Letters Remain

Tag: entrepreneurship

  • 13 + 17 Tips for Startups

    Two articles of fundamental startup tips, from two people who know what they’re talking about: Startups in 13 Sentences, by Paul Graham of Y Combinator. Of the 13 sentences, which one does Paul believe is the most important? Understand your users. That’s the key. The essential task in a startup is to create wealth; the…

  • Execution is Everything

    With the premise that execution is everything and that without execution ideas are worthless, the participants of Seth Godin’s Alternative MBA program have produced 999 business ideas free for the taking. The majority; worthless. A few; excellent. Although I think we can still state: point proven.

  • Business Models for Web Apps

    Looking at the business models of the top 100 web apps of 2008, Dan Zambonini of Box UK found that 34% use Advertising, 12% a Variable Subscription model, and a further 8% each for Virtual Products, Related Products and Pay-Per-Use. Continuing this analysis he compiles an extensive list of different methods to monetize web apps. via @zambonini

  • Executing Your Idea

    Serial entrepreneur Alex Mann implores us to take action, in this series of posts on executing your business idea: Be An Executioner Who’s Your Market Building Your Team Gaining Momentum Develop Your Moat As Alex reiterates in Gaining Momentum, this advice that originally appeared in the comments section of the introduction (written by friend and…

  • On Business Books, Self-Education, and Mental Models

    I mentioned the Personal MBA Book List last week, and today have come across this interview between Josh Kaufman and Ben Casnocha, author of My Start-Up Life. Josh runs the Personal MBA Recommended Reading List — a list of the best business books one would need to read for a comprehensive business education. It’s a…

  • The Personal MBA Book List

    The Personal MBA is a site dedicated to helping people gain an MBA education without the expense of business school. It’s a self-study guide to advanced business topics and concepts. As Kevin Kelly—the founding executive director of Wired—says: No matter what they tell you, an MBA is not essential for landing or handling a good…

  • Joel Spolsky on Strategy

    Trawling through the Joel on Software archive, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading the Strategy Letter series. Building a company? You’ve got one very important decision to make, because it affects everything else you do. No matter what else you do, you absolutely must figure out which camp you’re in, and gear everything you do accordingly, or…

  • 17 Startup Mistakes

    John Osher is the epitome of the “serial entrepreneur”. After selling his toy company – CAP Toys – to Hasbro in 1997 for more than $120 million this is what he did: “I decided I’d make a list of everything I’d done wrong and [had] seen other entrepreneurs do wrong, I wanted to make a…

  • Ask Y Combinator – The Archive

    I’ve written about Y Combinator before, and if you followed the link you’ll have realised by now that ‘Y Combinator‘ is analogous to ‘Grade A Columbian Nose Candy‘. Well get ready for another binge on the dandy candy, as the Startups Wiki has now produced the Ask YC Archive – a site highlighting the best…

  • You’re Not a Blogger

    The simplest blog post I’ve seen in a long time. The best blog post I’ve seen in a long time. Do what you love… be an entrepreneur. Richard Branson on Copyblogger