Funding and Building your Business

Moral: The wise person isn’t the one who makes the fewest mistakes. It’s the one who learns the most from them.

Here are three interesting essays about how social networks work. Highly relevant reading for anyone in a social networking company—or investing in one.

“Most entrepreneurs we back are fairly self-assured. Some people might say they’re arrogant, but I don’t think arrogance is a virtue. The CEO needs to personally own the numbers, know how they work, and convey them to potential investors.”

Keep the amount of product or services you offer a company with an iffy credit record to a minimum until it has proven itself. And never start doing business until you have a signed contract clearly stating payment terms.

I’ve found that for many people, who want to develop a new product for the first time, the initial process is simply to jump into the Product Development River head first, blind folded and with no floatation device or helmet.

Up and down Sand Hill Road, the venture capital hub south of San Francisco, the financiers who bankrolled the technology boom of the 1990s are chasing their next big thing: alternative forms of energy.

Think multinationals have to be big? Think again. Scrappy, savvy small companies are operating worldwide in the battle for technology, talent, and customers.

If a disaster strikes, small businesses are particularly vulnerable. And if those small businesses aren’t prepared for the disaster, their very existence may be threatened.

Want to make your travels faster, cheaper, and far more comfortable? We’ve got the answers.

The reason so many leaders have trouble giving up projects is because they’ve risen up the corporate ladder by doing everything themselves.