February 2013
1 post
The Post Post-PC Era: Will Apple, Google, Samsung,...
Note From Peter: This post originally ran on TechCrunch.com
Editor’s note: Peter Relan is a formerdeveloper and Oracle’s former VP of Internet Division, a serial entrepreneur since 1998, and a Silicon Valley angel investor. Relan founded YouWeb Incubator in 2007, spinning out a string of successful mobile and gaming companies. Follow him on Twitter @prelan.
Even before Apple’s 10 percent stock...
December 2012
2 posts
8 tags
Stages Five, Six, and Seven of Founding a Company:...
In my last post, “stage four of founding a company,” I discussed the “re-thinking” phase where founders must be able to confront their “first brush with failure.” At this point, if you feel like the prototype you have built works, and the user experience and technical risks are all looking good, then you’re ready to commit (stage 5) and then build a minimally viable product...
7 tags
4 Most Important Qualities of an Entrepreneur
[Note from Peter: This was originally posted to Inc.com by writer Minda Zetlin, after she spoke with me a couple of weeks ago. It’s a great piece which summarizes some of my major thoughts on entrepreneurs. Enjoy!]
Forget about your business idea—most of them don’t pan out anyway. Here’s what it really takes to succeed.
Are you cut out to be an entrepreneur?
Peter...
October 2012
3 posts
5 tags
90% Of Incubators And Accelerators Will Fail And...
This post originally ran on Techcrunch.com
Incubators are now an industry segment in their own right. Before starting YouWeb Incubator in 2007, I began to explore the idea of an incubator with friends and colleagues. Most people told me that Idealab and CMGI had tried the model in the 1990s and didn’t really work out (with the exception of Overture, which spun out of Idealab). CMGI imploded...
Stage Four of Founding a Company: Re-thinking an...
In the last post I talked about prototyping an idea: either in order to remove the technical risks, or to get to the essence of the user experience. Once you have a prototype, hopefully after a couple of iterations, you get to the next important question:
Does this prototype reflect your original idea/concept? The odds are “not exactly”, which is just fine. It’s rare to see a founder create a...
5 tags
Stage Three of Founding a Company: Prototyping
In the last blog post I discussed the second phase of going from an idea to a company: mulling over your idea, wherein I wrote about how you have to find the balance between passion and intellectual honesty. Now comes the part where the rubber meets the road: can you build a prototype that eliminates the technical risks? Or if there are none, can you build a prototype that captures the essence of...
September 2012
7 posts
2 tags
Q&A: Market Research and Business Plans?
Another question!
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I am planning build to build a start-up and I have few queries concerning two broad and primary issues to be successful:
1) How to perform market research and what potential factors we need to look into?
2) Is there any proven or successful method for devising a business plan?
Please refer me any good books or methods you think would help me.
...
Stage Two of Founding a Company: Mulling Over an...
In the last post I wrote about the “Conception” stage of an idea and how it must possess you from the inside, rather than from the outside as a market opportunity.
Today, its about the next stage: Mulling over an Idea.
I encourage the mulling stage — It is an opportunity to soak in the idea, feel it, intuit it, analyze it, hate it, love it, sleep over it, lose sleep over it....
4 tags
Q&A: Going Beyond Stage One?
Here’s a question from an aspiring founder, after having read Stage 1 of founding a startup:
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Greetings! I found your blog as a result desperate google search, and boy am I glad I did! I happen to be a non-techie non hacker (sigh, I know I know) founder with a tech idea. And while I’ve taken a Fast Trac course and found a business mentor at my local small...
5 tags
Stage One of Founding a Company: Conception
Last time I wrote about the 7 steps from Idea to Company. Today I begin my deep dive into each of the steps, in seven blog posts…
Stage 1. Conception:
This is the most serendipitous stage for a founder. Most people I’ve met think that ideas are constructed: thought up by the creative founder or visionary. I believe they are conceived, which is different — it’s equal parts...
3 tags
Q&A: Why Only Techies and Hackers?
Here’s our first QnA on FounderQuorum. Thanks to Damiano!
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I find awesome the idea of looking for people who develop and validate ideas, rather than simply ideas with people strolling along. Nevertheless my question is: why only techies and hackers and not people from all disciplines?
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Great question!
One of the reasons we invest in...
The Evolution of an Idea
At YouWeb I only accept “single founders to be” who are awesome hackers or techies and I specifically don’t accept entrepreneurs who have a specific idea or business plan in mind. It has nothing to do with the quality of their idea. It might very well be a great one, or even the best one at the time. But at YouWeb we are trying something different: can we help a young aspiring...
Welcome to Founder Quorum
Welcome to Founder Quorum, what I hope will become a great resource to aspiring entrepreneurs and hackers everywhere. I thought it would be best to start with a little bit about me and why five years ago I started an incubator called YouWeb, which focuses on taking in hackers and programmers and helping them turn themselves into superstar entrepreneurs.
Beginnings: Programming
I consider...
