Startups Archives - SEO'Brien

How, not just Why, Startups Fail

Friday, 06 April 2018 by SEO'Brien

Article after article, study after study, offers Buzzfeed style insight to why startups fail. It’s such a popular and frequently recurring tweet that I’ve started chewing on WHY the question of why keeps coming up. As founders, perhaps we’re asking the wrong question and shouldn’t be seeking to know why but rather how (or, how

Published in Featured, Insights / Research, Startups

77 Comments

What to Expect: The Week by Week Activities of a Top Tier Startup Incubator

Tuesday, 20 March 2018 by SEO'Brien

This question stumbled across my Quora and I was struck by the notion that too many incubators fail to incubate viable companies. I found myself wondering, what does it really mean to be a startup incubator? Are such programs actually doing something, week after week, so that the founders therein develop something? Why was the

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Published in Startups

7 Comments

How to Start Your Startup – Whether You Need Code or Capital, Start Here.

Monday, 05 March 2018 by SEO'Brien

By FAR, the greatest mistake that startup founders make is that they start with the wrong things. They tend to have an assumption or desire about how to solve a problem and they go. You read that “startup” book that tells all you need to know… you went to a meetup or networking event that

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Published in Startups

13 Comments

What Does a CEO Actually Do?

Friday, 19 January 2018 by SEO'Brien

Looking at it through the lens of a startup (small team), years ago I had a great discussion with a group of VCs that the ideal core leadership in a company is CEO, CMO, CTO (or, as appropriate to the type of business) Explaining further, we discussed first that the CMO’s job is to answer why, for whom, with

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Published in Insights / Research, Startups

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So How do I Decide if I Should Join an Accelerator?

Friday, 19 January 2018 by SEO'Brien

Let me cut to the chase: MOST are businesses selling you services, using you as their product, to promote their brand while leveraging the word “accelerator.” As you consider such programs, head into them first being clear about what Accelerator means and validate that they actually do that. Then look to what the founders and

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Published in Startups

22 Comments

The Fore Steps to a Startup’s Addressable Market

Tuesday, 12 December 2017 by SEO'Brien

Here’s the thing, I suck at golf and as an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur, I can’t fathom making myself available for 5 hours to putt around a golf course. Yet, succeeding as a founder might be as commonplace as hitting a hole in one… very least, it’s fair to say you have to shoot par. Rest assured,

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Published in Analytics, Brand Marketing, Display Advertising, Insights / Research, Startups, Targeting

9 Comments

Early Stage Startups: Sales vs. Marketing

Monday, 13 November 2017 by SEO'Brien

It’s that this question of priorities exists that one can appreciate why so many startups fail. For decades, economists have noted that only two things create value in business: innovation and marketing. Everything else is a cost of doing business. Yet… we’re exploring here the notion that Sales is more important. You’ve been led to

entrepreneurship marketing sales

Published in Insights / Research, Startups

4 Comments