Business Lessons from sucessful entrepreneurs and business leaders: LunchLearning.com

Reading time: 2 - 2 minutes

Video Time: 59 minutes 01 seconds

Dharmesh Shah (@dharmesh on Twitter) seems to “tell it like it is”. . .and I really love that.

I’ve heard of his work with OnStartups.com and Hubspot, as most likely you have as well, but you most likely haven’t heard some of his opinions about Venture Capital, entrepreneurship, case studies and business processes like pricing, branding, and product execution. …and the attention economy!

His talk from Business of Software Boston, 2008 (started by Joel Spolsky (@spolsky on Twitter) and Neil Davidson (@NeilDavidson on Twitter). is relevant to any business owner, as well as super-candid and energetic. If you’re falling asleep at work today, you’ll enjoy this talk!

Reading time: 2 - 3 minutes

Video Time: varies

Great informal chat with Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki on Twitter) of early-stage venture fund Garage Technology Ventures. In this chat, you’ll get a little bit of insight from Guy on his past career with Apple, his work with Steve Jobs, finding meaning in life and work, and instructive lessons on entrepreneurship, start-ups and venture capitalism.

Guy never fails to instruct and entertain, and his ability to combine his approachable and laid-back interpersonal style, with his sharp business acumen, is one of his greatest assets in my opinion. I even had the pleasure to engage his spirited side on Twitter one day after questioning a recent approach to Tweeting. His response to me was to pass along his cell phone number and ask me to ring him up. Which I did. Now that is taking the bull by the horns and communicating!

If you’re an admirer of his writing and entrepreneurial ventures, you’ll really enjoy this talk from one of America’s great entrepreneurial minds.

Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 26 minutes 59 seconds

Could you get a town to change it’s name to that of your company? Josh Kopelman’s from Half.com did.

A lot of entrepreneurs dream of launching a company that is so successful it gets snapped up by another company that sees the vision and is willing to pony up a substantial sum to buy into that success. Josh Kopelman did it. And he did it more than once.

Josh Kopelman (@joshk on Twitter), founder of Half.com talks about how he went from the local kid taking pictures at Bar Mitzvas to running a company while in college, and then on to other successful start ups including the aforementioned Half.com (sold to eBay within a year of launch), and TurnTide, an anti-spam company later sold to Symantec. Today, you’ll find Josh in the Managing Director spot at First Round Capital, a seed-stage venture fund. . .and that is what brings him to this episode of LunchLearning.com.

Other than the general story-telling here, it’s a great reminder to hear Josh talk about the importance of focusing on our strengths as entrepreneurs. . .a realization further cemented now that as a VC he can focus on what he does best. . .starting companies! Josh also comments on the role of business plans in relation to getting funding, and how important individuals and teams are in early stage companies where direction often changes on a dime. Great stuff if you’re ever pitching.

So, check out Josh’s chat with Samantha Ettus. . .he provides a nice cursory look at where some VC firms are looking these days as well as a (little) peek into how some VC think with regard to proposals, etc. Gary Vaynerchuk stops by end the end of this Obsessed segment, of course, with a wine selection for Josh, and some more questions about business. . .always great to hear from Gary as well!

From Josh’s bio: Josh is an inventor on eight U.S. Patents for his work in Internet technology, and in June 2000, was awarded Ernst and Young’s prestigious “Entrepreneur of the Year” award for the Greater Philadelphia region. Josh has also appeared on numerous national television shows, and is a frequent speaker at industry-wide conferences on entrepreneurship, Internet marketing and the future of Internet services. In 2001 Josh and his wife created the Kopelman Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on angel philanthropy to provide “start-up” grants to social entrepreneurs.

Thanks for joining LunchLearning.com today! Enjoy your Lunch!