had a great article in the WSJ about teaching entrepreneurship. It’s hard for anyone to teach entrepreneurship. It’s sometimes hard for non-entrepreneurs […]

Read the full article →

Fun Friday: Virtual Smell

September 20, 2013

A few years ago, I demoed ArrayFire on mobile devices at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. While there, I bumped into a startup with a fun (or weird) product in the virtual reality space. They produce virtual smells. The idea is to have a bunch of chemicals sitting next to your computer. Software […]

Read the full article →

Competitive Positioning

September 19, 2013

Sometimes it makes sense to competitively position your product directly against your rival’s products. It makes especially good sense when the competitor is a BigCo or a recognized leader in the category. It does not make sense when the competitor is another startup, especially if it’s a weak startup. You don’t want to lend credibility […]

Read the full article →

Lessons from Lifelong Entrepreneurs

September 17, 2013

I attended the MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta today to hear from Jim Stratigos and Steve W. Chaddick in their “Entrepreneur’s Uncensored” talk. Jim and Steve both graduated from Georgia Tech in 1974 with degress in electrical engineering. Jim and Steve met in 1967 over ham radio and have been friends ever since. They each […]

Read the full article →

The Mixed Bag of Feedback on Rebranding

September 15, 2013

Yesterday I posted about considerations for potentially rebranding our company. Many of you shared valuable and interesting feedback. Thanks! Here is what we’ve heard so far (contributor names withheld): In Favor of Changing to ArrayFire Switch now, switch completely. The inertia won’t last as long as you think. All hail ArrayFire! Go with your gut. […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →