Whether you’re just starting out, founding your first company and looking for tips, or a seasoned veteran in search of some inspiration, there are a handful of entrepreneurs who are actively writing, posting, and sharing their thoughts on the entrepreneurial journey and the various aspects thereof.
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I’m not just talking about those who tweet an inspirational 140 characters every now and then, I’m talking about entrepreneurs with an active blog or website that they use as a platform to share insights, both practical and candid. This list comprises those who do ‘personal branding’ best, and share their ‘thought leader’ acumen with the rest of us, so we can be become better entrepreneurs ourselves.
Adii Pienaar: Co-founder WooThemes, Founder PublicBeta
Blog: Making New Mistakes
Adii Pienaar is a great guy to follow, not just because he has lived, and is living the entrepreneurial journey, but also because he writes candidly and frequently. His personal blog, called ‘Making New Mistakes’ covers most aspects on entrepreneurship, and with a sincerity at the heart of it all. Pienaar has recognised the value of keeping up a personal website/blog as a tool to maintain your ‘personal brand’ — his niche is providing entrepreneurial advice. He’s even seen the business potential in it with his newest startup PublicBeta, an “online learning community for entrepreneurs.” He writes on general topics such as self-motivation, but also more specific tips such as pricing models.
Dave McClure: Founder 500 Startups
Blog: 500hats
Dave McClure is a charismatic guy, and seems to be quite the personality. From seeing him on the reality television show Start-Ups: Silicon Valley to reading some of his tweets you’ll see that he is a no-holds barred kind of guy who says what he means and doesn’t sugar-coat anything. It’s refreshing. From his latest post on the Fear of Failure in Silicon Valley to investment trends McClure’s blog remains a great tool for an inside look into the mindset of, and goings on in, Silicon Valley from a VC perspective. Oh and swear words.
Nic Haralambous: Founder ForeFront Africa, Motribe, Nicsocks
Blog: Nic Writes
Nic Haralambous is a mobile guy. He is well-known for his South African mobile startup Motribe (amongst other ventures) which exited to Mxit, and positions himself as such. On his blog it says ‘African Mobile Specialist’ and that’s predominantly what you’ll get following him there. He writes about mistakes mobile apps make, to the mobile landscape, and even more general topics like sound business tips and ethics. His latest eccommerce startup Nicsocks, has seen some of his posts move to eccommerce tips too. His writing is short, and the brevity makes for easy, incisive reading.
Karen Catlin: Co-founder Femgineer, previously CTO Adobe Systems
Blog: Use Your Inside Voice
Karen Catlin strikes me as a switched on person and having been CTO at Adobe, she’s no stranger to the tech scene. She has a focus on the role and development of, women in the tech world. Her personal blog, Use Your Inside Voice, places itself at the intersection of parenting and leadership, and gives advice on those topics. Are you struggling with motherhood and an executive position? Catlin’s blog is for you. It’s an inspiring read, and I say this as a 20-something guy, but maybe that’s because her succinct writing is so damn good.
Andrew Dumont: Co-Founder Stride, Moz
Blog: Always On
I recently came across Andrew Dumont’s blog and I haven’t looked back. “Always On” no doubt refers to that constant connectedness that most tech entrepreneurs feel, and the blog talks about that experience. His latest post on Entrepreneurship and the Fallacy of Work-Life Balance we loved so much we featured it on Ventureburn. He also writes on great areas like business development, productivity, keeping healthy (whilst an entrepreneur), strategy and more. He’s a young, savvy tech entrepreneur and worth checking out for his thoughts on the subject.
Dustin Curtis: Founder Svbtle
Blog: dcurt.is
Love him or hate him Dustin Curtis has created an interesting startup in Svbtle. The blogging platform focused on long-form, quality writing has over 200 writers now, of which Dumont, McClure are, and formerly Pienaar was, part of the group. Curtis himself is a smart guy, and he writes on current tech topics, trends and gadgets — something like Google Glass — with a critical and analytical eye. He’s also quite active on Twitter.
