Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. Customers now put big value on experience, social impact, empowerment, and feedback.

Customer 101

Customer Custom Competition Netflix 101

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 27, 2016

TechZulu is excited to invite you to the 2016 Startup and Entrepreneur Forecast taking place Thursday, February 11 from 7 p.m. We will have amazing panelists from Crosscut Ventures, Machine Shop Ventures, Techstars, and more to be announced soon who will share their insights and forecast for startups in 2016.

Startup 40

Startup Santa Monica Venture Capital SaaS 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

If you can’t provide a memorable customer experience, your startup won’t survive very long these days. You now need more than loyalty from your customers -- they need to be your best advocates. The bar is being raised, so every entrepreneur needs new initiatives just to stay in the ballgame.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Startup Coach 55

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

As a small business and startup advisor, I find that entrepreneurs often love to talk about their latest idea, but not their execution. For example, Elon Musk is recognized as a visionary entrepreneur, but his fortune and his impact has come from the great companies he has built, including SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and PayPal.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Metrics Ideas 106

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2016

Focus is everything in a business, whether it be a new startup or a large enterprise. In my role as a business advisor, I often see well-meaning entrepreneurs try to be everything to everyone, which results in many things done poorly, and few totally delighted customers. The bargain - we will not be undersold.

Customer 94

Customer Custom Design Oracle 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2016

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. Most of these are non-profits, set up by a university to commercialize new technologies, or a municipality to foster business development for the local economy.

Incubator 106

Incubator Startup Help Resource 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve met many aspiring entrepreneurs, and I often get asked the question, “I have a great idea for a startup – do you agree that it real potential?” If we build it, they will come” is not a viable startup strategy. A startup is no place for the Lone Ranger.

Entrepreneur 67

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Sample 67

StartUp Beat

NOVEMBER 9, 2017

Grigori Mikayelyan was a failed and an aspiring entrepreneur; furnished with a new idea – and determined to make a success of it – he became a Lyft driver to conduct customer research with his passengers. What prospective entrepreneur wouldn’t benefit from canvassing such a broad scope of opinion?

Research 40

Research Customer Custom Entrepreneur 40

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2016

For decades, efforts to satisfy customers have been built around demographics – capitalizing on race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other attributes. Customer personalities define customer experience, and sets what they love, and what they hate. There is no one set of exceptional experiences that will work for all customers.

Customer 97

Customer Custom Social Media Training 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 30, 2016

Being an entrepreneur is a lifestyle that requires staying power, because starting a new business is a long-term process with many tough challenges. As an angel investor, I look diligently for signs that an aspiring startup founder has what it takes to thrive and prosper for the long haul ahead. They don’t try to do it all.

Entrepreneur 76

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Platform 76

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

On Lafayette Street in SoHo, young, fashionable women lined up around the block to enter a minimalist, millennial oasis, the most perfect Instagram feed brought to life. After all, Glossier’s founder and CEO Emily Weiss is very, very far from the first entrepreneur to profit off of our desire to look good. And who cares?

Startup 280

Startup Netflix Los Angeles Innocal 280

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2016

For too many small businesses, customer service is still seen as a “burden.” Entrepreneurs don’t realize that this burden is actually costing them over $200 billion in repeat sales, according to a recent study by the W. These days, relationships and online reviews are key drivers for over 80 percent of new customers.

Customer 56

Customer Custom Startup Satisfaction 56

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. In our industry we applaud the efforts for entrepreneurs to have tried and we know that today’s failure can bring the experience for tomorrow’s success. But today I want to give you advice on how to decrease your odds of failure in a startup.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 8, 2016

It may seem hard to believe, but even in 2016, there remain a number of successful consumer brands that are not sold online. I thought it would be interesting to understand the challenges and concerns of entrepreneurs who began selling online for the first time in 2016, so I sat down with Heidi Muther, COO at Z S upply , LLC.

Sites 100

Sites Sales Santa Barbara Design 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2016

As an advisor to many startups, I often see business principles espoused that may make sense for a large and established business trying to foster innovation but won’t work for a new startup. Startups don’t typically find any funding from investors until they prove they can execute, have a proven model and are ready to scale.

Startup 58

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Ideas 58

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2016

Steve Jobs was a one-in-a-million entrepreneur who seemed to violate many conventional rules of starting a business and dealing with people, yet undeniably achieved great success. As a result, I don’t recommend to aspiring entrepreneurs that they try to emulate his style as a model for their first startup.

Startup 103

Startup Entrepreneur Product Marketing 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2017

percent growth in 2016. Yet if you wait for an economy bubble before starting your new business, you will be making a comparable mistake to the people who thought during the dot-com bubble "all I have to do is a startup, and I'll be rich." " As a startup, you have more control over your customer base.

Startup 77

Startup Advertising Social Network Ideas 77

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2016

Every new entrepreneur who has not spent years in corporate life has the advantage of an unbiased look at business opportunities, but at the same time has the disadvantage of missing critical business experiences that can cost them dearly in their first startup venture. Startups don’t come with formal training courses.

Entrepreneur 64

Entrepreneur Training Startup IBM 64

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. As You Start to Mature. In the Early Days. Mentorship.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2016

It only takes one person come up with a great startup idea, but in my experience as an investor, it’s a rare entrepreneur who has all the skills and resources to build a business as well as a solution. Yet I meet inventors and startup founders every week who balk at the thought of sharing the founder position.

Ideas 60

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup Examples 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors. Visibility to startup job opportunities and career guidance.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

TechCrunch LA

MAY 19, 2020

After wrestling with recalcitrant homeowners, husbanding their parcels of land to keep their property values high, the state’s leadership passed a law that increased the availability of new rental units and put more money into homeowners’ pockets in 2016. “We go to the homeowner and say you have this property here.

Los Angeles 191

Los Angeles Startup Culver City .Net 191

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2016

In my role as an advisory board member for several startups, I’m always excited to see that initial surge of revenue from a great rollout campaign. An initial revenue surge, or a major cash advance from investors often leads to a mentality of building a large customer base at any cost.

Startup 57

Startup Training Entrepreneur Customer 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2017

The average business person fights a customer culture shift, rather than looking for it. Thus I recommend that the rest of us need to step outside our comfort zone, and start practicing some specific strategies to recognize cultural shifts, and maybe even start a few trends of our own: Embrace online social interaction with customers.

Customer 56

Customer Custom Marketing Startup 56

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2014

It’s enough to drown any business which tries to fight it or ignore it, and it’s an opportunity to ride higher and faster than even the successes of Google and Facebook, for those startups that use it as their driving force. zettabytes by the year 2016. For startups, this is an engagement opportunity worth billions of dollars.

Startup 99

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 99

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2016

The cost of entry to the entrepreneur lifestyle is at an all-time low, but the challenge of winning and success is at an all-time high. Customers have come to expect disruptive change, so yet another social network is not the way to get traction. Entrepreneurs in this category are real risk takers, such as Elon Musk.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Social Network SpaceX Ideas 103

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2017

It’s enough to drown any business which tries to fight it or ignore it, and it’s an opportunity to ride higher and faster than even the successes of Google and Facebook, for those startups that use it as their driving force. exabytes per month at the end of 2016, of which half was video. Smartphone penetration in the U.S.

Startup 55

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2016

I find that this type offers the most value to new entrepreneurs or startups in the early idea stage. Here are some of the key parameters that will help you decide where you fit in this spectrum: Your commitment to the entrepreneur lifestyle. Most incubators start their program with some aptitude and business acumen tests.

Incubator 58

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Equity 58

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I find that more and more entrepreneurs avoid using the term “profit” in pitching their new venture. Of course, I understand and don’t condone bad actors who get greedy, and exploit ways to unjustly squeeze customers and employees. Validate your business model on real customers.

Entrepreneur 58

Entrepreneur Ideas Pricing Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2017

With the Identity Theft Resource Center® reporting a 40 percent increase in data breaches in 2016, there seems to be a growing population out there worried about all the people intent on hurting them. My plea to entrepreneurs is to recognize these concerns as an opportunity, to make people’s life better, rather than stoke the fires.

Entrepreneur 54

Entrepreneur Technical Review Startup Symantec 54

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Entrepreneurs who are looking to attract investors need to develop and pitch a plan -- preferably written -- that answers every potential investor question about your startup before it is asked. Investors want to hear about customers with money who have a painful problem that you can solve now. It’s really not that difficult.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Successful entrepreneurs understand the difference between a good business relationship with more people and having more friends. In fact, the focus on social networking platforms, starting with Facebook, has destroyed the meaning of the word friend and even changed it from a noun to a verb. Everyone needs private friend relationships.

Entrepreneur 66

Entrepreneur Social Network Technical Review Social Media 66

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2016

Have you noticed that the really big startup wins in the last couple of decades have come from creating and dominating new market categories, more than just new solutions? Bold entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk now routinely attack undefined markets, like privatized space travel with SpaceX, and high performance electric cars with Tesla Motors.

Entrepreneur 61

Entrepreneur Marketing Design SpaceX 61

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

The biggest challenge for every entrepreneur and every startup today is to get noticed and remembered in today’s information overload. The number of entrepreneurs worldwide is huge, starting an estimated 50 million new businesses in the past year, or 137,000 per day. Place where it happened.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2016

The job of chief financial officer (CFO) may sound like a nightmare assignment to technical entrepreneurs, but the tasks and skills required are key to every new venture. In the case of GrubHub’s Adam DeWitt, he ended up with a salary exceeding that of the CEO. Every startup role requires managing to financial realities.

Entrepreneur 59

Entrepreneur Activity Training Outsource Development 59

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2016

If you want to explore the world of an entrepreneur, without jumping ship, this would be the way to do it. Entrepreneurs working inside big companies are called “intrapreneurs.” A third reason would be to mingle and learn from the startup culture. The parent company never really relinquishes control.

Startup 53

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Marketing 53

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

Starting a new business is not an informal process, and should never be treated like a hobby between friends. Unfortunately, as a startup advisor and angel investor, I’ve seen too many ventures with great potential get destroyed or set back by legal and other shortcuts that should never have been allowed to happen.

Startup 62

Startup Patents Entrepreneur Writing 62