Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

As a business consultant and angel investor, I often ask for your own assessment of marketing ROI , or customer acquisition cost (CAC). Mr. Everhart distills his leadership insights from many decades in one of the largest business-to-business marketing agencies, working with companies across the country. Don’t forget it.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Acquisition Technical Review 100

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2013

One of the largest concentrations of technical talent in Los Angeles is in Glendale, at YP (www.yp.com) -- staffed with a surprising number of Los Angeles startup vets. Before that, I was running product at Spotrunner. Our whole product and technology team is about 500 people. How big is YP.com? Louis and Atlanta.

Technical Review 211

Technical Review Glendale Advertising Google 211

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Companies that have leveraged technology to make the procurement and delivery of food more accessible to more people have been seeing a big surge of business this year, as millions of consumers are encouraged (or outright mandated, due to Covid-19) to socially distance or want to avoid the crowds of physical shopping and eating excursions.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 9, 2020

The CEO of the high-performance Italian motorcycle manufacturer offered that point of optimism, as her Modena based EV company remains closed by government decree. The coronavirus pandemic has forced Energica to hit the brakes on production of its battery powered machines that can reach top speeds of 168 mph.

Technical Review 277

Technical Review Competition Demand Sales 277

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 5, 2020

The Scoot Moped — an electric moped born out of Bird’s acquisition of Scoot — will launch in Austin five months after unveiling the shared micromobility vehicle. The new moped is the latest effort by Bird to diversify its product offerings to capture more customers. But then scooters came en masse.

Technical Review 237

Technical Review Framework Los Angeles Mobile 237

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

In reality, too many choices actually dilutes customer interest in your existing market, and makes your job of production, marketing, and support much more complex. New entrepreneurs, especially technical ones, are excited by early adopters, and tend to focus on their feedback, which will always suggest more product features and options.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

The law of large numbers, platforms that can make your company blow up unexpectedly and the trendy nature of tech markets can be deceiving. This is why I loved Brad Feld’s recent post about the “ illusion of product / market fit.” Are our users addicted to our product? Success for many is ephemeral.

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2013

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. As the end of the year approaches, it’s a good time for every startup to assess the metrics, technology, and platforms they’re using to manage the business. Cost of customer acquisition.

Metrics 100

Metrics Technical Review Sales Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

The key elements of leadership in a company, both individual and organizational, are less tangible, but very critical in setting a market value for investment, acquisition, or going public. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company. Performance accountability processes.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Funding Organization Coach 129

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Southern California's technology community--despite all of the recent excitement around Silicon Beach--continues to be underserved in terms of capital, with a lack of venture capital funds (with money), and other private technology investors. Jeb Spencer: We consider ourselves a private equity firm.

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Conversely if you’re burning $600,000 per month (yes, some companies do) then you only have 5 months of cash left. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. Who better to answer than the company's engineering lead. These are probably the two sites where I've posted the most reviews.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 6, 2014

Today, there are many companies competing for innovation in the field of wearable tech. Not only can wearable technology make our lives easier, but it can also help to make the lives of many with illnesses or disabilities more comfortable and productive. Google Glass is one of the most famous examples of wearable Tech.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Technology Software Review Google 88

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In a larger public company, it’s all about making your quarterly numbers, versus investing in strategic growth alternatives that may not pay off until several quarters later. In my experience, even in startups, longer-term strategy often gets pushed off the agenda due to current challenges. Cote, former Chairman and CEO of Honeywell.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Neither breakthrough technology nor maximum features will assure that “if we build it, they will come.” Nail the solution.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Customer Custom Entrepreneur 143

socalTECH

DECEMBER 28, 2020

Every year, we feature the year end reflections of founders, CEOs, investors, and others in Southern California's high tech community. What was the biggest news for you/your company this year? In 2020, the pandemic radically changed the customer acquisition process for many consumer-facing industries.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Software Review Organic Search Customer 140

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years. 1/ From vantage point of being able to see hundreds of companies, good & bad I have some advice for founders - Get to know and love "gross margin."

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

James (chairman of the Althea Foundation) and appointed Adam Sroka as Senior Vice President of Technology in a move to make business transactions simple and secure. . Jackson , “This financing round, coupled with hiring Adam Sroka as our head of technology, puts CapLinked in a position to further enhance our enterprise product offerings.”.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

I usually envision a 50-50 ownership split for their efforts, but every engineer believes the technology side deserves the majority share. If you consider yourself a technologist, you probably believe and may be propagating one of the following myths: The first priority for funding should be to develop the technology.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Patents Entrepreneur Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2020

The key elements of leadership in a company, both individual and organizational, are less tangible, but very critical in setting a market value for investment, acquisition, or going public. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company. Performance accountability processes.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Organization Coach Invest 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2022

Big company powerhouses, like IBM and Xerox, took fifty years to make the cycle, but new companies today, in the age of the Internet, often make the cycle in five to ten years, or even less. By definition, most startups begin as a result of some innovation in product, process, or service. Product-line expansion.

Startup 142

Startup Web 2.0 IBM IBM 142

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

However, to a Big Dumb Company (BDC), a startup’s IP is a thing of beauty. As such, they are hesitant to acquire a company which has not sought formal protection of their IP for two reasons. One is obvious, without protection, such IP might prove to be of little worth, as other companies can mimic the technology without recourse.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

There’s an article making the rounds in tech circles titled “ Growth Hacking is Bull ” written by Muhammad Saleem. His early experience was at LogMeIn and then he went on to help Xobni, DropBox, LookOut and EventBrite to name a few companies I’m sure you’ve heard of.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review SEM SEO Marketing 384

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. Understanding how your company will change as you move through these phases is critical if you hope to scale to a large business one day.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

One of the vivid memories I have from being a startup CEO is the feeling that most people in your company have a look in their eyes that like they can do your job as well as you. Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev.

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2018

San Diego-based Mitchell International , a provider of technology and information products for the property and casualty and collision repair industries, has scored a private equity funding from Stone Point Capital. Size of the investment was not announced. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co.

Equity 113

Equity Funding Technical Review San Diego 113

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

Equity is stock, but private company stock has no market value until the company goes public or is sold or merged with another company. Most entrepreneurs like the startup role, but not the big-company role. IPO – public company initial public stock offering. Position the company as a cash cow to fund spinoffs.

Technical Review 105

Technical Review Equity Invest Startup 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2022

We can all aspire to grow companies like TikTok, Facebook, and Apple, which have the aura of fun, while still improving your lifestyle and offering the dream of untold riches. They have become a by-product of innovation rather than the cause of it: Conglomerates grew from industrialization, not innovation.

Startup 126

Startup Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Offshore 126

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

TechZulu & Gadget Review present REACH. A quarterly event series seeking to dive deep into what comes next in technology, and giving you the opportunity to experience it first hand with the gadgets on site. He also leads mergers and acquisitions and ran the acquisitions of SGN, MindJolt and HallPass Media.

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Technology Activision Entertainment 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

On the other hand, if you are into solar technologies, there is probably an advantage to being in Arizona or a similar location. Maxwell Wessel, in a classic article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2022

Then they are surprised to see productivity and creativity take a big dip. This is the platitude of an obsolete corporate culture where you had to “pay your dues” in menial jobs before adding creativity or making decisions. Junior people shouldn’t be involved in new business.” Employees will lose focus on their work.”

Startup 134

Startup Training Sales Entrepreneur 134

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

It has become so synonymous with Internet companies that the French have invented a disdainful term including Amazon: “les GAFA,” which they refer to as Google-Apple-Facebook-Amazon to talk about American dominance of the Internet. Amazon is emblematic of the sort of company that mostly disrupts industries *behind* the scenes.

Ideas 150

Ideas Startup Technical Review Pricing 150

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 24, 2013

TechZulu & Gadget Review present REACH. A quarterly event series seeking to dive deep into what comes next in technology, and giving you the opportunity to experience it first hand with the gadgets on site. He also leads mergers and acquisitions and ran the acquisitions of SGN, MindJolt and HallPass Media.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Technology Activision Entertainment 76

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

Equity is stock, but private company stock has no market value until the company goes public or is sold or merged with another company. Most entrepreneurs like the startup role, but not the big-company role. IPO – public company initial public stock offering. Position the company as a cash cow to fund spinoffs.

Startup 150

Startup Technical Review Equity Statistics 150

socalTECH

MARCH 19, 2019

Disraeli also recently was appointed as CEO of the company. How did the company start? Certainly, not an overnight success, it took us several years to hire our first full time employees for the company. We were really focused on customer acquisition. A little bit of luck because of the profile of the company.

Marina Del Rey 113

Marina Del Rey Software Review Startup Incubator 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

One of the things I discuss the most with the portfolio companies I’m involved with is that “you manage what you measure.”. Make them widely available inside the company and share your most important goals with your board. My experience has proven that even some well known companies are under-whelming in this department.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup SEO Customer 346

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2013

Big company powerhouses, like IBM and Xerox, took fifty years to make the cycle, but new companies today, in the age of the Internet, often make the cycle in five to ten years, or even less. By definition, most startups begin as a result of some innovation in product, process, or service. Product-line expansion.

Company 75

Company Companies Startup Web 2.0 75