Unlike You, Mark Zuckerberg And Bill Gates Can Go Both Ways

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Article first published as Unlike You, Mark Zuckerberg And Bill Gates Can Go Both Ways on Technorati.

Karch on SandKarch in the GymKarch Kiraly (pronounced “cartch kur-ai”) is an anomaly. He is the only person to win Olympic gold medals in both indoor and beach volleyball. 

Just as Karch is a rarity, so are entrepreneurs who are equally facile at startups and Big Dumb Companies (BDCs). Many of these gifted few are household names, partly because they represent such a rare breed: Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. All of these Founders managed their startups from launch to BDC success. Continue reading →

Want To Be A TechStar? Read Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson’s New Book: Venture Deals

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Brad FeldI recently reviewed Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson’s book Venture Deals, in THIS ENTRY. I concluded that it is an effective tool for leveling the playing field between sophisticated investors and emerging entrepreneurs. I have subsequently recommended the book to number of students as well as emerging entrepreneurs, all of whom expressed positive feedback.  

Thus, I was excited when Brad agreed to chat with me via Skype to discuss the book’s genesis, along with the reaction of his fellow venture capitalists to the book’s revelation of numerous fundraising “secrets.”

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Eleven Startup Tips From Mark Cuban

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Article first published as Eleven Startup Tips From Mark Cuban on Technorati.

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Mark CubanMark Cuban is a lifelong serial entrepreneur, launching his startup career with a variety of teenage schemes, including buying and selling collectable stamps to pay for college.

In 1983 he founded MicroSolutions, a personal computer software reseller and system integrator, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. He steadily grew MicroSolutions over the next seven years and eventually sold it to CompuServe in 1990. Continue reading →

(Re)Mixing It Up With Entrepreneurial Filmmaker, Kirby Ferguson

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Kirby Ferguson In Everything (Including Startups) Is A Remix, I discuss the brilliant series of films created by Kirby Ferguson, which focus on the origin of creativity in music, film and business. Kirby’s videos entertainingly illustrate that the building blocks of creativity, irrespective of the creation, are: copying, combining and transforming.

In my recent interview with Kirby, he discusses the origin of his videos and how he called upon his entrepreneurial muse to bootstrap their creation. His tenacity and persistence are instructive to emerging entrepreneurs. Continue reading →

Bank Robber Or ATM Operator – Which Are You?

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Note: This is Part IV in the Startup Team Building series. Read Part I HERE, Part II HERE and Part III HERE.

Bank RobberyA Fortune 500 CEO once told me that I was a Bank Robber. Initially, I was offended. However, once he explained what he meant, I was flattered.

Entrepreneurs are law-abiding Bank Robbers. They enjoy the hours spent plotting and scheming and pulling together a team of skilled specialists to accomplish the heist. The outcome might be jail time (i.e., failure and bankruptcy), or it might be a haul so big that they never have to rob another bank. It is not the actual amount of money in the vault that motivates them. Rather, a bank robber is inspired by the seemingly unlimited challenges associated with each bank job. Continue reading →