Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2020

Technical entrepreneurs love their technology, and often are driven to launch a startup on the assumption that everyone will buy any solution which highlights this technology. These founders all seem to be pushing their technology, rather than highlighting their solution to a painful need.

Technology 127

Technology Marketing Social Media Customer 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek? Technology, architecture, and feature descriptions.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Most entrepreneurs spend far too much time thinking negatively about competitors, and can’t resist making derogatory statements about them to their own team, investors and even to customers. As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition.

Competition 107

Competition Entrepreneur Patents Customer 107

Berkonomics

APRIL 19, 2012

Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.” It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a totally new device or service that could take the world by storm. The statement shows a lack of research or previous thinking that is a red flag for investors.

Competition 189

Competition Slides Sales Ideas 189

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

MBA’s are an easy target for entrepreneurs’ scorn. I too have taken shots at MBA’s, describing why they are not typically well suited for startup life in Why Entrepreneurs Hate (Most) MBAs. My contrarian nature sparked, I began researching MBA led startups. Situationally, MBA’s Can Be Effective Entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Allegis Startup Competition 113

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2019

He is regarded by many as the number-one authority on virtual staffing and personal outsourcing, and is himself a successful entrepreneur based in the Philippines. I was impressed with his summary of the top ten outsourcing mistakes made by entrepreneurs, followed by real guidance on how they can and should be avoided. Be flexible.

Outsource Development 121

Outsource Development Outsource Entrepreneur Summary 121

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2023

Entrepreneurs seem to have blinders on when looking at competitors. Strategic partnerships in this context can take the form of joint ventures, intellectual property licensing, outsourcing agreements, or even cooperative research. With this agreement in place, there are a host of ways that both sides can win: Share common technology.

Startup 105

Startup Outsource Competition Entrepreneur 105

InfoChachkie

MAY 26, 2016

Should millennial entrepreneurs go to college? If you believe the mythology surrounding the handful of entrepreneurs who did not obtain a degree, you may think that the path to entrepreneurial success is enhanced by avoiding college. I asked them to devise reasons an entrepreneur should remain in college.

Entrepreneur 150

Entrepreneur Case Study Education Seed Funding 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2023

Technical entrepreneurs love their technology, and often are driven to launch a startup on the assumption that everyone will buy any solution which highlights this technology. These founders all seem to be pushing their technology, rather than highlighting their solution to a painful need.

Customer 110

Customer Custom Social Media Technology 110

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Los Angeles-based XPRIZE , which runs a number of prize-based competitions for developing technology, has named eighteen teams for its $2 million, Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE , including two local teams. The groups will go on to submit their technology to affordably and accurately measure ocean acidification.

Thousand Oaks 138

Thousand Oaks Artificial Inteligence San Diego Research 138

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Access to intellectual property and current research. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek? Technology, architecture, and feature descriptions.

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

Technical entrepreneurs love their technology, and often are driven to launch a startup on the assumption that everyone will buy any solution which highlights this technology. These founders all seem to be pushing their technology, rather than highlighting their solution to a painful need.

Technology 114

Technology Startup Social Media Customer 114

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 14, 2014

Drawing from the UK Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) experience, US Senator Chris Coons will talk about the version of the Research & Development tax credit bill he sponsored on August 8 in New York City. All engaged parties indulge in progressive research and development, which is the pillar of economic prosperity.

Research 88

Research Invest Develop Development 88

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Most entrepreneurs, and members of any small team, naively assume that the key to their success is hard work, dedication, and long hours in the business. It behooves all entrepreneurs and team members to recognize the positives and negatives of each type of relationship. Workship - Communicator.

Mentor 91

Mentor Competition Summary Coach 91

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2022

Most of the entrepreneurs I have met are smart, but many are not always wise. That means they may show great insights into a new technology that has marginal business value, their passion may motivate team members more than customers, or they may allow themselves to be pulled over the ethical line in their success drive.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Course 117

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2013

Despite a growing technology industry here in Southern California, local investors and entrepreneurs tell us there''s still a shortage of local, venture capital. In particular, funding for companies developing deep technology--software and cloud, as opposed to content and media--seems to be lacking.

Invest 159

Invest Technology Startup Venture Capital 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it. Yet the average perception of customer experience has not improved.

Startup 154

Startup Training Customer Custom 154

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Starting an entrepreneurial business, or maintaining the competitiveness of a mature business, requires innovation. Some of the most common innovation myths that Barbee mentions or I have encountered in my work with entrepreneurs around the world include the following: True innovation can only come from R&D and geniuses.

Organization 94

Organization Ideas Technical Review Research 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2020

Entrepreneurs seem to have blinders on when looking at competitors. Strategic partnerships in this context can take the form of joint ventures, intellectual property licensing, outsourcing agreements, or even cooperative research. With this agreement in place, there are a host of ways that both sides can win: Share common technology.

Startup 126

Startup Outsource Competition Acquisition 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2014

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek? Technology, architecture, and feature descriptions.

Product 101

Product Entrepreneur Summary Activity 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2017

I know entrepreneurs who have suffered from premature execution often associated with the ready-fire-aim quick-to-market approach. The ready-aim-fire traditional approach works best in more mature markets, where your strategy is to add features and value to competitive products, or address an underserved new segment of the marketplace.

Marketing 54

Marketing Research Technical Review Entrepreneur 54

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2020

For best results, my advice is to think like an entrepreneur, even if you are a corporate employee. According to many studies, entrepreneurs tend to be happier , and over 80 percent of self-made millionaires are entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs relish change and new technology, which lead to new sales.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Sales Customer Custom 117

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

He is regarded by many as the number-one authority on virtual staffing and personal outsourcing, and is himself a successful entrepreneur based in the Philippines. I was impressed with his summary of the top ten outsourcing mistakes made by entrepreneurs, followed by real guidance on how they can and should be avoided. Be flexible.

Outsource Development 138

Outsource Development Outsource Summary Training 138

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 31, 2012

On September 5th and 6th, PortTech Los Angeles welcomes community and industry leaders, technology entrepreneurs, university researchers, and investors to PortTechEXPO 2012. See [link] (more)

Competition 113

Competition Research Los Angeles Entrepreneur 113

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 30, 2012

On September 5th and 6th, PortTech Los Angeles welcomes community and industry leaders, technology entrepreneurs, university researchers, and investors to PortTechEXPO 2012. See [link] (more)

Competition 113

Competition Research Los Angeles Entrepreneur 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Entrepreneurs that are not listening, not engaging, and not changing are destined to be left behind even in the best of times. If you as an entrepreneur are not “listening” to your online reviews, and not moving quickly to make changes, you are losing ground. Let your continuous innovation become your sustainable competitive advantage.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Organization Social Media Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

Every entrepreneur needs to learn how to do this by starting with the six principles of User-Centered Design (UCD) , as outlined by Solis in his book, and already adopted by key International standards organizations: Apply multidisciplinary skills and perspectives. Explicitly integrate customers, tasks, and environments.

Design 105

Design Customer Custom Product 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2023

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. Most of these are non-profits, set up by a university to commercialize new technologies, or a municipality to foster business development for the local economy.

Organization 92

Organization Incubator Startup Resource 92

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Access to intellectual property and current research. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

These are industries where structural impediments to technology adoption have only recently been broken down by the advent of incredibly powerful mobile devices. As Fifth Wall’s newest partner Greg Smithies noted last year, there’s a massive opportunity in building retrofits and startup technologies to improve efficiency.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

With newfound freedom to make independent decisions about finding a company name, where to locate the company, whether to lease an office or start from home, how to engage talent, even whether to provide free coffee to employees, the newly minted entrepreneur can only think of positive thoughts and great outcomes.

Hollywood 120

Hollywood Writing Press Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

Every engineer who has invented some new technology, or is adept at creating solutions, believes that is the hard part, and it should be a short step to take that solution to market as an entrepreneur. Clearly, engineers should think twice before assuming they have an advantage over the rest of us toward being an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Oracle Customer Custom 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2022

I know entrepreneurs who have suffered from premature execution often associated with the ready-fire-aim quick-to-market approach. The ready-aim-fire traditional approach works best in more mature markets, where your strategy is to add features and value to competitive products, or address an underserved new segment of the marketplace.

Marketing 120

Marketing Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 120