This week, Bob and Pat talk with Noah Kagan, founder and Chief Sumo at AppSumo.

Noah shares all secrets of the Groupon of web apps for online people: how it works, how they get their great deals, why it works. If you’ve missed AppSumo, you’ve missed out.

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #116 here: Show #116 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at @bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at @patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

Relevant Links:

Noah’s Guest Page is here.

AppSumo.

@appsumo at Twitter.

Bob and Pat talk about Bob’s new startup, ProductivityToDo.com, and what it will be when it launches in the next week.

It’s point/counterpoint time as Bob describes and Pat pushes back on what this new more-than-a-blog could, should and will be.

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #93 here: Show #115 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

URLs mentioned/relevant to this show:

• ProductivityToDo.com

This week, Bob and Pat talk with Linda Daichendt, Executive Director of the Mobile Technology Association of Michigan and all-round proponent for business going mobile.

We get a Mobile 101 on just how mobile changes the game for small and medium businesses, disrupts for the better obsolete school practices and more. We also get a look behind the scenes of one of the intersections of tech and public policy – IT-centric trade associations.

(Apologies on getting this show out.)

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #114 here: Show #114 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at @bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at @patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

Relevant Links:

Linda’s Guest Page is here.

Mobile Technology Association of Michigan (MTAM)

Mobile Monday Michigan

Linda’s firm, Strategic Growth Concepts.

‘Made in Michigan’ Mobile Apps Gallery

This week, Bob and Pat talk with Daniel Ha, cofounder and CEO of Disqus, a global commenting system that touches the online lives of about 500 million people each month.

Daniel explains how Disqus started, through its Y Combinator days, to recent scaling and monetization.

Disqus is built on a technology of Python and PostgreSQL on the backend and handcrafted Javascript on the front end. How has commenting on blogs morphed into huge and small online communities? Daniel shares his viewpoint and experience.

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #113 here: Show #113 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at @bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at @patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

Relevant Links:

Daniel’s Guest Page here.
Disqus.
The Disqus Blog.
Discus on Twitter.

This week, Bob and Pat talk with Aaron Schaap, founder and CEO of Downstream. We talked with Aaron about his new cloud backup startup focusing on the infrastructure needed to address the unmet needs of this new set of technologies.

Aaron shares some of his strategies for juggling multiple startups, what you really get out of a startup incubator, pricing for the enterprise and more.

Aaron answers the question, “How do you sell to enterprise when you are startup?” – definitely something you should hear if you are in the same position. And what he has to say about being resourceful rather than worrying about resources.

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #112 here: Show #112 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at @bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at @patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

Relevant Links:

Aaron’s Guest Page here
Tweetstream.
Downstream.
Elevator Up.
Momentum-MI Startup Incubator.
Aaron Schaap on CrunchBase.

Rapid Growth: The Garage from Aaron Schaap on Vimeo.

This week, Bob and Pat talk with Sophia Bekele, executive director of Dot Connect Africa, an initiative to add .africa as a top level domain of the Internet.

This is no mere technical discussion – The stakes are high in this Internet land rush: who will control .africa and what will this mean for the continent’s digital identity for the years and decades ahead?

Sophia gives us a rundown on why there should be a .africa, why .africa could become a powerhouse and funding source for African startups, and who are the players in the rarified politics of global Internet decision making.

(Apologies for missing a week, again – we are working on making our production process run better.)

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #111 here: Show #111 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at @bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at @patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

Relevant Links:

Dot Connect Africa
Dot Connect Africa FAQ

This week, Bob and Pat talk with Josh Linkner about creativity in startups and business in general, and how and why creativity needs to be baked into your startup. The rules for business have been flipped: creativity, not conformity, matters more. Josh in his new book, Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, looks at creativity as a teachable skill, not a random gift.

“Playing it safe has become the riskiest choice of all,” says Josh, and then lays out a 5 step approach businesses as small as a one-person startup and as large as General Motors can become a creative organization.

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #108 here: Show #108 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at @bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at @patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

Video

Relevant Links:

Josh’s site.

And Prezi.com.

Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity.

Josh’s blog.

Show Notes for this interview:

– Josh Linkner
– Founder of: E-prize and Detroit Venture Partners

– Author of “Disciplined Dreaming”

– Learn to be creative

– Bob- why do we need this book?

– Josh- “world has dramatically changed… exponential complexity” “creativity is the one thing that can’t be outsourced”

– Bob- “It’s like asking hippos to dance”

– companies that winning are having culture of everyday creativity
– if you are following the rules, you are susceptible to competitive attacks

– ex from book: slither- our made up nemesis

– it allows us to break through our creativity

– born with it or not- Harvard asked and found out it’s 85% learned behavior

– we need a system to build and nurture creativity

– Patrick- musician- classical –> jazz – burnt out, Patrick learned to go to right brain, ended up in cycle

– Most of us don’t look at creativity like a Boston marathon runner

– For start ups: build a culture of creativity, take a systematic approach (book has 5 step process),
– start ups have the ability to be flexible where big companies don’t/can’t

– Prezi- startup PowerPower like (better?) program

– Microsoft’s challenge for Office: the last version of office

– Constant re-invention, adapt is key message

– Creativity brief: talk about incubator programs for startups

– ID what’s going on- what’s holding people back?

– FEAR? Capitol? Talent?
– Come up with solutions for each of those
– Fear is the biggest one- playing it safe has been the bad choice in this generation
– Most successful people fail more but win more
– Mistakes aren’t fatal

– Startup bus to SXSW

– Patrick: We should have incubators where you aren’t allowed to bring an idea

– Josh- middle should have “mistakes are ok” class

– Steps to Disciplined Dreaming:

1- Ask- set target
2- Prepare- warm up (like athlete)
3- Discover- find creativity
4- Ignite- Rubber hits the road- 8 brain storming techniques
5- Launch- Left and Right brain collides, select best ideas

– Bob has “Darth Vader moment” – all the creative stuff is being chopped, people afraid of being chopped

– We need to celebrate risk taking, create safe environments

– Company that Josh interviewed, gives everyone 2 “get out of corporate jail free cards”

– This attitude can come from top down or from bottom up

– Bob: how do people in a corporate setting become more creative? do’s and don’ts?

– Bob: endorses showing up to work in a cape (not really)

– Josh: start small, apply to team meetings, lunches, small problems, how do you get buy-in from people around you?

– important to make a case for creativity

Patrick- correlation between creative person and startup founder

Patrick: just do it.

Josh: you need to nurture and grow an idea, not always turn key, nurture with right brain into something more meaningful (also redeems Microsoft haha)

Bob: how do you turn off the editor?

Josh: 2 parts- creative act and editing- check the editor (left brain) at the door, no judging allowed
2- invite editor back in a separate good from bad

– creativity: we need a system, reconnect and unleash your best imagination.

This week, Bob and Pat re-interview Ash Maurya about his new ebook Running Lean (promo code: RL47HATS for 30% off).

Running Lean is exactly the book you need to build a startup using the Lean Startup approach. It’s a book packed with specifics on what to do, when to do, and why.

Ash walks us through the book’s companion web app, Lean Canvas, a great single screen process and display of everything you – or your investors – need to understand about your business model, your market/product fit, and more.

Whether you buy into Lean or not, Ash has some truly excellent and actionable advice for funded and unfunded startup founders alike.

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #107 here: Show #107 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at @bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at @patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

Video

 

DC Lean Startup Circle with Ash Maurya from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

Relevant Links:

The Running Lean site

Ash Maurya’s blog

Follow Ash Maurya on Twitter.

Previous interviews here:
Show #81 Ash Maurya: Effective Startup Market Research
Show #82 Ash Maurya: the one person lean startup

He’s fast, he’s blunt and he’s our guest this week: Scott Gerber, author of Never Get a Real Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business and Not Go Broke.

If you’ve been sheltering in place in college, sticking to grinding away at your job, Scott is a 100 decibel wake up call. Especially for millennials wondering if the old ways of building a corporate career somehow still work (no), and what they can do instead (lots), Scott is the red pill for complacency.

Scott takes us through the specifics of how to get your head into an entrepreneurial space and stop expecting different results by doing what others have done.

“At the end of the day, I believe that practical, in-your-face action is going to be something that teaches something real and tangible,” Scott says, and you will too after listening to this show.

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #106 here: Show #106 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at @bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at @patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

Video

 

Scott Gerber Sizzle Reel from Sizzle It! on Vimeo.

Relevant Links:

Never Get a “Real” Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business and Not Go Broke

Never get a real job web site.

Scott’s blog.

Scott on Twitter.

Gerber Enterprises.

Scott’s Young Entrepreneur Council.

Show Summary

(Thanks Amy!)

Scott Gerber-Author “Never get a real job”

–        Corporations are not looking out for your own future, you put all eggs in basktet that you don’t control

–        Entrepreneurship is not easy, book drills this into head but gives you max control

–        Educated at NYU- no finance classes, no entrepreneur experience

–        Ran video (music/commercials) business while in school,

–        No focus, mentors led to bankrupted company

–        Mother is “real job” loyalist, did not support Scott, employed at NY Board of Education

–        Deconstrutcted every failure from first company

–        Started up 2^nd company “Sizzleit” that is now successful with high profile clients doing one things very well

–        Everyone has to fail to be successful over all

–        Seth Godin also talks about failure

–        How do we get over failure as a society?

• Anti-failure attitude comes from academic world
• Gen-Y = non failure generation
• Gen Y has entitlement attitude, we’re “special” that happens to “other” people

–        Now job market = down can’t even get “real job”

–        How do we teach failure? People who have failed, teach young and old how to do it

–        11- co captains on King of the Hill

–        We create environments where it’s not safe to fail, cubicle culture

–        Startups= “Avoid wrong failures, fail fast and cheap”

–        People who are laid off go back to system instead of doing their own thing

–        Bob: “If you don’t  accomplish something within a deep framework, how do you succeed?”

–        Scott: Only 25% of recent grads will have jobs upon graduation, approach is passive: where you pass out resume and hope that you get handed an opportunity or pro-active: looking for mentors and resources to help you succeed

–        Youth are in a spot where they have “least amount of expenses and most amount of energy” of our lives

–        Scott doesn’t see a big difference in a society where we are underemployed between 99% of people (community college, state schools ) VS Harvard grads

–        Economic changes are here to stay so this 99% has to make their own value that is attracted to other people

–        How do you do that when you were in school for the last 16 years?

–        Scott: we need fundamental change:  finance courses in school and we don’t have any real world skills and lack of entitlement- system creates employees

• Why would they change? Because unemployment is a disaster (17%!)
• Entrepreneur council: mentorship
• Overhaul not overnight
• Practical education
• Poli-Sci grad: what do I do with my life now?
  • What are my actual skills?
  • Maybe I can become a poli sci tutoring service, create actual services

–        Companies have to deal with talent loss to entrepreneurial projects

–        Create  a job to keep a job instead of take a job

–        Get involved with meetups, meet startup founders instead of hope for magic

–        Patrick: “Life-burn rate”- business not separate from life, lots of hard work

–        Scott: Figure out what you are spending, figure out how to shift spending, figure out each liability and how you can change it to your advantage

–        There are too many “rah-rahs” out there, not enough actionable items

–        Bob: how do you approach productivity?

• Scott: my calendar, all digital (iPhone), is most important tool, SaaS

–        “The recession eats jobs like cheetos”

–        What would you tell father of poli-sci grad who just lost job?

–        Scott: “I don’t like one size fits all advice. I only like to give advice based on my experience”

–        Bob: “There’s something to be said about a quick slap in the face but I feel better about reading this.”

 

 

In this show Bob and Pat talk with Brad Feld, co-founder of TechStars and co-author of Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup.

Brad offers some extremely good advice for startups on when and how to raise money, why being a solo founder is a long shot, why building relationships in the startup community early is a good idea, whether you should keep your startup secret, and more.

Brad spells out the two transcendent techniques to Do More Faster for startup founders: how to focus on the right things each week and why creating a work-life balance is a must.

Brad is one of the core proponents of the Startup Visa, which was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate the day we did the interview. Startup Visa would make it much easier for startup founders not from this country to build startups here.

Brad was also kind enough to let us both pitch startup ideas to him and helped us understand what startup pitches look like from the investor side of the table, where he’s the managing directory of the Foundry Group in Boulder, Colorado.

Tired of being stuck in neutral in your startup? Why not do a MicroConsult with Bob Walsh? Instead of hypotheticals and too much information, Bob will work with you for an hour via Skype developing 8 to 10 specific todos that will get your startup in gear. Details at 47hats.com.

Download Show #105 here: Show #105 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

Bob Walsh blogs at 47Hats, is on Twitter at @bobwalsh or you can email him at bob.walsh@47hats.com.

Patrick Foley blogs at PatrickFoley.com, is on Twitter at @patrickfoley or you can email him at patrick.foley@microsoft.com

Video

 

The Founders | TechStars Boulder | “Behind the Scenes” from TechStars on Vimeo.

 

Relevant Links:

TechStars.

Brads’s blog.

Brad on Twitter.

Brad on Facebook.

Brad on LinkedIn.