BarCamp Boston 4 Presentation Preparation
by | posted in: The Boston Startup Scene | 0

BarCampBoston4 - Boston Geek Unconference logoThis Saturday and Sunday, BarCampBoston4 is happening at MIT! It’s a fantastic geek unconference, with close to 400 attendees networking, eating, and participating in sessions on everything from Rapid Application Development to Entrepreneurs Anonymous to Battlestar Galactica: The Aftermath. The main thing I’m thinking about is… what am I going to present on?

Some ideas I’ve been thinking about…

  • Boston public startup space – getting one started.
  • The Entrepreneur’s Lifecycle – learning, doing, outreach, and mentoring.
  • Kicking ass at competitive research for web services.

Starting a Boston Startup Space

Right now, the Boston startup community is an invisible network … [Read the rest »]

Who are the darling children startups these days?
by | posted in: Startup Marketing | 0

I was wondering, where have all the fanboys/girls gone? Startups like Flickr, Del.icio.us, and Basecamp got nothing but love when they were young. These days Twitter is the hot topic, but more among the mainstream than the early-adopter community; they’re 3 years old now.

I haven’t seen as much buzz from early adopter enthusiasts around any single startup lately, and I’m wondering: is it because there’s nothing hot? Or is there nothing that’s hitting a large enough number people at a common intersection (like Flickr did with photos)? Or am I just more out of touch these days with my … [Read the rest »]

Before You Eat Your Own Dog Food, Eat the Competitors’
by | posted in: Startup Life | 0

dog foodOne of the maxims of startup life is “Eat your own dog food,” meaning use your products / services yourself, so you know what it’s like for the customer. I’d like to add to that: Before your start eating your own dog food, make sure you’ve eaten a lot of your competitors’. We all start with the idea that we’re going to build something better than what our competitors are offering, but too often we miss out that there are at least some reasons why people continue to gobble down that disgusting gruel, and it might not be just because … [Read the rest »]

Self-Knowledge: Good for Entrepreneurship, Excellent for Info Overload
by | posted in: Personal Development, Startup Life | 0

Sign with plastic letters saying, 'we are plastic letters'.Self-awareness is what separates man from the ape. And high-quality self-knowledge is what separates the successful entrepreneur from the failed one. What do you spend most of your time on? What are your weaknesses? Who do you talk to the least that provides good advice the most often? The more we know about ourselves, the better we’re able to spend our time, and the easier it is to identify the areas where improvement will have the biggest effect. This is more than learning from our mistakes (though I’ve been doing that, too); it’s helping ourselves avoid errors and make … [Read the rest »]

Biz Book Tweet Club
by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

h2. Biz Book Tweet Club

The Biz Book Tweet Club is a tri-weekly book club that discusses the books we read over twitter.

*Book Choice*
Every 3 weeks, we choose a business book by poll, and individually purchase or borrow the chosen book. We read at our own pace, and post twitter messages (tweet) with our comments, highlights, insights, and questions, as we do so.

*Membership*
There are no formal requirements for membership; participate as you please! Frequent contributors will in the future receive a bio and link, below.

*Participate*
The current book is still being chosen. Vote in the … [Read the rest »]

What Now, Without Y Combinator?
by | posted in: The Boston Startup Scene | 0

Y Combinator logoWith Paul Graham’s announcement that Y Combinator will no longer be incubating startups in Boston for one of its cycles (due to his wife’s pregnancy and their decision to live in San Francisco full time), the question on the mind of many a young entrepreneur is what now for them?

NYC Seed logoBoston has a great casual startup community, but few official programs for supporting entrepreneurs. The worry that Boston talent is leaving for areas where there’s more support is reflected in the few efforts out there, like Flybridge Capital’s Stay in MA scholarship program, for students wanting to attend pricy Boston … [Read the rest »]

News Armada Post Mortem
by | posted in: Startup Life | 0

We’ve stopped construction of News Armada.

One of the things you read, repeatedly, about founding a startup is that the idea will change. Ours was no different. And when the big change came, it felt like an exciting moment, like we’d reached a milestone. It wasn’t just a change, it was an improvement. Better features, better plans, better products.

The downside? With changed idea came a changed target market. And it went from one we were comfortable with, one we knew, to one full of strangers. Let me tell you, the last type of customer you want is a stranger. … [Read the rest »]

The Web Desktop – What It Is & What It Needs
by | posted in: Web Technology & Entrepreneurship | 0

The Google OS has been a popular rumor for years, and resurges every time they launch a product that mimics some formerly desktop-only functionality, like Google Docs. But is Google the only service that can offer an online operating system? What would one look like, anyways? Why would we want one (isn’t a PC with internet access enough?)? And assuming we do, how far do we have to go from here to having one?

What’s a Web Desktop?

What makes a computer your computer? I’d argue that it’s three things:

  • personalized preferences,
  • navigation arrangement,
  • and access to files.

TheImage of the web desktop on multiple computers. web … [Read the rest »]

The Future of Social Objects – SNSs of 2010 – Part III
by | posted in: Web Technology & Entrepreneurship | 0

Social objects are the vital concept for online communities. They are the focal point of the interaction, discussion, and sometimes even connection between users. I touched on their role in Social Network Strategy for Web Services. Now I want to briefly highlight a few trends involving social objects and the evolution of social network platforms.

Synchronous Socializing

So far, most interaction around social objects has been asynchronous: I post a comment about a video, you see it and respond later. Soon, social network services will offer the ability to simultaneously communicate while viewing pieces of digital content. Creating a … [Read the rest »]

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