Remember the PC era?

All signs indicate the end of the PC era.  Total mobile devices shipped will exceed all PCs and laptops this year.  The PC had a good ride, but 30 years is enough.  Now it's time for smartphones and tablets to rule the computing world.  Notice the chart below and the trend lines for mobile devices is very similar to the trend lines for early PCs (in direction, but number of units is orders of magnitude greater).  

Read more at Business Insider.

Mark Cuban's 12 Rules for Startups

From Entrepreneur Magazine:

1. Don't start a company unless it's an obsession and something you love.

2. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession.

3. Hire people who you think will love working there.

4. Sales Cure All.

5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them.

6. An espresso machine?

7. No offices.

8. As far as technology, go with what you know.

9. Keep the organization flat

10. Never buy swag

11. Never hire a PR firm

12. Make the job fun for employees

Read the full article for more on each point.

State of the Startup Economy in San Diego

1.  In the first 9 months of 2011 there were 240 hi-tech and bio-tech startups in San Diego, the highest number in several years.  (source)


2.  $200 million per quarter was invested by VCs in San Diego businesses.  But that is less than half as much as VCs invested prior to the recession.  (source)


3.  Tech Coast Angels (TCA) increased membership from 257 to 304 (counting all 5 locations in SoCal) last year, with San Diego angels numbering over 100 for the first time.


4.  The number of applications to TCA for funding increased from 603 in 2010 to 1004 in 2011.


5.  The number of new deals invested in by TCA increased about 40% year over year, but the amount invested in new deals increased by only about 15%.


The bottom line: the numbers indicate 2011 was challenging for startups to get the funding they were looking for!

Find Your Software Company's Failure Points

The Startup Genome is making a science out of finding the predictors for success in startups by analyzing thousands of startups.  


Read this short article at SoftwareCEO.com to learn 9 tips for success from the Startup Genome.

Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, on This Week in VC

Here's a video clip you won't want to miss:  An hour (+) interview with Eric Ries, the author of The Lean Startup, which is one of the more popular books for entrepreneurs engaged in startups. The host is Mark Suster, a successful entrepreneur and currently a VC in Los Angeles.  Here's the link:
http://youtu.be/EMysvIXmbl0

The best Entrepreneur in Europe?

Spend a few minutes with this video clip of Michael O'Leary making a presentation at the Innovation Convention in Brussels, Belgium.  The spectacular success of his RyanAir is a lesson for all of us.  Enjoy.  Here's the link:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4HYSsrlcq8

On Failure

The sad truth is that the odds are you are going to fail. Now what? The words below are from Charlie O'Donnell, a VC, and VCs by definition must accept failure as a normal part of doing business. His original post is here.

"There are a few important lessons you pick up from going through something like this--all of which strengthen your character, confidence, and refocus you on the important things and the best people in your life. 

1. You are still standing.

2. What you do over the course of your career and, more importantly, over the course of your life, far outweighs a single play, game, deal, etc.

3. How hard you work after failure will determine your character--not that you failed.

4. Love inspires others to be the best people possible. Hate weakens people and makes them shallow. People can never hate as much as other people can love--so hate will always lose and eventually go away.

5. The idea of giving up and walking away never really enters your mind if you are doing something you truly love.

6. If you are not open to learning from failure, your experience will be a missed opportunity.

7. You will absolutely get another chance.

8. All of the people who know how hard you worked to get to the point where what you did even mattered at all--they'll remember your effort and bet on you again because of it.

9. Your real life results as a person matter more than your Google results.

10. There were tons of factors that led to your efforts even mattering--to think that the results simply came down to you is naive. There's always a bigger picture to keep in mind."

Where do you get the money to start your company?

Where do most startups get the money they need to startup and grow the company? Click here!

Pssst... Hey kid, want $10 Million in VC cash?

You just gotta love a great story like this one, where a couple of twenty-something founders turned down $10 Million in VC cash, and made it on their own to build a wildly successful company.


The fun part is that they framed the VC offer letter and it now hangs in the company toilet!


That's some serious cajones!


Read the story here, and think seriously about whether you really need/want outside investment. After you read the story, check out the company website at GrappleMobile.com.