Category Archives: Spoke Software

Ben Smith, Mark Boslet: Career Building Like A Startup: Thoughts On Reid Hoffman’s “The Start-up of You”

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

In the 40 years since the publication of What Color Is Your Parachute, the job market has collapsed, collapsed again and changed almost unrecognizably. The time has come for a new job hunter’s bible. Our vote goes to Reid Hoffman’s … Continue reading →

Posted in A.T. Kearney, Deals, Personal, Relationships, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ben Smith, Mark Boslet: Career Building Like A Startup: Thoughts On Reid Hoffman’s “The Start-up of You”

The less discussed, other sinister plot at groupon. – surya says too much. – surya says too much.

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

For all the critics from the sidelines of any game, politics, business, investing, startups, parenting, charity, and even football.  Some people are hitting Groupon now. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software, Startups | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The less discussed, other sinister plot at groupon. – surya says too much. – surya says too much.

Grace Chan, Ben Smith: Building An Online Community Is Hard Work | peHUBpeHUB

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

Grace Chan, Ben Smith: Building An Online Community Is Hard Work We have seen it all. We’ve seen entrepreneurs set out to build loyal communities for newly minted products only to forget that they are more than just sales assets. … Continue reading →

Posted in Deals, MerchantCircle, Product, Spoke Software | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Grace Chan, Ben Smith: Building An Online Community Is Hard Work | peHUBpeHUB

Maximilian Schroeck, Ben Smith: Unlocking Value From A Portfolio’s Walking Dead | | peHUBpeHUB

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

We have all seen it. A startup has initial success with an innovative business concept, an early product, a first or second round of capital and a spurt of revenue growth. Then suddenly, its momentum stalls. More than 50% of … Continue reading →

Posted in A.T. Kearney, Deals, Investments, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software, Startups | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Maximilian Schroeck, Ben Smith: Unlocking Value From A Portfolio’s Walking Dead | | peHUBpeHUB

Ben Smith: Building Startups Is Cheap But Never Run Out of Cash | peHUB

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Ben T. Smith, IV

Internet startups have been getting cheaper to build for 10 years. So why is it more important than ever not to run out of cash? We built MerchantCircle into one of the 100 most trafficked U.S. sites and I honestly … Continue reading →

Posted in A.T. Kearney, Deals, Investments, MerchantCircle, Relationships, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ben Smith: Building Startups Is Cheap But Never Run Out of Cash | peHUB

peHUB » Ben Smith: Silicon Valley Is A Multi-Inning Game, Relationships Are How You Play

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Ben T. Smith, IV

I heard two things recently. “Silicon Valley is a multi-inning game, relationships matter.“ And. “I am all business, I don’t care about relationships.” The first statement came from a seasoned venture capitalist with 20 years of experience. His point is … Continue reading →

Posted in A.T. Kearney, MerchantCircle, Personal, Relationships, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on peHUB » Ben Smith: Silicon Valley Is A Multi-Inning Game, Relationships Are How You Play

Great Advice from Steve Blank..

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Ben T. Smith, IV

I will not be adding another non failure from Stanford GSB today.  All my very successful friends from GSB are now asking so I think I have a blog a day for about 60 days. Instead I wanted to call … Continue reading →

Posted in Deals, Investments, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software, Startups | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Great Advice from Steve Blank..

Trovix

Posted on May 1, 2006 by Ben T. Smith, IV

One of my favorite deals is doing some really interesting things on search related to jobs.  I did trovix.com about a year ago with USVP who I created Spoke with.  Great deep technology.

Posted in Deals, Investments, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Trovix