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Mayfield Fund partner Raj Kapoor's lessons to entrepreneursThe economy isn't out of the woods yet, and that means preserving cash should still be a priority. "Cash is king," said Raj Kapoor, managing director at Mayfield Fund. "No matter what, your most valuable resource is cash."In this "Lessons Learned" segment, Raj also talks about hiring people smarter than yourself. At a startup, it's not so wise to try to bring a bunch of people to the table who aren't experienced in the jobs you need them to be. He also talks about the importance of focus, measure and re-focus.What he means is that while companies should iterate, they should also keep a sharp eye on what they're iterating on and the effects of their effort. All too often, ... [http://vator.tv/n/c31 read more]

• 12/24/09
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Brizzly founder Jason Shellen on nearly running out of cash before being snapped up It's often said that a company that can survive a downturn is one that will thrive or have a good exit in an upturn. In the case of Blogger, the blog publishing platform sold to Google, it was just that. The startup had nearly run out of cash right after the Internet bubble burst, struggling to bring in new funds or revenue before the search giant came along and snapped it up.The lesson? Don't give up on your company even if you're about to go under. And, be very creative and frugal and find a way to bring in revenue. Essentially, create your opportunities by surviving.

• 12/18/09
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Interview with long tail expert Adam Boyden, President ConduitReena A Jadhav interviews Adam Boyden, President of Conduit which has crossed 200,000 long tail publishers and successfully monetized their customers in

• 12/13/09
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Angel investor Aydin Senkut's advice: It's the team, stupid, and the virtues of iterating quicklyI've often heard that finding the right team members requires the same effort as finding a spouse. After all, you're going to work with them day in and day out. And, many startups fail because of people and their inability to get along.When you're as prolific as Aydin Senkut, an early-Google-employee-turned angel investor who's investments are spread across some 40 startups, it's critical to look for the right team magic. "A good team is one you can take to the bank," he said. In this segment of "Lessons Learned," Aydin - whose portfolio consists of some well-known consumer Internet companies, such as Mint, which was recently sold to Intuit for $170 million, Aardvark, Disqus, Dogster, BrightRoll and Rapleaf - said ... [http://vator.tv/n/c20 read more]

• 12/10/09
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Revenue models that work and monetization tips for entrepreneurs.Reena Jadhav interviews Adam Boyden, President of Conduit on monetization tips. Conduit has exploded over the last few years and now supports over 200,000 publishers and more than 60 million active users. But that's not the interesting part. What's fascinating is that they are effectively monetizing their user base and generating significant revenues. I sat down with Adam Boyden, President of Conduit, to elicit his secrets to monetization.

• 11/29/09
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Bonobos co-founder Andy Dunn on building a business with a former roommate, and other lessons/adviceAndy Dunn, co-founded pants designer and retailer Bonobos in 2007 with his former Stanford Business School roommate Brian Spaly. So far, so good. The two are making a killing at their new venture.But it's not been all that easy."My co-founder and I have highly overlapping skill sets," said Andy, in this segment of "Lessons for Entrepreneurs." Working together has been an “enormous challenge," he added. Andy's advice to former roommates or friends thinking about working together is this: Think about your relative contribution and the architecture of your business relationships. "It's critical." Fortunately, the two have been able to preserve the friendship, he said.

• 11/14/09
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Foundation Capital's Charles Moldow offers advice to entrepreneursBefore Charles Moldow became a general partner at Foundation Capital, he spent more than a decade as an entrepreneur. He wrote the original business plan for AtHome, a high-speed Internet access comapny, which eventually became ExciteAtHome. He also worked at TellMe, which was sold to Microsoft. Charles also led investments in roughly 10 startups, including Xoopit, Powerset, Weblistic and AdWhirl. This is his advice to entrepreneurs.- Be relentless. The management team at TellMe once put a guy in first class on an airplane to Japan just to sit down to a prospective client. Think out of the box and be relentless. - Don’t compromise with a big idea. Time is one of your most valuable assets. Wait and find a ... [http://vator.tv/n/af7 read more]

• 10/29/09
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Thread CEO and co-founder Brian Phillips on work and play, and having a team before an ideaYou might think that building a relationship and building a company are two difficult challenges best pursued at different times of your life. But Brian Phillips has figured out how to align both those interests. Brian, who happens to be single, is the CEO and co-founder of online dating site Thread.In this segment of "Lessons for Entrepreneurs," Brian, a former PayPal product manager and who co-founded a payment platform Groovy.com back in the late 90's, shares three pieces of advice to fellow entrepreneurs."First, do something you’re passionate about. I’m single, many of my friends are single," he said. "We’re all passionate about dating. My business and personal interests are aligned."Brian's second piece of advice is to work with people you ... [http://vator.tv/n/aa9 read more]

• 10/22/09
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