Tagged in Startups We love Startups here at XNV, so we share tips, ideas, and the latest news.
The Long Tail - Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More06 July, 2013
Even if you don't plan to read it, you can't get away without understanding the phenomenon described by Chris Andersen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Andersen] in his book The Long Tail [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_tail] and expect to thrive in the age of the Internet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet]. And this is no exaggeration -  the long tail is a social phenomenon enabled by the internet and it extends beyond the realm offline retail stores, predicting customer behavior ac
Adriano Marques
Wikinomics - How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything10 June, 2013
You know when a book is outdated when it mentions MySpace [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace] as the leading Social Network [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network], and makes short references to Facebook [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook]. This book was once very relevant, but now it is so outdated that I wouldn't recommend its read unless it undergoes a major review. Time has only made this subject even more relevant, and understanding it is a requirement for leveraging the giga
Adriano Marques
Lucky or Smart? Fifty Pages For The First-Time Entrepreneur28 May, 2013
Quick read, features some relevant lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur]. I somewhat enjoyed the book, but wasn't much impressed by it. Maybe it would be more useful if I've never read any other entrepreneurship or business book before. One other negative detail, in my opinion, is that author tries to teach you lessons using examples from his experience as entrepreneur in the early 90's when internet wasn't anywhere near what it currently is today and use
Adriano Marques
Start With Why - How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action25 May, 2013
If you've ever started a business, or tried to sell something, you'll certainly recognize the patterns described by Simon Sinek [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Sinek]. We think of the what to describe a product or service. Same while trying to influence people to adopt a certain behavior. Thinking about the what, and explaining the what just feels natural, logical, rational. The why is implied, and you expect people to figure their own whys to make good use of your whats. The book teaches
Adriano Marques
Things I Learned About Life and Entrepreneurship While Learning How to Shoot with a Bow23 April, 2013
I've just begun practicing, and did some classes to learn proper bow [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_and_arrow] handling, form, aiming and shooting. It may seem easy to shoot with a bow - after all, it is just a bow and an arrow! anyone could shoot with it - but it turns out that handling it properly isn't as easy as it seems. The Dominant Eye A dominant eye is the eye which is preferred by your brain for seeing things, in a similar way that you have a preferred arm and hand for dealing with
Adriano Marques
Review: Content Rules - How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, eBooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.15 April, 2013
Creating a personal blog seems to be some sort of rite of passage that most internet users have gone through. Keeping up with it, is yet another rite that only a very small percentage of them manage to pass. I am still trying to keep that up, and I have to admit that it is challenging to create the habit to post relevant content often. This is where this book comes in handy - it takes you by the hand and gives awesome ideas on how to elaborate interesting content and keep up with your blog, pod
Adriano Marques
Work like you Sleep07 May, 2011
Ok, I'm not going to tell you to work like you sleep in the sense of how much work you get done out of your sleep time. Actually, there is a much more interesting perspective to that relation. After watching this TEDx Midwest talk, I just confirmed what I always believed to be true but in a very well explained manner: Interrupting work is just like interrupting your sleep. With a 4 months old baby boy, I just realized how bad it is to your attempt to get some rest when you are interrupted 3 or
Adriano Marques
Loyalty Mobile01 June, 2010
It looks like cell phones today have so many features that it is becoming less phone and more everything else. The new trend, when it comes to transforming your mobile phone into something else, is turning it into a Loyalty Card Collector. Startups like CardStar [http://www.mycardstar.com/] and CardBank [http://www.barcode2mobile.com/] already offer business a solution that uses barcodes to virtualize loyalty cards and store them in mobile phones. There are plenty of others, like Foursquare [htt
Adriano Marques
Rework23 May, 2010
Outstanding book for entrepreneurs looking into inspiration for addressing common development dilemmas like whether to reed to customer's suggestions or how to approach software development for maximizing profit and deliverability. Focused on startups whose main product is the software they develop, and wrote by the founders of 37 signals, this book breaks most of the old common sense understandings on how a company should be built and how software development should be managed based on their ow
Adriano Marques
Software Patents not worth the effort?08 April, 2010
This week I read an article from Erik J. Heels [http://erikjheels.com/?p=2167], where he states that patents are not always worth a try for startups, mainly when it comes to software patents. Well, it happens that I have being reading about this subject lately, and sometimes I do agree, sometimes I don't. Although being expensive and time consuming, patents do give its owner a reasonable advantage over competitors avoiding them from stealing the idea. Ok, I agree that it doesn't always avoid t
Adriano Marques
Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion13 January, 2010
I may have been the first person who bought Crush It! before knowing who Gary Vaynerchuk was and having never seen the Wine Library TV. The latter being of no surprise, since I don't drink. Instead of going for the book, I bought the audiobook at audible which is narrated by Gary Vaynerchuck himself. His energy and enthusiasm really got me excited right off the bat, and the way he narrates really shows his passion and love for what he does. Since I've never seen any of his videos before, that al
Adriano Marques
Perhaps a Starting Point?20 November, 2008
Last post I wondered a little bit about how could a company give enough freedom to their employees so they can create their creative environment and do a better job. After posting, I began pondering some starting points, or directives, which could help a company walk in that direction. First, I would like to bold that in the creative process, there should be no deadlines or that will kill it from the root. But, I didn't forget that in the real world, we need to interact with other companies and
Adriano Marques
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