Lies Entrepreneurs Tell Themselves
For the next few months I’ll be posting a series of posts on family, startup culture and careers. These vignettes are about how I’ve lived my life trying to make my dent in the universe and trying …
What’s in a name – Tips for naming your startup
Essays by Thomas Petersen
Open Social: a new universe of social applications all over the web (Marc Andreessen)
Marc Andreessen is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is an innovator and creator, one of the few to
Reddit lesson #3: fuck facebook, make real friends
I've already explained how fortunate we were to get that email from Kourosh back in Feb 2006, but I'm often asked how that email ever made ...
The Ideal Startup Career Path
programming, philosophy, history, internet, startups
Steve Blank: Selling with Sports Scores
When I was a young marketer I learned how to listen to customers by making a fool of myself. Twenty eight years ago I was the bright, young, eager product marketing manager called out to the field …
Hiring Is Obsolete (2005)
May 2005 (This essay is derived from a talk at the Berkeley CSUA.) The three big powers on the Internet now are Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft. Average age of their founders: 24. So it is pretty well established now that grad students can start successful companies. And if grad students can do it, why not undergrads?…
Pricing as Signal
Forbes: “EMI Group boss Alain Levy said at press conference today that he believed Jobs would introduce multiple price points for iTunes music within the next year.” The story they̵…
Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition
In the many thousands of articles advising entrepreneurs on what they have to focus on to build successful startups, much has been written about three key factors: team, product and market, with particular focus on the importance of product/market fit. Failure to get product/market fit right is very likely the number…
What reddit taught me about startups: "because it's your damn job"
WARNING: I've learned everything I know from 16 months at a startup and HBO miniseries. Trust nothing. Why do I look back so fondly on st...
How to create a startup in 10.5 hours
I just launched FEEDJIT . It took me about 10.5 hours (4pm until 2:30am) from the first time my hand touched the keyboard until I fixed the last bug and went live. I got a question on the Seattle Tech Startup list about how I spent my 10.5 hours. So here’s a brief summary:
Startup founder evolution (or, the biz guy *is* valuable, just not at first)
In the past two months I’ve been on two different panels with other entrepreneurs. The first was at WTIA in Bellevue, WA (“ Cashing in on Web Services “)– the other panelists were very clearly what I’d call “business entrepreneurs”. All of them had relatively successful funded startups, but not a one of them had…
Are You An Entrepreneur or a Wantrepreneur?
Compare the best sports betting sites Singapore bettors use on odds, bonuses, banking and payout speed, with the wagering terms and limitations explained.
Rules for startups
My buddy Jason had a GREAT post about rules for startups. Read it, love it learn it.
The Value of the Y Combinator Experience
I'm often asked about my Y Combinator experience so I thought I would take the time to blog about it.
YC's summer update
We’re less than 2 weeks away from Demo Day and I feel like this funding cycle has whizzed by faster than any other. We have 22 startups this summer, bringing the total number we’ve funded to...