3. Categories

      Functional Areas: Funding, Legal, Marketing, Recruiting
      Skills: Leadership, Productivity

  1. Articles from A Smart Bear

    blog.asmartbear.com

    1-24 of 38 // 1 2 »

    1. Should I invest my savings in this startup?

      Explore A Smart Bear (Apr 24 2012) Marketing , Productivity

      You might need your savings to fall back on. Is it worth the extra stock you'd get in that startup you're joining? (Read Full Article)

    2. How Perfect Pricing got me 1500 Sales in 2 Days

      Explore A Smart Bear (Mar 27 2012)

      How Perfect Pricing got me 1500 Sales in 2 Days This is a guest post by Sacha Greif – a designer and entrepreneur who recently sold thousands of copies of a self-published eBook that shows how to design a user interface step by step. He’s worked with multiple startups and is also the founder of Folyo, a service that helps companies find vetted freelance designers. Here, Sacha explains... (Read Full Article)

    3. If you saw your competitor’s roadmap would it matter?

      Explore A Smart Bear (Mar 6 2012) Marketing , Productivity

      I'd like to take everyone's advice and talk to potential customers and investors about my ideas, but what if someone else steals my idea? If a competitor got ahold of this -- especially a well-funded one -- I could die before I ever got started! Don't VCs do that? (Read Full Article)

    4. How to convince a startup to hire you

      Explore A Smart Bear (Feb 21 2012)

      How to convince a startup to hire you This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live. To get your question answered, email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. Buffer Ambitious Sailor writes: How can a former navy officer with twelve solid years of overseas defense contracting experience convince a tech startup to hire him as their business guy? I’m currently talking to at and I have an interview coming up. I have a love of entrepr (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Washington

    5. How should a startup founder value her time?

      Explore A Smart Bear (Jan 10 2012) Marketing

      How should a startup founder value her time? When I ask a consultant "how much is your time worth," 90% of the time the answer is their current hourly rate. That's logical. But startup founders must employ very different math. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Vegas

    6. When being “first” is not a competitive advantage

      Explore A Smart Bear (Dec 19 2011) Marketing

      When being “first” is not a competitive advantage Most startups claim to be the "first" at something. And they should -- what's the point of a new company that brings literally nothing new to the world. On the surface being "first" sounds impressive, implying innovation and leadership. But upon reflection, that's clearly not so. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Apple   Dropbox   Ford

    7. Hiring Employee #1

      Explore A Smart Bear (Dec 12 2011) Recruiting

      Hiring Employee #1 It’s a big decision to make your first hire, because what you’re really deciding is whether you want to keep a lifestyle business or attempt to “cross the chasm” and maybe even get rich. Assuming you really are in the market for another pair of hands to screw stuff up worse than you already are, the question is how to acquire resumes, how to pare them down, and how to identify someone who is going to work well in your company. There’s already a lot of great advice about hiring at little startups (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Joel Spolsky   Dharmesh Shah

    8. Easy to criticize, hard to create

      Explore A Smart Bear (Dec 5 2011)

      Easy to criticize, hard to create Take NetFlix: The costs of inventory logistics, millions of non-technical customers, the Postal Service, and loss from wear and delivery will make profit impossible with a reasonable retail price. Movie-watchers are accustomed to the immediate gratification of browsing and selecting. People will copy movies, pissing off suppliers. Blockbuster will duplicate the model and undercut the price, combining the convenience of home delivery with the equally convenient option of store browsing and retu (Read Full Article)

    9. How do I get my first few customers?

      Explore A Smart Bear (Oct 31 2011) Marketing

      How do I get my first few customers? Here's some techniques for going from that idea or tool into building a message people will respond to, and advice about how to find those people. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Oracle   The New York Times   WordPress

    10. Fringe Benefits: Why startups mustn’t appeal to the masses

      Explore A Smart Bear (Sep 19 2011)

      Fringe Benefits: Why startups mustn’t appeal to the masses In a two-party political system like we have in America, the fight is always over the middle, but in little startups the better fight is over the zealous fringe. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   America

    11. 10 things I’ve never heard a successful startup founder say

      Explore A Smart Bear (Aug 15 2011) Marketing

      I hear the same misconceptions and needless worries all the time. Let's dispell a few. (Read Full Article)

    12. Why your company should have a single email address

      Explore A Smart Bear (Jul 4 2011)

      Why your company should have a single email address Most startups run (or believe they must run) a hodge-podge of email-slash-communication tools like person email, CRM, ticketing, etc.. But everything gets easier if you just have one email address and one system. (Read Full Article)

    13. How to value your company for sale (Part 2)

      Explore A Smart Bear (Jun 27 2011)

      How to value your company for sale (Part 2) How buyers and sellers separately value companies, and how the "value" extends far beyond things like the "valuation." (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Jason Fried   Joel Spolsky   Mark Suster

    14. How to value your company for sale (Part 1)

      Explore A Smart Bear (Jun 20 2011) Marketing

      How to value your company for sale (Part 1) How buyers and sellers separately value companies, and how the "value" extends far beyond things like the "valuation." (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Amazon   Google   Zappos

    15. Fighting micro-burn-out

      Explore A Smart Bear (May 23 2011)

      Fighting micro-burn-out Our emotions ride like a roller coaster -- we've all heard that phrase but it's different when you're actually living it. Noah Kagan believes that the real successful entrepreneurs are the ones that can deal with difficult times the best; here's some tips on how to do that. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Mark Pincus   Argentina   Facebook

    16. Never say “no,” but rarely say “yes.”

      Explore A Smart Bear (Apr 25 2011)

      Never say “no,” but rarely say “yes.” Everyone says you need to "focus," and say "no" to distracting opportunities. But they also say you need to experiment with other ideas in case a pivot is required. Here's a way to never say "no," but qualify your "yes" so you're not sidetracked. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Apple

    17. Startup Exercise: What can’t be solved with money?

      Explore A Smart Bear (Mar 21 2011)

      Startup Exercise: What can’t be solved with money? When you're pitching to an investor, one of the best things you can do is to show how the important problems facing your business are those that can be solved with money, because money is what they're providing. Even if you're not pitching this is a useful exercise, because if you're good at the things money can't buy, you'll remain competitive on those things even when confronted by a well-funded competitor. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Eric Ries

    18. Special: When you want to quit because it’s just not worth it

      Explore A Smart Bear (Feb 28 2011)

      Special: When you want to quit because it’s just not worth it You know most startups fail only because the founders stop working on them. And some of the time, it's because it's emotionally draining. I don't care who you are or how strong your ego is, you will have these moments -- maybe a continuous stream of moments -- when you can't take it anymore. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Texas   Jason Baptiste

    19. How to think about cash vs. equity compensation

      Explore A Smart Bear (Feb 21 2011) Funding , Recruiting

      How to think about cash vs. equity compensation When your company is new it's impossible to place a value on shares, yet you need some way of deciding how much to share with new employees, especially those first few key people. Here's how to get a fair number. (Read Full Article)

    20. “Fantastic” beats “efficient”

      Explore A Smart Bear (Jan 24 2011) Marketing

      “Fantastic” beats “efficient” What if you decided to provide something tremendously fantastic for your customers, even though it meant great expense and hardship? The resulting advantages are so large, it's worth considering it even if the path to profitability isn't yet clear. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Facebook   Zappos

    21. Naming your startup: Settle down, it’s cool!

      Explore A Smart Bear (Jan 17 2011)

      Naming your startup: Settle down, it’s cool! Picking a name is always a struggle, but it's not as important as you think. Here's some solace to calm you down, and a few tips for how to get through it. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Intuit   Yahoo   Google

    22. Build your own Startup Death Clock

      Explore A Smart Bear (Nov 1 2010)

      Build your own Startup Death Clock Here's a simple, powerful trick for focussing your mind on one of the most important things about your startup: The date that you run out of money. (Read Full Article)

    23. If you build it, they won't come, unless...

      Explore A Smart Bear (Oct 11 2010)

      If you build it, they won't come, unless... If your marketing strategy consists of A/B tests and accumulating Twitter followers, that's not a marketing strategy! That's like saying "Oh, and we'll have a web site!" No kidding, but it takes more than that to stand out in the noise of the Internet. Here's some ideas. (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Texas

    24. Killer articles on startups

      Explore A Smart Bear (Sep 8 2010)

      It's nice to highlight awesome articles about startup that I didn't write! Here's some of the best recent writing about startups from around the Internet. (Read Full Article)