Force of Good: a blog by Lance Weatherby tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-241559 2009-11-07T09:58:42-05:00 TypePad Starting Startup Weekend tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451c56769e20120a6600825970b 2009-11-07T09:58:42-05:00 2009-11-07T09:58:42-05:00 Atlanta Startup Weekend is less than a week away from starting. Over 75 people have signed up. The total registrants may reach 100 (registration closes on Wednesday). And we have some great local sponsors in MailChimp, JungleDisk, and A Small Orange that are going to be offering some resources to Startup Weekend participants. With that said, there is a dirty little secret about Startup Weekend. Actually it's not confined to Startup Weekend. It applies to lots of well known startup related programs. Startup Weekend, TechStars, YC, the GRA/TAG Business Launch competition. The further along you are when the programming actually starts, the better your chance of success when the program ends. So what does that mean for Atlanta Startup Weekend? If you have an idea start developing the idea into something that you can easily share on opening night. Below is a nice tutorial. Exceptions for Atlanta is we are... Lance Weatherby

Atlanta Startup Weekend is less than a week away from starting.  Over 75 people have signed up.  The total registrants may reach 100 (registration closes on Wednesday).  And we have some great local sponsors in MailChimp, JungleDisk, and A Small Orange that are going to be offering some resources to Startup Weekend participants.

With that said, there is a dirty little secret about Startup Weekend.  Actually it's not confined to Startup Weekend.  It applies to lots of well known startup related programs.  Startup Weekend, TechStars, YC, the GRA/TAG Business Launch competition.  The further along you are when the programming actually starts, the better your chance of success when the program ends.  So what does that mean for Atlanta Startup Weekend?

If you have an idea start developing the idea into something that you can easily share on opening night.

Below is a nice tutorial.  Exceptions for Atlanta is we are limiting the first round pitches to 60 seconds and not allowing slides.



If you have an idea it also would not be too bad an idea to start recruiting your team before the event starts.  As an example, the idea for Twitpay was well socialized last year before the weekend began and several key team members knew that was what they were going to work on before they walked in the door on Friday night.  So recruit people that you know and want to work with to sign up for the weekend so they can work on your project.

If you don't have an idea go to the idea wiki and chime on the ideas that others are submitting.

It's time to get started.  If you have any other insights or questions bring them on.

 http://blog.weatherby.net/2009/11/starting-startup-weekend-1.html Startups Create Jobs tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451c56769e20120a65c337c970b 2009-11-06T10:13:10-05:00 2009-11-06T10:16:57-05:00 In a nice opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, by Schramm et al. They essentially say that the age of the business not the size is the more precise characteristic of companies creating jobs. The more precise factor is not the size of businesses, but rather their age. According to the Census Bureau, nearly all net job creation in the U.S. since 1980 occurred in firms less than five years old. A Kauffman Foundation report released yesterday shows that as recently as 2007, two-thirds of the jobs created were in such firms. Put more starkly, without new businesses, job creation in the American economy would have been negative for many years. The authors go on to cite economic and regulatory barriers that are in the way of young companies and propose a four pronged solution. Welcome immigrants seeking scientific training to our universities by granting permanent residency and work... Lance Weatherby

In a nice opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, by Schramm et al.  They essentially say that the age of the business not the size is the more precise characteristic of companies creating jobs.

The more precise factor is not the size of businesses, but rather their age. According to the Census Bureau, nearly all net job creation in the U.S. since 1980 occurred in firms less than five years old. A Kauffman Foundation report released yesterday shows that as recently as 2007, two-thirds of the jobs created were in such firms. Put more starkly, without new businesses, job creation in the American economy would have been negative for many years.

The authors go on to cite economic and regulatory barriers that are in the way of young companies and propose a four pronged solution.
  1. Welcome immigrants seeking scientific training to our universities by granting permanent residency and work status.
  2. Unbridle academic entrepreneurs by opening up licensing to non-university entities.
  3. Provide easier assess to capital.
  4. Fix the cost burden of SOX compliance for small companies.
Seems like a reasonable course of action to me.  How about you?

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Hat tip to John Cottingham and Mike Eckert for pointing the way.
 http://blog.weatherby.net/2009/11/startups-create-jobs.html Two Social Media Metrics tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451c56769e20120a692f24d970c 2009-10-30T11:48:31-04:00 2009-10-30T11:52:26-04:00 There is this big debate about if you should or should not try and determine ROI on social media efforts. I am clearly in the former camp. Evan LaPointe, whom I had the pleasure to interact with a bit recently is not really a social media guy. He is a web analytics guy. Dare I say an expert. He was a nice article on Search Engine Land pondering the question if Web analytics is easy or difficult to do. The answer is both. Money quote: "But the most important—and hardest—thing to do is tie it all back to the two very simple metrics that drive all business value: revenue and profitability." Yep. And I think that is why some people don't want to measure social media ROI. It's hard. It's also important. To quote someone a bit more famous than Evan, "what's measured gets managed." If you want to improve... Lance Weatherby

There is this big debate about if you should or should not try and determine ROI on social media efforts.  I am clearly in the former camp.

Evan LaPointe, whom I had the pleasure to interact with a bit recently is not really a social media guy.  He is a web analytics guy.  Dare I say an expert.  He was a nice article on Search Engine Land pondering the question if Web analytics is easy or difficult to do. The answer is both.

Money quote:

"But the most important—and hardest—thing to do is tie it all back to the two very simple metrics that drive all business value: revenue and profitability."

Yep. And I think that is why some people don't want to measure social media ROI.  It's hard. 

It's also important.  To quote someone a bit more famous than Evan, "what's measured gets managed."  If you want to improve how social media drives business value you have to measure it's impact on revenue and profitability.