entrepreneurs | Internet Marketing Blog

Six reasons you need a mentor

For many entrepreneurs, few things are more rewarding than building a board of high-profile advisors. The benefits are obvious: advisors can bring valuable knowledge and contacts to a company, and help the entrepreneur build his or her business.

But for entrepreneurs (and those looking to create a promising career path), it's worth remembering that finding a mentor can be just as important -- if not more important. Here are six reasons why.

by Patricio Robles 30 August 2011 15:01pm 6 comments

Caveat emptor: SeedSummit's standardized seed financing terms

Times are good for internet entrepreneurs. VC money is flowing again, supporting a startup boom the likes of which hasn't been seen since the late 1990s.

Large companies aren't shy about acquiring technology and talent, and for the most promising companies, the public markets are once again open for business.

Although much of the startup investment activity and buzz is focused on startups in Silicon Valley and New York, Europe isn't without startup action of its own.

by Patricio Robles 08 July 2011 15:46pm 0 comments

Investor: SEO is dead (to startups)

SEO may not be dead, but according to entrepreneur and angel investor Chris Dixon, it might as well be to startups.

According to Dixon, "SEO is no longer a viable marketing strategy for startups." Period. End of discussion.

by Patricio Robles 07 March 2011 13:25pm 17 comments

Spending money on marketing: a waste of money for new businesses?

If you have a new business and plan to spend money on customer acquisition, are you making a huge mistake?

Venture capitalist Fred Wilson thinks you just might be. In a blog post that sparked an interesting discussion, and some heated debate, Wilson last week wrote that "I believe that marketing is what you do when your product or service sucks or when you make so much profit on every marginal customer that it would be crazy to not spend a bit of that profit acquiring more of them (coke, zynga, bud, viagra)."

by Patricio Robles 28 February 2011 13:27pm 5 comments

When did complaining become innovation?

Building a new business is tough. And even though the internet has significantly reduced barriers and created incredible opportunities for entrepreneurs around the world, building a successful technology-based business is still challenging.

Unfortunately, the challenges sometimes lead companies that are labelled as 'innovators' to do something innovators usually don't: complain. The past week has given us two examples of this.

by Patricio Robles 23 February 2011 15:03pm 1 comment

Start me up! A profile of Respond

Increasingly, digital marketers are looking to combat banner-blindness, the instant turn-off that users experience when confronted by obvious advertising online.

One company looking at new ways to combat this is Respond, We spoke to co-founder Guy Cookson about the product, designed to let customers engage with advertising without the hassle of clicking on intrusive banners or pop-ups

by Matt Owen 28 January 2011 10:09am 0 comments

First-mover advantage is hogwash: study

Ask many entrepreneurs and investors, and they'll tell you that being first to market can provide a significant competitive advantage. It makes sense: if you're out there selling before anyone else, you can, in theory, acquire market share before would-be competitors get their shoes on.

But is the notion of a first-mover advantage really just a bunch of nonsense? Essentially yes says a study conducted by researchers at the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business and the Boston University School of Management.

by Patricio Robles 21 January 2011 10:12am 5 comments

APIs: should idealism trump pragmatism?

Last week, I wrote a post detailing five APIs that I think developers should know about. The reason: they offer useful functionality that most developers (and entrepreneurs) aren't going to want to build from scratch.

The post hit the Hacker News front page and sparked an interesting discussion. One participant, 'Figs', wrote, "Building software on top of someone else's web api is a really, really bad idea."

by Patricio Robles 15 December 2010 11:59am 0 comments

What's an entrepreneur? A title

Are you an entrepreneur? If you're working on a product for a new business, have built a successful iPhone app, or are trying to raise money from family and friends to realize a new idea, you might shrug your shoulders and say, "Yeah, I guess I am."

Jolie O'Dell, a blogger for Mashable, however, has some bad news: she is "officially taking the word 'entrepreneur' away from you."

by Patricio Robles 06 December 2010 14:25pm 2 comments

It's change, not disruption

One of the tech industry's favorite words is 'disruption'. You hear it all the time. Company X is disrupting some industry. Or Company Y has been disrupted and because of that, is on the brink of going bust.

On the surface, the concept of disruption seems fairly straightforward: young companies, many propelled by new technologies, enter markets and make a huge impact, often sending larger, entrenched players into a tailspin.

by Patricio Robles 05 November 2010 09:49am 2 comments