InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

Although many are entertaining, most fail to provide entrepreneurs with a sufficient return on their time investment. If you are a leader at a startup and you are reading a business book, you are not closing customers, raising capital, improving your product, or spending time with your loved ones. Fan, Not A Fan Boy. Tricking The Jedi.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 14, 2015

The rise of powerful new tools for automation and management of business tasks is taking the world by storm, because it lets one entrepreneur accomplish much more with their time than they ever could before. Collect & Use Customer Data. Automated mailing tools are a major resource for entrepreneurs. Workflow Management.

Entrepreneur 40

Entrepreneur Technology Email Tool 40

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2009

Hint: He was an entrepreneur. A Writer Is Someone Who Writes. A writer is someone who writes, not someone who goes about telling their friends that they are “a writer”. The same is true of entrepreneurs. These would-be entrepreneurs are best classified as Wantrepreneurs, as discussed in Entrepreneurial Enterviewing.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Ideas Writing Startup 153

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2011

Alain Theriault, better known as StartupCoach , tells entrepreneurs that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start by writing a cook book (business plan), you work in the kitchen for a while, you learn some tools of the trade, you experiment with a few recipes, you test on willing clients. then you can start writing a recipe.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Metrics 91

socalTECH

OCTOBER 28, 2010

So, I ended up writing that first book, and Bruce helped me with the research, and that was one way we got to know each other before we were even dating. We had the idea to rent out a local school over spring break, put up a website ad, and start offering classes. It gave us the confidence to rent space for classes and form a school.

Startup 242

Startup Web Design Writing Web 242

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Having paying “Customers” is what makes the cash register roar. An entrepreneur having low self worth is the number one deterrent for a potential customer not buying into what you are selling. An entrepreneur having low self worth is the number one deterrent for a potential customer not buying into what you are selling.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Marketing SEO 85

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

3:35 The real entrepreneurs come out during a down economy. 19:30 A teachable moment for entrepreneurs: HAVE A HYPOTHESIS! 41:00 Transitioning from software to writing. 44:45 Telling an entrepreneur to focus is like telling a fat person to lose weight. 57: 00 How do you rectify company mission and customer demand.

Social Media 301

Social Media Startup Metrics Media 301

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. Writing a book will be fun. Neither is very strategic nor in the best interest of either set of customers that VCs have (portfolio companies & LPs). You hire people who look good on paper. After 6 months – you know.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

5) When I interviewed people at my past startups, I rejected them if they asked me about our dental plan, as true entrepreneurs don’t care about such pedestrian benefits. You decide how much you want to invest in your employees and then you give your employees the control to build a custom perk package for themselves.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Here is my summary of some major considerations that every entrepreneur needs to evaluate against the cost and effort to attract equity investors: Completing a grant application is real work. Otherwise find an inexpensive class on grant writing. The only real funding that counts in startup success comes from customers.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2011

Journalists write stories that have an appeal to readers whether the accusations have merit or not. Understand the Gravity of the Situation for Your Customers. The obvious starting points to think to yourself are: Has something happened that fundamentally affects my customers or partners? How do you lose that debate?

Startup 329

Startup Press Training Media 329

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Any SoCal entrepreneur raising early-stage money should put Rincon on their short list. John gave me the book after I spoke at his entrepreneurship class at UCSB. Angels are writing smaller checks so they typically don’t want the overhead of complex analysis in order to make their decision.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

Jeff's father is an entrepreneur, and I wanted to go down the entrepreneurial path, so we had this early concept for a cash back and coupon web site. USC has a fantastic program, in that you are able to be in class, and both learn the concepts and apply it to business. Noah Auerhahn: Our difference, is we're customer centric.

USC 207

USC CPC Sites Startup 207

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2012

Alain Theriault, better known as StartupCoach , tells entrepreneurs that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start by writing a cook book (business plan), you work in the kitchen for a while, you learn some tools of the trade, you experiment with a few recipes, you test on willing clients. then you can start writing a recipe.

Startup 96

Startup Writing Metrics Marketing 96

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Simply put – I’d be in search of a VC who had an intuitive sense of my product, my customers, my organizational issues, my competitors, etc. Neither class of people should give up easily. EQ and Team Leadership?

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

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). Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. Much more data in the full post. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 10, 2012

The team subsequently earned a coveted position in Launchpad LA's current accelerator class after winning the Crowdstart LA competition. We’re a tool for hackers, designers, and entrepreneurs - effectively everyone who reads Hacker News. For us, the audience was perfect. No one wants to hear corporate doublespeak in comment responses.

News 198

News Sites Startup RSS 198

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

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. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit). Really!).

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2017

I was influenced heavily before my career even began because in my undergraduate work I took a ton of statistics classes that showed how easily we human brains fall prey to easy biases and slights of data and try to draw conclusions that don’t exist. Coming back with an empty chamber for the third battle is much worse than not coming back.

Venture Capital 182

Venture Capital Statistics Writing Report 182

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. So here is what I have been telling entrepreneurs privately for the past 6 months. That asset class need not represent the broader market. I believe that.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

I spoke a lot about the need for “personal branding” which I plan to write about soon. My mom was an entrepreneur – she was kind of my inspiration for entrepreneurship. And no one could see me as anything but a startup guy, so I started a second company and called myself a serial entrepreneur.

Startup 337

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Venture Capital 337

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Messenger : Rob Duva , Co-Founder, COO RingRevenue, prior Director of Customer Acquisition, CallWave. 9) In Getting The Band Back Together , I write about the power of serial Founding teams. Do you have any words of caution or advice for entrepreneurs who attempt to “Get Their Band Back Together”? “In

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. The best MBA class I took was an investment strategy class. Despite my cynicism of MBA’s , this class was very valuable to me. overvalued) and sell when the fall precipitously.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

socalTECH

MAY 19, 2017

We're entirely born in the cloud, so it's a piece of software installed within a customer's system. Not to plug myself, but I've done some writing and published a book with O'Reilly, talking about security misconceptions. You buy a piece of hardware, and install it on a local server you have, and on your local server farms.

Web 138

Web Startup Southern California Software 138

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

I finally got around to writing it having read Fred Wilson’s post about what a CEO does. Some entrepreneurs make the mistake of never devolving power. Due to the language and culture issues in Europe we opted for a country structure with an MD in each country and local sales, marketing & customers support staff.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Sales Customer 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. Simply write a great book? Link has a summary of his argument plus a great video).

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

In the summer of 2006 over a cup of Peet’s Coffee, you told me about this new thing called “cloud computing” and that you were trying to come up with a creative way to incorporate it into the curriculum of your upcoming UCSB Computer Science class. When you began your teaching career, did you plan on eventually being an entrepreneur?

Cloud Computing 188

Cloud Computing Santa Barbara EC2 Startup 188

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to. It was a great chance for the class to interact with the community in LA. There were prominent founders of business like PriceGrabber, LowerMyBills and MyLife.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. When I started my second company I was a serial entrepreneur. I introduced myself as a serial entrepreneur. Branded again.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

It forces the founder to spend time in front of customers. The funny thing about “too much money” is that it doesn’t just come from entrepreneurs. Now the AP class. sometimes I’m just in that mood and when I am my writing style takes on my inner grumpiness. why do I write p.s.’s sometimes?

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

They can travel the world, take classes in interesting subjects, spend time with loved ones or start new hobbies. Want to take a year pursuing your dream to write a screenplay, travel through Asia, run a triathlon or start your own fashion line? I got to experience much of the local culture and customs. If not now, then when?

Startup 295

Startup Email Technical Review Course 295

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

We typically do not ask entrepreneurs to visit our offices in Santa Barbara, but Jeff wanted to meet with Kevin, an investor in our Fund who helped us vet opportunities and occasionally invested alongside of us. Rather, we value entrepreneurs' time and thus our diligence generally includes introducing them to potential customers and partners.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Without their buy in, we don’t get the opportunity to interact with end customers. My brand marketing experience is making a big difference with our audiences since hospitality is all about a ‘brand experience’ and they want their stuff to look great, be a reflection of their brand and get customers excited. Write it down….

Startup 233

Startup Design Mobile Social Network 233

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2009

Our model does not involve commissions or revenue share with our customers, unlike the traditional publishing model, where you give out your knowledge for a small fraction of what a publisher gets. Instead of writing a book, we wanted to develop a platform to bring our methods to life, and scale our knowledge.

Geni 100

Geni Web Guide Platform 100

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

Sergey’s diverse experience as an entrepreneur, technology consultant and software executive qualifies him to lead amSTATZ’s technology development. Jenna can write a recommendation on Andy’s profile or send an email to friends recommending Andy, one of his workout plans or the fitness event she’s registered for. How many users?

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

In terms of the software, our student learning software, we're able to provide a very customized, personalized learning experience for students. If you're teaching classes of 32 maybe even 37 students, it's difficult to know where students are. However, on the group side, a class has 15-17 students. Jake got a similar amount.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2010

My partner is a documentarian and reports for the New York Times, Time, and Newsweek, and was given a story to write about for the New York Times, about the sounds that fish make , for their Science section. They wanted to use the platform we had developed in a class called Mashup Culture. We grew out of an interesting use case.

Journal 187

Journal USC News Startup 187