I’ve been spending a ton of time in the mobile world lately, mostly on behalf of Founders Co-op portfolio companies AppStoreHQ and Urban Airship, and the deeper I get in the mobile ecosystem, the more perplexed I am by Apple and Google’s behavior toward the iPhone and Android developer communities. With iPhone (the high-end pioneer) and Android continue…
It’s only Tuesday but it’s already been a big week here at Founders Co-op. First, the news broke about our newest company, RevenueLoan, raising $6MM to create a new and potentially disruptive finance offering for high-tech companies. Then BigDoor Media, a Founders Co-op portfolio company, announced a $5MM venture round led by Brad Feld at continue…
TechCrunch just published a terrific introduction to our newest Founders Co-op company: RevenueLoan. Andy and I got excited about the idea of royalty based finance for early-stage companies more than a year ago and have experimented with the structure in our first fund. As we worked through the details on these deals we realized that there continue…
One of our Founders Co-op portfolio companies just shared some eye-opening numbers about close rates for new inbound sales leads based on the speed with which they were followed up. Unsurprisingly, most leads turned cold after just a few days, with just 9% of closed sales occurring beyond the 72-hour aging mark. What got their – continue…
Before all you fanboys out there get your backs up, let me start by saying that Apple gets full credit for blowing up the mobile software business and creating an entirely new market for software entrepreneurs. The iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad / iTunes juggernaut is one of the most awesome technology ecosystems ever continue…
Earlier this year I was invited to run a training session for the Seattle-based coaches for SCORE, a Federally-funded program offering advice and training to entrepreneurs. Most of the companies in the program aren’t likely candidates for outside financing, but the Seattle program attracts a more tech-savvy cohort than most, and the coaching team wanted continue…
John Cook broke the news earlier today, but I wanted to add a quick congratulations to Bill Harding and his team at Bonanzle from all of us at Founder’s Co-op. We first talked to Bill about what he was up to in the fall of 2008, and have watched with admiration as he bootstrapped his continue…
I just jammed through Rework, the latest startup manifesto from 37Signals co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson. It’s a very fast read – a few dozen “chapters”, most just a page or two long – and anyone already familiar with lean startups, GTD and Seth Godin’s writing on authentic marketing won’t find much new in it, continue…
This idea now feels so obvious to me that I almost didn’t bother to write it down. But I keep having conversations with entrepreneurs who aren’t yet using the pattern and their eyes always light up when they see a way to apply it to their own business, so if this post turns on the continue…
Andy has a long post up today on how TechStars came to Seattle, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. TechStars is a fantastic program for early-stage software entrepreneurs who want to radically accelerate their progress and multiply their odds of success. The program has had a big impact on the early stage scene in continue…