Startup lesson #1: Reid Hoffman is wrong

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[Editor's note: Seattle entrepreneurs Barry Chu and Dave Cotter share some of their startup lessons in starting the new mobile app SquareHub. The three-part series is running this week on GeekWire, starting today with their thoughts about minimum viable products. In part two, they'll talk about how they determined product features. Part three, set to... Read More…

Commencement speech showdown: Advice to recent grads from Redfin’s Kelman and Zillow’s Rascoff

Glenn Kelman

It’s that time of year when commencement speeches ring out across the nation, with everyone from President Barack Obama to philanthropist Melinda Gates to comedian Jimmy Kimmel offering words of wisdom to recent grads. Now, LinkedIn is taking a very special approach to the commencement speech tradition, asking several of its so-called “influencers” to write “Commencement… Read More…

You did what? Why we chose debt over venture capital

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If you’re an entrepreneur, there’s a good chance that many of your conversations — and a good chunk of your inner dialogue — are consumed by thoughts of fundraising. You can’t open a web browser or email or Twitter without being bombarded by opinion pieces, research, case studies, and news on the topic. On this… Read More…

When your startup feels less like a hockey stick and more like a hip check

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We all love to talk about the “hockey stick” moment for a company, referring to the point when users and usage really starts to take off. It’s fun.  It’s exciting.  And  it’s so elusive we all want to dissect what the specific company actually did to achieve the stratospheric growth. But what about the hip check? What’s… Read More…

Shark Tank: The 3 worst startup mistakes made on TV’s best reality show

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For a long time I’ve felt like I must be either the first or last entrepreneur to discover the ABC series Shark Tank.  For the uninitiated, it’s pure startup voyeurism: a company stands in front of a panel of five plutocrats, pitches, and either gets an investment or gets laughed off the stage. It wasn’t until… Read More…

Hackathons at startups: Creative ‘fresh air’

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Every now and again, we hear about hackathons: Startup Weekend, Facebook’s famed all-nighters, Hack Week at Dropbox. However, in a startup, it’s so difficult to imagine how organizing a hackathon can be anything but harmful: “What do you mean, take a couple work days and drop what we’re doing? We’re in a race with competitors!… Read More…

Should you avoid raising startup capital early on? 10 founders weigh in

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There’s more than one school of thought about startup financing. After all, there are some very successful companies that have managed just fine without VC money, often on purpose. But as one entrepreneur we polled puts it below, if you really want to see your startup grow and thrive, then the question might be quite… Read More…

Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff’s secrets to startup success: Be a servant to your managers

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Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff is known as one of the hardest working dudes in Seattle tech. And that work ethic was on full display Tuesday night as Rascoff spoke to students and faculty as part of the Albers Executive Speaker Series at Seattle University. Rascoff shared a number of his startup secrets, expressing the management… Read More…

What startups can learn from rock ‘n’ roll bands

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So what can startups learn from the local do-it-yourself Rock N Rollers? You think it’s hard to get people to click on your link, imagine inviting hundreds — or even thousands — of people to your show and knowing that your income is determined by how many of those people show up and buy merchandise. Trust… Read More…