Mathematician Safa Motesharrei of the US National Science Foundation-supported National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, working with a team of natural and social scientists, recently published a shockingly dark report on the near future of Western civilization. According to these credible researchers,
How To Test Business Ideas
While the process of building a business takes time and money, testing business ideas can be fast and relatively easy. Create a video showing what you will offer, explaining the back story and benefits. Use Indiegogo. Use fake products and
How much it’s worth to be #1 on Hacker News for a day
Last Tuesday my blog post about using a standing desk for 2 years shot to number 1 on Hacker News for a brief but glorious 10 hours. Below I’ll explain how this impacted my traffic and sales. Here’s my
Why You Shouldn’t Build That App
I often come across great ideas that would obviously make for blockbuster mobile apps. I proceed with almost none of them. The reason I hesitate to build new apps outside of my current project, Power 20, is because mobile apps
VC Money vs. Bootstrapping
When it comes to starting a business, it’s important for us online entrepreneurs to know what our end goal is. Is the end goal to get a big exit, like getting acquired or going public? Or is it creating a
Know thyself
Let’s face it: everyone wants to build an online business. Virtually everyone I know has ideas for web and mobile apps and businesses. Add to this the fact that Americans are risk-taking entrepreneurs and you have the perfect conditions for
Be Different
Most startups work insane hours, don’t pay their employees, pay little attention to health, and see ongoing learning as a luxury. At my latest venture, ClearGears, and at my other venture, Crowd Interactive, we take culture, health, and fairness extremely
Failure: 3 Early Signs
If you’re thinking of joining a pre-funded startup as an employee, or you’re considering investing in a startup (and you’re not a professional investor), look out for these early-warning signs that forebode failure. 1. The founder is unemployable. If your
Read This Book
Here at Dogpatch Labs in New York, my coworker Steven Tynan, the very talented Dan Shipper, and I are reading The Four Steps To The Epiphany by Steven Gary Blank in our humble Dogpatch NY Book Club. If you are
Where To Spend
Don’t Spend Everything On Inventory When starting an online store selling tangible goods like clothes or jewelry, entrepreneurs often struggle to figure out where to allocate their limited funds. Since most entrepreneurs are more familiar with their products than web