Let's Talk Serious Startups Archives - Page 3 of 4

18: CEO of oDesk Gary Swart Explains How To Grow Successful Companies

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Gary Swart is the CEO of oDesk, the world’s largest online workplace—which has more than 4 million freelancers, and on which more than $1 billion of work has been done. Gary is a thought leader in entrepreneurship; how best to hire and manage teams; and the future of work, including online work. He is passionate about helping small businesses thrive, fueled by his extensive experience working with startups and small businesses that use oDesk, as well as by mentoring entrepreneurs and business school students. Gary has spoken at the Inc. Leadership Conference, The Economist’s Ideas Economy panel, South by Southwest, TechCrunch 50, TiECon, GigaOM’s Net:Work Conference in 2010 and 2011, and at Harvard Business School which teaches a case study on oDesk. His commentary has appeared in a variety of publications including Forbes, TechCrunch and The Washington Post. He has also appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, including BBC, National Public Radio, and the Fox Business program “After the Bell.” Previously, he led SMB Sales for the Americas at IBM’s Rational Software Product Group, and also served as VP of Worldwide Sales at Intellibank, where he was responsible for leading the sales organization.

17: Pat Riley Talks Startup Accelerators & How The Game Is Changing

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Patrick Riley currently oversees the Global Accelerator Network which is an affiliation of short-term mentorship-driven accelerators started by TechStars. He started his career working for W.L. Gore and Associates and moved into the leadership of the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. Patrick left the Red Cross to manage the west coast sales and operations for a venture backed healthcare technology company. Following his passion to support start-up companies around the world, Patrick moved into his current role at the Global Accelerator Network. Outside of work, he recently finished his MBA at the University of Colorado and enjoys spending time with his wife, bike riding, traveling, and skiing around Colorado.

16: Austin Allred On Living In Your Car To Get Funded In The Valley

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Austin Allred is the founder of Grasswire, who moved from Utah to the Valley and lived in his car for 3 months until raising capital.

15: Alex Harris Explains A/B Testing & SEO For Startups

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Alex Harris is the president of Alex Designs LLC. He graduated from FSU in 1998, then worked as Creative Director at eDiets.com from 2000-2011. In 2001, Alex Harris began doing conversion rate optimization and designing landing pages. The diet subscription website was a top 10 advertiser during this time and we created one of the first “Free Diet Profiles”. This profile came to be know as a conversion funnel. Alex managed all the creative for the conversion funnel. This included optimization of landing pages, emails, banners and affiliate programs.

14: Coach Burt Explains How To Be A Winning Entrepreneur

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MICHEAL J. BURT represents the new age leader: the Zebra and the Cheetah. Part coach, part entrepreneur, and all leader, Coach Burt is the go-to guy for entrepreneurs who want to become people of interest, salespeople who want to be superstars, and managers who want to be coaches. He is a former championship coach and the author of nine books. His radio show, Change Your Life Radio, can be heard globally on iheart.com (WLAC). Follow Coach Burt at www.coachburt.com. His client list ranges from small entrepreneurial firms to multi-billion dollar companies such as Dell, INC., State Farm Insurance, National Health Care, Vanderbilt University, TRICOR, FirstBank, and many others.

13: Alex Lawrence Talks Building Startup Teams, Gaining Investors, & Growing Companies

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Alex Lawrence has been launching and growing successful companies for more than 20 years. His most recent partnership, Lendio, ranks #34 on the Inc. 500 list. He is also the Vice Provost of Innovation and Economic Development as well as the Interim Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at the John B. Goddard School of Business and Economics, both at Weber State University, where he teaches real-world strategies that are based on cutting edge, proven approaches used in todays business. He also is a regular contributor on Entrepreneurship for Forbes Magazine. and been featured on TechCrunch, 40 under 40 Top Entrepreneurs, V100 Top 100 Technology Entrepreneurs, E-50 Top 50 Social Entrepreneurs, WSU Entrepreneur Alumni of the Year.

12: Monica Selby Tells Startups How To Get PR

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Monica Selby is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Nibletz Media, Inc. She is a Mississippi native and got her start in the Memphis startup scene. A proud graduate of Ole Miss, Monica’s writing as been featured in publications like Under30CEO, Young Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. Now, as editor-in-chief, she is passionate about the potential of startups outside Silicon Valley. When she’s not working or parenting, you can find her with a book and a glass of wine (or two).

11: Josh Davidson Talks Tech Startups & Having 6 Flags As A Client

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Joshua is the CEO and Founder of Chop Dawg, full service company lined up with leading designers and developers that take ideas from concept and turn them into reality. Chop Dawg helps create startups for inspiring entrepreneurs by providing them with a wide range of services including web and mobile development, branding and marketing strategies.

While most teenagers are busy getting their drivers license, he founded Chop Dawg at the ripe age of 16. Shortly after, at the age of 20, he went on to launch his second company, Subtle.

10: Jon Bradford Of Techstars Explains Silicon Valley, Shifts In Investor Mindset & How To Be Successful

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Part 2 of our interview with Jon Bradford where he talks about major shifts in the startup accelerator world and how to gain traction.

Jon is Managing Director of TechStars London and has previously founded and worked on startup accelerators around the globe. He’s co-founder of F6S.com which has grown into one of the most important startup program platforms in the world, and has recently cofounded tech.eu to feature startup and tech news across Europe.

Episode 9: Jon Bradford of Techstars Says How To Get Into Accelerators

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Jon is Managing Director of TechStars London and has previously founded and worked on startup accelerators around the globe. He’s co-founder of F6S.com which has grown into one of the most important startup program platforms in the world, and has recently cofoundedtech.eu to feature startup and tech news across Europe.

Our interview had so much great content we decided it was worth 2 episodes rather than cut out such valuable knowledge. In part 1, Jon explains:

How to get into accelerators
What investors are looking for
How to build a good team
Shifts in startup accelerator models
How to use crowdfunding to your advantage

How things got started

Jon shares with us how he went from being a “bored accountant” at a major firm to launching his first startup (made a ton of money) becoming a VC, joining Techstars and being part of the growth of the tech startup world.

We then dive into his opinion on the changes in how startups can get off the ground, how to get into accelerators, and what people like him (the decision maker) are looking for when making those decisions.

Don’t miss Part 2! You can contact Jon at jon at techstars dot com

Episode 6: Jon Ferrara Explains How To Build Your Startup Without Marketing Capital (Part 1)

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Jon Ferrara is an American entrepreneur and the founder of Nimble LLC, his most recent venture. Ferrara is best known as the co-founder of GoldMine Software Corp, one of the early pioneers in the Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software categories for Small to Medium sized Businesses (SMBs).

Our conversation with Jon covered so much great insight into success we turned decided to create two episodes. In part one, he talks about:

Growing your startup without marketing capital
Importance of relationship building
Gaining income and investment capital
Long term sales logic
What is social selling

Importance of relationship building

Jon had lots of great quotes but one that epitomized importance of social selling and relationship building came from Mae West: “Out of sight is out of mind, and out of mind is out of money honey!”

Insight into the startup journey

Just like so many entrepreneurs Jon got frustrated with sales options in his early days, decided to jump ship and get started on his own with Goldmine which revolutionized the CRM concept. Built, grew, sold and is now on to doing the same with Nimble.

John and Ledge hear this story in every interview. The urge to start is so overwhelming that we just can’t help chasing down that idea and starting a company! Leave us a comment if you’ve ever felt that way and followed it. If you haven’t followed the feeling, why not?

What is social selling?

Jon explains the growth of the internet and its use in sales and business development over the past 20 years, with amazing insight into how social selling has become the new way to grow companies, build relationships and achieve success as an entrepreneur. We also discuss how social media is becoming common place and will likely begin to fade into a standard business practice from today’s “hype”.

How to get in touch

Make sure you follow Jon on Twitter and check out Nimble, a fantastic platform that enables you to manage all your social platforms in one place from a business perspective.

Episode 3: David Meerman Scott (Part 2)

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In this packed episode with David Meerman Scott we covered such a broad list of topics that we had to cut it into two episodes. Start with the first one and then jump in here.

Here’s a quick rundown of what we discuss throughout the two episodes:

How and why getting fired from his corporate gig was a gift
How going on your own is less risky than working for a single corporate entity
Why job #1 is creating content assets no matter where you are in your career
How content marketing is largely free and gives you a huge advantage
Who you should hire (personnel and staff) to tell your story
Whether experienced business people from industry are better entrepreneurs than scrappy 20-somethings
Why you should say “no” to the wrong investor
Is a self-employed consultant a “real entrepreneur?”
How to setup with an advisory role at another company

How things got started

Key advice to entrepreneurs

How To Learn More About Jon

Importance of relationship building

Insight into the startup journey

What is social selling?

How to get in touch