Author Archive

  • Killer articles on startups Killer articles on startups

    Republished from A Smart Bear Blog Keepstream is one of the five Capital Factory companies graduating today at Demo Day here in Austin. With their new web tool you can collect tweets and snippets, arrange as nicely-formatted collections, then share directly or embed in blog posts as I've ...

  • How a startup should leverage a personal assistant How a startup should leverage a personal assistant

    Rob Walling generously allowed me to reprint this excerpt from his new book, "Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup" available in paperback and Kindle from Amazon and in PDF and ePub from StartupBook.net. Rob is one of the most successful "micropreneurs" —...

  • The right way to position against competition The right way to position against competition

    This is Part 4 of the series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches. By Jason Cohen. After seeing hundreds of startup pitches for this year's Capital Factory program, I can tell you that the two most common errors in positioning a company against competition are, strangely, opposit...

  • A vote for me is a vote for dipshit businesses everywhere A vote for me is a vote for dipshit businesses everywhere

    By Jason Cohen. Let's get the self-aggrandizing plea for attention out of the way: Please vote for my SxSW panel entitled "A Bootstrapped Geek Sifts Through the Bullshit." It answers questions like "How do I get the courage to just start when I know so little about what it's really lik...

  • Yes, but who said they'd actually BUY the damn thing? Yes, but who said they’d actually BUY the damn thing?

    This is Part 3 of the series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches. Of hundreds of startup pitches at Capital Factory, almost none had unearthed 10 people willing to say, "If you build this product, I'll give you $X." Meditate on this: Hundreds of people ready to quit their day jo...

  • What the crazy name "Smart Bear" taught me about branding What the crazy name "Smart Bear" taught me about branding

    By Jason Cohen. Every founder struggles to find a great name for her company. Often it's the first source of good-natured strife between co-founders. It's an exhilarating, scary combination of having to decide who you are — what you do, the persona you expose — combined with the technica...

  • Real Unfair Advantages Real Unfair Advantages

    This is Part 2 of the series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches. By Jason Cohen What if someone copies your awesome business idea? About twenty people on Answers OnStartups have asked this question in one form or another: When I meet an angel investor, he may ask: "Wha...

  • No, that IS NOT a competitive advantage No, that IS NOT a competitive advantage

    This is part 1 of the series: 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches. By Jason Cohen. Listening to first-time entrepreneurs talk about their competitive advantages is as predictably invalid as the local weatherman's 10-day forecast. Between this blog and reviewing applications to C...

  • 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches

    By Jason Cohen. I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. Most were on paper and video; 20 were invited to pitch in person. Interesting patterns emerged: Everyone makes the same classes of error. Those who avoided just one of those errors stood out ...

  • Human + Fallible = Love; Corporate + Sterile = Refund Human + Fallible = Love; Corporate + Sterile = Refund

    By Jason Cohen. A lovely new company/customer etiquette has emerged, and small startups are especially suited for exploiting it. I hope you're not ignoring it. Just yesterday someone explained to me what they expect from their website hosting company: I want someone else making sure the ...

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