Why Marketing and BD Professionals Should Learn to Code

I’m by no means a good programmer, but I know the basics and they’re incredibly helpful. [1] Knowing how to write code makes me 3-4x more efficient at my job. I get stuff done faster and provide leverage to my team.
So to you non-technical web professionals out there, whether you do SEO/SEM, affiliate, community management, blogging, PR, or business development: learn to code this year. Here are 10 reasons why:

Read the article at

http://www.giftrocket.com/why-marketing-bd-should-learn-to-code

Strategy Letter I: Ben and Jerry's vs. Amazon

Building a company? You've got one very important decision to make, because it affects everything else you do. No matter what else you do, you absolutely must figure out which camp you're in, and gear everything you do accordingly, or you're going to have a disaster on your hands.
The decision? Whether to grow slowly, organically, and profitably, or whether to have a big bang with very fast growth and lots of capital.

Read the complete article at

http://joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000056.html

Why I only work with startups

Directly tied to the sense of context, is having an impact in the company. When somebody is just starting out with their product, you’re helping to shape their vision, you can give good feedback and make use of your experience – in a sense you’re helping somebody achieve their dream and that’s a Great Feeling ™.
Working as an emotionless engineer, a faceless cog who just gets his part done in the big machine … well I’m sure you can imagine how that doesn’t even begin to compare.

Read the full article at 
http://swizec.com/blog/why-i-only-work-with-startups/swizec/2936

The 5 Minute Guide To Cheap Startup Advertising

The fantastic beginner's guide to advertising with very good tips about advertising on Google AdWords/Facebook, Posted by Dharmesh Shah on OnStartup.com

http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/43774/The-5-Minute-Guide-To-Cheap-Startup-Advertising.aspx

So you’re going to take a cube job ?

the excellent letter by James Currier, the exited founder and now founder of Jiff, to his alma mater on how to do something exciting instead of wasting your life at a cube job.

"Most people think that working for a big or known company will give them good experience. That’s kind of like saying learning to sit still for dental surgery is good experience. Sure, it’s an experience, but there are life paths where you don’t have to have dental surgery, or work for a big company, to have the best life. In fact, I would argue that you learn the wrong things working for a big company, and that it’s actually not good experience. A good experience is when you really make something happen in the world. Big companies teach you how to work through layers of bureaucracy and how to solve problems in very risk-averse ways — in short, how to make something happen in their organization. A big company is not the safe career choice. It’s the risky choice. It risks your mind and your life. "


Read the full article at

 http://www.mikekarnj.com/blog/2008/08/20/ooga-labs/



 

Early Warning Signs of Startup Trouble

This is a small snippet in a post making a different point, but it got me thinking about some of the early warning signs I’ve seen in starups who’ve failed.

Read the post at

http://bryce.vc/post/14265593179/early-warning-signs-of-startup-trouble

Don’t compete on features

Very very interesting and useful read by Andrew Chen

"The “Ultimate Driving Machine” is a classic slogan that makes BMW compete based on position, not features."

Read the complete blog at

http://andrewchen.co/2011/07/11/dont-compete-on-features/