Part of the magic of a successful entrepreneur is to stay on top of key trends that are happening, both for their specific industry/competition, and for the startup/venture scene overall.
I won't go into too much detail on specific industry resources, as there are too many to list. But, instead, I will tell you how best to find these resources for your industry. While I was at MediaRecall, I had to learn the B2B online video space from scratch. So, I started doing various Google searches for things like "online video blogs", "online video resources", "online video trade shows", "online video associations", "online video magazines", "online video blogs", etc. I clicked through all the first page links, and came up with a list of about 100 valuable resources where I could: (i) stay on top of key industry/competitive trends; and (2) market MediaRecall's services to similar B2B readers of these outlets. I then signed up for all their relevant email or Twitter feeds so I could stay up-to-date on all happenings and discussions over time. Repeat this process for your business, and you will be surprised with the wealth of knowledge that is quickly available at your fingertips.
As for generic resources that apply to most startups (particularly with a tech/online focus) , below is a list of some of my favorite, and most widely read, resources. Be sure to subscribe for all of their email/Twitter feeds:
Magazines/Blogs:
Entrepreneur Magazine
Inc. Magazine
Fast Company
Blogs Only:
Mashable
Tech Crunch
Silicon Alley Insider
The Next Web
All Things Digital
GigaOM
Venture Beat
Venture Hacks
Startup Report
Startup Digest
Startup Weekly
On Startups
Startup Meme
Media Post
eMarketer
In addition, I find it useful to follow relevant people to your industry, or startups overall, on Twitter, to review what they are talking about. This could be key venture capitalist firms, or their specific partners therein (e.g., Fred Wilson, Brad Feld, Dave McClure). Or, it could be the CEO's or other executives within major companies in your industry (e.g., Google, Twitter, Facebook). Or, it could be trade associations or other entrepreneur-focused organizations in your home city startup ecosystem. I do my best to follow these types of people or organizations within my Twitter account, so feel free browse the list of people I am following at www.twitter.com/georgedeeb. Or, from time-to-time, I will retweet the best-of-the-best of what I am reading on Twitter, so be sure to follow me there. And, scour the Twitter follow lists of other people who are relevant to your industry, or do relevant keyword searches within Twitter, to learn about other key influencers in your space.
Do you have other favorites that you think I am missing? Be sure to add them to the comments field below. Happy reading!
For future posts, please follow me at: www.twitter.com/georgedeeb