Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2014

One obvious alternative is to become an entrepreneur. As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m often asked what it takes to switch and get real satisfaction from this lifestyle. In fact, Mehta focuses on a special class of entrepreneurs that he calls disruptors. Then write them down. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Startup Writing 100

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 13, 2014

It''s grueling and difficult for every single entrepreneur, no matter what their circumstances. Tracy confided to the class that she has suffered from a lifetime of pain, due to a birth ailment which affected her back, legs and feet. Write them down and challenge each of them, with objective facts. Share and Enjoy.

Entrepreneur 187

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Santa Barbara 187

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. This does not mean you shouldn’t solve big, complex problems or write complex code. Most Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs I know are more like Al Gore.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2013

Executives in an enterprise usually don’t write their own memos, contracts, and certainly don’t schedule their own meetings. The result is a startup with an exorbitant burn rate, and a very unhappy entrepreneur. So if you really want to be an entrepreneur, there is no time like the present. There is a difference. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Startup Training Course 95

InfoChachkie

APRIL 16, 2012

Steve is also a Stanford Professor and noted marketing entrepreneur. Eric (Ries) was a student in one of the very earliest customer development classes at Berkley. Four Steps was essentially my class notes. Large companies write business plans, why of course, that’s the organizing document for a startup.

Startup 229

Startup Class Press Custom Development 229

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. It turns out it actually takes time to build a high-growth business with differentiated intellectual property and roll out large, enterprise-class marketing solutions. 5 years ago. 5 years ago. The monkey on my back.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

Although many are entertaining, most fail to provide entrepreneurs with a sufficient return on their time investment. Unfortunately, most business books do not offer entrepreneurs an adequate payoff. At the beginning of the index, Guy writes, “I hope Robert Cialdini checks this index.” Fan, Not A Fan Boy. I was not disapointed.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

For starters some funds are small and thus while they put $750k into your company to own 10% of your company they might not be able to write another $2 million if you then raise a $20 million round (10%). Much of this historically didn’t matter to entrepreneurs. Why prorata rights are becoming a bigger deal to angels.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

I even plan to use it in my upcoming UC Santa Barbara Entrepreneurial Selling class. I began our discussion by asking Guy, “Why should entrepreneurs read your latest book, Enchantment?”. The reason why an entrepreneur should be interested in this book is because entrepreneurs have to overcome resistance.

Santa Barbara 262

Santa Barbara Technical Review Social Media Startup 262

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Main Street Venture Fund LLC, an angel fund of about 25 private investors, was formed by Ruffolo Benson LLC in northeast Indiana with the intention of bringing together area entrepreneurs and private investors to create economic value for the region. Tags: angel investor entrepreneur process trophy business. Business wisdom.

Entrepreneur 83

Entrepreneur Mentor Invest Angel 83

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

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. Automated mailing tools are a major resource for entrepreneurs. There is something for just about every entrepreneur out there.

Entrepreneur 40

Entrepreneur Technology Email Tool 40

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. He was in the inaugural class of 500Startups and became chief evangelist as far as I could tell. Jordan Hudson. Kevin Zhang. Sam had different plans.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

InfoChachkie

MARCH 4, 2013

Entrepreneurs can learn a great deal from the manner in which Pink Floyd created DSOTM. Pink Floyd recorded DSOTM after a year of writing and performing the material in front of live audiences. The working class grammar of these light-hearted phrases underscored that the band was not taking itself too seriously. Pay To Play.

Startup 269

Startup Cloud Computing RSS Writing 269

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2010

I hear many executives and professionals in large corporations talking about their dream of jumping ship, and becoming an entrepreneur. Executives in an enterprise usually don’t write their own memos, contracts, and certainly don’t schedule their own meetings. Tags: entrepreneur startup bad habits big company business.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Company Companies Training 92

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

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. Many through history became entrepreneurs precisely because they were unemployable. When he writes them online his Tourette’s comes out and sometimes the substance gets lost in the style.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The poor performance of the asset class (this analysis has largely been wrong as I pointed out here –> most analyses were clumsy rear-view mirror looks at the data). Just 3 years ago there was talk of institutional investors “not being able to write small enough checks.” On the surface the narratives have been.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 1, 2019

Bruce, along with his wife Lynda, created a learning company from their garage, initially by holding in-person classes and later selling VHS tapes via mail order. Bruce and Lynda eventually grew their startup into a global powerhouse, offering 5,700 classes and 255,000 video tutorials to over 4 million users.

Sales 113

Sales Education Startup Class 113

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2015

I previously wrote about LaunchTN’s second-phase master accelerator class called The TENN, which has a proven track record of helping startups thrive after graduation from an accelerator. Savvy entrepreneurs - seek out programs which incorporate these post-graduation activities. Convert Graduate-Founders Into Mentors.

Startup 100

Startup Class LAMP Santa Barbara 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 2, 2015

I even wrote about my experiences attending Web Summit , something I rarely ever write about. If you want to see world-class speakers and hear what they have to say in person – you will get that. This is how he gets world-class speakers to travel half way around the world. He’s back stage like an orchestra conductor.

Web 150

Web Conference Technical Review Class 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? But it +is+ an anti-entrepreneur stance.&# A few reasons.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2018

Editor's note: As we head into the new year, we've been featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. We do, as of the writing of this in early December, seem to be seeing a correction at this time.

Southern California 100

Southern California News Class Writing 100

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. 00:45 Intro to Eric. 01:17 Background, before the Lean Startup.

Social Media 301

Social Media Startup Metrics Media 301

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2015

One obvious alternative is to become an entrepreneur. As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m often asked what it takes to switch and get real satisfaction from this lifestyle. In fact, Mehta focuses on a special class of entrepreneurs that he calls disruptors. Then write them down.

Satisfaction 57

Satisfaction Entrepreneur Writing Startup 57

socalTECH

MAY 25, 2016

At Idealab, we saw many shots on goal with companies who were consumer focused, and we have found the quality of entrepreneurs going to consumer Internet companies has changed dramatically, which represents a real opportunity. It's all about the entrepreneur. That's when you start meddling in the company.

Southern California 113

Southern California Capital Funding Invest 113

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Indeed, whether you’re a producer, screenwriter, director, actor, cinematographer, editor, art director or composer (or some combination of these) Stage 32 offers classes to meet your specific needs. Classes with a wide geographic appeal. Among those that have paid for a Stage 32 class, 91% say they’ll do it again in the future.

Education 82

Education Entertainment Class Manhattan Beach 82

Xconomy

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

Representative from Colorado —and a successful Internet entrepreneur—contends that elected representatives and certain staffers should also be required to disclose cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, even though that’s not necessarily happening now. Polis wants it to become a clear requirement.

Writing 52

Writing Entrepreneur Class San Diego 52

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

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. We brought in 10 – 20 people in each class. 2) Congratulations on Entrepreneur magazine recently naming BetterWorks a “ Brilliant Company.”

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

socalTECH

JUNE 6, 2011

Those programs--epitomized by YCombinator in the Bay Area, and TechStars in Boulder, Colorado--attract newly minted entrepreneurs with a mixture of cash and mentoring, and a program which rapidly takes ideas and turns them into viable, executing businesses. Typically, venture backed companies, always entrepreneur led.

Startup 221

Startup Mentor Southern California Incubator 221

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. Venturing outside the limits will lead to legal consequences.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

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. I started working with David when I was an entrepreneur and he was an associate with a VC firmed called … wait for it … GRP Partners (now Upfront Ventures)! You REALLY know.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

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. Neither class of people should give up easily. Most entrepreneurs I encounter seem to make their decisions more on perceived brand, past successes and ability to intro. Most VCs are book smart. It’s not you.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

A critical stage for most first-time entrepreneurs is getting their idea developed into at least a prototype to validate their technology. Another alternative is to find an inexpensive class on grant writing. The best entrepreneurs I know don’t let initial funding constraints discourage them from starting.

Funding 90

Funding Technical Review Startup Research 90

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2015

Too many entrepreneurs naively believe that candidates with lofty titles from a larger company can easily do the same job for their startups. Everyone must know how to listen, talk and write. Most startups don’t have the time or resources to send team members to formal training classes, either in-house or off-site.

Startup 99

Startup Mentor Layoffs News 99