Some thoughts on how to organize a conference that creates value:CB Insights’ Conference RantHow to Run a Tech ConferenceHow to Keep the People Attending Your Conference AliveAnd some thoughtful resources on how to organize and moderate a panel:How To Be a Great ModeratorWhy [...continue reading]
What content should you promote where?
Your company typically has seven layers of content marketing. Here are tips for each layer.What content do you use in marketing your firm? And what content should go in which place?Your company (or your fund, if you’re a VC) typically has a 7-layer stack of marketing content. In descending [...continue reading]
Ten experiments to test your new business hypothesis
You know that a new idea has gained dominance when it becomes practically a cliché. That is what I’ve seen happen with the “Lean Startup” philosophy of viewing your startup as a scientific experiment in search of a business model. This started as a new idea, then became popularized, and now people [...continue reading]
How To Create Buzz Around Your Company
Are you trying to build buzz, but don't have the cash to launch a full-fledged PR campaign? Hack it.I emphasize that the best PR you can build is through satisfied customers with high Net Promoter scores. In other words, you should focus first on a great product/service, and only after you’ve [...continue reading]
Should a Company Spend VC Funding on a Domain Name?
This is part 1 of a 2-part series on domain names and startups; part 2 will be “Build Your Startup on a Vacant Domain Name”.It is no coincidence that companies with the best domain names often tend to rise to the top of their space. Foursquare won vs. Gowalla, Loopt, and others. Wesabe [...continue reading]
How Private Equity Funds Are and Should Be Using Social Media
PEHub just posted this guest article: Can professional investors use social media? Or, is social media strictly for teenagers and staying in touch with your friends? Historically, institutional investors kept their investing strategy and their activities very discreet. Today, however, some are [...continue reading]
How to Create Free Buzz for Your Company
For startup companies trying to build buzz around their brand, but without the capital to launch a full-fledged PR campaign, there are a lot of ways to hack the PR game. Building on my earlier post about free publicity, I wanted to share some additional thoughts. To begin with, the best [...continue reading]
Why We Chose Salesforce CRM Over Zoho
I finally did it: I've moved my contact database over to the web. After extensive research of different CRM solutions (thanks BestVendor), we're working with Salesforce.com. We also used Salesforce heavily at one of my prior companies, Circle of Experts.I've been a loyal Act user for my [...continue reading]
Free Publicity for your Company
As a startup, the ability to create publicity for your business at minimal to no cost can be invaluable. We've listed below some of the more creative ways that we've seen our portfolio companies and others attract the media. MAJOR CONFERENCES SEEKING STARTUPS TO FEATURE (AT NO CHARGE) [...continue reading]
How a Private Equity Fund Uses Social Media for Building its Investment Pipeline and Raising Capital
Most private equity funds (and the equipment finance industry) are well behind the VC industry with regard to their use of social media. Jeff Bussgang, General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners, calculates that of the approximately 1,000 venture capitalists in the US actively seeking deals, 10-15% [...continue reading]
How to whitelist your site for corporate firewalls, so that the Fortune 500 can see you
Over the last year, I periodically would hear from clients and friends at some of the large investment banks that they could not view Teten.com. Given the amount of "adult" content on this site is zero, I was surprised and annoyed by this. The site is not a very good marketing tool if potential [...continue reading]
Free Market Research for Entrepreneurs, at Founder Institute last night
I enjoyed participating in a panel last night on "Market Research for Entrepreneurs", as part of the Founder Institute's first series of New York programming. The other speakers were Nicholas Butterworth, President & CEO, Diversion Media; and Steven Haines, President, Sequent Learning [...continue reading]
Lead Generation 2.0: How Entrepreneurs are Fueling the Next Wave of Innovation in Internet Marketing
Following are my notes on last night's MIT Enterprise Forum event: "Lead Generation 2.0: How Entrepreneurs are Fueling the Next Wave of Innovation in Internet Marketing" Moderator: Brian Hirsch, Managing Director, Greenhill SAVP Brian Hirsch is a Managing Director of Greenhill SAVP and a [...continue reading]
