Entrepreneur Myths (47 page)

Business blog by a principal of Union Square Ventures. One of the leaders for early stages of the venture capital game and should be read and studied.

Bill Gurley | abovethecrowd.com

Business blog by a venture capitalist, Bill Gurley, a general partner at Benchmark Capital. You have to read his blog. You’ll thank me later.

James Altucher | jamesaltucher.com

Business blog by an excellent, passionate and inspiring writer and entrepreneur — this guy has some balls.

Guy Kawasaki |blog.guykawasaki.com

Business blog by one of Silicon Valley’s most inspiring entrepreneurs.

Mark Cuban | Blogmaverick.com

Mark Cuban, the billionaire and NBA champion. He doesn’t write often, but dammit, when he does, it’s a beauty.

Brad Feld | Feld Thoughts| Feld.com

Business blog from the founder of the Foundry Group.

Josh Kopelman | Redeyevc.com

Business blog from the managing director of First Round Capital. Cool stuff.

Lightspeed Ventures Partners Blog | lsvp.wordpress.com

Business blogs from the partners of a global VC firm.

New York Times | nytimes.com

You have to read The Times to balance Wall Street Journal. Excellent articles on startups, markets and investing.

Xconomy | xconomy.com

Xcellent source for entrepreneurs — no pun intended.

Trend Hunter | Trendhunter.com

Every entrepreneur and investor should subscribe to trendhunter. It’s a must. Trend Hunter enables to you to see global trends and opens your eyes to new possibilities and opportunities.

Ted.com

Extensive source for entrepreneurs, investors, geeks, innovators and visionaries.

TheWrap.com

One of the best sources for the entertainment sector. If you’re in the entertainment business, you must subscribe to their daily email.

Trak.in | India Business Blog | trak.in

Excellent business blog from India.

Ed Sim | Beyond VC | beyondvc.com

Business blog by founder of BOLDstart Ventures and co-founder of Dawntreader Ventures.

Eric Ries | startuplessonslearned.com

Author of
The Lean Startup
. Excellent blog.

Mark Graban | The Lean Blog | leanblog.org

Author of
Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction

Jon Miller | Gemba Research

Blog about lean manufacturing, kaizen, lean manufacturing by lean experts

Thr.com

The Hollywood Reporter. Dude, it’s the bible of the entertainment industry.

Sprouter | Sprouter.com

Resource for entrepreneurs — especially startups.

Under 30 CEO | Under30CEO.com

Community, blog and resource for entrepreneurs under 30.

entrepreneurdex.com

My venture accelerator website. I write shit on a daily or almost daily basis. Depends what I have going on.

Inspiredex.com

My inspirational blog for entrepreneurs, investors, students, etc. C’mon, who doesn’t need a little inspiration now and then? I write this blog to keep myself motivated, reflect and learn from the past, today and the future.

Moola
dex

At the end of the day, it’s all about the moola (money). Below is a partial list of investment resources the author believes worthy for entrepreneurs to consider when raising capital. You can find more resources on entrepreneurdex.com.

ANGEL ORGANIZATIONS

Keiretsu Forum | keiretsuforum.com

Randy Williams, founder of Keiretsu Forum, I him know personally and attended some of their angel meetings in the East Bay of San Francisco. This is a good angel organization to pitch for investors. They have branches across the country. I don’t know of any other angel organization I would recommend personally.

Angel List | angellist.com

Angel Pad | angelpad.com

MONEY MARKETPLACE AND PLATFORMS

Go BIG Network | gobignetwork.com

The leader and largest marketplace of companies, investors and service providers.

Kick Starter | kickstarter.com

Crowdfunding – funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers.

ProFounde
r
| ProFounder.com

Crowdfunding – helps entrepreneurs raise money for their business using Rule 504 of Regulation D.

Peerbackers.com

Crowdfunding – online funding platform that allows business owners to raise capital from their peers — in small increments in exchange for tangible rewards to those who contribute.

IndieGoGo.com

Crowdfunding – helps entrepreneurs create campaigns and fund ideas.

RocketHub.com

Crowdfunding – funding platform for creative projects.

Lendio | Lendio.com

Matches business loans by comparing over 13,000 banks, lenders and loan types.

ACCELERATORS | INCUBATORS | SEED FUNDS

Y Combinator | ycombinator.com

One of the leaders in the business accelerator category based in Silicon Valley.

500 Startups | 500startups.com

500 Startups is a seed fund and startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley.

Tech Stars | techstars.org

One of the leaders in the business accelerator category.

Dream It Ventures | dreamitventures.com

One of the incubators and accelerators hosting startups in Philadelphia in 2007. Recently, the incubator expanded to New York City, where 12 of its alumni companies are based.

Startup Weekend | startupweekend.org

This is a great organization that helps entrepreneurs launch their dreams -- in a weekend.

LaunchBox Digital | launchboxdigital.com

Incubator founded in Washington, D.C. and expanded into North Carolina's Research Triangle Park.

Capital Factory | capitalfactory.com

Incubator and accelerator based in Austin, Texas.

Ben Franklin TechVentures | nep.benfranklin.org

Incubator, founded in 1983 and located on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Environmental Business Cluster | environmentalcluster.org

Founded in 1994, is one of the nation's largest clean-tech incubators.

EnterpriseWorks | researchpark.illinois.edu/facilities/enterpriseworks

Part of the University of Illinois's Research Park, this incubator hosts early-stage tech firms, with focus on information and biotechnology companies.

Illustrations

Cover design by copyright Chiko StatChimp | entrepreneurdex.com

Cover photography by copyright Andreirybachuk | Dreamstime.com

Illustrations by Chiko StatChimp

Photography by Dreamstime.com artists, and Damir Perge, copyright DamirPerge

Myth 1:
Entrepreneurs are born

Vader geeft baby de fles / Father feeding the baby By Nationaal Archie, Creative Commons, Flickr

Myth 2:
Education is critical to be a successful entrepreneur

Smithsonian Institution, Creative Commons, Flickr

Myth 3:
You must risk it all to make it

Copyright Martinmark | Dreamstime.com

Myth 4:
You must have domain expertise to start a venture

Copyright Dirk Ercken | Dreamstime.com

Myth 5:
The best time to start your venture is when you’re young

Copyright Dmitriy Shironosov | Dreamstime.com

Myth 6:
You’ll be your own boss

Copyright Simon Krzic | Dreamstime.com

Myth 7:
Control is not an issue

Copyright Fernando Gregory | Dreamstime.com

Myth 7:
Groupon IPO Table

Copyright Chiko StatChimp | entrepreneurdex.com

Myth 8:
Failure is not an option