We started Modify Watches in 2010, after graduating from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. During school, I had worked on a sustainability business, Refill Revolution, which is now part of True2O.com. I was fortunate to take a course from Steve Blank and Eric Ries titled “Customer Development in High-Tech Enterprises.” I’m still not sure…
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Starting and running a business is much like a crazy game of poker, with high stakes. It takes a strong mind to endure the ups and downs. You need to have motivation and passion to see the course to success – and even with that, sometimes things don’t work out the way you planned. It can…
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Did anybody else use AOL Instant Messenger religiously? I remember all the cool features from the glory days: the sound of that door as it opened and closed, annoying jingles, designing the perfect profile, creative away messages, and horrific text color schemes that no human eye could ever hope to read. The point I am…
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In typical companies, it takes 12 to 18 months for a team to “click”: to harmonize and fully trust each other so they’re operating at peak performance, says Paul Burgess. When team members take his Instinctive Drives test, learn their four instinctive drives, and get a bit of coaching, it takes 4 to 6 weeks. “99.9…
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Dina Kaplan, founder of Blip, continued piling more onto her plate. In addition to running six departments within her startup- HR, finance, PR, marketing, biz dev, and investor relations- Kaplan took it upon herself to build a networking community for the New York startup scene with The Founders Club. Blip was flourishing, as was the…
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Hyde Park Venture Partners announced today that it has closed its venture fund after hitting $25 million in commitments. This far exceeds the initial $20 million target, and it ensures seed and series A investments will be awarded to tech-enabled businesses, consumer companies, and health care companies. “We will continue to nurture the innovation that is…
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I love Des Moines, Iowa. Every little bit of this community energizes me, inspires me, and feels like home. I have found that this city is full of endless possibilities and readily available resources that make it one of the most perfect places to start up. It is with this attitude that I immediately said “yes” to…
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A business’s strategic plan does more than lay out missions, values, and strategies; it provides a definition. It defines where you are and where you want to be over the next few years, and that definition focuses energy, time, and resources towards that goal. The issue, however, is that traditional modes of strategic planning are…
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Andrew is an iOS and MacOS interface designer based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. “I’m happy to talk to clients,” he says – presumably, compared to all those designers who have no patience for the people paying their wages. Thanks to Scoutzie, Andrew has a source of work to keep him busy, happily talking to those…
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We’ve come too far to give up who we are. Yeah, all right, it’s a line from Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” but I think it accurately describes how we often feel when we’re in a new city and are absolutely CLUELESS about the interesting things to do (let alone where we can find a decent…
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It is official; Google has confirmed its acquisition of Israeli map-software provider Waze today for over $1 billion. It was announced and confirmed from both parties in corresponding blog posts. Waze collects input from around 50 million users to provide succinct directions, traffic displays, and hazard details. The acquisition would ensure that all of these features, plus…
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Incubation Station marks their second annual Showcase Day event today in Austin, Texas. Six consumer packaged goods (CPG) startups, after a 12-week mentorship program, are getting the opportunity to present their final pitches to Austin’s entrepreneur and investor communities. These startups spent their 12 weeks at Incubation Station focusing on funding, team building, mentorship, and…
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This post is part of an ongoing series, Tech Cocktail’s “20 Damn Good Reasons to Attend Tech Cocktail Celebrate”, our national startup competition on October 23 – 25, held in downtown Las Vegas. Check back each Tuesday as we feature a new reason to attend Tech Cocktail Celebrate. SXSW + Coachella = Life is Beautiful. You…
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Are all men born with an innate inability to shop for clothes? This is a question that has stumped girlfriends since the nascence of the novelty tie. Indeed, even gay men need help shopping for clothes sometimes (not me, of course – I’m pretty on point). But, admittedly, shopping for clothes that 1) match our…
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In 2010, one-third of all American workers were independent – that means freelance, self-employed, or part-time, explains the Freelancers Union. And many of those workers are now seeking new jobs on online freelancing marketplaces like Freelancer.com, which has 7 million freelancers. On top of that, newly minted freelancers are coming out of hacker schools and…
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Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said... Read More
Looking for a way to make your business dreams become a reality? With Elevatr,... Read More
This post is part of Tech Cocktail’s “Psychological Guide to Starting Up,”... Read More
The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an... Read More
We started Modify Watches in 2010, after graduating from UC Berkeley’s Haas... Read More