In two years – with no funding and no full-time developer until 2010 – entertainment company Spartz Media has built popular sites that attract over 115 million monthly page views: sites like MuggleNet, OMG Facts, and GivesMeHope. As they continue to launch one site a month watching for blockbusters, CEO and MuggleNet creator Emerson Spartz…
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Starting a new company is exciting. Building a company is thrilling. Seeing your idea grow and take off is exhilarating. Reality, on the other hand, can hit you as hard as a pro-bowl NFL linebacker. When you’re starting up a new venture, you must start with the premise that nothing will go exactly as planned. Projects will…
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So the board meeting ends, and a few of the board members and I go out for steaks, single malt scotch and cigars. The CEO has not been invited, and we drink, laugh, blow smoke rings and make CEO jokes. Two board meetings later, the board fired the CEO, and I drew the short straw….
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It is common knowledge that many great artists sacrificed, suffered, and invested in their art before it paid off. I remember the first opportunity I had to make a significant contribution to a meaningful organization with the requisite significant ownership stake. Joining that club of vested team members came at a cost. I took a 65% hit…
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Do you have what it takes to lead a startup? Are you the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? Do you possess the common schizophrenic traits of endless energy and passion coupled with cool steely-eyed, ninja-assassin calm that keeps your head above water when all others are drowning? More importantly are you committed? Are you all-in?…
Read MoreLast night, I attended the DC Lean Startup Circle in Arlington, Virginia, hosted by Kevin Dewalt and Ken Yarmosh, featuring a couple of industry heavy weights, Dave McClure and Eric Ries, talking about everything “Lean Startup.” The group was in town for the Startup Visa Act which we covered previously. The duo spoke for a…
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There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More
Coming off of one of our biggest Tech Cocktail mixer events in Chicago this past week, which showcased 14 early-stage start-ups, we thought it would... Read More