Under the Radar

Top Big Data Uses: The Scoop on Hadoop

Heidi Isern, Director Dealmaker Media — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:34:46 PST

The open source software Hadoop is creating a lot of buzz in the big data world. It’s commonly known as the MapReduce algorithm on which Google built its empire. Forrester Research calls it, “The Open Source Heart Of Big Data.” However, as the buzz builds the term is thrown around recklessly, leaving many confused as to [...]

What Do You Want to Ask the Zuckerbergs, Dorseys, and Andreessens?

Heidi Isern, Director Dealmaker Media — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:17:20 PST

Announcing our third annual GROW Conference: Rethinking Business! We are putting together top entrepreneurial speakers to answer your burning questions on launching, scaling and staying relevant. Now is your chance to place your request and we’ll pass it on! If you had access to your favorite entrepreneur-what would you ask them? What are you dying to know? We want [...]

Got Big Data Solutions? Our Under the Radar Judges Want You!

Heidi Isern, Director Dealmaker Media — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:04:52 PST

Big data. It’s all Silicon Valley is talking about. And it’s all our Under the Radar judges seem to care about. Of course the term ‘big data’ has become about as nebulous as the word ‘cloud.’ A few months ago we authored a post called , What the f*ck is Big Data? highlighting all the ways it’s used [...]

Are you an Entrepreneur or a Wantrepreneur?

Heidi Isern, Director Dealmaker Media — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:37:54 PST

What makes you different from other entrepreneurs trying to build start-ups? You are competing with thousands of entrepreneurs for the same resources, talent, and capital, are you really sure you’re cut out for this? What can you do as a founder to attract the best people and funding? What are you doing to build the [...]

Awesome Entrepreneur Alert! Apply for Pie in Portland

Clare Jacobson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:30:20 PST

Dear awesome entrepreneur, PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment) — a Portland based startup accelerator that gives you cash, office space, and three months of intensive mentorship — has opened applications for its next class and they’d love to have you apply to be part of it. The PIE application form features many of the standard incubator/accelerator questions about the awesome [...]

4 Facebook IPO Implications for the Rest of Us

Heidi Isern, Director Dealmaker Media — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:59:06 PST

Facebook’s $5 billion IPO filing will make it the largest web company IPO in history. The engineers that stuck it out for the long haul are doing victory dances. However what does that mean for the rest of us? What other ripple effects will the IPO have on our economy? 1. Real estate prices: [...]

4 Lessons on Scaling from Citigroup CTO, Yobie Benjamin

Heidi Isern, Director Dealmaker Media — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:28:20 PST

The word ”scale” to startups typically means rapid growth after launching their product. “Scale” progress is measured by subscribers per month or transactions per second. However, Yobie Benjamin, Global Chief Technology Officer of Citigroup ICG/GTS says “scale” has a much wider definition when applied to larger enterprises like financial service companies. What can we learn [...]

Killing Kittens: 4 Tips to Prevent Copycats

Heidi Isern, Director Dealmaker Media — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:01:59 PST

Everyone scoffs at “me too” products. However, the scoffed at should be feared. When done correctly a ‘me too’ can surpass what it was copying. “Look at Ali Baba. It started in China as an imitation of Yahoo,” said Oded Shenkar, in a recent GigaOm article. Oded is the Ford motor Chair and professor at [...]

Guest Blog: “HR Round Up 2012″

Clare Jacobson — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:12:47 PST

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve noticed a lot of moving and shaking going on in the HR software industry. While mergers and acquisitions are always interesting for industry analysts, the most recent bout of activity – including the acquisitions of Rypple and SuccessFactors by Salesforce and SAP (respectively), as well as the [...]

Is Selling a ‘Sell Out’? Acquisition Questions to Ask

Heidi Isern, Director Dealmaker Media — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:48:23 PST

Last year companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook and Salesforce gobbled up a multitude of startups to strengthen their talent and technology strategies. However, just because they’ve got money to burn doesn’t mean you should consider selling. 75% of acquisitions fail due to timing, out clauses, and cultural fit. Google’s failed acquisition of Groupon is a [...]