Resources for Entrepreneurs
Below is a list of companies and resources for starting a company. From going through the start-up process myself and having the awesome opportunity to use the resources of the Stanford GSB Center for Entrepreneurship (CES) I have come across a lot of useful information (that I wish I had from the get-go!) that I hope can be valuable to others starting (a consumer facing technology company) company. If you have any suggestions of additions feel free to email me.
Good luck!
xo Jen
Below is a list of companies and resources for starting a company. From going through the start-up process myself and having the awesome opportunity to use the resources of the Stanford GSB Center for Entrepreneurship (CES) I have come across a lot of useful information (that I wish I had from the get-go!) that I hope can be valuable to others starting (a consumer facing technology company) company. If you have any suggestions of additions feel free to email me.
Good luck!
xo Jen
Start-up News & Resources
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Quora- ask any start-up related question and they will have the answer!
TechCrunch - Daily tech and Valley news VentureHacks- Nivi and Naval provide great advice for start-ups along with AngleList (see funding) TED- life-changing talks from incredible individuals Venturebeat- link to their entrepreneur corner Mashable- social media news Startup Digest- best for start-up events Dave McClure's Blog Fred Wilson's Blog Steve Blank's Blog and his book Four Steps to Epiphany Scribd- online library of tons of relevant articles and info Slideshare- lots of great presentations but make sure to check reviews SXSW- South by Southwest HBS Entrepreneurship Resources 106 Miles Meet Up Clarify.fm- On-Demand business advice |
OPERATIONS |
The Combination that I use: Google Apps for email, file sharing, calendar; 37 Signals' Basecamp for task management and Dropbox for managing files (I also use Amazon AWS, Heroku and I am a big believer in SCRUM, it doesn't matter what industry you are in, as you scale it is a crucial tactic to create alignment between cross-functional teams). Project and Product Management 37 Signals- The best task management ever. Especially if you are mixing non-technical + technical. Amazon Web Services for cloud computing (Amazon EC2) Dropbox- sharing files Evernote- For remember or organizing your own stuff Google Apps- for all email, document management and the basis of all operations GitHub- collaborative coding Indinero- Financial Management Asana- Project Management (find this easiest as CEO to see what everyone is doing) Trello- Project Management (doesn't integrate well with agile/ engineering team but awesome UI) Bidsketch- Proposals Quoteroller- Proposals, less custmized but easier and sometimes more professional than Bidsketch Harvest- Time tracker, great if services company Xero, Wave, Freshbooks- Use whatever you like best, they all get the job done https://fillanypdf.com/- URL says it, easily sign and edit documents! Web Design (No coding necessary): Wordpress- The best framework. Need basic understanding of CSS though or go with Wordpress.com Squarespace- Really impressed with e-commerce functionality Weebly- Always been a favorite Wix- Have some beautiful templates, not great for SEO though Strinkingly- so easy but bad for SEO |
Marketing/ Testing
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As a marketer my list can go on here but if you are going the DIY route these are some best practices.
Analytics & Testing Kissmetrics- Improve conversion rates and drive new customers Mixpanel- Great for lead conversion, now in-app messaging Localytics- Mobile analytics **huge update, great new feature set** Bit.ly- Tracking links Flurry- free mobile analytics **huge update, great new feature set** Usabilla- Usability testing Ginza Metrics- affordable SEO strategy for early-stage companies Note: Every company should be integrating Google Analytics. Lead-Gen/ Marketing Automation Mailchimp- Email Management Hubspot- all in one marketing **highly recommended** Marketo- marketing automation, integrates with Salesforce Hootsuite- must for social media marketing (update: I like Buffer better) Marketo- great if you use salesforce Survey.io- Customer Development surveys BrightEdge- SEO and online acquisition strategy Note: Every company should be using Google Adwords and Facebook Advertising in my opinion. |
People |
HR Management:
1. ZenPayroll- the easiest way to run payroll for employess 2. Keas- Corporate wellness 3. Expensify- easy, online expense reports 4. Rypple/ Work.com- acquired by Salesforce is an online platform for real-time employee-performance management, review, and feedback. 5. DocuSign- easiest way to sign contracts Finding Team Members, Engineers and Co-Founders: 1. 106 Miles and Hackers and Founders Meetup- attend events and meet other hackers and founders, great way because best people aren't usually advertising for jobs but can be found here 2. Stanford Engineering- I might be bias but think this is a great way to find top talent, this is also a list of CS Masters Students at Stanford 3. Berkeley Job Post 4. Start-up Digest Classified 5. LinkedIn- poach Googlers! 6. Start-Upers 7. Craigslist Finding Designers: Dribble Elegant.ly- this site rocks, founded by Jason Putorti Elance AIGA Designer Directory RISD Job Board Design Directory Jason Putorti's Blog |
Fundraising |
Incubators:
Y Combinator- only in two batches a year but its awesome and probably the best incubator 500 Startups- Dave McClure's new incubator just launched in 2010 Interplay- Partners, not incubators, some personal bias here ;) AngelPad- Ex-googler incubator Tech Stars- Seattle, Boulder and Boston based incubator SeedCamp- if your European Angels: Angel List- the best way to connect with angels in Silicon Valley Band of Angels Crunch Bases List of Angels Early Stage VCs (the ones I admire and would recommend to a start-up): Andreessen Horowitz Benchmark Blue Run Ventures Charles River Ventures DFJ First Round Capital Founder's Fund MDV Union Square Ventures RedPoint Trinity Ventures Sequoia |
Lawyers |
Morrison &
Foerster- Tim Harris is fantastic and really helpful throughout fundraising- (650) 813-5784 [email protected]
Dorsey & Whitney- Matt Bartus- great blog. 1 650.857.1717, [email protected] Cooley LLP.- Bob Brigham- 650/843-5053 [email protected], Gunderson Dettmer 650-321-2400 Orrick- Harold Yu |
My Humble Advice to First-Time CEO's:
1. Cash is King. Earn revenue, be lean, don't raise too fast.
2. Content is Queen. The cheapest and most effective marketing tool. However, not just any content. Quality, relevant, unique, and new content. Never chose quantify over quality. And never have grammatical errors or poor writing in your brand messaging (i.e. if you are like me, then you should always have an editor at hand).
3. Know your weaknesses and build a team you trust that fills in the gap. Also, learn as much as you can about each team- member. You can be horrible with names like me but Professor Groesbeck at the GSB gave me this great advice- write down a quick fact about each employee (such as the name of their child) and bring it up to show you care. Also, understand what motivates each team member and the huge difference between someone who is motivated by upside or by fear.
4. If you have not had executive training in leadership/ management (i.e. hiring, firing, conducting references, the difference between firing someone and layoffs, etc) do it now. And require this of each person you give management responsibilities too.
5. Learn the basics of how to code if you are in tech. Not to actually contribute to the development of your product (although that really helps!), but you will never be an effective manager, delegator of work or have a true understanding of the needs required to build your company if you don't.
6. Laugh, smile. Your behavior is contagious!
7. Break the rules. You can never please everyone and don't get caught up by any one person's advice (even if they are a Board Member). They don't know the company or the market like you do. Often an apology in the aftermath is better than a missed opportunity or a compromised decision. Trust yourself. Of course, be very willing to feedback and seek it often. Conflict is healthy. Your employees, your clients (and yourself!) come first.
1. Cash is King. Earn revenue, be lean, don't raise too fast.
2. Content is Queen. The cheapest and most effective marketing tool. However, not just any content. Quality, relevant, unique, and new content. Never chose quantify over quality. And never have grammatical errors or poor writing in your brand messaging (i.e. if you are like me, then you should always have an editor at hand).
3. Know your weaknesses and build a team you trust that fills in the gap. Also, learn as much as you can about each team- member. You can be horrible with names like me but Professor Groesbeck at the GSB gave me this great advice- write down a quick fact about each employee (such as the name of their child) and bring it up to show you care. Also, understand what motivates each team member and the huge difference between someone who is motivated by upside or by fear.
4. If you have not had executive training in leadership/ management (i.e. hiring, firing, conducting references, the difference between firing someone and layoffs, etc) do it now. And require this of each person you give management responsibilities too.
5. Learn the basics of how to code if you are in tech. Not to actually contribute to the development of your product (although that really helps!), but you will never be an effective manager, delegator of work or have a true understanding of the needs required to build your company if you don't.
6. Laugh, smile. Your behavior is contagious!
7. Break the rules. You can never please everyone and don't get caught up by any one person's advice (even if they are a Board Member). They don't know the company or the market like you do. Often an apology in the aftermath is better than a missed opportunity or a compromised decision. Trust yourself. Of course, be very willing to feedback and seek it often. Conflict is healthy. Your employees, your clients (and yourself!) come first.
Best Practices
Check out Venture Hacks- Nivi and Naval's pitch guideline is awesome, especially if this is your first time raising capital it is a must
I like Trinity Venture's MO: "Trinity Ventures is a boutique early stage venture firm with an unwavering dedication to our entrepreneurs. We do not operate global mega funds. We don’t have offices in China (or anywhere else outside Silicon Valley, for that matter). We are company builders, not company flippers"
I like MDV's guideline's they have for entrepreneurs submitting a business plan:
We're far more interested in the content of your plan rather than its format. We want to learn about you, your past experiences and accomplishments. And we need to understand the justification for your business idea. We'll look for answers to questions such as:
I like Trinity Venture's MO: "Trinity Ventures is a boutique early stage venture firm with an unwavering dedication to our entrepreneurs. We do not operate global mega funds. We don’t have offices in China (or anywhere else outside Silicon Valley, for that matter). We are company builders, not company flippers"
I like MDV's guideline's they have for entrepreneurs submitting a business plan:
We're far more interested in the content of your plan rather than its format. We want to learn about you, your past experiences and accomplishments. And we need to understand the justification for your business idea. We'll look for answers to questions such as:
- What problem will you solve?
- Who currently has the problem?
- How will you solve it?
- How big is the market potential?
- What is your distinct advantage?
- How does the competitive landscape look?
- What are the financial implications?
- How much capital will you need to develop the solution (and the company supporting it)?
- What kinds of volumes and margins are reasonable to expect?
- What are your team's qualifications
