So you want to be an Entrepreneur Blog » Startup http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog How to decide if starting a business is really for you Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:39:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 When to write your business plan (vs. customer development) http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/when-to-write-your-business-plan-vs-customer-development/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/when-to-write-your-business-plan-vs-customer-development/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:44:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/when-to-write-your-business-plan-vs-customer-development/ Well most people would start the painful process of writing a business plan right away as they have their first idea for their startup, often taking months, just getting ready because that’s what they are trained to do –…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/when-to-write-your-business-plan-vs-customer-development/feed/ 0 FREE access to excellent video training from Founder Institute http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/free-access-to-excellent-video-training-from-founder-institute/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/free-access-to-excellent-video-training-from-founder-institute/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:47:06 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/free-access-to-excellent-video-training-from-founder-institute/ I got an email from the great Silicon Valley StartupDigest newsletter and its giving subscribers free access to some really useful training for startups, check it out.

Founder’s Note: We have partnered up with the Founder Institute to get

…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/free-access-to-excellent-video-training-from-founder-institute/feed/ 0 So many details to get your Startup off the ground… http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/so-many-details-to-get-your-startup-off-the-ground/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/so-many-details-to-get-your-startup-off-the-ground/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:48:26 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/so-many-details-to-get-your-startup-off-the-ground/ A colleague at Stanford, serial entrepreneur and friend Joe Beninato has a really great new blog based around his adventures on his 7th startup Tello.

His is an example of the many granular things that just…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/so-many-details-to-get-your-startup-off-the-ground/feed/ 0 Ron Conway and Paul Graham startup success data http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/ron-conway-and-paul-graham-startup-success-data/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/ron-conway-and-paul-graham-startup-success-data/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:51:36 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/ron-conway-and-paul-graham-startup-success-data/ I was watching Michael Arrington interviewing Ron Conway and Paul Graham and this is what I learned and also my own view after several startups of my own and those of friends.

So Ron’s very simple data from 500+

…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/ron-conway-and-paul-graham-startup-success-data/feed/ 2 Great lessons from an Angel Investor Matt Coffin http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-lessons-from-an-angel-investor-matt-coffin/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-lessons-from-an-angel-investor-matt-coffin/#comments Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:26:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-lessons-from-an-angel-investor-matt-coffin/ This is one of the best videos I have ever watched to help startups see what makes sense in coming up with an idea and other great lessons, how to avoid building something no one cares about, what angels…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-lessons-from-an-angel-investor-matt-coffin/feed/ 1 Want to “burn” your Company to the ground…Fire the founder. http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/want-to-burn-your-company-to-the-groundfire-the-founder/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/want-to-burn-your-company-to-the-groundfire-the-founder/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:15:39 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/want-to-burn-your-company-to-the-groundfire-the-founder/ This topic is always a hot one for founders when they are considering VC money!

Or indeed when they are talking with private equity companies.

I wanted to write about it as a very talented friend of mine was…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/want-to-burn-your-company-to-the-groundfire-the-founder/feed/ 0 Get a Complete Set of Founder-friendly Legal Docs http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/get-a-complete-set-of-founder-friendly-legal-docs/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/get-a-complete-set-of-founder-friendly-legal-docs/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:54:48 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/get-a-complete-set-of-founder-friendly-legal-docs/ Adeo at TheFunded has come up with some time and cost saving free legal docs that look good if you are US based and starting up. They are written to be less “VC-sided” and if you can use them…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/get-a-complete-set-of-founder-friendly-legal-docs/feed/ 0 Excellent video for tech startups…by Eric Ries http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/excellent-video-for-tech-startupsby-eric-ries/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/excellent-video-for-tech-startupsby-eric-ries/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 21:16:01 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/excellent-video-for-tech-startupsby-eric-ries/ I met Eric through a friend Steve Blank and these two have formed a partnership of sorts both in teaching great lessons on startups which grew from working together at IMVU where Eric was a founder and Steve a…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/excellent-video-for-tech-startupsby-eric-ries/feed/ 0 How to write a winning elevator pitch http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-write-a-winning-elevator-pitch/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-write-a-winning-elevator-pitch/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:59:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-write-a-winning-elevator-pitch/ Writing a good and punchy “elevator pitch” is way harder than most people think. Plus I find that I really need to teach this skill a lot with my Stanford and UC Berkeley MBA’s to help them both with…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-write-a-winning-elevator-pitch/feed/ 3 Been laid off…should you hire yourself? http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/been-laid-offshould-you-hire-yourself/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/been-laid-offshould-you-hire-yourself/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:53:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/been-laid-offshould-you-hire-yourself/ You know the numbers

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in FEBRUARY 2009 Nonfarm payroll employment continued to fall sharply in February (-651,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 7.6 to 8.1 percent. In February, job losses were…

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