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Browse: Home / Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

One Simple Paragraph Every Entrepreneur Should Add to Their Convertible Notes

One Simple Paragraph Every Entrepreneur Should Add to Their Convertible Notes

By Mark Suster on June 1, 2015

I’m so tired of seeing young entrepreneurs get screwed by their angel investors on convertible notes and I know I can’t convince you not to do it so I’d like to offer one simple bit of advice to help you avoid getting screwed (at least on one part of your note). When you do a […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged Angel investor, Convertible bond, Convertible Notes, Entrepreneur, j&m, Seed money, startup lessons, vc funding

If You’re Going to Do a SaaS Start-Up … You Have to Give it 24 Months

If You’re Going to Do a SaaS Start-Up … You Have to Give it 24 Months

By Jason M. Lemkin on March 6, 2015

It seems like everyone wants to be a SaaS founder these days.  I meet with great VPs of Sales and Product in particular who are Ready.  It’s time.  To go out on their own.  Start their own SaaS company. Awesome. I get it.  I’d like to recruit you to be a VP at one of […]

Posted in Business, Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged cloud computing, Entrepreneur, Getting to Initial Traction, Instagram, saas-startups, salesforce.com, software as a service

Finding harmony between advice and self-interest

Finding harmony between advice and self-interest

By Derek Pilling on January 31, 2014

I just wrapped one of those calls where I had the opportunity to give advice to an entrepreneur that runs counter to my short-term interests. In this case, it is a story of a first-time entrepreneur who has built a $7 million revenue business and is wrestling with the decision whether to take growth capital […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Tagged Entrepreneur, exit, Growth Equity, lessons learned | 1 Response

Want Happy Customers?  Implement the 5-Visits-Plus-2-Badges Rule.  For Your Customer Success Team  — And You.

Want Happy Customers? Implement the 5-Visits-Plus-2-Badges Rule. For Your Customer Success Team — And You.

By Jason M. Lemkin on November 12, 2013

If you are a SaaStr reader, you’ll know how passionate I am about Customer Success. For one simple reason: Second Order Revenue. Upsells. Renewals. Word-of-Mouth. Champion Change. What it all means is that if you do it right, you’ll make 6x or more the revenue from your customers after the sale itself. The details on […]

Posted in Business, Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged Churn rate, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, saas, startups

The Age of the Aging Entrepreneur

The Age of the Aging Entrepreneur

By Chris Yeh on July 15, 2013

I’ve often compared Silicon Valley to “Logan’s Run“–once your Lifeclock hits 30, the system encourages you to “renew”.  In the movie, this meant death…in Silicon Valley, it means becoming an angel investor or VC (no comment).  After all, this is a place where an investor can say with a straight face, “We love older entrepreneurs!  […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Tagged aging, Entrepreneur, siliconvalley

Enterprise startups: Richard Branson's expansive and practical advice

Enterprise startups: Richard Branson’s expansive and practical advice

By Michael Krigsman on June 3, 2013

I talk with many enterprise startups who want advice or a write-up here. Virtually all these entrepreneurs radiate passion and enthusiasm for their product, company, and prospects for success. Unfortunately, too many of these companies do not possess a vision that is simultaneously expansive and intensely practical. With this in mind, I read with great interest […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts | Tagged Entrepreneur, richard branson, startups, Web application

Entrepreneurshit. The Blog Post on What It’s Really Like.

Entrepreneurshit. The Blog Post on What It’s Really Like.

By Mark Suster on November 18, 2012

It’s 4.50am. Sunday morning. And I couldn’t sleep. I have much on my mind since I just returned from a week on the road. 5 days. 3 cities. Late night Mexican food. Beers. Airports. Delays. I left on a Sunday. I had to miss a full day with my family, camping in the mountains. I […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur Advice, Entrepreneurship, Instagram, MB, Seed money, startups, twitter

Why if You are a VC You Should be Insanely Rich

Why if You are a VC You Should be Insanely Rich

By Jason M. Lemkin on September 27, 2012

Ok – First, I know some folks are going to challenge this math, but I think it’s basically correct. Second, being a VC is hard.  Not always 100 hours-a-week hard work, but hard to do well. But — investing in someone else’s hard work is obviously far easier than founding and inventing something yourself. With […]

Posted in Business, Entrepreneurship | Tagged Entrepreneur, venture capital

The Farther You Go, The Tougher It Gets

The Farther You Go, The Tougher It Gets

By Chris Yeh on May 11, 2012

Something many entrepreneurs don’t realize is that the farther you go with your startup, the tougher it gets.When you start with an idea, it’s easy to be excited. Since it only exists in your head, it morphs every day, possibly even with every convers…

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Tagged Entrepreneur, facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, persistence

Weekend Review: Steve Jobs By Walter Isaacson

Weekend Review: Steve Jobs By Walter Isaacson

By Krishnan Subramanian on October 30, 2011

Just finished reading the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson and thought I will add few thoughts here. Two words that came out of my mind after finishing the book: Filthy Genius I saw many reviews that talked about possible bias in favor of Jobs but I never spotted the bias. In fact, I started reading the […]

Posted in General | Tagged Apple, biography, Entrepreneur, genius, insane, steve jobs, walter isaacson

Image credit: GigaOM

One Surefire Way to Screw up Your Lifestyle Business

By Derek Pilling on September 2, 2011

Some businesses are designed – maybe even destined – to be owner operated. Industry parlance often refers to these businesses as lifestyle businesses. Wikipedia has a nice definition. They are typically small, profitable, generate cash and enable their owner-operator to sustain a well-above average lifestyle. In some circumstances, they may even make their owner-operator filthy […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Tagged Entrepreneur, Growth Equity, Investment Selection, Investor, lessons learned, lifestyle business, Raising Capital

Talk With Everyone

Talk With Everyone

By Chris Yeh on August 17, 2011

Reading Mark Suster‘s excellent post, “Why You Need To Take 50 Coffee Meetings” brought to mind one of my personal corollaries: Talk with everyone. I’m a relatively small-time investor. It’s a documented fact, and I don’t try to hide it. But that means that I need to deliver value beyond money if I’m going to […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Tagged Entrepreneur, facebook, investing, networking, success, venture capital | 1 Response

Startup Mantra: Hire Fast, Fire Fast

Startup Mantra: Hire Fast, Fire Fast

By Mark Suster on May 26, 2011

  I have often said that what separates real entrepreneurs from pundits and bystanders is a bias towards getting things done versus over analyzing things. My credo has always been JFDI. It’s the hardest thing to teach people who come out of big companies, out of conservative jobs. At the big consulting firms, investment banks and […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged brad feld, Entrepreneur, Startup Advice, Startup company, startup hiring | 1 Response

Nothing Matters But Traction

Nothing Matters But Traction

By Chris Yeh on April 29, 2011

Nothing matters but traction. It makes everything easy, but it is the hardest to accomplish.Too many entrepreneurs focus on working around a lack of traction when they would be better off using that energy to get traction.A common occurrence is that an…

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Tagged Entrepreneur, investing, startup

What Should You Do with Your Crappy Little Services Business?

What Should You Do with Your Crappy Little Services Business?

By Mark Suster on April 25, 2011

There’s a line of thinking in Silicon Valley that you should build product businesses rather than services businesses. This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. You’re small fish.

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged Entrepreneur, mark suster, silicon valley, Startup Advice, startups, techcrunch, VC, venture capital, venture funding

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