http://www.instigatorblog.com Instigating discussion, ideas and better business! Tue, 06 May 2008 15:19:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Software startups always start out very heavily focused on technology. They have to be; they're building some kind of software application and most of their time has to go into doing that properly. Most software startup teams are made up entirely of developers or weighted in that direction. Have a ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/technology-to-sales-the-evolution-of-a-software-startup/2008/05/06/ The guys behind StartupNorth and a number of other initiatives, have recently launched StartupIndex, which they describe as, "...a free, community-based index of technology startups and investors in Canada." It's similar to CrunchBase and TraveVibes. This is a much-needed addition to the startup scene in Canada. It's great for Canadian startups but ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/startupindex/2008/05/05/ If you don't think personal branding is important, you're flat out nuts. Nowadays it's so much easier to brand yourself online - through blogging, social media, networking - and then leverage that effectively offline as well. Bringing your online branding efforts offline is key; because you can't live exclusively online. And ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/personal-branding-and-the-job-market/2008/04/22/ The pervading approach to launching a startup is to do it quickly, iterate constantly and make as much noise as possible throughout the process. It's not a bad way of doing things, and given the lower cost of startup operations, and the nature of consumer web startups in particular, and ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/data-a-startups-secret-money-making-asset/2008/04/21/ Marc-Andre Cournoyer was the first employee we ever hired at Standout Jobs. Since then he's done a lot of cool things (for us) and on his own, including the fastest Ruby web server, Thin. Now Marc-Andre has been invited to speak at MeshU - a 1-day conference on development, design and ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/kudos-to-marc-andre-cournoyer-speaking-at-meshu/2008/04/18/ I've been way too quiet here lately which is a combination of going to ERE Expo, getting sick and being insanely busy. But I did want to make this quick announcement as an update to what's going on with Standout Jobs. Standout Jobs has been selected by CIX (Canadian Innovation Exchange) ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/standout-jobs-chosen-as-one-of-canadas-hottest-startups/2008/04/17/ Startups have a hard time staying focused. It's the nature of the beast. The enthusiasm founders have for their startups can very quickly lead to chasing too many opportunities. The big risk? Running in every direction, chasing every lead, idea and opportunity only to realize at the end that you've ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/the-challenge-of-staying-focused-in-a-startup/2008/04/08/ How time flies. It's incredible. We're already moving our way into April and I'm still catching up on things from two months ago! And meanwhile, there's still too much snow on the ground. But anyway...April's edition of the Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast is set to go on Tuesday, April 8th ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/aprils-montreal-tech-entrepreneur-breakfast-this-tuesday/2008/04/07/ One of the biggest challenges for startups is keeping in the public eye - getting the word out on a consistent basis to drive an audience, customers, buzz, etc. There are lots of marketing techniques for startups but one that I think is under used and under appreciated is PR. Public ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/how-startups-can-use-pr-successfully/2008/03/27/ We all know that hiring top talent for startups is hard. In a recent post I weighed in on the debate about whether or not startups should hire workaholics. Within the comments on that post, Jeff Nolan said something very interesting (which may appear a bit out of context, but ... http://www.instigatorblog.com/startup-perks-rewards-for-hiring/2008/03/21/