Phil Simon

In this show Bob and Pat talk with Phil Simon, author of “The New Small.” Cloud computing, SaaS, free and open source software, mobility, and social media are rewriting the rules for small companies.

Phil takes us through how the combination of these five technologies is redefining what a small company can and needs to do regardless of industry to succeed.

Starting a company? The second half of the book consists of 11 case studies of companies using some or all of these technologies – just what you need to do the same.

It’s not just the old story of small companies jumping on the latest IT toy; these five enablers are changing small companies fundamentally.

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 #104 here: Show #104 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

Phil Simon on One on One with Steve Adubato

Relevant Links:

Phil Simon can be reached at phil@thenewsmall.com, on Twitter at @philsimon, and Facebook at The New Small Facebook page. And check out Phil’s web site, and his new podcast, The Data Roundtable [iTunes link].

Phil mentioned one of previous interviewees and one of best interviews: check out Show #60 Daniel Pink on Startups and Motivation (part 1)(part 2)

No Show Summary this week – waiting to see if you, our listeners, find it valuable!

Jouko Ahvenainen

In this show Bob and Pat talk with the co-founder of Grow VC, Jouko Ahvenainen.

Grow VC is a new player on the global startup investment space. Grow VC aims to be a global, virtual Silicon Valley, not just reproducing the “secret sauce” of the Valley in some other place.

In its first year, Grow VC has racked up some impressive numbers for this social network/capital marketplace: 73 active startups, 7,229 registered members, $16,721,135 total capital available, $5 million in co-investment funds from angel investors and other networks, and 1,758 total number of member startups. Grow VC is also an open investment fund that allows individuals to invest as little as $20 a month.

In 2010 Grow VC launched local chapters in India and China and plans to open chapters – much like local angel-investment networks – in the U.S., Europe, Russia and Latin America in 2011.

In this interview, we ask Jouko what makes Grow VC different and what makes Grow VC work. If you’re building your first company, whether you’re in Silicon Valley or the rest of the world, you need to know about Grow VC.

Amy Logan, our audio engineer extraordinaire, has been sidelined due to illness – hence why this is show 102 instead of 103. Get well soon Amy!

On the brighter side, this is our second show with our new Show Summary feature, this time as a continuation of this post. Please let us know what you think of it.

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 #102 here: Show #102 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

Jouko’s Startup Success Podcast Guest Page.

Relevant URLs:

Grow VC.

Jouko’s web site.

Jouko on Twitter.

Jouko on Facebook.

Jouko on LinkedIn.

Show Summary

[Read more…]

Pierre Khawand

In this show Bob and Pat talk with productivity expert and author Pierre Khawand about simple, effective ways of improving you productivity today. Pierre is the CEO of People-OnTheGo, a consulting company and author of “The Accomplishing More With Less Workbook: How to accomplish more in less time, less effort, and less stress!”

In this interview, we delve into a set of very simple habit that can improve your productivity. Both Bob and Pat found Pierre’s advice extremely helpful: we hope you will too!

Starting this week we’re adding a free new feature to the Startup Success Podcast: Show Highlights with the main points of each show as a downloadable .pdf file. Please let us know what you think of it.

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 #101 here: Show #101 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

Pierre’s Startup Success Podcast Guest Page.

URLs mentioned/relevant to this show:

• People-OnTheGo web site.
• The Accomplishing More With Less Workbook
• Pierre Khawand can be reached at pierre@people-onthego.com and on Twitter at @pierrekhawand.
• Pierre’s post – Stop e-mailing and start living: 5 tips to get e-mail well under control in 2011 – at 47Hats.
• An alternative to Whack-a-Mole Mondays?

Ethan Gahng

In this show Bob and Pat talk with Ethan Gahng, creator of one of the coolest Twitter apps I’ve seen yet: LazyScope.

LazyScope is not yet another Twitter client; it’s a cross-platform secret weapon for helping you find posts, news and tweets interesting to the people in your network before anyone else.

Ethan explains his approach to designing software, why he built LazyScope and its predecessor, LazyFeed, and shares with us and you the lessons he’s learned along the way.

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 #100 here: Show #100 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

Ethan’s Startup Success Podcast Guest Page.

URLs mentioned/relevant to this show:

• Lazyscope site
• Lazyfeed site
• Follow LazyScope on Twitter
• Ethan Gahng on LinkedIn

Robbin Block

In this show Bob and Pat talk with marketing consultant and author Robbin Block on how exactly should startups approach marketing, social media and the great divide between IT people and marketing people.

Developers who become startup founders are fine doing marketing tasks, but how do you get there from a marketing plan? And how do you come up with a marketing plan to begin with.

Robbin gives us a quick guided tour of the marketing side of things – if you avoid marketing like the plague, it’s time to take your startup medicine and listen to an expert.

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 #99 here: Show #99 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

Robbin’s Startup Success Podcast Guest Page.

URLs mentioned/relevant to this show:

• BlockBeta Marketing site.
• Social Persuasion: Making Sense of Social Media for Small Business.
• BlockBeta Marketing on Facebook.
• Robbin Block on Twitter.

Sarah Prevette

In this show Bob and Pat interview Sarah Prevette, founder and CEO of Sprouter. Sprouter is an online community for entrepreneurs where you can get advice from more experienced startup founders one-to-one on securing angel and VC funding, pricing, positioning and all the other questions you face.

We talk about the growing global startup community, why successful startups want to pay it forward to the next batch of startups, how Sprouter got its seed money and why and plenty more. Don’t miss this show, and join Spouter!

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 #98 here: Show #98 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

Sarah’s Startup Success Podcast Guest Page.

URLs mentioned/relevant to this show:

• Sprouter site
• Sprouter blog
• Sprouter weekly [recommended]
• Sarah Prevette on Twitter
• Sarah Prevette on Sprouter
• Sarah Prevette on LinkedIn
• Sarah Prevette’s blog

Allen Stern, founder of CloudContacts

In this show Bob and Pat interview Allen Stern, founder of CloudContacts. CloudContacts is another way you can take the hassle and inefficiency out of converting business cards into data.

We talk with Allen on the advantages of building a startup to address a problem you experience, why in the age of the social network business cards are not going away any time soon, and more.

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 #97 here: Show #97 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

URLs mentioned/relevant to this show:

• CloudContacts.
• CloudContacts’ blog
• CloudContacts on Facebook.
• CloudContacts on Twitter.
• Web startup Q&A with Allen Stern of CloudContacts at Royal Pingdom

David Smith, Enterprise Ireland

In this show Bob and Pat talk with best networked Irishman in Silicon Valley, David Smith, Senor Vice President of Enterprise Ireland. Enterprise Ireland is not just an Irish version of the typical “pretty please do business in our country” national commerce program – they are a $500 million VC fund directly investing in over 70 startups, 15 startups incubators throughout Ireland, and are actively woo U.S.-based startups to locate their European offices in Ireland. Give a listen to what happens when robust government support of technology startups is a reality, not a campaign slogan.

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 #96 here: Show #96 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

URLs mentioned/relevant to this show:

• Main Enterprise Ireland site
• Enterprise Ireland – Americas at LinkedIn
• David Smith at LinkedIn
• David Smith on Twitter
• Enterprise Ireland blog
• Enterprise Ireland Internet & Games Competitive Start Fund
• Ireland plans ‘startup nirvana’ to poach global talent, guardian.co.uk
• Tech Weekly visits Dublin to check out the local startup scene.
• Company Incubation Centre seeks more eggs now that birds have flown nest

CardMunch for the iPhone

In this show Bob and Pat interview Sid Viswanathan, cofounder of CardMunch, a business card scanning startup presently available on the Apple iPhone. Sid explains how this crowdsource-powered startup structures its work to ensure accuracy, protect privacy and makes Internet-based piecework successful. Sid covers how deferring profitability while A/B testing different pricing models has given CardMunch the time and opportunity to discover the best price points for its service. Sid also explains the approach to selling a mobile App that merits 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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 #95 here: Show #95 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

URLs mentioned/relevant to this show:

• CardMunch.
• CardMunch blog web site.
• CardMunch YouTube Video.
• CardMunch at the iOS App Store.