Why it's so great: Sarah Lacy and her band of bloggers at Pando are making an effort to become the "site of record for Silicon Valley." Much of the staff came from TechCrunch, so they're well sourced. Lacy conducts exclusive interviews with high profile people in tech and curates the top tech/entrepreneurship stories from other startups in the site's right rail.
Last week Naval Ravikant went to an industry dinner. He asked a friend in the venture business how things were going. The friend slumped over in his chair, shrugged sadly and said, “The business is becoming commoditized.”
It’s an extreme interpretation, and not everyone shares it. Times have never been better for a handful of firms who are rolling in the returns, raising as much from LPs as they want and still doing business the way they always have.
But matters have also never been more polarized for the VC-haves and have-nots, and this sad-sack VC has a few people to blame. Chief among them is his friend Ravikant, whose site AngelList has dragged the stealthy, back-room world of venture capital kicking and screaming into the light — something many industry watchers never thought could be done.
And now, AngelList is doing the same thing it did to VCs to recruiters.
Blogger: LinkedIn curates articles based on your professional profile and your social connections.
Why it's so great: LinkedIn Today curates articles that are fitting for your industry and that people in that industry are sharing. As such, it's a good source of entrepreneurship and business news all in one place.
Blogger: Mark Suster, VC at GRP Partners and former entrepreneur
Why it's so great: Suster founded two companies and worked in consulting, and has now gone over to "the Dark Side of VC," as he puts it. He's seen every business situation imaginable, from startups to large corporations, and from success to failure. Plus, he has a knack for breaking down complicated ideas and making them much easier to understand. He knows what it takes to win, and you should listen.
Sample:
I have always believed in the saying, “It’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.” It’s a way of life. It’s not about abusing situations but about knowing when to push the boundaries. It’s about knowing that the overwhelming number of people in life are naysayers and “no sayers” and sometimes you gotta just roll the dice and say WTF.
Blogger: Penelope Trunk, Founder and CEO of Brazen Careerist
Why it's so great: As a three-time entrepreneur, Trunk has a lot of experience to share. She deftly mixes her small business advice with personal anecdotes (sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking) to make for a blog that you'll look forward to reading. And, her insights are priceless.
Sample:
One of the worst pieces of career advice that I bet each of you has not only gotten but given is to "do what you love."...
I am a writer, but I love sex more than I love writing. And I am not getting paid for sex. In fact, as you might imagine, my sex life is really tanking right now. But I don't sit up at night thinking, should I do writing or sex? Because career decisions are not decisions about "what do I love most?" Career decisions are about what kind of life do I want to set up for myself?
So how could you possibly pick one thing you love to do? And what would be the point?...
Here's some practical advice: Do not what you love; do what you are.
Blogger: Steve Blank, Professor of Entrepreneurship at multiple universities and author of Four Steps to the Epiphany
Why it's so great: Blank tackles the whole gamut of business topics, from innovation in big business to the role of a founding CEO. His B-school teaching instincts come through all his blog posts, where he often walks his readers step-by-step through his points, and useful graphs abound. Most posts are summed up at the bottom with a helpful "Lessons Learned" section, too.
Sample:
Who is an entrepreneur really? It turns out that there are four distinct types of entrepreneurial organizations; small businesses, scalable startups, large companies and social entrepreneurs. They all engage in entrepreneurship. Yet entrepreneurs in one class think that the others aren’t the “real” entrepreneurs. This post looks at the differences and similarities and explains why there’s such confusion.
Bloggers: Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, both authors and management consultants
Why it's so great: Attracting 120,000 daily readers, Forbes named Church of the Customer a 2010 Favorite for Best of the Web Small Business Blogs.
The blog documents successes and failures of small and large businesses, so entrepreneurs can avoid making similar mistakes.
Forbes writes about their pick: "There's always something to be learned about managing customers and building loyalty."
Sample:
At first blush, a complaining customer is not something we have on our wish list of awesome things in the world.
But this type of customer contact provides a great opportunity to do something remarkable that will build loyalty and word of mouth. Research shows this to be true. Customer experience research firm TARP finds that customers who complain and are satisfied are up to 8% more loyal than if they had no problem at all (PDF).
Bloggers: A collection of writers and entrepreneurs who specialize in saving money, cutting costs, and budgeting wisely
Why it's so great: As a small business owner, frugality can make or break your company. Wise Bread offers tips on how manage business finances, and gives advice to entrepreneurs who want to do big things on a small budget.
Wise Bread has a section that caters exclusively to entrepreneurship, which covers topics ranging from "launching for less" to "scoring free publicity."
Sample:
Starting a business is an intimidating prospect. It involves a level of commitment that few other goals require. Typically, one of the major commitments in business startups is a hefty financial commitment. However, there are ways to start a business for next to nothing. Knowing how to do so can make an intimidating project much more doable.
Bloggers: A collection of entrepreneurs and other experts, whose areas of specialty range from marketing to strategy, to financial management
Why it's so great: AllBusiness covers how-to advice, analysis, and commentary from experts in all areas of business. Content is updated daily (including weekends) and is searchable by categories like "Internet Marketing" and "Startups."
Sample:
Recently I had a conversation with a friend that had attended a monthly business meeting and the discussion turned to whether you should ever let your emotions or feelings get involved in the decisions you make as a business owner.
...Sure it’s not good practice to mix the two but the truth is it’s in front of you every day.If an employee gets hurt or something happens to a staff’s child you need to be there.Staff need to feel supported, and want to be a part of a company that genuinely cares.
Trying to separate the natural from business leaves you looking like a cold-hearted scrooge who cares about nothing except making money.You may have staff but I guarantee they’re just waiting for a better opportunity to get out.
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