Tag Archives: Startups

Building a Shopping Solution

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

I have been involved in ShopCo Holdings just about two months now as the Chief Executive Officer.   I figured it is about time I start sharing a bit about it. ShopCo Holdings is a company backed by 12 large US Media companies … Continue reading →

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Victor Belfor, Ben Smith: Backing A College Dropout Might Be Your Smartest Investment Strategy

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

  I recently invested in two companies whose founders either had little interest in school as students or who dropped out of grad school: MixRank and Influitive. Both management teams are driven, hard working and well prepared for the difficult road … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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Tony Scott, Ben Smith: So They’ve Offered You The CEO’s Job. Here’s What You Need To Know Before Jumping With Joy | peHUBpeHUB

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

Tony Scott, Ben Smith: So They’ve Offered You The CEO’s Job. Here’s What You Need To Know Before Jumping With Joy So you’re in the running for the CEO’s job at a startup. Already a creeping sense of uncertainty has … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Victor Belfor, Ben Smith: We’ll Trade 100 Employees For One A-Player | peHUB

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

Mark Zuckerberg famously commented that a great engineer is worth a 100 average engineers (something every developer knows deep in her heart). He was talking about A-players, and in our opinion the worst thing any startup can do is accept … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Crash Dev: Top three reasons NOT to do a local + online startup (and what to do instead)

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

This piece by Devore is fascinating and correct.  Having looked at buying the Judy’s Book asset twice, I think they really were a great team with a solid execution, and it still did not work.   The fundamental issues of high cost to acquire customers, high customer churn, low monthly … Continue reading →

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Tom Klaff, Ben Smith: A New Spin On Corporate Venture Capital; How Big Businesses Can Encourage Innovation | peHUB

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

Corporate venture capital comes and goes in waves. In good times, money flows easily into startups. When times turn bad, most corporate investors disappear, and the waves they create crash violently on the shore. It doesn’t have to be this … Continue reading →

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