Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2021

Especially for entrepreneurs who have not built and sold companies before, and need this startup to be an attractive acquisition or IPO target in a few years, I can’t think of a better way to enlist outside experts and keep them motivated to help you meet the challenges of a startup. Fail to establish adequate structure.

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L.A. Business Journal

JULY 13, 2020

the Long Beach-based space systems company, has begun an investigation into a mission failure that occurred during a launch on July 4. Rocket Lab USA Inc.,

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. I find myself nodding – even when the topic is one I don’t expect to agree with such as “fail fast.” how do you handle internal company morale? Check it out.

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InfoChachkie

AUGUST 5, 2013

If your company has said "Yes" to any of the following requests, you have effectively failed the partnership idiot test. Exclusivity can kill a small company. Unfortunately, many big companies assume they can unfairly skew the market in their favor by precluding you from freely working with anyone you choose. Exclusivity.

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InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2014

Yes”, I replied, “I was a seed investor and an Advisor to the company.” Rather than ask for my opinion on particular companies, he wanted me to do his market research for him, asking, "What''s going on in Santa Barbara? Are there any companies I should contact?". Lesson: Don''t make the other party do any heavy lifting.

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Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Most entrepreneurs quote a resource for market size but fail to then take the next step to eliminate all parts of that market unreachable by the company or product. But many decisions were made within my company walls, and surely by competitors, based upon those numbers. The post What is your biggest error in company planning?

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socalTECH

JULY 6, 2017

Among a largely successful rush to establish a vibrant commercial aerospace industry in Southern California, it appears one company--Mojave-based XCOR Aerospace --has failed to launch. XCOR has apparently laid off all of its employees , due to the inability of the company to raise money.

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Berkonomics

JULY 23, 2020

Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Most all experienced VC and angel investors have found themselves in such a situation, since it is the unfortunate truth that half of their investments fail, on average, within the first several years of the investment. How about outside investors?

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Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

The problem in taking such money rests in the legality of taking money from non-accredited investors, people who do not meet the SEC standard for making non-public company investments. Does issuing a PPM insulate the company? The legality issues. It is worth checking with an attorney to see if such investors are truly exempt.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2023

I know that dates me a good bit, but it also shows that I have been hanging around startups and big companies for a long time. In retrospect, however, Bill Gates did a lot of things right as a startup that I still look for today in aspiring entrepreneurs and their companies: Build a strong team.

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InfoChachkie

APRIL 24, 2012

Article first published as Why A Prominent Start-up Executive Wants You to Get Fired and Fail on Technorati. Kim shocked some of the students by telling them that she hopes they fail. In this 8-minute video excerpt from her talk, Kim describes why, “failure is my favorite word at my company now.” I told her) you’ve got to fail.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2020

In fact, even within Fortune 100 companies, almost 90 percent have encountered growth stalls or flirted with failure, or worse, in the last 50 years. No company can afford to lose the agility, flexibility, and innovation of a startup. Companies follow each other rather than the market. Morgan (chemical manufacturing).

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2021

“Intrapreneurs” are entrepreneurs inside big companies, who do corporate spin-offs. A spin-off is merely a startup spawned by a mature parent (company), and conventional logic would dictate that it has a survival advantage over the lowly startup. Yet spin-offs seem to most often fail to launch in the real world.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

Los Angeles-based e-commerce provider Honest Company , which sells organic baby and beauty products, is looking to replace CEO Brian Lee with a veteran of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market, according to a report. Lee co-founded The Honest Company with actress Jessica Alba, and is a veteran of the Internet and e-commerce industry.

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Xconomy

JULY 22, 2019

Acadia Pharmaceuticals’ treatment for Parkinson’s disease-related psychosis failed a Phase 3 trial that was studying use of the drug for schizophrenia patients who haven’t fully responded to existing therapies. The company announced the trial failure Monday after market close.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. It turns out that to build a successful company you ultimately need this strange thing called “revenue” that people don’t just hand you: You need to earn it. You may still fail but at least you’ll have less chance of failing for the wrong reasons.

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Xconomy

FEBRUARY 10, 2020

Two experimental drugs from Eli Lilly and Roche have failed a clinical trial testing them as treatments for a form of Alzheimer’s disease caused by certain genetic mutations, the companies reported Monday.

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Tech Coast Venture Network

MARCH 31, 2010

Virginia Lorimor 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first 5 years, primarily for one reason; the business owner fails to plan. It is not that they lack a good product! So we know that your in business to succeed - what kind of plans do you need: Business Plan.

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socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2014

Los Angeles-based Maker Studios has partnered with Jukin Media , which operates a number of YouTube channels focused on viral videos, the two companies said Thursday. Fail Army''s YouTube channel features Internet "fails" -- think alcohol, a GoPro, and and overload of testosterone and Red Bull--which it compiles into weekly compendiums.

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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.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2021

The challenge is how to know and exit gracefully when the right time has come, without trauma to either the company or themselves. Whether to return their enterprises to their former glory, or simply save themselves from boredom, these leaders left their company, but then returned with a vengeance. Keep good company.

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Company Companies Tips .Net 164

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2020

In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that many of you have your most creative ideas for your company’s first big bang , but often get bogged down with details as the company grows. He is quoted as saying, “I have not failed. Yet building and maintaining a creative team is a tough challenge.

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TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

Two years after the Los Angeles-based fintech startup Dave launched with a suite of money management tools to save consumers from overdraft fees , the company is now worth $1 billion thanks to a nascent banking practice that had investors lining up. “We think the company is quite a bit more valuable than [$1 billion]. .

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 31, 2019

The estate of the bankrupt company retains and can resell those rights into the infinite future. As long as you did not use patented processes or trade secret material from your previous company, you should be protected, but you might be prepared for a fight. Now we add complexity to the issue: bankruptcy of the buyer.

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 31, 2019

The estate of the bankrupt company retains and can resell those rights into the infinite future. As long as you did not use patented processes or trade secret material from your previous company, you should be protected, but you might be prepared for a fight. Now we add complexity to the issue: bankruptcy of the buyer.

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Patents Sales Product Email 120

Berkonomics

JUNE 11, 2015

We’ve all heard the modern day mantra: Fail Fast. In my case as a young software entrepreneur, I had a different approach: Fail Locally, one customer at a time. Prior to bombing out of corporate life, I worked as a management consultant and at a very early age I was dealing with the presidents of very large companies.

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Berkonomics

APRIL 20, 2023

Starting a company is HARD – in so many ways. Here I am a professional investor in early-stage companies, and I attempt to find those with the greatest chance of success and growth in value over time. Harvard University recently published a study that shows three of every four venture-backed firms fail. And risky too.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2011

Mid-level or even top executives who “grew up” in large companies often look with envy at startups, and dream of how easy it must be running a small organization, where you can see the whole picture and it appears you have total control. The job of a big-company executive is very different from the job of a small-company executive.

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Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

Tocagen’s experimental gene therapy for brain cancer therapy has failed a late-stage test, sinking the biotech’s stock price below $1. The company said Thursday that the drug combination, Toca 511 and Toca FC, didn’t prolong patient survival in the Phase 3 trial compared to chemotherapy, the standard treatment.

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Pricing San Diego Company Companies 56

Berkonomics

MAY 16, 2019

There must be at least several companies out there right now positioning to compete with you. And although many positioning efforts cross the lines between these, great companies play to the strength of just one. Innovation certainly defines a number of companies catering to early adopters and the mass audiences that follow.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 9, 2017

Nasty Gal filed for bankruptcy in November, after failing to find additional funding for the once highflying e-commerce company. According to Boohoo, it has entered into an asset purchase agreement as part of Nasty Gal's bankruptcy sale, which includes "certain intellectual property assets and customer databases" from Nasty Gal.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

He makes the case, and I agree, that creativity in a company, large or small, doesn’t just happen – it requires a culture. Fail forward. These experiments can be called “failing forward,” because each one leads you one step closer to the perfect solution. The key is to fail quickly. Think small.

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Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 6, 2014

Creating a gerat company in a relative vacuum is an exercise in complete trust that the entrepreneur knows what’s best for the customer, perhaps even without interaction with such a customer. So, I’ve developed the three step dance in order to help form a repeatable method of how to create a great company from an early idea.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 22, 2011

Feature, not a company. Whether something is a feature or a company is clearly subjective. And sometimes features (say, Twitter) turn into companies. At minute eight I spoke about group messaging companies as “features, not companies.&# It’s a market commentary, not a company commentary.

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InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

If you have not read John’s article, check it out, as it provides an informative contrast to our failed attempt to recreate this impact. . As SocialStay is a young company on the rise, I figured that slight twist on the Monk stunt would be a perfect disruption to an otherwise staid industry. A shark is a shark.

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Xconomy

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

An experimental Halozyme Therapeutics treatment for pancreatic cancer has failed a pivotal study, and the company is stopping further development of the drug and closing its oncology operations as part of a corporate restructuring.

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Berkonomics

OCTOBER 7, 2021

We wouldn’t reward a failure to follow laws, or protect lives, or deliberate endangerment of the company or its people. But should we reward a research team that fails for the fourth time to find the solution to a nagging problem – on the way to a new product? Relate this to the culture of your company.

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