Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2022

They look at your track record, industry leadership, marketing energy, moral values, and peer relationships. Quality of your technical and business teams. Brand recognition and market influencer support. Proprietary technology with a high barrier to entry. You need to do the same now.

Technical Review 147

Technical Review Social Media Entrepreneur Startup 147

Tech.Co

MAY 9, 2024

This type of funding aims to facilitate cooperative research and development efforts research between small business concerns and non-profit US research institutions, with the potential for commercialization of innovative technological solutions. Learn more about the SBIR grant, and how to apply here.

Outsource Development 207

Outsource Development Technical Review Research Writing 207

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

Proving your Business Model Works - Build, Define, and Review But how do you prove your numbers? If your numbers work out, then scaling becomes a question of capital. Finally, review the numbers with your partners. Start by building just enough of your product to get early CAC and CLV signals (they won’t be perfect).

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Slides Technical Review 260

socalTECH

DECEMBER 22, 2020

Every year, we feature the year end reflections of founders, CEOs, investors, and others in Southern California's high tech community. Today, we have Kelly Perdew , Co-founder and General Partner of Moonshots Capital. It's been a tough year for many due to the pandemic; how have you or your company adapted to the business environment?

Capital 124

Capital Technical Review Truecar Southern California 124

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. In fact, if you add the capital flows of the past ten years, there have been just shy of $50 billion in net cash outlays.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2019

During the holiday season, our tradition over the last few years has been to post reflections on the past year and some predictions from Southern California's technology industry. As we close out our contributions for the end of 2018, we have a contribution from investor and investment banker Peter Cowen of Sutton Capital Partners.

Capital 113

Capital Southern California Technical Review SaaS 113

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Every year, we feature the year end reflections of founders, CEOs, investors, and others in Southern California's high tech community. Here, we have Greg Martin, Founder and Managing Partner of Archer Venture Capital (www.archervc.com). What are you most looking forward to in the technology/startup world in 2021?

Venture Capital 124

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Brentwood 124

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

controlling your psychology ) you no doubt have heard me say that raising capital is a sales & marketing process. Building models to evaluate the deal and/or reviewing customer files, company financials, business plans, etc. This is critical to build a cohesive venture capital firm.

Venture Capital 314

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest Slides 314

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

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

The debt market has pretty much shut down for people, though there is some money coming out of the SBAs that have been somewhat helpful. And, the equity markets are certainly a more challenging environment. Mike Napoli: We've revised the way we review companies at the prescreening stage. Mike Napoli: Obviously, it's still tough.

Tech Coast Angels 231

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Southern California 231

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses. As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture. What gives?

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Invest Seed Funding Startup 328

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

With the new capital, SpotOn has raised $628 million since its inception. Since its 2017 inception, SpotOn has been focused on providing software and payments technology to SMBs with an emphasis on restaurants and retail businesses. So they see a responsibility to install the necessary technology to properly run their business.”.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Software Review Invest Acquisition 296

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

Thursday, February 23, 2012 -- Current VC market and how to pitch it. The current venture market and how to pitch it - Getting professional tech investment (private, angel, venture, strategic) in these times is not easy. See [link] (more)

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Technical Review Marketing Capital 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2022

In these days of global competition via multiple channels, you need continuous marketing to find more customers. Acknowledge every customer feedback and review. Don’t let that one negative stand out as the only review submitted. Produce marketing events to get visibility and attention. They won’t find you.

Technical Review 142

Technical Review Social Media Conference Customer 142

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

During the holiday season, our tradition over the last few years has been to post reflections on the past year and some predictions for 2019 from Southern California's technology industry. Are there any technology innovations, gadgets, devices, software, that you found most interesting in 2018?

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2011

William Quigley , a venture capitalist at Clearstone Venture Partners, is making the argument that venture capital returns are set to return superior returns in the coming years, due to the disinterest of institutional investors.

Venture Capital 160

Venture Capital Capital Clearstone Technical Review 160

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. Many of you have read or at least know the primary thesis of “ Crossing the Chasm &# the seminal book on marketing your products to mainstream consumers by Geoffrey Moore.

Marketing 294

Marketing Customer Custom Technical Review 294

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). 15 years ago we were at the peak of Internet hype with the launch of many over-capitalized businesses with a market size & opportunity was limited.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets. The practical uses for uBeam technology is limitless. Did anybody hold patents that would prevent us from using this technology? Was it safe?

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2023

Professional investors and advisors, on the other hand, usually refuse to sign these agreements today due to the risk of litigation and administrative workload, and will walk away. If you are approaching a recognized venture capital group, or even an accredited angel investor, a non-disclosure agreement is counter-productive.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Patents Ideas Sample 101

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.

Venture Capital 135

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Los Angeles 135

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 21, 2009

Thursday, August 27, 2009 -- TCVN Deal Review. Is your business "starved" for capital? Attend the TCVN Deal Review and learn how to put money into your piggy bank. Entrepreneurs interested in becoming the market leaders in their industry or anyone interested in seeking equity funding should attend See [link] (more).

TCVN 100

TCVN Equity Entrepreneur Funding 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Irvine-based YouMail , the venture- and angel-backed startup providing an enhanced voicemail service, has just been dropped from the Android market, in a major challenge for the company. YouMail is venture backed by VantagePoint Capital Partners, Siemer Ventures, the Tech Coast Angels, and CrunchFund. READ MORE>>.

Tech Coast Angels 140

Tech Coast Angels Marketing Technical Review Blogging 140

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 23, 2021

Indeed, two of the best funded companies in the lab-grown meat market hail from The Netherlands, where Mosa Meat is being challenged by a newer upstart, Meatable , which just announced $47 million in new financing. Meatable has a long road ahead of it, because, as Gates acknowledged in his interview with MIT Technology Review (ed.

Chief Technology Officer 261

Chief Technology Officer Technical Review Software Review Product 261

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2017

million in capital to build out its operations in 4 cities: New York City , Los Angeles , Chicago and Washington D.C. I pointed out that the storage market in the US alone is ~$30 billion / year and there is no dominant provider — the largest player has < 10% market share. In short — how the hell did we raise $30 million?

Technical Review 268

Technical Review Funding Software Review Artificial Inteligence 268

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

This is final part of a series that describes a sales methodology for technology companies or frankly many other types of companies, too. And with scarce resources it’s your job to decide which door this lead must go through – sales or marketing. ” Hand this deal over to marketing to nurture for you.

Customer 324

Customer Custom Marketing Newsletter 324

Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2018

Fortunately, for those headed to SXSW, Startup Night SXSW 2018 , presented by the Kauffman Foundation and TechCo, will be filled with investors from a multitude of industries who are looking to discover and fund startups building the latest solutions and tech innovations. Joanne Chen, Partner at Foundation Capital.

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Startup Software Review Entrepreneur 70

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. One example is that they introduced a program where their founders can pool together shares from their company and exchange them for a small portfolio of other First Round Capital companies. First Round Capital’s Tools, Techniques, Processes.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

Ghost is not alone in developing technology focused on inventory. Last week, Syrup Tech raised $6.3 The investment was led by Union Square Ventures and included participation from Eniac Ventures, Human Capital and Flexport. Syrup Tech bags $6.3M to develop some sweet inventory-planning software.

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

socalTECH

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies said this morning that it is cutting its outlook for the third quarter and full year, due to decline in sales in energy-related products. dollar and "challenging" capital spending environment impacting its results. The company also blamed a strong U.S. READ MORE>>.

Sales 100

Sales Thousand Oaks Marketing Technical Review 100

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Small Business Grants to Apply For Today If your business doesn't have enough capital to take on future debts or has a unique specialism or back story that could catch the eye of grantors, it might be a good idea to apply for a grant. Create a membership here Deadline: Applications are reviewed quarterly 3.

Technical Review 193

Technical Review Software Review Startup Competition 193

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA). We feature a prominent speaker at every event.

Venture Capital 241

Venture Capital Technical Review Southern California Company 241

Tech.Co

JULY 13, 2023

Initially pinned as a generative AI startup for Twitter when it first hit the headlines back in April, the xAI website seems to suggest that the new startup will remain separate from the social media platform, as well as Musk's collection of other technology companies.

Artificial Inteligence 115

Artificial Inteligence ChatGPT Generative AI Technical Review 115

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2021

Here is my list of key principles for creating and capitalizing on a balanced focus as a business professional or an entrepreneur: Start by marketing your vision and purpose. Too many entrepreneurs I know start by highlighting their new technology , and assume that it will sell itself. Every balanced leader does marketing early.

Technical Review 133

Technical Review Satisfaction Metrics Startup 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2021

I’m a very logical guy, so I still fondly remember when new solutions and technologies started trends on the basis of their logical strengths. Today consumers reveal themselves online, with pictures, opinions, ratings and reviews, interests and locations, and expect businesses to adapt to them, and honor the implied relationship contract.

Marketing 127

Marketing Social Media Technical Review Product 127

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2017

Next week is the Montgomery Summit (www.montgomerysummit.com), one of the longest running technology conferences held in Los Angeles. The conference is run by Jamie Montgomery , one of the local industry's pioneers in venture capital and investment. What most excites you about the technology industry here today?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Conference Silver Lake Cornerstone OnDemand 100