Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2013

Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. Amount of funding provided is usually not enough. Investors are not prepared for the high risk of startups.

Funding 106

Funding Equity Entrepreneur Sample 106

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2011

No investor wants to wait that long for his return, or fund the years of waiting. It always amazes me how an entrepreneur can define his market opportunity so broadly, then assess his competition so narrowly in the next breath. A world-class CEO will be joining us after the funding event.” We have the first-mover advantage.”

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Funding Innocal Competition 108

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2022

Software products and apps can be quickly wire-framed with free tools such as MockFlow , or even Microsoft Powerpoint to lay out the key screens. Time is money, and may be your primary competitive advantage. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration.

Outsource Development 110

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from AngelSoft , only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.” are eliminated during due diligence.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Smart entrepreneurs highlight their own positives in competitive positioning, rather than competitor negatives. I highly recommend that you screen your business plan and your executive presentation carefully for variations on any of these themes, and remove them. Spends time denigrating key competitors.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Innocal Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2011

One of the hot new approaches I have seen around the country for assisting startups looking for funding has been “crowd-sourcing” sites ( Kickstarter ) or “crowd-pitching” events ( Funding Universe ). These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events.

Funding 92

Funding Startup Social Media Sample 92

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded early by one of the 318,000 active Angel investors in the USA alone. Most of these investors are members of Angel groups that have a rigorous filtering and screening process, to select the top 3% and most fundable proposals. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.”

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2020

Software products and apps can be quickly wire-framed with free tools such as MockFlow , or even Microsoft Powerpoint to lay out the key screens. Time is money, and may be your primary competitive advantage. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 124

TechEmpower

AUGUST 21, 2023

Keeping up with the competition: You’re a market leader in a fast-growing field. Due diligence prep: You’re coming up on a funding round or looking at a potential exit. It’s important to ensure that they’re on a strong footing as significant changes occur. Otherwise, the downstream technical debt created can be overwhelming.

Technical Review 260

Technical Review Development Team Review Software Review TechEmpower 260

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2010

One of the hot new approaches I have seen around the country for assisting startups looking for funding has been “crowd-sourcing” tools ( ProFounder ) or “crowd-pitching” events ( Funding Universe ). These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events.

Funding 59

Funding Startup Social Media Sample 59

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from Gust (formerly AngelSoft), only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.” Line up an experienced team.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

” And even the venerable Fred Wilson weighed in with how people “ leading vs. following ” in funding rounds play different roles and have different skills. AngelList 101 : As you know, AngelList is a platform where angels can invest in semi-screened tech deals. So there you have it. Must be doing something right!

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

If you’ve read any of my ongoing series on fund raising from venture capitalist (episode 1?— ?controlling controlling your psychology ) you no doubt have heard me say that raising capital is a sales & marketing process. The “A’s” typically don’t have investment authority and Principals it depends firm to firm.

Venture Capital 314

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest Slides 314

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

To do this, CADScan recently launched a Kickstarter to fund its new machine. You get your 3D scan within five minutes onto your computer screen. To this, they must reach a goal of GBP of 80,000 or about $120,000 in funding. The price for one of these machines starts off at GBP 649 or about $1,000.

Design 77

Design Startup Press Pricing 77

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2010

No investor wants to wait that long for his return, or fund the years of waiting. It always amazes me how an entrepreneur can define his market opportunity so broadly, then assess his competition so narrowly in the next breath. A world-class CEO will be joining us after the funding event.” We have the first-mover advantage.”

Innocal 96

Innocal Entrepreneur Competition IBM 96

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Deal screening. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Ability to source information easily to help build a thesis around companies / industries / competition. Usually there roles are a combination of: Deal sourcing for partners. Deal support / analysis / quant / legal for deals a partner is seriously considering. Industry reviews.

Help 365

Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

Tech.Co

MAY 22, 2018

Truth be told, your only path to some serious funding is perseverance and diligence in getting meetings and being prepared. I’ve had many startup founders tell me that their startup literally has no competition,” said Frank Gruber, Cofounder of Tech.Co, Startup of the Year , and Established. “In In most cases, that’s not true.

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2015

Software products and apps can be quickly wireframed with free tools such as MockFlow , or even Microsoft Powerpoint to lay out the key screens. Time is money, and may be your primary competitive advantage. For both software and hardware technology, multiple iterations are usually required to achieve production quality and performance.

Ideas 107

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Tool 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2010

At VT KnowledgeWorks we screen prospective clients for their Market opportunity, for the Magic that they offer to their prospective customers, and for the Moxie displayed by the start-up team. They are funded and staffed by groups of accomplished entrepreneurs. The entry screenings are tough. Relationships , I said back then.

Incubator 80

Incubator Mentor Capital Startup 80

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2014

Software products and apps can be quickly wireframed with free tools like MockFlow , or even Microsoft Powerpoint to lay out the key screens. Time is money, and may be your primary competitive advantage. For both software and hardware technology, multiple iterations are usually required to achieve production quality and performance.

Outsource Development 105

Outsource Development Startup Ideas Tool 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2018

Software products and apps can be quickly wire-framed with free tools such as MockFlow , or even Microsoft Powerpoint to lay out the key screens. Time is money, and may be your primary competitive advantage. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration.

Ideas 53

Ideas Outsource Development Tool Outsource 53

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Their first fund was a $75 million fund raised in 2006 and they very recently announced a brand new $130 million fund. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. In the intro section of the show we talked a lot about why VC funds are becoming smaller again and where Greycroft fits.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

Remember that most fund raising takes time. And they have responsibilities for helping to manage their fund. Not to mention what happens in years where they also need to raise a new fund. Stay on the radar – You need to find a very polite way to persistently be on the top of the radar screen of your VC.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Startup Email News 277

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I now observes the fund raising process as a profession. This is the fund raising perspective from both sides of the table. Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple. Every company is different so it’s hard to listen to advice from the uber-successful fund raisers. Executive Summary.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

socalTECH

AUGUST 20, 2009

Last Week, Calabasas-based Masher Media announced it had received a round of angel funding from the Tech Coast Angels to fund its development of MyMiniPeeps (www.myminipeeps.com), a virtual world for children. There's more competition, but there's a lot more available to you as a developer. I found the process incredibly great.

Media 150

Media Tech Coast Angels Social Network Content 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

As should Eric Sikola and ExpenseBay who won the “Showoff&# judges competition ( Photos featured here taken by (cc) Kenneth Yeung – [link] ). We had an excellent opening panel on early-stage investing with Dave McClure (Founders Fund – NorCal), Brad Feld (Foundry Group, Boulder) and Andy Sack (Founders Co-Op, Seattle).

Twiistup 228

Twiistup SoCal Southern California Yammer 228

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I funded them 8 weeks later. And when you finish the demo you can bring in the other important components such as competition, team, customer acquisition strategy, etc. The conversation moves from consuming images on a screen in lean back mode, to active engagement. Mobile app? Just jump into the demo after intros.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

He’d been working at a well-funded startup for about a year and had come to terms with the fact that the startup was really a pretty dumb idea. He started targeting the ad by location and interest, and the number of potential people he was reaching began decreasing on screen (Facebook tells you dynamically). I Be specific.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 20, 2012

Prior to joining Contur, he founded a successful business, and was a finalist at a South by Southwest Startup competition. Any funding yet? Yes, we’re powered by a seed round, and funding from Start Engine LA. You can see the results of Contur’s engine right on your screen. What inspired you? What is your business model?

Email 63

Email CTO Hire Startup Organization 63

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 2, 2015

A couple of years ago, there were some FCC rule changes to the Universal Service Fund, how has that impacted your business? They really didn''t want to have to be competitive and share their exchange rates with those companies. We''ll be adding other features, like screen sharing, and a video beta for video conferencing.

Conference 100

Conference Startup Services Networking 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 13, 2012

It was just a matter of process to add iOS, and later, Android to the output, and start designing games for the larger screens, later bringing those games down to run on BREW and Java after that. That said, it's sometimes difficult to compete against better funded competitors. It hones our focus a little more.

Mobile 168

Mobile Java Google Startup 168

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

They help find talented film makers globally, enter them into competitions and advance the best of them toward winners that get to produce full-length films. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to fund in the video creation world. With our second screen we suddenly have … participation. Participation.

Startup 380

Startup Media Content Platform 380

Xconomy

JULY 29, 2016

What are some examples of government-funded research in AI and robotics that is happening today that will set the stage for tomorrow’s products? Rob McHenry : Public-funded research has always pushed the state-of-the-art in advanced autonomy, which then drives commercial AI. Begole : What is the future of autonomous defense systems?

Artificial Inteligence 40

Artificial Inteligence Examples Research Design 40

InfoChachkie

APRIL 14, 2014

ABC has even created an incubator-style program in which startup non-profits compete for $100,000 in seed funding. We have a rigorous screening process, and we only fund the very best programs that are able to quantify their impact. What are the key factors you look when assessing to fund a non-profit? JG: I love it!

Organization 199

Organization Startup Technical Review Invest 199

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Assume competition and assume within the buying organization you have enemies. When we went to raise funds we faced lots of competition as there are of course many other VC funds in the country. I think that’s where many startups and even VC funds go wrong. We have a great screening process.

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

I’ve heard it many founders of VC backed companies in LA who tell me that in their NorCal VC meetings they are told, “we might be interested but we’d want you to relocate to the Bay Area if we funded you.&#. In my LA I often see computer screens open with entrepreneurs talking about digital media. Los Angeles.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 1, 2013

Saturday evening, the night before software was to be submitted, the first and third floors of ROC were filled with people clustered into small groups all staring intently at their computer screens. Obviously these folks were serious about winning this competition, and had no time to worry about who the guy taking pictures with his iPhone.

UCLA 96

UCLA Ideas Yahoo Competition 96