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11686

Libin: when, what and wa-how to be an...

Get the timing right, try to improve something that already exists and get an identity mug

by Steven Loeb - February 19, 2013
From entrepreneur

Featured Lessons learned

All | From entrepreneurs | From investors

Is effort a myth?

by Seth Godin, October 9, 2008 | Comments (2)

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Don't be tricked by the veneer of lucky people on the top of the heap

People really want to believe effort is a myth, at least if we consider what we consume in the media: politicians and beauty queens who get by on a smile and a winklottery winners who turn a lifetime of lousy jobs into one big paydaysports stars who are born with skills we could never hope to acquirehollywood celebrities with the ...
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Nurture the first few fans you have

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, October 7, 2008 | Comments

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Build your business by listening to your customers, rather than the VCs

Everyone's got an opinion. So, learning who to listen to and who to shut out is an ongoing challenge. But if you're going to listen to someone when it comes to your business, for goodness sake - listen to your customer. This is the lesson that Dan Beltramo learned at his startup Vizu. "When we first started our company, we ...
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Scott McNealy on breaking the rules

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 28, 2008 | Comments (2)

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Sun Microsystem co-founder and chairman shares his life and business lessons

Back in the 80's, Scott McNealy and Vinod Khosla founded a company called The Data Dump, which Scott told me was a "huge disaster." But as one idea failed, another took off. That other was Sun Microsystems. Together with Vinod, Andy Bechtolsheim, and Bil Joy, the foursome raised about $200,000 to start Sun Microsystems. Scott served as CEO from 1984 ...
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Focusing on competition can lead you astray

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 24, 2008 | Comments (2)

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Rubicon Project's Addante on focus, selling aspirin and leading with your gut

If you've been successful raising a lot of money, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a success running or building a company. That said, 31-year-old Frank Addante, founder and CEO of Rubicon Project, seems to have been pretty fortunate doing both. Since starting his first company - Starting Point, a search engine portal that became the 7th most popular Internet ...
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Socialmedian on raising a little vs. a lot

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 22, 2008 | Comments (2)

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Founder and CEO Jason Goldberg on why money is a temptation to do foolish things

 After raising $50 million for Jobster, Jason Goldberg decided to fund his new startup socialmedian in a very different way. "The biggest lesson I’ve learned when it comes to financing companies is to keep your startup small and keep it resource-constrained in the early days," he said, in this "Lessons learned" segment. "In some ways money is a temptation to ...
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A startup CEO's view of being acquired

by John Shinal, September 17, 2008 | Comments

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Adify's Russ Fradin talks about Cox, bankers and having a boss

Russ Fradin of Adify is the type of entrepreneur that investors want to get involved with -- one with a history of successful exits.When Cox Enterprises bought Adify for $300 million in cash earlier this year, it was his fourth startup that had either been acquired or gone public. The company had raised a total of $27 million, including angel ...
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Where's the scale in the business model?

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 15, 2008 | Comments (1)

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GotCast and GoBig Network founder on why scale rocks and 'growing' a business is a crappy model

If there is one thing that makes life easier for a startup, it's a business model that scales. This is one of the key lessons for serial entrepreneur Wil Schroter, founder of GotCast.com, an American Idol meets YouTube site, and GoBig Networks. "There's a big difference between growing a business and scaling a business," he said, in this short video ...
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Realizing when to pass the baton

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 15, 2008 | Comments (3)

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And, creating an environment of 350 entrepreneurs

There are few startup CEOs who remain at the helm of their companies for very long. Amazon's Jeff Bezos is one very special guy for sticking around for the last decade, and founders don't often return to lead the companies they birthed, like Yahoo's Jerry Yang did. For the most part, startup CEOs serve for a short period of time ...
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Your first idea always ends up different

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 12, 2008 | Comments (2)

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Pubmatic co-founder on finding a team that can be flexible and evolve

Most second-time entrepreneurs, heck - even first-timers, have that grizzled look about them. But not Pubmatic's co-founder Rajeev Goel, who helped his older brother, Amar, build golf retail site ChipShot back in the mid-90's, while Rajeev attended Johns Hopkins University. ChipShot raised $50 million in venture funding from the likes of blue-chip firm Sequoia, and others. But like many of ...
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Ashton Kutcher on Blah Girls

by Meliza Solan Surdi, September 8, 2008 | Comments (16)

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...And, his advice to entrepreneurs, really he has some

Ashton Kutcher's startup Blah Girls has gotten a lot of press. In this video, Ashton gives us his take on his experience as an entrepreneur. There wasn't much to his lessons. I guess that's not surprising, given that he's an, uh, actor for a living. I don't even think he's played an entrepreneur in his character. Nonetheless, in this video, ...
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What's not taught at Stanford B-school

by Larry Chiang, September 8, 2008 | Comments

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How to tap into the secret society of entrepreneurs

I am writing this article to show you a window into a world not very many people truly see. It's a society of people that support each other in an entrepreneurial way. What is most surprising is how much support you can tap into if you do it the right way.Yes, I'm the one who started Austin Secret Society of ...
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Entrepreneurs' paradox

by Gary Silver, September 5, 2008 | Comments (2)

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Just take my advice... I told you so

It seems the entrepreneur has the impossible task of solving the "Entrepreneurs' Paradox" (the title of my book that I'll never have time to write).  Entrepreneurs' Paradox   Do this But, do this   You need vision, trust your instincts, break through the herd mentality.    Research, listen to your customers, there is wisdom in the crowd.  Think big, VC's like big plans.    ...
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The importance of working backwards

by Awais Khan, September 4, 2008 | Comments (3)

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And, why ideas aren't worth much, but teams are worth tons

Often entrepreneurs are advised to be nimble and flexible; they're told to realize that their ideas and business models will change over time. So, why bother with a five-year plan? Well, as important as adapting to new realities is having goals and milestones and a road map. "One of the biggest lessons I've learned is the importance of working backwards," ...
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The virtues of going slower

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 3, 2008 | Comments (2)

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Tapulous CEO: Don't get ahead of yourself; companies need time to figure out what they want to be

Too much of a good thing, isn't always a good thing after all. And, when it comes to entrepreneurship - getting too much attention in the beginning can be a hurdle. This lesson was learned by seasoned entrepreneur Bart Decrem, the CEO and co-founder of Tapulous. "One of the things I learned from my previous startup was a company called ...
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