Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2023

If you don’t have the time to write things down, or your writing skills leave something to be desired, don’t be afraid to get some help. No executive I know writes all his own contracts, but every smart one owns every one that is written for him, and understands every element.

Startup 102

Startup Writing Mentor Sample 102

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics. What happened?

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Serial entrepreneur, venture investor and startup accelerator pioneer Brad Feld has notoriously mocked traditional marketing throughout his career. companies should… focus on building amazing products. “…companies should… focus on building amazing products. If you have $hitty products, the marketing is impossible.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

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.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

TechEmpower

AUGUST 7, 2023

Increasing competitive advantage? The role of a CTO varies as the company matures. Getting something to market and getting funding override any other concerns. And you certainly don’t want to be the company that spends time and money building something you could have picked up off the shelf. Exploring new technologies?

CTO Hire 260

CTO Hire Develop Development Fractional VPE 260

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

Los Angeles-based digital marketing agency Wpromote said on Monday that it has launched a new set of scholsrships, which will go to students interested in digital marketing. According to Wpromote, the new scholarships--which will be awarded bi-annually--will total $3,000, with the first award in December of this year. READ MORE>>.

Marketing 100

Marketing Blogging Writing Los Angeles 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Last week, the University of Southern California 's Viterbi School of Engineering announced that it had established a new, business plan competition, the Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition ([link] specifically aimed at students in the engineering school. Why a business plan competition, and why in engineering school?

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

While the market isn't short of spritely, innovative entrepreneurs, harsh economic headwinds combined with a pullback in investor spending have made it harder than ever for budding businesses to break through. Source: runwayml.com In June, Runway raised $141 million in funding, nudging its market valuation to an envy-inducing $1.5

Startup 210

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 210

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” I hope to publish that deck and a full write up in the next 10 days in partnership with Dan Primack at Fortune (if my write up doesn’t suck, I guess ;-)).

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

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. I suspect those days will end soon, and 61% of LPs polled said they felt VCs were coming back to market too quickly.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

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. Yet as obvious as it is to create messaging for your company, many people don’t consider their personal brands.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

Especially when starting a company with personal savings or money from relatives and friends, early signs of success are intoxicating. This moment is not to be spoiled by such mundane warnings from advisors or consultants to plan carefully, research the market and competition, and execute the plan with tenacity and enthusiasm.

Hollywood 120

Hollywood Writing Press Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

In the creation of a young company, there are five principal risks to be addressed by the entrepreneur. One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer. Second: Market risk. .

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

She speaks from decades of experience with innovation at big companies, as well as startups. I recommend that you always use brainstorming, or expert feedback, to define similar approaches and markets, before proceeding to produce and sell a solution that may be expensive to change later. Be ready to pivot at any point in the process.

Ideas 145

Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

If you don’t have the time to write things down, or your writing skills leave something to be desired, don’t be afraid to get some help. No executive I know writes all his own contracts, but every smart one owns every one that is written for him, and understands every element.

Sample 137

Sample Writing Mentor Content 137

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know all of this because every VC knows this because we’ve all either funded companies that have marketing technology or we’ve seen a pitch with a company that does this. Your pitch deck should really be your best marketing tool Your pitch deck shouldn’t contain your deepest, darkest secrets and plans. A deck is a deck.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Value Prop Twitter Style : “Ringrevenue’s call performance marketing platform enables ad networks, agencies, advertisers & publishers to generate more inbound sales calls.”. In today’s market, so much focus is placed on transacting business online. “In Who do you view as your biggest competition? You’re right.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

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. The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). But markets value high growth over short-term profitability. Why is this?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2023

Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe. Saving cost won’t help you if you can’t make the daily innovations required to stay competitive. The same applies to manufacturing and almost any process these days.

Software Review 114

Software Review Technical Review Outsource Development Outsource 114

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Of course, we are speaking of increased valuation of your company when we speak of “wealth.” One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer. Second: Market risk. .

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. When should you start a company? What company should you start? When should you join a company? Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). In a startup this is a mistake. In a startup this is a mistake.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I was speaking recently to the team at NuOrder , an LA-based company we’re an investor in about “realism in startups” — an impromptu talk I have given to any of our portfolio companies who ask. I answered in the same way I always do so I thought I’d just write it publicly. “I I work with a few computer vision companies.

Invest 254

Invest Writing Pricing Metrics 254

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

However, to a Big Dumb Company (BDC), a startup’s IP is a thing of beauty. Patents held by startups generally have a limited ability to reduce competition. As such, they are hesitant to acquire a company which has not sought formal protection of their IP for two reasons. Intellectual Property (IP) is an ugly thing at a startup.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. I can’t control the market. There is an inherent value that any company has.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA , which I wrote about previously. Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. The first post covered the topic of “P” or pain.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

PR isn’t something that can be delegated – The other thing that tech execs often want to do is to delegate the PR to their marketing person. Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. But succinctly this press places a marker in the ground for your company. Yes, you could tell them in a private internal meeting but nothing builds confidence more than their buddies all telling them, “wow, you work for a great company.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory. As I naturally get asked all the time why we invested in Company A or Company B, I thought I’d just put forth my thesis in writing.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. I thought I’d write a post about how to talk about valuation at a startup and give you some sense of what might be on the mind of the person considering funding you. thank you!”

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2022

Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Do you believe that you have an idea for a company that you can implement better than anyone, and maintain a competitive advantage? Money should not be the big driver here.

Startup 115

Startup Resource Training Ideas 115

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. In my view, nothing could be further from the truth.

Startup 145

Startup Entrepreneur Mentor Writing 145

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 15, 2012

It is stunning to think about the blind spots that market leaders can develop. For years Palm had such a significant lead in the PDA market it seemed inconceivable that they would be replaced. I was the proud owner of a Psion, founded by the company Bill Gates once famously said he feared more than any other. Palm obliterated.

Email 386

Email Startup Marketing Competition 386

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer. Second: Market risk. Are you ahead or behind the market with your product or service? And fifth: Competitive risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200