Commentary: 5 startup lessons I learned in 5 months

Photo via Scott Campbell

After months of research, a lean development cycle, and a beta program, TINYpulse launched publicly last November. In April, I was recapping for my advisors what I learned in the first five months since launch, and thought I’d create a condensed version to share publicly with fellow entrepreneurs. 1. Simple first. When we were developing… Read More…

Appature’s Kabir Shahani: Startups are 95% luck, 4% timing and 1% hard work

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Appature CEO Kabir Shahani is one of the most energetic and charismatic young entrepreneurs in Seattle. He’s also wise beyond his years, with a startup flop and a big success under his belt. So, who better to speak to a group of emerging student entrepreneurs than the 30-year-old UW grad, who is still flying high… Read More…

Glympse CEO Bryan Trussel: You really don’t want to take the startup leap, do you?

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I’ve seen a lot of entrepreneurs over the years talk about what it’s like to create a startup, explaining in detail the excitement, fear and, sometimes, lonely journey that makes up the startup voyage. But I’ve never seen all of those emotions summarized so well as Glympse co-founder Bryan Trussel did last night at the Get… Read More…

Startup lesson #3: Don’t make up a brand, be yourself

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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 Tuesday with their thoughts about minimum viable products. In part two, they talked about figuring out key product features. Part three, running here today, covers startup... Read More…

Startup lesson #2: Don’t ignore the enablers

squarehub-team

[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 yesterday with their thoughts about minimum viable products. In part two, they'll talk about how they determined product features. Part three, set to run... Read More…

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

money-keithcooper

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…