Last weekend I suggested a few books for Internet entrepreneurs. One of the things I mentioned is that books aren’t a good source of current, real-time knowledge about the Internet itself. Business is changing too rapidly, so even the books that were “hot” a few months ago have quickly declined in relevance. That’s where blogs come in.
My blogroll has a decidedly Boston-oriented (and east-coast) flair–maybe that’s because I’m gotten to know some of these people. Or maybe it’s because we’re really good at blogging. I’ve put together a selection of some of my favorite blogs on entrepreneurship and Internet technology.
Current entrepreneurs:
- OnStartups is written by Dharmesh Shah, a local software/Internet entrepreneur who founded Hubspot. It is updated fairly often, and has good tips ranging from pricing software, to prioritizing what’s important in a company, to thoughts on inbound marketing (SEO, SEM, blogging, etc.) programs.
- Dave McClure is a Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur who writes at Master of 500 Hats. His recent posts on “Startup 2.0: engineering better startups through incubators, angel investment and iterative development” is excellent.
- Sim Simeonov writes at HighContrast. Sim left behind a PhD at Stanford to join Allaire (the creators of ColdFusion, and one of the Web 1.0 era’s great Cambridge success stories). Later he worked as a venture capitalist at Polaris, but has returned to the operational side recently. His blog has a lot of good articles that bring together his deep technical expertise, economics knowledge and practical business experience.
Investors
- A VC by Fred Wilson gives a lot of practical advice, and Fred always seems to be on the leading edge of any new technology/Internet trends. It’s frequently updated–and often a great source of inspiration.
- Josh Kopelman’s Redeye VC blog is another blog by a venture capitalist–but Josh is also a very experienced entrepreneur (he founded Half.com during Web 1.0). The posts are always incisive, thought-provoking and frequently contrarian. I particularly like one of the older posts on shrinking markets.
- Bijan Sabet’s blog is run on tumblr, a company he’s invested in. He’s also invested in Twitter and a few other cool companies. He has lots of concise advice and anecdotes in-between comments on the most recent music he listens to. I particularly like Bijan (and Spark Capital’s) position against non-compete agreements, a relic that California made unenforceable through law years ago–something Massachusetts would do well to follow.
- Jeff Bussgang is a partner at Flybridge Capital who has been involved in several successful startups including Open Market and Upromise. His blog, Seeing Both Sides reveals perspectives from having been on both sides of the entrepreneur-VC equation. See his recent slideshow on What Makes Boston’s Startup Scene Special.
News/technology
- Scott Kirsner is a technology journalist who has become the voice of the local startup scene. He writes at the Innovation Economy blog on Boston.com.
- Chris Brogan is the most knowledgeable person on social media I know. And he’s another Boston local, which makes it that much better.
- ReadWriteWeb is my best source of information on new trends, startup companies, Web technology.
That’s my list. What about you? Am I missing something great? I’d love to hear comments from everyone on the sources of knowledge you’ve come to rely on.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for sharing your list, and including my blog in it.
Another one I’d add is the new blog from David Skok at Matrix Partners: http://ForEntrepreneurs.com . The content has been incredibly well received.
Nice writeup. I know or follow 95% of your recommended people, all great resources.
There are many great blogs written by Boston based entrepreneurs and VCs that I would recommend. We have compiled a list (including your blog) on VentureFizz:
http://venturefizz.com/blogs