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by Steven Loeb - February 19, 2013
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Featured Lessons learned

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Lessons Learned: Microsoft's Dan'l Lewin is a big believer in distribution

by John Shinal, December 6, 2007 | Comments (1)

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Many startups fail for lack of distribution and sales; take more cash than you need

The interview we ran last week with Microsoft's Dan'l Lewin generated so much discussion that we wanted to put him back in the newsroom at the first opportunity -- this time for our Lessons Learned series. In this video, the Microsoft group vice president and Silicon Valley point man shares his advice for startup entrepreneurs."I have a strong belief in selling ...

Lessons Learned: Tumri's Hari Menon says choosing right people is critical early on

by John Shinal, December 4, 2007 | Comments

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Harder to replace a team member than it is to pick a distribution partner or marketing firm

Many entrepreneurs have told us about the importance of hiring the right people, especially in the early stages of a startup's life.In this interview, Tumri founder and CEO Hari Menon tells us why."When you make a mistake building the team, those are hard things to get out of," says Menon, who founded two prior startup companies before starting Tumri in ...

Lessons Learned: Plaxo founder Todd Masonis says don't focus on money or obstacles

by John Shinal, December 1, 2007 | Comments (1)

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Focusing on funding will slow you down; you'll face other challenges than you think at the start

Plaxo founder Todd Masonis has a piece of advice for entrepreneurs which runs against the grain of what many others have told us about raising money. The gist of it is: If you have a good idea, don't get stuck in the mode of thinking that you need someone to give you cash. Just go out and do what you ...

Match.com founder Gary Kremen says consider exit strategies early

by Ezra Roizen, November 29, 2007 | Comments (2)

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Match.com founder Gary Kremen answers whether or not his new venture, Sex.com, is the ultimate distillation of his earlier efforts. Gary, who gave his pitch about his other ventures -- Citizen Hawk and Clean Power Finance -- on Vator.tv, also talks about innovation, his thoughts on angel investing and what he looks for in the entrepreneurs he backs. He also shares his thoughts on why exit/acquisition dynamics are something startups should consider early. Essentially, he suggests that entrepreneurs think about ...

Bryan Stolle, MDV partner and former Agile CEO, says "go with what's in your heart"

by John Shinal, November 27, 2007 | Comments

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Bryan Stolle, a partner with the Silicon Valley venture firm Mohr Davidow Ventures, has insight into an aspect of entrepreneurship that relatively few executives get to ponder: what to do when a big rival wants to swallow you up.Stolle, who co-founded Agile Software in 1995 and served as CEO until 2006, remained as its board chairman and major shareholder until this year, when Oracle bought the company for $495 million.Letting go wasn't easy for Stolle, who built Agile into the ...

Lessons Learned: Genius.com CEO David Thompson says keep it your own as long as you can

by John Shinal, November 20, 2007 | Comments

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Take that as far as you can without thinking, 'I gotta have money'

Many would-be entrepreneurs think that they need to start talking to investors as soon as they have an idea for a startup.But that's not the advice from David Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Web analytics firm Genius.com."Spend a lot of time developing your idea and your technology on your own," before starting to raise funds, he says. "Take that as ...

Lessons Learned: Fliqz CEO Benjamin Wayne on the risks startups face

by John Shinal, November 16, 2007 | Comments

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Three risks facing startups: Market, technology and execution

The first piece of advice that Fliqz CEO Benjamin Wayne has for other entrepreneurs is to "never be technology in search of a market."In other words, building a better mousetrap is not a viable business in a neighborhood with no mice."Startups can't afford to educate a market," says Wayne, whose firm supplies while-label online video platforms to business customers.That means ...

Lessons Learned: Sphere's Tony Conrad says find a hard problem to solve

by John Shinal, November 12, 2007 | Comments

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Build the right team; be frugal; find a big problem

Tony Conrad currently wears two hats. He's the CEO of Sphere, a blog search engine that helps sites and their readers find more information about topics they're already reading or writing about.He's also a partner with the San Francisco venture capital firm True Ventures. In his investor role, he sits on the board of Automattic, which developed the open source ...

Lessons learned: Pixsy CEO Chase Norlin says getting beat up is a good thing

by John Shinal, November 8, 2007 | Comments (1)

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The most important lesson that Pixsy CEO Chase Norlin has learned in his three trips on the startup wheel is that "you have to be getting stuff done all the freakin' time."Norlin, whose video-search firm is going toe-to-toe with rivals ranging from YouTube to Truveo, also says it's a good thing "that you're going to be getting beat up all the time."One of the biggest challenges is surviving the peaks and valleys that come with the territory of startup CEO. "Sometimes, ...

Lessons learned: Quickeo CEO Arnaud de la Fouchardiere

by John Shinal, November 7, 2007 | Comments

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Be humble; Build the startup in the U.S.

If you're a startup CEO trying to convince Web users to share multimedia content via private emails, rather than through big social networking sites, you've got a big task ahead of you. No surprise then that one piece of advice from Quickeo founder Arnauld de la Fouchardiere is to "always be positive and enthusiastic, even if things are difficult." de la Fouchardiere, who counts ...

Ujogo CEO Eric Gonzales, poker player, taking a gamble on a market with "legal grayness"

by John Shinal, October 31, 2007 | Comments

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Given that it's an online gambling site that has launched its beta with a poker game, Ujogo has challenges that go beyond the usual ones experienced by most startups. As founder and CEO Eric Gonzales tells Vator.tv's Bambi Francisco, a lot of investors were scared off by the "legal grayness" of Ujogo's business plan in the wake of the crackdown by federal authorities on other poker and gambling sites. That forced Gonzales, a former partner with Doll Capital Management, to structure the company in a way ...

Lessons Learned: Cittio's Jamie Lerner on nickels and manhole covers

by John Shinal, October 29, 2007 | Comments (1)

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Don't believe the hype and challenge the business

Jamie Lerner, the founder and CEO of Cittio, says he learned from his entrepreneur father about the three "I's" -- "intelligence, integrity and intensity" -- which can help startup executives overcome a lot of challenges. Lerner, whose company sells software systems that let enterprises automate the process of monitoring their networks, also advises other entrepreneurs run their businesses economically, by ...

Woome CEO about passion and thick skin

by John Shinal, October 25, 2007 | Comments

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Lessons Learned: Woome CEO Stephen Stokols talks about passion and thick skin

Stephen Stokols, founder and CEO of speed-dating Web site Woome.com, learned a few things while running his first startup, JustWhatIWant.com, which was sold "profitably" at the height of the dotcom bubble in 2000."Don't ignore the macro conditions," says Stokols, who also helped revamp the search portal AltaVista before it was sold.Based on the number of Vator.tv viewers who have checked ...

Lessons Learned: Tony Perkins on Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs

by John Shinal, October 24, 2007 | Comments

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For someone who's made a career out of challenging traditional media companies, Tony Perkins has an unlikely hero: "Uncle" Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., the global news and entertainment giant. That's just one of the surprises in this video clip from Perkins, whose latest venture is the AlwaysOn media network, an online community-based news site covering tech, green tech and media companies. Perkins, who co-founded Red Herring magazine in 1993, "when no magazine was covering the growth industries," says he ...

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