TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

The platform is going after marketers with a Canva-style drag-and-drop interface. Movio’s user base is currently in the lower hundreds of thousands, with paying customers nearing 1,000. It has so far raised around $9 million in funding from investors including IDG, Sequoia Capital China and, most recently, Baidu Ventures.

Generative AI 182

Generative AI Marketing Artificial Inteligence Template 182

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2021

Today’s customers are overloaded and overwhelmed by too much information, so making a decision is a challenge. You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process.

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Customer Custom Sales Social Media 136

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2022

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” Capitalize on the multiplier moment. These decisive moments, and how to respond, are outlined in Robert H.

Customer 146

Customer Custom Startup Course 146

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? People were building.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

Traditional marketing may be adequate for linear growth, but it likely won’t catapult you to Amazon’s unicorn status , or make waves in the business world. For example, I usually hear about an aggressive marketing budget, with a plan to penetrate a few big retail chains, and some videos to catch your attention on YouTube.

Marketing 170

Marketing Startup Examples Customer 170

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2018

This year, we're sponsoring the Recurring Revenue Conference (www.recurringrevenueconference.com), presented by Sutton Capital Partners. What's the biggest lesson you've learned about retaining and keeping your customers using the subscription model? How does customer service tie into all of this?

Customer 166

Customer Custom Conference Social Media 166

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2010

Social Proof in Action … Yesterday I wrote about the benefits of using social proof and authority in raising venture capital. Social proof is defined as “looking for others to guide our decisions&# and is also one of the most important techniques in acquiring customers in your company.

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Marketing Customer Custom Technical Review 294

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 18, 2022

and Europe, today announced that it has raised $65 million, with $50 million of those as a Series B funding round co-led by Albacore Capital Group and $15 million in convertible notes. Expa and Keyframe Capital, as well as new investor Capital One Ventures also participated in this route. In the U.S., In the U.S.,

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Los Angeles Capital Customer Custom 255

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

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Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

InfoChachkie

JUNE 30, 2014

Too bad, as they would be well served to study Dirty Franks marketing plan, which has withstood the test of time. Franks didn''t need a sign, let alone a marketing budget. Hurry Up And Stop Marketing. If you have amazing products, the marketing of those products is trivial. say) ‘We’re the market leader in blah.’

Marketing 193

Marketing Software Review Product Social Media 193

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

If you haven’t read Adam Lashinsky’s awesome new book about Apple , you should. It takes on many of the lessons MBA programs and Corporate America have been teaching about business for the past 50+ years and questions whether lessons from Apple might be more applicable in thinking about the future.

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Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2022

Think about the questions that you are asking your advisors. I expect questions about how a business works, or what are best practices, but I really can’t help you with removing doubts on your abilities, or providing a sure-fire idea and formula for success in business. Build positive psychological capital to sustain your business.

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Capital Coach Satisfaction Ideas 114

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

How does it meet customers’ needs? One way to approach that last question is to use this simple model: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) How will your business reach prospects? Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) How much money will your business generate from each converted customer? Don’t worry about scaling just yet.

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Slides Technical Review 260

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

With the enormous changes to our economies and financial markets?—?how how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued?

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

socalTECH

MARCH 28, 2019

The summit is now associated with March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com). What's your role at March Capital? Meredith Finn: I joined March Capital at the beginning of the year. How did you end up joining March Capital? That carried through to March, where the big theme is Artificial Intelligence in the enterprise.

Capital 162

Capital Entrepreneur Invest Artificial Inteligence 162

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). It’s why opt-in marketing databases can be so incredibly valuable for companies like Gilt Groupe, One King’s Lane and AdoreMe. People don’t want to speak to customer service reps. Not so fast.

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Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

Our perspectives on the topic wax and wane with market cycles. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

The funding is coming from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Reimagined Ventures, Trinity Capital Investment, Celtic House Venture Partners, Marubeni Ventures, Sixty Degree Capital, Mojo Partners alongside with previous investors GGV Capital, WI Harper Group, Digital Garage, CentreGold Capital , Scrum Ventures, and other unnamed participants.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

socalTECH

OCTOBER 9, 2019

There's a new opportunity in clean technology investments, according to venture capitalist Aaron Fyke , the head of a new, Pasadena-based venture capital investment fund, Thin Line Capital (www.thinlinecapital.com). Talk about the new firm and the new fund? Talk a bit about your background in this area?

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Invest Capital Venture Capital Idealab 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

While you all recognize that reacting to weak market signals is critical to staying in business and staying competitive, I find that many don’t have the skills and focus to trigger change decisions on a timely basis. You may be getting killed today by customer expectations you never worried about just a few years ago.

Marketing 162

Marketing Social Media Metrics Customer 162

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” Capitalize on the multiplier moment. These decisive moments, and how to respond, are outlined in Robert H.

Customer 124

Customer Custom Startup Course 124

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 26, 2010

Because if you’re truly that early / novel there’s a good chance that you’re too early and will spend lots of time / money educating the market. The “competition slide&# of your investment deck is such a great opportunity to talk about how you’re positioned (premium product vs. economical product?

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Venture Capital Slides Competition Education 313

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2021

In today’s fast-paced world, that means recognizing early and capitalizing on the changes that are bringing many big companies to their knees, before that company is yours. The best startups also see these as opportunities for brand recognition and viral marketing, to simultaneously benefit people and boost the bottom line.

Marketing 135

Marketing Startup Entrepreneur Social Media 135

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. Because market is such a broad topic, I’m restricting these lessons to PR marketing (as opposed SEO, SEM, product marketing, etc.). Be careful about this advice. Also be careful about VCs.

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Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

A lot of my time is spent helping early-stage companies get to proof points so that they can raise capital. Think about how you can prove your business model with an MVP. Think about how you can prove your business model with an MVP. Size of target market $100M is okay. What are they really looking for? is a requirement.

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Startup Custom Development Sales Writing 198

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2019

Today’s customers are overloaded and overwhelmed by too much information, so making a decision is a challenge. You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process.

Customer 107

Customer Custom Sales Social Media 107

socalTECH

JANUARY 3, 2019

As we close out our contributions for the end of 2018, here's Jeb Spencer of TVC Capital. I started thinking about some of the people I know who I admire, respect and love the most and how they achieve their goals. Lexus upended the US car market with vehicles that were light years ahead of the junk Detroit was producing.

Capital 113

Capital Southern California El Segundo SaaS 113

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 18, 2022

Last week, we talked about layoffs and the Winklevoss rock gods. Things are happening so quickly right now that even seasoned crypto investors seem to be feeling uneasy about this one. Welcome back to Chain Reaction. This week, we’re looking at a new layer of crypto doom and gloom. crash redux. How much worse will things get?

Newsletter 278

Newsletter Platform Capital Marketing 278

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2018

In today’s totally interconnected world with its abundance of information, choices, and marketing, how your customers buy has drastically changed. Whether you are an executive, an entrepreneur, a marketer, or a salesperson, it’s time to look beyond how you sell, and focus on how your customers buy.

Customer 94

Customer Custom Social Media Startup 94

socalTECH

OCTOBER 23, 2012

One of the biggest complaints that local entrepreneurs have with Los Angeles has been a dearth of local sources of venture capital. However, the recent surge in startup activity has attracted a lot more capital into the area, including a significant amount of capital from LA's latest fund: Karlin Ventures (www.karlinvc.com).

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Funding Startup Invest Commerce 253

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2020

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. They have enough confidence in their ability to deliver that they don’t worry about someone stealing the idea to get there first, and they don’t forget to listen carefully to critical feedback. Capitalize on yourself early.

Ideas 124

Ideas Tips Marketing Social Media 124

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

When people talk about “online food delivery” services, chances are that they’ll think of the Uber Eats, Instacarts and Getirs of this world. “We are still the first mover in this space,” Xu said when I asked him in an interview about rivals. It is currently is the company’s biggest customer.).

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Startup Platform Software Los Angeles 249

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 27, 2020

The Los Angeles-based operations and security management software service, Replicated has raised $25 million to ramp up its staffing and scale its sales and marketing efforts. The funding, which was led by Two Sigma Ventures and included existing investors like Plexo Capital, Amplify, and BoldStart values the company at over $100 million.

Software 224

Software Tool SaaS Los Angeles 224

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2018

This year, we're again sponsoring the Recurring Revenue Conference (www.recurringrevenueconference.com), presented by Sutton Capital Partners. What has been the biggest lesson you've learned in retaining and keeping customers? listen to them to iterate our product, and that's how we get buy-in from our customers. Kevin Anderson.

Customer 113

Customer Custom Services Conference 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

Before jumping into the post I wanted to point out one thing about doing TWiVC and posting my notes here on BSOTT. In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. Finally, a lot of people asking me about typos on my blog.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 19, 2020

A new initiative from a Los Angeles investor is taking stock of venture firms and their ability to commit capital in an effort to match firms that are still open for business and cutting checks to startups that are fundraising in the age of COVID-19. PLEASE RT to spread the word. — Laurent Grill (@laurentgrill) March 18, 2020.

Venture Capital 135

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Los Angeles 135

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

Startups in a world of massive markets can be confusing. 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.”

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150