I actually have an intern where part of their job is to track our portfolio of companies and how many times they’re mentioned in TechCrunch, because the more times a company gets mentioned in TechCrunch, the worse the company is.

(Source: wilkinsky.us)

Will today’s young startup folks abandon the city and head to the burbs?

Today’s young professionals appreciate the benefits of cities that, if not new, have become more obvious. First, there’s a baked in economic advantage to living in dense urban areas. Second, for creative, open-minded people (like entrepreneurs) cities are drawn to the cultural and intellectual stimulation therein. Third, cities are more environmentally sustainable than suburbs, a fact younger folks tend to appreciate. [read]

(Source: wilkinsky.us)

I believe there is no better time to be a small business. We have the advantage of being easier to reach, customer-centric, innovation-driven, and incredibly nimble. Showing the value of our size in savvy ways can help beat big competitors with ease.

(Source: wilkinsky.us)

Startups Live & Die by These 5 Street-Smart Laws of Advertising

Live Your Own Dream

Does that sound familiar to any of us? The entrepreneur’s dream; raking in dough while sipping margaritas on the beach. Here’s the recipe to turning your startup into an automated advertising cash machine.

1. Listen to your customer carefully.
2. Use one clear and direct message to speak to their needs.
3. Find out where your prospects already are, then place your messages in front of them.
4. Give value up front. Incentivise them to take action.
5. Build your product around their secret hopes / desires or fears / frustrations.

[read]

(Source: wilkinsky.us)

7 Reasons Start-ups Fail:

#7. Ignoring your gut

Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Warren Buffett, Richard Branson. They all learned very early on to listen to their initial instinct.

If your gut tells you that a potential hire is not a fit with the ethics and values you set, don’t hire him. If your gut tells you that your product will never gain one customer, let alone customer traction at scale, change and do something else. If your gut tells you that an investor will probably screw you down the line, don’t take her money.

When was the last time someone told you that they shouldn’t have listened to their gut? Exactly.

(Source: wilkinsky.us)

DuckDuckGo: 1.5 million daily queries and climbing for Paoli search engine

DuckDuckGo continues to be the little search engine that could.

On Wednesday, March 28, DuckDuckGo hit an all time high of 1,518,581 direct queries in one day

Lykke Li, Peter Bjorn and John, Miike Snow, Teddybears, More Launch Record Label

A group of Swedish artists, including Lykke Li, Peter Bjorn and John, Miike Snow, and Teddybears, have formed a new collective and record label called Ingrid.

From an official statement:

Ingrid was created over numerous cups of pitch black coffee at Mellqvist’s in Stockholm: a place where tall men, homecoming stars, sailor boys, toddlers, seekers, and women so beautiful it hurts, come together to discuss the indifferences of who you are and what you ought to be…

Beyond complaints of harsh winters and lack of a real good Mexican joint, other topics started to swirl around the tables. Isn’t there more to life than world tours, indie cred and empty pockets? Couldn’t we be creating straight from the heart right to the people without any middle hands? Is it not 2012?

In a heartbeat, Ingrid was created. Consisting of members such as: Miike Snow, Lykke Li, Peter Bjorn and John, Coco Morier, Jocke Åhlund, Johanna Beckman, Jonas Torvestig, and Tomas Nordmark, Ingrid plans to offer a home for the new guard of musicians and artists. The opportunity for creation, collaboration, and compilation sonically and visually, Ingrid will provide in an unadulterated space.

http://www.ingrd.com
http://www.facebook.com/ingrid.swe

(Source: wilkinsky.us)