Startups

Taking the Air Out of the Bubble Slowly

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 28, 2011 / Leave a comment

I’m on record as believing that things are a little out of whack in startup world. That funding is a little high. That companies are going public that probably shouldn’t. I’m not ready to back down from any of those comments. The curious thing about this bubble though is that...
The 2 Types of Innovation and 5 Types of Companies

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 27, 2011 / Leave a comment

There are essentially two different levels of innovation: Addressing Latent Demand – Most companies are founded on an innovation. This could be as simple as, “there aught to be a Chinese Food Restaurant on Carson Street” or as complex as, “The internet and mobile device users will latch on to...
The Next Step for Pittsburgh’s Tech Scene

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 25, 2011 / Leave a comment

Ever since Lycos Pittsburgh has been known as the kind of place where companies can get started. ModCloth, Resumator, CloudFab and others have continued (and accelerated the pace of) that trend. The problem for these growing companies is funding. They can find seed money here (often through government programs like...
Good People, Great People and Startups

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 23, 2011 / 2 Comments

Recently Bill Taylor at the Harvard Business Review wrote an Article entitled, “Great People are Over Rated“. He jumped on the bit of controversy around the salary of tech engineers these days. Facebook has been stealing Google employees (at least 89 at the moment), Google has offered hundreds of thousands...
Three Lessons From Color

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 17, 2011 / Leave a comment

I want to talk about Color for a minute. It seems like just yesterday (actually it was May 23rd) it was the biggest startup news anywhere. Fast forward only 3 weeks and 1 day and TechCrunch is calling them struggling and reporting that they lost their co-founder and president. I...
Great Companies Master Markets not Products

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 16, 2011 / Leave a comment

I love startups, it’s the reason I spend so much time with this blog. It makes me giddy to see the explosion in startups and the explosion in IPOs from those startups. This week, I noticed an item that gave me pause though. IBM is turning 100 years old. Can...
AlphaLab Demo Day: Post 2 – GenevaMars, Touchscreen Disney

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 15, 2011 / Leave a comment

I got the chance (thanks to @ms_selah) to drop by AlphaLab’s demo day a couple weeks ago. It was really exciting to watch 5 talented Pittsburgh companies present their projects! Unfortunately I left my notes at home when I left town, so forgive me for making these posts a couple...
Guest Post: Statrtups are a Balancing Act

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 14, 2011 / Leave a comment

On the Author: If you’re from the South Hills of Pittsburgh you’re no doubt familiar with Rollier Hardware on Washington Road (if you’ve been in Pittsburgh a while you were familiar with it on McFarland Road too); but did you know the family run business has a multi-million dollar e-commerce...
AlphaLab Demo Day: Post 1 – Drinking Smart with Rhomania

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 3, 2011 / Leave a comment

I got the chance (thanks to @ms_selah) to drop by AlphaLab’s demo day a couple weeks ago. It was really exciting to watch 5 talented Pittsburgh companies present their projects! Unfortunately I left my notes at home when I left town, so forgive me for making these posts a couple...
Pushing The Boundaries of the Law

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ May 27, 2011 / Leave a comment

One thing that a new startup does is allow a company to push the boundaries of the law. I’m not saying you should try to break the law, I am saying that a startup can afford to take a lot more risk in the area then an established company which...