Up and Running Blog

About Tim Berry

Tim Berry

Tim Berry is the founder of Palo Alto Software, a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. Tim is the originator of plan-as-you-go business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching, and evangelizing for business planning. His full biography is available on his blog.

Tim Berry

Willamette Angel Conference

Yesterday’s Willamette Angel Conference (WAC) 2013 event invested more than $465,000 in four Oregon startups, highlighted by more than $250,000 in Portland-based Sonivate, which has developed a fingertip-mounted ultrasound probe that enables imaging while leaving both hands free to do work with simultaneous tactile feedback. Three other startups got WAC investment at the event: Amorphyx, [...]

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God Bless the Child Billie Holiday

Every time I hear the old blues song “God Bless the Child” I think of startups, bootstrapping, and owning your own thing. During the last few weeks I’ve had to explain to several people hoping for angel investment that their startup wasn’t getting into the finals for our local angel investment group, the Willamette Angel [...]

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rebelmouse-page-of-change

In this interview on Bloomberg television, Rebelmouse.com CEO Paul Berry talks about how Rebelmouse deals with constant change. Rebelmouse started less than a year ago and now powers more than a quarter of a million sites, including some very large brands and thousands of individuals and small businesses. Click the image for the video. Some [...]

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dreams-canceled-medium_4602805654

You stand in front of would-be investors and proclaim your passion for the business you’re starting. I see it often in angel investment meetings and business plan competitions; and every time I watch Shark Tank on network TV. You say something like: I am soooo passionate about this business that I can’t fail. I won’t [...]

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funamentals

How to finance your startup? You can buy books on that topic, take courses, and hire consultants. It’s complex and it changes fast for different times, places, and financing options. But for people just looking at this question for the first time, here 10 general rules and guidelines. Warning: There are exceptions in every case. [...]

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tim head shot

You find yourself standing on the brink of your first try starting your own business. Looking downwards into confusion. Passion? Perseverance? The idea? The plan? What comes first? What’s most important? There’s a world of advice out there, lots of it conflicting, contradictory advice. Far too much to use and digest. I just discovered Jim Price‘s [...]

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crowd-funding

Great news: a Kickstarter-funded film won an Academy Award last Sunday. I like Kickstarter myself, I’ve participated in three deals there now. It’s a great place to raise funds for a film, book, game, software app, food product, and some other things that can be pre-sold to buyers willing to pay now for stuff they’re [...]

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Screen Shot 2013-02-20 at 4.16.11 PM

No such thing as a dumb question? How do you explain this one: Are entrepreneurs born that way, or can they be taught?  The only thing this question is good for is generating trumped-up traffic with a catchy headline. Because this isn’t an either-or question. It’s both, and all of the above, case by case, [...]

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numbers

Proving, once again, that no generalization holds for long, it is not true in all cases that business owners have to know their numbers. Sometimes they don’t. For example, when things are going extremely well. You’ve got a good cash balance, no debt, happy customers, healthy growth, and a happy team? Then you’re okay. Focus [...]

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shutterstock_69400045

I like this video from OnlineMBA.com. And here’s the intro for it, quoted from that site: There’s no question that women are making large strides in U.S. business and technology fields. Today’s generation of women professionals are more likely than any other to found, lead or advise a major U.S. firm. But while women continue [...]

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