This Week’s Must-Read Articles for Entrepreneurs

Each week we scour the web for insightful articles to share with the Founder Institute network.

This week's top articles include tips for how to negotiate with VCs, advice from Evan Williams, why now is the best time to be an entrepreneur, and more.

Check out our must read articles for the week of May 5th - May 11th:

How to Negotiate with VCs by Deepak Malhotra

A few years ago a venture capital firm hired me to help one of its start-ups negotiate a critical deal. I expected the VC partner who was on the start-up’s board to be deeply involved in the strategic discussions. But the VC in question—ordinarily a hands-on dealmaker—was conspicuously uninvolved. His advice and support would have been useful to the founders, especially with respect to opening doors with governments and potential partners overseas, so one day I asked him about his seeming lack of interest.

	Startups Learn a Painful Lesson: The 'Dropbox Effect' is a Myth By Christina Farr
A pervasive myth exists among tech founders: If they build a product that consumers will love, it will magically trickle into Fortune 500 companies.

	How We Keep Our Mentors and Investors on Board By Adriana Herrera
When I came up with the idea for Fashioning Change, I had no idea what it meant to create a technology start-up. I just knew that I wanted to create something that would rival big fashion brands and e-commerce sites like Amazon, and I knew there was a lot I needed to learn. So I sought out resources to help me.

	Evan Williams's Start-up Secret: Just Hang On By Julie Strickland
Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter and creator of the blogging tool Medium, spoke at the Wired Business Conference Tuesday about the most important judgment call an entrepreneur ever has to make. He also explained the role he believes his latest project plays online, and the joy of posting cat pictures. Here are a few highlights:

	Is Your Startup Moving Fast Enough to Stay Ahead? By Martin Zwilling
In today’s business startup environment, if you don’t move fast, you get run over. Without a sense of urgency, people and businesses just can’t move fast enough. Speed is the driver because customers have a zero tolerance for waiting, and there are always competitors gaining on you.

It's Never Been a Better Time to be an Entrepreneur By Hakon Verespej

I get many opportunities to talk with pre-entrepreneurs who are at various stages of exploration, from “I saw the Facebook movie” to “my side project is generating revenue”. Something that comes up frequently in these conversations is “why entrepreneurship?” This is a very broad topic with myriad reasons behind it, and each answer is unique to the individual. However, I recently noticed that regardless of who I’m speaking with, one consistency across conversations has been commentary on why it has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur.