Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros. Examples of VC platform services include: recruiting, marketing, design support, inside sales reps, consulting, accounting services and so forth.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

LATechDigest

JUNE 13, 2016

Reaching Hispanic Markets. crosscutvc and a few other VCs talk investment opportunity and challenges in the video space #stream16 pic.twitter.com/L92fjfDEjk. LATech Digest (@LATechDigest) June 6, 2016. LATech Digest (@LATechDigest) June 6, 2016. LATech Digest (@LATechDigest) June 6, 2016. Hack for LA. SM New Tech.

Snapchat 40

Snapchat SpaceX Santa Monica Journal 40

Tech.Co

OCTOBER 26, 2017

Since its inception, HTT recognized that creating a market around a mode of transportation that had not yet been created would take a movement. Originally incorporated as Hyperloop Technologies, Hyperloop One is the second company to enter the market to actualize the Hyperloop concept.

SpaceX 100

SpaceX Design Technology Competition 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2016

Offer incentives or competition. There is nothing like friendly competition or an attractive reward to bring out a new base of un-edited ideas. I find that startups rarely think of customers as investors, even though major customers might see ROI as a positive reason to invest in future growth, and chose to pay for equity.

Ideas 103

Ideas Competition Customer Custom 103

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

When entrepreneurs introduce new products to the market, their passion and conviction often leads them to assume that every potential customer will see the immediate need and value, and will quickly adopt the solution. In today’s information overload, marketing is everything. Use every marketing channel available.

Product 95

Product Case Study Customer Custom 95

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

At any rate, here is my own list of red flags, from my years of experience advising and investing in aspiring entrepreneurs, which cause me to lose interest and start looking for a way out the door: Omit the facts on key management team experience and skills. Target market sizing higher than $10 billion. Skip the hype.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Innocal Entrepreneur 98

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

million in funding on TechCrunch led by Harmony Partners and Upfront Ventures to double its footprint of 3 cities (New York, Chicago & Washington DC) to 6 in 2016. We raised this capital in what has increasingly become a difficult market for fund raising so I’d like to share with you some details on how we get it done.

Startup 150

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2017

Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. The first thing that entrepreneurs need to realize is that the process and framework for making social media marketing work are different from traditional marketing, and trial and error certainly doesn’t work.

Social Media 62

Social Media Media Metrics SEO 62

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Lately I’ve been having to say things I thought I’d never have to remind people, like, “getting to positive gross margin in several territories is a very low bar to claim success” or “profitable excluding marketing costs” is not actually a real thing. Market Size. MakeSpace provides physical storage.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

I’m not recommending that you saturate your discussions with lingo, but responding with a blank stare once-too-often won’t convince anyone that you can build the next world-changing business or outpace the market. Seed-round investment. Growth-hacking” marketing. Prime examples include Uber, Airbnb and Snapchat. Sweat equity.

Startup 57

Startup Software Review Equity Invest 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2016

I see it happen often in my angel investment group, and you can see it happen almost every week on the Shark Tank TV show. It’s like trying to sell a home still being built at next year’s dream market price. Get premium for billion-dollar markets with double-digit growth rates.

Startup 71

Startup Patents Invest Blogging 71

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

My first suggestion is that entrepreneurs need to forget the old myth that all they need to do is sketch an idea on a napkin, and investors will line up to invest. The most investable ventures stem from painful needs by customers who have money to spend. Investors invest in people, often more so than in the product.

Entrepreneur 57

Entrepreneur Invest Funding Patents 57

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2016

If you expect an equity investment from reputable investors for your new startup, you need to know the boundaries that often limit their interest. Secret sauce' or competitive advantage is not clear. They know that showing market traction will attract big companies, like Apple or Google, who can easily overrun the best startup.

Funding 57

Funding Social Media Startup Patents 57

InfoChachkie

MARCH 24, 2016

Unlike sites of the past that were deemed illegal, the current crop of election sites appear to well positioned to exploit the unprecedented focus Americans are applying to the 2016 election cycle. If people are heavily invested in the outcome of an election, they will be more inclined to read the news and become politically active.

Startup 100

Startup Sites Research Santa Barbara 100

Xconomy

JULY 19, 2016

In 2015, Cybersecurity startups saw 332 funding deals with investments hitting the highest ever at $3.8 For 2015, there were 133 information security M&A deals, according to 451 Research’s Tech M&A Outlook 2016. In general, M&A is a natural part of the IT security market. billion (235 percent growth over 5 years).

Symantec 40

Symantec IBM IBM Acquisition 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

According to the Angel Capital Association , at least 300,000 people have made angel investments in the last two years, totaling $24 billion in the U.S. It takes more than one person, no matter how passionate, to grow an investible business. A business needs technical, marketing, financial and many other skills.

Angel 65

Angel Startup Technical Review Social Media 65

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

I believe that the resourcefulness to turn constraints into competitive differentiators and new opportunities is a trait that separates the great entrepreneurs from the “wannabes.” Startups funded by large venture-capital investments rarely think about productivity. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 02/19/2016.

Startup 57

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Outsource 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2016

What they don’t realize is that about half the investment deals fail to close at this stage, including mergers and acquisitions , during the due-diligence process. The same is true of Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank investments you see on TV. Undisclosed skill gaps or agendas can stall your investment. Skeletons in the closet.

Technical Review 55

Technical Review Help Innocal Startup 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2016

Y Combinator was able to groom so many successful startups that they could virtually assure later venture capital investments to their graduates. The process is often competitive and very difficult. But the application process can be very competitive, and expensive in terms of equity and cash. No surprises in this advice.

Incubator 58

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Equity 58

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 2, 2017

Anne Fulton: I'm actually a Kiwi, a New Zealander, and all of our product and marketing is done out of New Zealand. We're very excited to be working with them, to help us create a platform for us for future acceleration and growth, and we're working on additional investments down the track. Anne Fulton: That's a big question.

Help 100

Help Southern California Startup Technical Review 100

socalTECH

APRIL 21, 2017

Georg Richter: For the five years before I started the company in January of 2016, I was at Guthy Renker, which is one of the largest and biggest direct marketing companies in the world. At the end, it's all about systems, the knowledge behind the databases, and making smart investment decisions. How did you get into this?

Startup 145

Startup Product Customer Custom 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

Even if your product is a technological marvel, I look for balanced strength on the team in finance, marketing and operations. Fundable entrepreneurs have to feel comfortable talking and listening to engineers, financial people, marketing and especially customers. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 06/10/2016.

Startup 60

Startup Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review 60

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2015

Generally speaking, today there is no good example of a market for energy storage at the building level which would justify the investment in that storage. Until rates reflect the real cost of energy, or until rebates are large enough to compensate building owners for their benefit to the grid, we will focus on the utility market.

Southern California 100

Southern California Technical Review Demand Outsource Development 100

Xconomy

AUGUST 26, 2016

Critics say Mylan has been emboldened by the recall of EpiPen’s only competition last fall. Two days later, it paid AstraZeneca $550 million upfront for the rights to a group of antibiotics either already on the market or in late-stage testing. A Phase 2 trial of the drug, AMX0035, should start in late 2016 or early 2017.

Pricing 40

Pricing Thousand Oaks Startup Research 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization. Nearly EVERY smart VC I know has been talking privately for the past two years about how ridiculous valuations in private markets have gotten and how a reckoning was coming.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150