Infographic: Power of Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship

I love this Infographic of the Silicon Valley ranking of cities for entrepreneurship!!!

The top  5 scores were:

  • Menlo Park,
  • Mountain View,
  • Palo Alto,
  • Sunnyvale,
  • Redwood City

Did you see that there is a geographic dominance of Northern California?  The top 4 Silicon Valley cities in the MIT rankings possess 20 times the average start-up quality as California's median city!!!!  WOW!

silicon valley


Top 5 Personal Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs!

I was reading a few articles on entrepreneurship and the secrets of success of the entrepreneur themselves, vs just the company. Here's the Top 5 Personal habits that I found in common across all the articles in both first time entrepreneurs and serial entrepreneurs as well!

  1. Prioritize!   81% of the top entrepreneurs (value of $3.2M or greater and successful exit) make one the night before for those priorities that are most important.
  2. The Early Riser!   44% get up and going an average of 3 hours before they officially start "work"
  3. Get Help!    77% of those who are successful have an adviser!
  4. Networked Connectors.    79% network 5 or more hours a month.
  5. Return that call.    86% return all their calls in the same week they were received.

Some great habits here that I will adopt as well !!!


Growth Hacks for Startups!

Small is beautiful !  Listening to your clients!  Just some of the essentials ways to grow with some cool hacks!!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/jOAiOiBiKKo]


5 Insights From VC Meetup and Panel for Enterpreneurs

I love to learn and share those learnings so here are 5 things I took away:

  1. Validate the good idea.   Over 50% of new apps and products fail.  Those that success have been vetted and tested.   The advice they gave was to have as many people as possible provide you feedback as quickly as you can. That could be through Kickstarter or just creating an MVP!
  2. Either be or hire a Tech Geek!    The VCs validated that every company today is competitive through technology (well, just about!).   The discussion was that every company is a tech company so either the founder or her right hand person needs to be steeped in the knowledge of technology.
  3. Network.   Networking is crucial to a successful startup.  All the VCs said that they bet on the person first, the idea second.   In order for them to bet on you, they need to know you and trust you!  Take the time to get to know those who might fund you!
  4. Have a business plan.   This factoid amazed me.  Over 50% of those companies that come into a VC come in with a great product but no business model.  Make sure you think through both the offering and the way that you make money.
  5. Dream big and have confidence.   A lot of success is trying again and again and not being afraid of hearing no  Facing  rejection can be tough, but ensure you have the confidence to wirhstand it.   One entrepreneur said he was turned down for funding over 20 times before he was funded, and is now a successful serial entrepreneur.  Be passionate about what you bring to the table.

3 Pieces of Advice for Start-ups and Intrapreneurs from Unusual Places!

I am in Vegas and walked through a great museum with fun quotes and it made me think of the advice earlier from some of our Venture Capitalists!

1.  Fish are the last to recognize water.    Make sure that you are constantly evaluating the landscape.  Sometimes startups fall in love with their products and don't see poor product-market fit with a solid business model.   Remember that the product must be desired by a customer -- and there are many substitutes. At our last VC roundtable, the VCs said that they are always weary when someone comes in with an idea that has 0 competition  While this seems basic, I have seen many entrepreneurs dive into creating a product that they think is totally unique, not thinking through other options.

2.  It's always better to be looked over than overlooked.  Many start-ups think about scale and overlook the way to get to need scale.   The priority should be on developer productivity and being able to deliver the features and platform that sets your product apart.   Focus on scale when it actually becomes a problem. You'll be better prepared with more information about what to fix and where and hopefully with more help to do it.

3.  If you want the rainbow you better put up with the rain.    Many start-ups put their energy into impressing their boards and investors instead of their customers.    Of course you must work with your investors, but a great start-up filters those ides through the eyes of their clients and potential clients.    Don't get distracted focusing on the wrong group.