VatorNews - Vator contributor stories

Mac? PC? Neither?

by Demian Entrekin, June 3, 2011 | Comments

	Consumer open source is here... now On the personal technology front, I'm happy to report that there is a genuine alternative to the tedious fracas of the Microsoft juggernaut of Windows and Office versus the Apple cult of Mac and ..... Office. Over the last week, I've been running ubuntu/gnome on my netbook and I am greatly pleased to report that it is a delight. It's ...
	Read more »

Pivot or Divot?

by Demian Entrekin, March 25, 2011 | Comments

Are you making smart adjustments or just digging holes in the ground?

One of the latest terminology developments out of Silicon Vallety is the term "pivot." If you haven't heard it yet, it basically means that the new company has decided that the original idea wasn't quite working out and it was time to change directions. Ideally, when you say we "pivoted" in this direction or that direction, you will accompany that statement ...

Life Cycles

by Demian Entrekin, August 30, 2010 | Comments

how a customer life cycle compares with a project life cycle

How different is a customer life cycle from a project life cycle? Or, said another way, how similar are these two cycles? I’ve been working on a concise management model for a customer life cycle, and I invariably compare this to it’s relative, the project life cycle. Here’s a visual of the customer version: From Business The obvious similarity; ...

Why should I change?

by Demian Entrekin, July 22, 2010 | Comments

What role do incentives play in your transformation?

If you are going to change an organization, you first need to change the people. If you are going to change the people, you first need to change yourself. Of course, that does not necessarily mean you must ex-change the people for other people, or yourself for someone else, but sometimes that too is required. Any significant business transformation will require ...

The Emergence comedy

by Demian Entrekin, July 13, 2010 | Comments

How the concept of emergence has negatively impacted box-office returns

The concept of Emergence continues to surface and become increasingly embraced across different fields, from science to technology. And, now even entertainment. For those unfamiliar with the concept, Emergence rose out of Complexity Theory, and proposes that new forms arise out of innumerable complex interactions in the system. In recent times, the project methodology has been one of the more ...

The first conversation

by Demian Entrekin, March 10, 2010 | Comments (2)

	Hint: it's not about the budget There is one conversation I would like to change permanently. It's the first conversation. All too often the first conversation about a project revolves around the schedule or the budget or the resources. When do we need to finish this project? Who is available? How much money do we have to spend? If I had a magic wand, I would ...
	Read more »

Taming chaos in NPD

by Demian Entrekin, March 4, 2010 | Comments

NPD does not mean 'narcissistic personality disorder'

As a follow-up to the previous entry on New Product Development (NPD), this entry is about creating a process to "tame the chaos." One point of clarification: the term "product" here refers either to a product, a service or a solution. These terms are often thrown around as if they have some sort of specific talisman-like quality. "It's not a ...

Users vs abusers

by Demian Entrekin, February 1, 2010 | Comments

	Is freemium a tactic or a strategy? The distinction between a user and a customer is a curious one. I just finished reading a paper that distinguishes these two. And, the distinction is central to the article’s key points, which are mostly about the “Reality of Freemium in SaaS.” I am always a bit leery of anyone who claims to have access to “the reality” about anything. ...
	Read more »

The 17 musts to get a product off the ground

by Demian Entrekin, January 6, 2010 | Comments (3)

What it takes to create and market a successful product or service offering

I've decided to jot down a short list of "musts" that go into creating a successful market offering. To be clear, creating a new product or service for the market is not an easy thing to do. Some market offerings are harder than others. Some are downright mind-boggling, and the market can be a ruthless teacher. This is not necessarily ...

Big decisions in small companies

by Demian Entrekin, August 31, 2009 | Comments

Balancing a wide variety of agendas and biases

From time to time, small companies are faced with decisions that significantly alter the status and trajectory of the business. These decisions often revolve around topics such as M&A, funding or strategic shift. The company will have various perspectives that drive the framing of the decision. Product guys and technology guys tend to think everything is about the product. Their ...

Transition to a Web-based business

by Demian Entrekin, July 23, 2009 | Comments

	Build your marketing into your product Let's say that you finally realized it's time to transition from a traditional business to a Web business. You put it off long enough. But then you read Death Spiral and decided to make your move. Now the hard part, realizing - though it often goes without saying - that a technology overhaul isn't the only change needed. The ...
	Read more »

Make the connection

by Demian Entrekin, July 1, 2009 | Comments

	How we connect our efforts to the big picture It doesn't seem to matter where I go, the challenges seems to revolve around one strikingly similar question: "How do we prioritize our efforts based on the current situation?" Another way to ask this question is this: "How do we allocate our limited resources?"We may be in a steady-state mode, where we focus on getting the most out of the ...
	Read more »

Learning from dogs in the dog park

by Demian Entrekin, May 11, 2009 | Comments

	Debunking the mystery of the vision thing I am in the midst of startup number 3.5. I say 3.5 since the original number 3 had the trap door open four months before it was about to come to life. It was a classic example of the fish that got away. "If only I had used the Mepps spinner rather than the fly, I would have landed that ...
	Read more »

Running the Numbers

by Demian Entrekin, February 16, 2009 | Comments

	How to use financial metrics for big projects After my last entry, I continued to cogitate on the economic criteria for funding projects. The more I look a this topic, the more deserving of attention it becomes. Let's start out with the basic proposition that there are three categories of project types. I know that this is simplistic, but it does help to consider the issues. Here are ...
	Read more »

I'll take mine straight

by Demian Entrekin, December 28, 2008 | Comments

Michael Lewis opens a window into how and why the house of cards fell

More often than not, being straightforward and brutally honest can save a lot of time and pain.A recent article by Michael Lewis provides a window into how and why the US economy foundered. He tells this story through the lens of a few naysayers who had been convinced it would all come tumbling down. These folks had put their money ...

1 2 Next ›

Demian Entrekin
CEO
SplitStep (Owner)

Other contributor channels

99 Desk	Abrar Ahmad
Adam Hoeksema	Adam Sachs
Alain Chuard	Albin Serviant
Alex Kutsishin	Alex Mermod
Alexa Lee	Alia Knight
Anannya Debnath	Andy Freeberg
Andy Parng	Ane Howard
Angelica Davis	Anne Frisbie
Antonio Saillant	Auren Hoffman
Awais Khan	Aylon Steinhart
Bambi Francisco Roizen	Banckle Collaborative & Social
Barry Graubart	Ben Casnocha
Ben Elowitz	Bethany Wesch
Bjoern Herrmann	Brad Feld
Braden Kelley	Bradly Couch
Brian Prows	Brian Rayve
Brian Solis	Brittany Laughlin
Bryan McClain	CandleStick Advisors
Carey Ransom	Carl Brown
Carloans Forall	Charlene Li
Chris Arsenault	Chris Caceres
Chris Cunningham	Chris Petrovic
Christine Herron	Cole Flournoy
Constance Hammond	Dan Edwards
Dan Verhaeghe	Danah Boyd
Daniel Ketter	Daniel Sontag
Dave Lavinsky	David Hornik
David Howard	David Jakubowski
David James	David McGee
David Saad	Deborah Deragon
Dennis Drake	Dominic Marc
Dominique Molina	Don Dodge
Doron Jampolsky	Douglas Zanger
Dr. Steven Pouls	Duncan Davidson
easy unlock	EchoChief.com Editor
Eddie Kim	Eldad Matityahu
Eray S	Eric Manlunas
Eric Mieras	Eric Remer
Eric Ries	Eric Yang
Erin Håkansson	Ethan Kurzweil
Eze Vidra	Ezra Roizen
Faith Merino	Focus.com .
Forrest Kolb	Fred Wilson
G S	Gagan Biyani
Gary Silver	Gerard Szatvanyi
Gerhard Gschwandtner	giles richardson
Glenn Pingul	Gregory Ness
Gregory Pleshaw	Hannah Young
Hans Peter Brondmo	Howard Fried
Immad Akhund	J.D. Rucker
Janine Popick	Jasmine Powers
Jason Carbin	Jason Nazar
Jason Ng	Jayasri Gill
Jean Blaise	Jeffrey Bussgang
jenifer smith	Jeremy Beck
Jeremy Liew	Jessica Altieri
Jessica Miller	Jessica Washington
Jessica Laine Simmons	Jill Asher
Joe Gagliano	Joe Peacock
Joel Passen	Joey Tamer
John Bautista	John Greathouse
John Im	John Mcbill
John Shinal	jonathan bergstein
Josh Chandler	Julie Trade Levitch
Kanya Goldman	Katie Gatto
Kedric Van de Carr	Kevin Cimring
Kevin Hsu	Koby Biller
Konstantin Tovstiadi	Krista Paul
Kristin Karaoglu	Krystal Peak
L.B. Higginbotham	Larry Chiang
Larry Irons	Larry Kless
Larry Kramer	Larry Lisser
Lars Hard	Lauren Perkins
Lis Hubert	Lisa Anderson
Lisa Constance	Live Octane
Lorenzo Carver	Louis Gray
Luara Simpson	Marc Dangeard
Maria Victoria Beltran	Mark Cuban
Mark Evans	Mark MacLeod
Martin Zwilling	Matt Bowman
Matt Curcio	Melih Oztalay
Meliza Solan Surdi	Merrin Muxlow
Mia Saini	Michael Blend
Michael Bowers	Michael Burke
Michael Harries	Michael Kriz
Michael Ostendorff	Michael Stocker
Mike Cuesta	Mike Fruchter
Mike Rehan	Mikita Tseplavukhau
Mitos Suson	Nabeel Ahmed
Nagy Erzsebet	Nathan Lands
Nathan Pensky	Nelson Tan
Nick Such	Nikko Marasigan
Nir Eyal	Niraj Patkar
Norm Strassner	NuNet *
Olya Shabanova	Pascal Bensoussan
Patrick Haynes	Paul Schwartz
Peak Adventure	Per Håkansson
Pierre Coupet	Projector 123
Rachel Barge	Rakesh Verma
Raksh Martin	Ray Grieselhuber
Rebecca Fannin	Rebecca Weeks Watson
Reena A Jadhav	Research Mindz
Resource Nation	Rich Reader
Richard Kastelein	Roger Royse
Ron Levi	Ronny Kerr
Roy Stewart	Russ Whitman
Ryan Bagueros	Ryan Downs
Ryan Roberts	Samantha Spuckler
Samir Soriano	Sean Anderson
Seth Godin	Seth Lieberman
Sharad Saxena	Shavkat Karimov
Shiva Badruswamy	siraj deen
Sponsored Story	Steffen Heringhaus
Stephen G. Barr	Steve Anderson
Steve Blank	Steve Patrizi
Steve Ragan	Steve Rosenbaum
Steve Slepcevic	Steven Loeb
Subhash Kandpal	Susan Payton
susan solovic	Sutapa Kasibhatla
Sylvie Leotin	Tara Hornor
Taylor Buley	Tech Startups 3.0
Ted Hollifield	Ted Rheingold
The Editor GreatStartups.com	Theresa Johnson
Thom Calandra	Thomas Korte
Thomas Rigler	Tim Flannagan
Tim Marman	TJ Marsh
Tom Patterson	Tony Dillistone
Tony Shaw	Vahid Dejwakh
Victor Hanna	Winson Ng
Xtreme Labs	Yield Software
Zahra Siddique	Zamic Michael