Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage.

Platform 118

Platform Snapchat Startup Course 118

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution. Tech companies see engineers move frequently, integrate their products tightly, and often find themselves acquiring or merging with counterparts. Exposure is another key ingredient. What will set your business apart?

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

MBA programs don’t teach people how to create companies … our position is that we hire someone in spite of an MBA, not because of one.” I was surprised to learn that nearly one fourth (24%) of the 157 unicorns (private companies with a valuation > $1B) have at least one MBA founder.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Allegis Startup Competition 113

Tech.Co

APRIL 24, 2018

Being one small company amongst the sea of thousands of startups vying for customers, capital, and talent, the way to get noticed above the crowd, connect with that next big partner, and raise some capital is to throw your hat in the ring to compete at Startup of the Year. A Strong Alumni Network. It’s time to get noticed! APPLY HERE.

Startup 70

Startup Competition Google Capital 70

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

And as I’ve written about before – building a personal brand is extremely important in today’s competitive job market. In 2006 when I was a budding entrepreneur building my second startup I ran into a young (ish) enthusiastic founder of an electronic signature company called EchoSign. Some background.

SaaS 150

SaaS Venture Capital Conference Technical Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

Shame they didn’t like his suggested name for the company: DreamWorks SKG-MM. You have to be selected to present and it is typically reserved for companies that have already raised early-stage capital and are well into revenue growth. A bank can help you balance fund raising with running your company. We discussed: 1.

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Mission Ventures Capital Help 242

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

It’s always fun debating companies with Dana because she’s always so knowledgeable on deals – particularly those in the digital media, ad-tech and eCommerce spaces. Their first fund was a $75 million fund raised in 2006 and they very recently announced a brand new $130 million fund. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. OTHER DEALS: 1.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution. Tech companies see engineers move frequently, integrate their products tightly, and often find themselves acquiring or merging with counterparts. Exposure is another key ingredient. What will set your business apart?

Startup 97

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 97

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

Current round: $3mm in Series B by betaworks (lead)(largest investor in company), Ron Conway, Danny Rimer, Accelerator Group, Roger Ehrenberg, Howard Lindzon. Discussion: Had a long chat about PicClick , a company founded by Ryan Sit in San Diego. Company still in beta. Competes with Seesmic , HootSuite , Brizzly. MetaMarkets.

Venture Capital 214

Venture Capital Startup Design S3 214

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2019

Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage.

Snapchat 74

Snapchat Startup Course Yahoo 74

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

As any historian of bubbles will tell you – there were periods of bubbles in assets as arcane as tulips , South American trading companies , dot-com bubbles & housing bubbles. The fact that today’s Internet bubble does not represent all companies does not disprove its existence. I said that at the Founder Showcase, too.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

Now, a new breed of companies is finally making it out, which has had a huge impact on valuations. There''s a huge backlog of companies trying to make it out. What''s interesting about ad-tech, is that with the exception of AdaptTV and AOL, there''s not a lot of large buyers out there for ad-tech companies.

Southern California 124

Southern California SoCal Commerce Invest 124

InfoChachkie

MARCH 24, 2016

We, on the other hand, operate as a fantasy sports company, similar to DraftKings and FanDuel. As I alluded to earlier, we are legally a “fantasy sports company.” While drafting the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, federal lawmakers intentionally carved out an exception for businesses like ours.

Startup 100

Startup Sites Research Santa Barbara 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

When I built my first company starting in 1999 it cost $2.5 That’s awesome for users of Salesforce.com or companies that want to cater to them but less awesome for pure startups that want independence and are really just looking for cloud infrastructure. That makes both of these amazing companies great channels for startups.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software Capital Startup 334

Frank Addante

SEPTEMBER 25, 2006

▼ 2006 (20) ► December (2) Just Say What it Is 12 Proven Guidelines for Rapid Product Development. ► November (1) 2 Ears and 1 Mouth: There's a Reason ► October (2) Be Best at Something Tear Down Your Firewalls ▼ September (3) Elements of Sustainable Companies We're Not Saving Lives.

Company 40

Company Companies Startup Venture Capital 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution. Tech companies see engineers move frequently, integrate their products tightly, and often find themselves acquiring or merging with counterparts. Exposure is another key ingredient. What will set your business apart?

Startup 109

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 109

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

I remember going to an Under the Radar conference in 2006 in the heat of the Web 2.0 Ajax was the new buzzword and many companies went overboard. and the subsequent acquisition sprees of companies like Google, Yahoo! and the subsequent acquisition sprees of companies like Google, Yahoo!, Show me companies doing this.

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

Zare'' Baghdasarian is the CEO of ArmorWay, and told us a bit about the company and its software and how it is applying it to real life, physical security. It was started at the University of Southern California in 2006-2007. What''s drove your decision to take this to market as a stand alone company? Coast Guard.

Research 100

Research Patents USC Software 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2013

Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage.

Startup 96

Startup Course Yahoo Funding 96

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2017

Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage.

Snapchat 55

Snapchat Startup Course Yahoo 55

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. The VC assumes you’ll have an option pool.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

At the same time, it’s a smart manufacturing decision, as American-made quality usually stands head and shoulders above outsourced competition. These range from technology mainstays like Motorola to companies known for pushing the envelope like Tesla. Users can always see who’s at their door no matter where they are.

Technology 104

Technology Google Mobile Outsource Development 104

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. Twitter has no model.

Startup 93

Startup Course Yahoo Invest 93

Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2018

Also at Startup Night will be 25 diverse and innovative startups showcasing their latest products, competing for prizes including: $1K from LaunchKC , Business Extra Points from American Airlines , and a fast tracked spot to the Startup of the Year semifinals competition at Innovate Celebrate 2018. Joanne Chen, Partner at Foundation Capital.

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Startup Software Review Entrepreneur 70

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

So that we’re speaking the same language I would define “exclusive” as a period in which your company is prohibited from doing business with certain customers or business partners, which is why many incorrectly assume this is necessarily bad. I need to give credit for the topic to PR Malloy who Tweeted me this question.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Customer Custom 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2017

Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution. Tech companies see engineers move frequently, integrate their products tightly, and often find themselves acquiring or merging with counterparts. Exposure is another key ingredient. What will set your business apart?

Sites 59

Sites Startup Technical Review Oracle 59

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2012

It's an intensely competitive market in developing games for the iPhone and other mobile platforms, with thousands and thousands of titles competing for attention from users. In 2010, we sold the game assets and name PlayScreen, which we had acquired, and formed a new company with some solid financial and technology guys.

Mobile 216

Mobile Startup Software Review Platform 216

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2013

Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution. Tech companies see engineers move frequently, integrate their products tightly, and often find themselves acquiring or merging with counterparts. Exposure is another key ingredient. What will set your business apart?

Startup 102

Startup Technical Review Oracle Entrepreneur 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2011

Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. Twitter has no model.

Startup 97

Startup Course Yahoo Invest 97

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 2, 2015

If you are like us, a huge number of the conference calls you participate in are enabled by a company called FreeConferenceCall.com , which has enabled free conference calls for millions of startups and large businesses alike. But, how can the company offer up free conference calling services, and what''s the story behind the service?

Conference 100

Conference Startup Services Networking 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

When I was raising money for my first company we had closed a seed round in 1999 and were working on our A round. But we weren’t optimizing for dilution – we were building a $1 billion+ company and we wanted the runway to succeed. Many companies that were in the process of raising money did not. Let me start with a story.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. Page 3: Competition. Tempus Fugit.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. We were based in London.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

InfoChachkie

JULY 11, 2011

The nature of the company’s business model requires it to fund certain costs before it is paid by its customers. Thus, even though the company is cash flow positive, its growth is constrained by the amount of payables it can fund. As with most negotiations, competition is the only way you will obtain an optimal result.

Equity 235

Equity Startup Invest Funding 235

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

When you are selected you share the stage with 49 other companies (in the case of TechCrunch50. Most people pay attention to the first 5 companies. By company 22 it’s hard to remember what any of them did. Many other great companies are not. - It’s no wonder many companies don’t get good coverage.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2010

Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. Twitter has no model.

Startup 91

Startup Course Invest Yahoo 91

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 20, 2013

But his phone rang and he ended up spending much of the dinner on his mobile phone dealing with a company issue. Before the accident I aspired to run a bigger company with more power, money and responsibilities. Men are generally chest beaters and competitive. How many of us haven’t been there? They want to win.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Social Network 370