Guest post round-up

I guest-post on other blogs fairly regularly, but it was pointed out to me by rising blogging star Ash Maurya that I don’t usually share these with you!

So here’s a selection of articles I’ve published elsewhere.

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Four ways to get automatically rejected by an Angel investor
(VentureBeat)

Advice on pitching Angel investors who often have different criteria than the typical VC. Also see my follow-up article: Four more ways.

I’ve been pitched a lot, especially as a Capital Factory mentor, so this comes not only from my own experience but in discussing pitches with dozens of other angel investors.

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Ten ways to make your writing more compelling
(Copyblogger)

Well, that was my title… it was edited to “10 Secrets to More Magnetic Copy,” but that’s OK, they were on a “magnetic copy” series binge at the time, and it made the “Best of Copyblogger 2009” list.  Sweet!

What was the trick to writing about writing in a fresh way?  The format was self-referential, e.g. using repetition when describing repetition.

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Why your startup shouldn’t copy 37signals or FogCreek
(OnStartups)

A controversial post about why you shouldn’t blindly follow bloggers or celebrities. Interestingly Jason Fried at 37signals agreed but I ended up pissing of the folks at Copyblogger (later mended, as evidenced by my guest posting there). I wrote up the full behind-the-scenes story.

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How to get hired at a startup and
How to write a cover letter that actually gets read
(WorkAwesome)

Both of these are aimed at the employee rather than the employer. Still, no matter which side of the table you’re on, this is useful for your hiring process. Some of this stuff you might have heard, but between them these articles were retweeted over 1000 times so apparently it needed to be said!

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How a smart bear built a company so he could sell it (Video)
(Mixergy)

Andrew Warner, the interview host, summarized it well:

“My hands were trembling as I was faxing eighty pages of the agreement over to the lawyers in New York City,” Jason Cohen said about what it was like to finalize the sale of the company he founded, Smart Bear. Even though he was nervous about the sale, selling the company was his plan all along.

In this interview, you’ll hear why he wanted to sell his business, and how he prepared for a sale as he built up his business. You’ll learn how he founded it from scratch, with no venture funding and no debt. And you’ll get his advice for how you can build your business.

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Now two questions for you; please answer in the comments:

  1. Want to see more of these?
    (i.e. Should I let you know about guest posts more regularly?)
  2. Want to see other people guest-post here?
    (i.e. Do you come here for my opinions alone or would you enjoy other voices?)

20 responses to “Guest post round-up”

  1. At least this post was awesome for me. I need to learn a lot of things. I will surely like to see more such posts and I am sure all of them will be rich in content.

    Thanks

  2. Thanks for the guest post round-up. Except for the one from OnStartups.com, I don’t think I would have found them.

    Guest posts, intermingled with your content, or for a week or two at a time is fine. This is your blog, and the main reason I visit to read your articles.

    Thanks again.
    .-= KC – Enhance a Colour’s latest blog post: DKNY – Kildare, Ireland =-.

  3. Great stuff! I’m glad you posted this, I had no idea you got around so much. The Angel investor stuff doesn’t directly apply to me, but I’ll check it out anyways because some of that stuff is interesting reading.
    .-= Ruben’s latest blog post: PDF Font Support on Custom Templates =-.

  4. Yes and Yes.

    Your content is both witty and informative and I always want to know where I can read more. As for guest posts, as long as it’s relevant and intermixed with your content, I think it would be beneficial to you and your readers.
    .-= Jarie Bolander’s latest blog post: 9 Reasons Why Managers Go Ape Sh-t =-.

  5. Was glad to discover a few posts that I had missed. Definitely let us know on here that you’ve got a guest post somewhere — easy to miss things on twitter.

    and yes, curated guest posts are always interesting, although I think it would be cool to have a smartbear response to the guest post as an addendum where you give your own spin on whatever the topic is.
    .-= Giff’s latest blog post: Thoughts on TechCrunch & Silicon Valley’s Gender Problem =-.

  6. An emphatic yes to number one. I’d like to see your posts on other blogs as soon as they’re up, and if possible, I’d just like to see them reprinted on your blog.

    I’m subscribed to your blog for a good reason (your material is awesome) but am not subscribed to some other blogs you might guest post on.

  7. I had actually seen most of those but there were a couple I hadn’t. If you posted a link to the original from here when it gets published that would be great.

    Guest posts here would be cool. It’s nice to hear other voices.
    .-= Brian St. Pierre’s latest blog post: Data vs Code =-.

  8. Jason,

    Regarding #1 – absolutely.

    For #2, a suggestion for consideration. If you are just looking for other talent to pull in here that provides useful advice, that alone is great. You are obviously connected and if you can expose your readership to that level of thinking and experience that’s great (and would be worthwhile). But, the reason I read your blog is that you have such an unusual perspective that gets explained so simply. So a thought here would be for you to add your own thoughts subsequent to the guest blog post. I don’t mean it as a critique of what they write but perhaps building on what they say that gets tied into your own experiences at Smart Bear. If that’s too much to deal with another approach I would find useful is a dialog or conversation on a specific topic (you would need it transcribed) between you and another expert. Just a thought.//Marc

  9. Congratulations on getting elected a SO moderator!

    It’s good to see some talent from A-town on the elder council of uncanny power over Q&A goings on. Your excellent presentation at DevDays probably sealed the deal with a lot of voters, at least the local ones.
    .-= JohnFx’s latest blog post: Someone at HughesNet must be reading my blog =-.

    • Thanks! Yeah I didn’t even think about the influence of Austin DevDays on the voting, but you’re probably right!

  10. 1. Yes
    2. Be wary of dilution of yourself as a product. If ‘you’ as a product were compared to other potential guest-posts, are they always going to sit on the same supermarket shelf? If so then yes, with careful consideration of quality over quantity.

    Oh and most importantly, they *must* have a grin as cheeky as yours :)

    • What’s funny is you might mean “cheeky” as in “cheeky monkey” or as in “damn, those are some big fat cheeks.”

      Both are accurate. :-)

  11. Yes, definitely let us know about your guest posts! Any and all advice/writing is valuable.
    Also, some guest posts over here would be nice. We will be able to learn about other bloggers that you respect and maybe add em to our blogroll :)

  12. Jason,

    Thanks and yes, I’d like to know both when you guest post and see some guest bloggers on your site as well.

    Loved your angel rejection post especially the 5 year projection thing!

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