Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2021

Based on my own years of experience in startups and big business, and more recently as an angel investor, I often cringe when I see one of you entrepreneurs missing a cue that I have seen work for many before you. For example, if you have ever watched the Shark Tank show on TV, they always ask about the cost of customer acquisition.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. I obviously don’t speak for all investors. It’s a conversation that creeps up from time-to-time.

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socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

Los Angeles-based Maple Media (maplemedia.io) recently announced a big, $30M funding from Shamrock Capital, to assemble a collection of mobile applications in the utility, productivity, games and entertainment verticals. A lot of what we've been looking at are the metrics. You're known as quite the angel investor here in companies (ie.

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Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues]. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2015

As an angel investor, I really prefer to hear evidence of credible traction today, not how great things could be in the future. As a serious entrepreneur, you have more invested than any outsider, so you should be looking for the same evidence and not believing your own hype. Is your customer-acquisition rate accelerating?

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

His work in social media, e-Learning and Performance Support has won awards and has led him into engagements at many Fortune 500 companies including Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Canada, Citibank, Lexus, Microsoft, Nissan, Universal, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Fidelity Investments, Symbol Technologies and SHL Systemhouse.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2011

For our Friday interview, we thought we'd catch up with Los Angeles-based MarketShare , the Elevation Partners-backed software provider, to hear where the firm is nowadays. Essentially, we help them learn how to get more with less, and also how to consider new investments in things like social media, mobile marketing, or video.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 About this Blog Ive been thinking about doing a blog with my thoughts on technology and whats happening in the Los Angeles area technology scene for a while, but it was Ben Kuos recent start of a blog that inspired me to actually go ahead and do it. Thanks Ben.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Posted byTony Karrer at 5:02 PM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 13, 2007

March 14, 2007 10:47 AM Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles. in Computer Science.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

How long does it take me to pay back my original customer acquisition costs? This financial leader could well have come through the finance org at another startup or at a larger company but they often also can come from strategy consulting (Bain, BCG or McKinsey) or through investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.).

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Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Sunday, February 25, 2007 Challenge of Predicting Winners I just read a bit on the payout to YouTube from the Google Acquisition ( Internet News , CNN ). Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

We caught up with David Siemer , both an investment banker who runs Siemer & Associates (www.siemer.com) and an early stage investor here with Siemer Ventures (www.siemervc.com), to get his thoughts on the subject. How about mergers and acquisitions? We invest globally, with 20 percent of our funds outside the U.S.,

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

In addition, current investors want to see every startup go public or be acquired, as an exit event, so they can get their due return for that investment which has been tied up for the last few years. For these reasons, I always look for an overt exit strategy in every startup I might consider for an angel investment.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

Whether that’s pointing new entrepreneurs in the right direction–toward an attorney, an angel, or venture capitalist–or whether it’s helping a small company grow bigger–there’s a lot of people “behind the scenes&# working to help entrepreneurs succeed. Thats right on the money. in Computer Science.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 28, 2007

Posted byTony Karrer at 7:01 AM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

Posted byTony Karrer at 8:30 AM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

Over the last few years, there''s been an explosion in startup accelerators in Southern California, and in particular along "Silicon Beach" on the Los Angeles westside. We continue to see a ton of interest not only from great companies in Los Angeles, bu companies from all over the world and the country.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2007

Posted byTony Karrer at 2:57 PM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

MyShape 150

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 27, 2007

Posted byTony Karrer at 9:15 AM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Posted byTony Karrer at 10:01 AM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

Posted byTony Karrer at 7:05 AM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

Incubator 150

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

Posted byTony Karrer at 7:27 AM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

[link] [link] Posted byTony Karrer at 5:33 PM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

Ive personally been involved in the start-up world in Los Angeles for about 15 years, and have had the opportunity to work on many early-stage companies (e.g., Probably the biggest drawback of Los Angeles is the distance and traffic that makes networking more difficult. eHarmongy) as an acting CTO. in Computer Science.

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Semick: In the beginning, many of our conversations were about whether we wanted funding from angel investors and eventually VCs. We both made personal investments in the company. Semick: We’re a very metrics driven company, and we have been from the beginning. Metrics related to customer acquisition, lifetime value and churn.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 16, 2007

Posted byTony Karrer at 9:09 AM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

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CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2015

To get some insight into the growing world and business of e-sports, we caught up with Clinton Foy , a local venture capital investor at Crosscut Ventures in Los Angeles. How would you compare this investment, versus the more traditional investments you have been doing at Crosscut? At Crosscut, we tend to invest in platforms.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

You have to understand whether they’re likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off. If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market. ” The Details.

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Tech Zulu Event

MAY 8, 2014

Back in January, at the annual TechZulu Startup Forecast , our panel of industry leaders and investors spent a healthy dose of time discussing the ongoing JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) and the investing sphere at large. This all, circling around 2008, a shy year for startup investments. Fundraising Frustrations.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

I regularly do wine tastings here in Los Angeles with some interesting folks I know. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. ► January (5) Los Angeles Web Developer Startup CTO or Developer When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Goo.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

Last week, Los Angeles-based MOVIECLIPS.COM (www.movieclips.com) announced the firm's Series A funding round, worth $3M, from Shasta Ventures, First Round Capital, and a number of Silicon Valley angels. Our metrics show that when people watch chips, they increase their tendency to want to watch that feature length film.

Startup 190

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InfoChachkie

JULY 20, 2015

The latest evidence of the city’s dynamic startup ecosystem is the recent announcement by Citrix to investment significant resources in the Santa Barbara Innovator’s Program. Many of these individuals become restless in their youthful “retirement” and begin investing and advising young companies. From Lynda.com ’s recent $1.5

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Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 13, 2013

Which I have shown to do, but anybody who invests in tech, invests in team. My every day is trying to fundraise, reaching, re-reaching out, and trying to keep people updated with metrics. We haven’t had any capital to really test customer acquisition strategies. It’s a huge challenge for me. Thanks Matt for your time.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

In many ways the fact that it has become so cheap to start a company and relatively cheap to raise angel/seed money that we as an industry have gotten lazy on basic planning. What would it take in investments to acquire and retain traffic to support these businesses? Incumbent Strengths & Weaknesses.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 25, 2008

We were over 2x up on this round, and we also had a bunch of individual investors who wanted to put in--people who had invested in our competition a few years ago. Jason Howe: Yes, it's a Series D, though our Series A was an angel funding. We were oversubscribed, and had a stack of term sheets. Venrock was behind Intel and Apple.

Startup 113

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Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 25, 2014

Mike Norman – WeFunder , bringing crowd investing to the world. Joergen Aaboe – Momentfeed , combining life foot traffic with reduced customer acquisition costs. Alex Taub – Social Rank , Twitter metrics and engagement tool. Savannah Peterson – Shapeaways , the social platform for 3D printing.

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