Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2020

Many aspiring entrepreneurs I mentor can talk at length about their innovative ideas and passions, and ask lots of good questions, but never make much progress in building a real business. Writing something down is the first step toward moving forward and making it real. List items to achieve the goal, and network now.

Ideas 121

Ideas Writing Startup Entrepreneur 121

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. There is no room in this realm for negativism, excuses, or lack of confidence.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Angel Social Media Patents 107

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. There is no room in this realm for negativism, excuses, or lack of confidence.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2011

Many believe that entrepreneurs are born, not made. While I agree that successful company builders usually have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, a good education helps polish that apple. We can all point to examples of successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of college, but still went on to make a big impact.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Course Education 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. Build your own personal brand image through blogging, industry forums, and networking.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. Successful businesses require the best people to deliver your vision and services one step better than the competition.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2013

So what’s an entrepreneur to do to get his new business noticed these days? Most entrepreneurs I know are too busy creating a compelling product to give proper focus to the four phases of building a people and media platform that Hyatt says are equally critical for long-term success: Platform creation prior to launch. How about yours?

Platform 105

Platform Entrepreneur Startup Social Media 105

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. What advice you can offer entrepreneurs validating their new products? What advice you can offer entrepreneurs validating their new products?

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. milestones entrepreneur startup funding business' Marty Zwilling.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We take a really friendly, Shark Tank approach that promotes young entrepreneurs, and lets them pitch to a group of seasoned investors and venture capitalists on a panel, and where they not only get an actual investment, but also go through a retail challenge, to get consumer feedback. How did you get involved with angel investing, initially?

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

Modern-society is also littered with over-networkers and over-introducers and professional conference attendees. I try to steer entrepreneurs away from over-introducers and I often find myself wanting to be careful about them becoming an investor in companies I back. That’s why focus is critical. It starts seemingly innocent enough.

Innocal 255

Innocal Conference Help Study 255

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2016

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. With a bit of humor, he provides some serious guidelines for struggling career professionals looking to move up, and new entrepreneurs looking to build a company. Anything less makes you non-competitive.

Startup 93

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 93

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

The fitness professional network develops business tools that make it easier for fitness professionals to run their businesses and keep their clients engaged between training sessions. Sergey’s diverse experience as an entrepreneur, technology consultant and software executive qualifies him to lead amSTATZ’s technology development.

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Competitive sportswoman. And still able to make it out to LA networking events. She was everything I was looking for in an entrepreneur to back. Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. Stanford MBA.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2016

Too many aspiring entrepreneurs I mentor can talk at length about their innovative ideas and passions, and ask lots of good questions, but never make much progress in building a real business. Writing something down is the first step toward moving forward and making it real. List items to achieve the goal, and network now.

Writing 100

Writing Ideas Startup Entrepreneur 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. ” An angle can be, Starbucks is piloting this product in 500 stores; or.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. But my contact told me that many viral videos start through close networks on Reddit where a degree of formal and informal collaboration of individuals takes place. How do people drive SEO growth?

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow. If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests. million round I might write $1.8 – 2.2 So What’s the Big Deal?

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Today they say its Africa’s largest and fastest growing social networking utility with over 4,000 daily new sign-ups. They also add that LAGbook ranks #2 in the city of Yaba-Lagos, where the social network was incepted, and #37 in the city of Hirtshal, Denmark. We create a social network for students of the University of Lagos.

Social Network 100

Social Network Networking Advertising Startup 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). Just 3 years ago there was talk of institutional investors “not being able to write small enough checks.” We’re all socially connected (so great businesses spread faster). Why is this? The iPhone was released.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

One of the most frequent questions entrepreneurs ask about when they raise a little bit of money or are getting close to launching their first product is whether they should hire a PR firm. Whether we like to admit it or not, PR drives behavior with customers, investors, employees and competition. In a startup this is a mistake.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get paid (well) for interesting people to come in and tell me how they want to change the world – Being an entrepreneur is like having blinders on. At least for the best entrepreneurs. Some people do the conference circuit too much, get involved in lots of side projects and attend every entrepreneur dinner. I love it.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

Many believe that entrepreneurs are born, not made. While I agree that successful company builders usually have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, a good education helps polish that apple. We can all point to examples of successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of college, but still went on to make a big impact.

Technical Advisors 90

Technical Advisors Startup Course Entrepreneur 90

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 15, 2012

One the most frequent questions asked of me by entrepreneurs is, "How can I become a Venture Capitalist?" The inquiry is common because being a VC is (to an entrepreneur, at least) a sexy job. All you need do to become an Angel is identify a promising venture and write a check. Microscopic Industry.

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest RSS 242

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

This started as a post in which I was going to write out tips to personal branding and became in stead an essay of my own branding journey. I was 23 and had been programming computers, designing computer networks and selling software for 10 years. I was in Network Solutions. This was pre Internet. I was “technical guy.”

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 25, 2016

If such write-downs only impacted the faux unicorns and their avaricious investors, there would be little need for alarm. The constant media coverage of the aberrant unicorn valuations has caused otherwise level-headed entrepreneurs to expect investors to participate at prices which are detached from their startups’ fundamentals.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Venture Capital 100

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.”. 9) In Getting The Band Back Together , I write about the power of serial Founding teams. Who do you view as your biggest competition?

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter. The first being a competitive acquisition offer from a fierce competitor. Christin goes on.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

I’m continually amazed at the number of entrepreneurs who go for months into a new business without really keeping a formal record of money spent or assets acquired. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. But having no process does not make you more competitive.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 8, 2018

Steven Johnson, author of How We Got To Now , analyzes technological breakthroughs, looking for patterns that allow entrepreneurs to identify “How We’ll Get To Tomorrow.” Modern-day entrepreneurs use Evernote, Google Keep, etc. You’re As Smart As Your Network. A version of this article first appeared in Forbes.

Ideas 69

Ideas Startup Technical Review Santa Barbara 69

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2012

Tech Reporters: These individuals will write and edit informative and practical articles on a range of topics including Startups/Entrepreneurs, Gadgets, Mobile Tech, Tech in Entertainment, Gaming, Apps & Software, productivity, and cover breaking tech news. Think you may be interested? Take a look below and give us a shout.

Technical Review 71

Technical Review Software Review Writing News 71

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We''ve also built a data driven platform, that allows us to drive millions of unique visitors to our network of sites every month, covering the banking, credit, and travel and vertical markets. We started looking at the landscape, and as I was getting my MBA at the time, ended up writing the business plan for ConsumerTrack.

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly. This statement leaves no confusion in the minds of investors, or customers, of what the company does and how it is different (and better) than the competition. A new easier to use social network may not get anyone excited.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

If I write back, and tell them to stay at the Marriott in Del Mar, we would detect the Marriott Del Mar in your message, whether that's on Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, in a text message, in an email, or whatever, and convert that into a link to one of our merchants who are part of the Wildfire network.

San Diego 159

San Diego Social Media Commerce Snapchat 159

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2012

So what’s an entrepreneur to do to get his new business noticed these days? Most entrepreneurs I know are too busy creating a compelling product to give proper focus to the four phases of building a people and media platform that are equally critical for long-term success: Platform creation prior to launch.

Startup 104

Startup Social Media Platform Blogging 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. I’m continually amazed at the number of entrepreneurs who go for months into a new business without really keeping a formal record of money spent or assets acquired.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. I’m continually amazed at the number of entrepreneurs who go for months into a new business without really keeping a formal record of money spent or assets acquired.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95