We learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. As a turnaround executive, I had the opportunity to get hyper-experienced in failure at hyper speed. All those good-companies-gone-bad passed on scars, wisdom, and greatly enhanced the level of crankiness. My experience with corporate tragedy has taught me that the number one reason companies…
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I was having a conversation last week with one of DC’s early tech entrepreneurs, and he mentioned that he just completed a pivot with his latest company. Now, I couldn’t help but notice that this contemporary of mine had just uttered one of those newfangled, pants-around-their-knees, hipster-generation, jargon-speakey phrases, and I called him on it. …
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Editor’s Note: This article was written by Zach Davis on his iPhone while hiking the Appalachian Trail (he started in March) from Georgia to Maine. Follow Zach’s progress via the Zach-Track-O-Matic or on Twitter @zrdavis. How would you like to double the traffic to your website with only 1/4 the effort? Piqued your interest? It…
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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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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?…
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If you are like me, once you have a grasp on how to leverage social media, and the narrative is set for whatever your objective, you start to run wild with different ideas. There’s something about having some success thinking outside the box that makes you want to stay there. That’s a good thing. After all, there is nothing wrong with having a…
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On April 26, 2011, the DC Lean Startup Circle gathered to once again focus on sharing information about starting up and getting valuable feedback about their approaches – all from a “lean startup” perspective. You can watch the entire session here. The Talks: We had Dan Martell (@danmartell) via Skype as our guest expert for…
Read MoreThe Internet has become part of our collective lives faster than any other technology in history. It took just nine years to reach over 50% of US households, while television took some thirty years to reach the same. As Facebook crosses 500 million users (it took just five years) and the micro-blogging site Twitter, with…
Read MoreWhen a business owner tells you how much their product or service costs, have you ever just responded in a surprised tone, “How Much?” Try it. It’s an amazingly useful little ploy. It doesn’t matter whether you believe the price is fair or not, you will be surprised how many times, a person with full…
Read MoreStarting up, you may not know exactly how you are going to get your idea funded. It could start out as a simple bootstrapped project which gets traction and takes on a life of it’s own. Or you could start with a specific funding goal in mind to bring your dream to life. Whatever your…
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What follows is an excerpt from Engage!, the complete guide for brands and businesses to build, cultivate, and measure success in the new web. It’s available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or at a bookstore near you. Social media is reinventing marketing, communications, and the dissemination of information. While businesses now have access to…
Read MoreYesterday, I attended the Big Ideas Big Action (or BIBA) event in Washington, D.C. hosted by iStrategyLabs and FedScoop. The event exuded quirkiness, filled with Playdoh, blow up beach balls and dinosaurs, Etch-n-Sketch, Legos and more as it brought together a blended crowd of creatives, entrepreneurs, government officials and marketers from the Washington, D.C. region….
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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
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
We are excited to announce the participating startups for Tech Cocktail's South by Southwest (SXSW) event: #Startuplife Celebration presented by .CO. It was one of... 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