To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.
This week, in celebration of Facebook’s initial public offering tomorrow, we again present Mark Zuckerberg, an amazing, inspirational entrepreneur. Congrats Zuck! All the hard work and perseverance has paid-off.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Matt Cohler, a General Partner at Benchmark Capital and an impressive entrepreneur and investor. Matt previously served as the VP of Product Management at Facebook (where he was the seventh employee) and Vice President and General Manager at LinkedIn (where he was a member of the founding team).
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we again present Phil Libin, co-founder and CEO of Evernote, and a bright and engaging entrepreneur.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present David Hornik, a partner at August Capital and indeed a very smart investor. (Incidentally, David’s portfolio company, Splunk, just went public today.)
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we again present Jack Dorsey, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Twitter and Co-founder and CEO of Square, and indeed an extraordinary entrepreneur.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Steve Balmer, the CEO of Microsoft and an impressive, energetic leader.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we again present Jeff Clavier, the Founder and Managing Partner of SoftTech VC, and a smart, savvy investor.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video presentation or interview of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed. This week, we again present Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, a partner at Greylock and a brilliant entrepreneur.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Tony Conrad, the CEO and co-founder of about.me, and a founding partner at True Ventures.
In this interesting 30-minute clip (courtesy of Tech Cocktail), Tony briefly discusses how to launch your product, including (i) launch evolution over the past seven years; (ii) the power of the social graph; and (iii) the importance of a strong “posse.” He then sits down for an interesting interview and Q&A with the audience covering a broad range of entrepreneurial issues. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we again present Mark Pincus, the founder and CEO of Zynga and a brilliant entrepreneur.
How To Pitch Investors (via David Cohen of TechStars)
by Scott Edward Walker on February 9th, 2012
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present David Cohen, the founder and CEO of TechStars.
In this extraordinary 30-minute clip (starting at the 8:45 mark and courtesy of This Week in TechStars), David discusses how to pitch investors by dissecting the actual pitch done by Alex White of Next Big Sound in 2009. Indeed, David specifically highlights the importance of:
focusing on the first minute (especially in a group setting);
describing the big problem in the marketplace – the pain proposition;
demonstrating the product and how it addresses that problem;
telling a story;
“painting [your] vision” and not just focusing on what you’ve done to date;
going after something “big and audacious” (a “big, hairy goal”);
making sure that every slide has a point (“it exists for a reason”);
not talking about your competitors – instead, talking about your differentiation;
convincing investors that you don’t need a lot of capital (“we are cheap to keep alive”);
demonstrating traction and your ability to execute;
strategizing about the amount of capital you are trying to raise (“ask for less”); and
“beating [investors] over their head with a couple of things that matter.”
Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Mark Zuckerberg (Words of Wisdom)
by Scott Edward Walker on February 3rd, 2012
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
Below is five-minute highlight video of Mark and some of his “words of wisdom.” I have also set forth below a copy of the letter he wrote to potential investors as part of the registration statement. It is an extraordinary document, chock full of golden nuggets for entrepreneurs (particularly in “The Hacker Way” section).
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group and one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world.
In this interesting, four-minute clip, Richard shares a few solid insights for founders, including the importance of (i) being a great listener and motivator; (ii) understanding the “thin dividing line” between success and failure; and (iii) effective delegation.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Bing Gordon, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, the Chief Creative Officer at Electronic Arts from 1998 to 2008, and a very smart investor.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we again present Sean Parker, a brilliant entrepreneur and visionary; the co-founder of Napster and Plaxo; and the former President of Facebook.
In this interesting, four-minute video, Sean shares some solid advice with a couple of Indian entrepreneurs, including the importance of:
building “a complete team around what you’re doing”;
not being “stingy” with equity grants;
convincing investors and others that “you’re not crazy and can pull this off”; and
following Steve Jobs’s advice: “I’m succeeding because I have a great team.”
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we again present Steve Jobs, arguably the greatest entrepreneur who ever lived. Indeed, I just finished reading his biography by Walter Isaacson (which I highly recommend for all entrepreneurs), and I found this old video to share with you. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Phil Libin, co-founder and CEO of Evernote, and a very intelligent and engaging entrepreneur.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Brad Feld, the managing director at Foundry Group, and a very smart investor (and indeed impressive guy).
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Paige Craig, the founder and CEO of BetterWorks and a very impressive entrepreneur and angel investor.
In this interesting, five-minute clip (courtesy of Business Insider), Paige discusses the importance of:
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Joe Gebbia, the Co-Founder of AirBnB.
In this very interesting 20-minute video, Joe discusses the history of AirBnB and how it was created and scaled; it’s an amazing, inspirational story. You should also check out this extraordinary email exchange between Paul Graham (the Co-Founder of Y Combinator) and uber-VC Fred Wilson with respect to a possible investment in AirBnB. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: We mourn the passing of Steve Jobs by sharing this brief video of Steve Wozniak (his good friend and Apple co-founder). Naturally, the video doesn’t work with IE. (more…)
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video presentation or interview of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.
This week, we again present Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, a partner at Greylock and a brilliant entrepreneur (courtesy of The Wall Street Journal). In this interesting clip, Reid provides five solid tips for startups:
focus on “network intelligence”
understand doing “flexible persistence”
always aim big
pay attention to the “real dynamics of competition”
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we again present startup guru Eric Ries, author of the new book The Lean Startup and a very smart entrepreneur; he previously co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU and blogs at Startup Lessons Learned.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Kevin Systrom, the co-founder and CEO of Instagram.
In this interesting, three-minute clip (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Kevin provides some outstanding advice with regard to raising capital, including the importance of:
• seeking out the people you want to work with;
• optimizing for people, not for valuation; and
• finding investors as if you’re hiring part of your team.
Kevin also discusses the importance of bringing a prototype to a pitch meeting (as opposed to a deck), which is indeed solid advice. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Sean Parker, a brilliant entrepreneur and visionary; the co-founder of Napster and Plaxo; and the former President of Facebook.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we are sharing a bonus video: the first keynote address at the 7th Founder Showcase in San Francisco entitled “The Anatomy of a Fundable Startup,” presented by Naval Ravikant. This is the bookend to Mark Suster’s address, “Getting Funded in a Frothy Market” (which we posted on Friday).
Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Mark Suster (Fundraising)
by Scott Edward Walker on June 24th, 2011
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we again present Mark Suster, a partner at GRP Partners, blogger extraordinaire, and a very smart entrepreneur turned VC.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Michael Yavonditte, currently the founder and CEO of Hashable and Tracked, and formerly the CEO of Quigo (which was sold to AOL in 2007 for $340 million) — and a very smart, impressive entrepreneur (and mentor).
In this solid, three-minute interview via Founder Stories (one of my favorite podcasts), Michael provides some excellent advice to startups, including the importance of (i) hiring great people, (ii) a “good” and “sensible” idea, (iii) flexibility and (iv) “sequencing” and “prioritization.” I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Don Dodge, Joe Kraus, Paul Buchheit & Seth Priebatsch
by Scott Edward Walker on June 1st, 2011
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.
This week, we present a panel of extraordinary entrepreneurs and investors moderated by Don Dodge: Joe Kraus, currently a partner at Google Ventures; Paul Buchheit, currently a partner at Y Combinator; and Seth Priebatsch, the founder of SCVNGR. You can follow them on Twitter at @DonDodge, @jkraus, @paultoo and @sethpriebatsch, respectively.
Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Paul Graham (via Charlie Rose)
by Scott Edward Walker on May 24th, 2011
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed. This week, we again present startup guru Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator and a brilliant entrepreneur and investor.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.
This week, we present Jason Nazar, the Co-Founder and CEO of Docstoc.com and a very impressive entrepreneur. Indeed, there is a lot you can learn from Jason, including his extraordinary talent in building relationships.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.
This week, we present Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of SecondMarket, a marketplace for buying and selling alternative financial assets, including private company stock.
Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: The Story of Marc Andreessen
by Scott Edward Walker on May 4th, 2011
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present the story of Marc Andreessen, a brilliant, visionary entrepreneur and now co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we present Jason Calacanis, a highly-successful entrepreneur, angel investor and founder of Silicon Alley Reporter, Weblogs, TechCrunch 50, Mahalo, ThisWeekIn.com and Launch. In this very interesting, recent presentation at the California Institute of Technology, Jason shares some extraordinary words of wisdom for entrepreneurs, including:
Ideas mean little – execution is everything;
Iteration is much more important than inspiration or ideas;
Focus is overrated – and pivoting is underrated;
Hard work is the most critical part of being an entrepreneur, coupled with resiliency;
Execution is critical to raising money;
The selection of a domain name is an important “tell”; and
When you pivot proactively, that’s when you really become a great entrepreneur.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we present Joe Liemandt, the founder and CEO of Trilogy. In this amazing audio clip (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Joe discusses how we dropped out of Stanford in his senior year to launch Trilogy and other great stories. This is an inspiring, must-hear podcast for entrepreneurs. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs.
This week we present Steve Jobs, obviously one of the greatest entrepreneurs who ever lived. In this amazing, inspirational speech (his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address, which we previously posted), Steve discusses “three stories of [his] life,” with the following important takeaways:
You have to “follow your heart” and trust and embrace the path that you are taking (“amor fati” – to use Nietzsche’s phrase). Indeed, you must understand, with full conviction, that “you cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.”
“You’ve got to find what you love…. The only way to do great work is to love what you do…. Keep looking; don’t settle.”
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way…to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose….There is no reason not to follow your heart….Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
“Stay hungry, stay foolish.”
By the way, I’m sure many of you have already seen this video. My advice: watch it again (and again). Cheers, Scott
“We have these things in our head, and we just want to get them built.” –Dennis Crowley
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we again present Dennis Crowley, Co-founder and CEO of foursquare and a super smart and successful entrepreneur. In this interesting, four-minute interview with Chris Dixon (courtesy of TechCrunch TV), Dennis discusses (i) launching a startup in New York City, (ii) fundraising and (iii) growing from 2 to 50 people (i.e., “building the machine that builds the products”). I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we present Scott Belsky, who is the founder and CEO of Behance and the author of Making Ideas Happen. In this interesting, three-minute clip, Scott discusses the importance of marketing. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.
This week, we present Bill Gross, the founder and CEO of Idealab and a brilliant serial entrepreneur. In this interesting, six-minute clip (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Bill discusses the complementary skills necessary for a successful management team, including the respective roles of the entrepreneur (E), the producer (P), the administrator (A), and the integrator (I). I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we present Fred Destin, a partner at Atlas Venture and a smart investor (and a good guy). In this interesting presentation in Berlin last year, Fred discusses how to pitch your startup to investors, including (i) honing your story, (ii) how to get past “no”, (iii) the importance of a business model and (iv) traction. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Fred Wilson, a very smart investor and the Managing Partner of two venture capital firms, Flatiron Partners and Union Square Ventures. In this interesting speech, Fred discusses entrepreneurship and the various structures and approaches to running your own business. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we present Jack Dorsey, the creator, Co-founder and Chairman of Twitter and Co-founder and CEO of Square, and an extraordinary entrepreneur. In this interesting presentation (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Jack discusses the story of Twitter (and Square) and provides lots of great advice and nuggets for entrepreneurs. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we present startup guru Eric Ries, who is an author, speaker and consultant for The Lean Startup and a very smart guy; previously, he co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU. In this interesting 15-minute speech from the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Eric provides an excellent overview of his lean startup methodology, including (i) how a startup is an experiment; (ii) the importance of the pivot; (iii) validated learning; and (iv) the feedback loop. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we present William Sahlman, a professor at Harvard Business School and a very intelligent, engaging guy. In this interesting, three-minute clip from a few years ago (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Bill discusses, among other things, (i) the importance of the “relentless pursuit of opportunity” and (ii) how “ideas are a dime a dozen and execution is all that matters.” I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week we present Aaron Levie, the Co-Founder and CEO of Box.net and a smart, engaging entrepreneur. In this interesting, three-minute clip (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Aaron discusses how he launched Box from his dorm room and how he had the guts to quit college to pursue his dream. I love this clip because it’s another example of the importance of guts – which I addressed in my recent post, “What Makes a Great Entrepreneur?” I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we again present Marc Andreessen, a brilliant entrepreneur and co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz; he is also co-founder and chairman of Ning. In this interesting, two-minute clip (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Marc discusses the general criteria for a successful, high-tech startup: (i) Is there a big market? (ii) Is there a “10x change” happening in the landscape? and (iii) Is the team outstanding? I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we present Tom Conrad, the CTO of Pandora and a smart, engaging guy. In this interesting, five-minute clip (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Tom discusses, among other things, the importance of (i) word of mouth (“words and mouths”), (ii) fostering relationships with your customers and (iii) genuinely connecting with them. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we present Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins and a very smart investor. In this interesting, eight-minute clip (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner from a few years back), Randy discusses the magic of Silicon Valley and its “culture of constructive failure.” I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott