Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2020

Lead with your best marketing pitch and conviction. Of course, it’s always good to speak with conviction, but marketing terms such as “improved productivity” or “lower cost” won’t make your offering memorable. For example, “I have patented a new tire that will double the wear mileage at half the cost.”

Sample 127

Sample Summary Startup Slides 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2013

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. Your solution fills a real market need. Love that sustainable competitive advantage. Reserve the same names on the leading social networks and blogs.

Startup 100

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2018

Every entrepreneur has an idea for transforming a market with innovative new technology, or transforming society with a new process. Ideas have to be implemented well to change a market, or the world. Make your business model your competitive differentiation, like Fred Smith with Federal Express, or Ingvar Kamprad with IKEA.

Guide 95

Guide Startup Ideas Entrepreneur 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2012

Use it in every networking situation and business conference introduction. For example, “I just patented a new cell-phone technology that will double battery life for half the cost. I need your help in getting it to market.” Unlike [competition], we [differentiation].” Quantify the market. About 150-225 words.

Startup 113

Startup Patents Template Competition 113

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

One of the companies that has recently is On Ramp Wireless (www.onrampwireless.com), a San Diego company in the M2M market headed by Kevin Hell. Our initial target is with utilities, with oil and gas next, and lots of other markets which are getting traction. We also provide extremely long battery life.

Technical Review 213

Technical Review Software Review Networking Technology 213

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2012

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. Your solution fills a real market need. Love that sustainable competitive advantage. Reserve the same names on the leading social networks and blogs.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Ideas 102

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2016

Every entrepreneur has an idea for transforming a market with innovative new technology, or transforming society with a new process. Ideas have to be implemented well to change a market, or the world. Make your business model your competitive differentiation, like Fred Smith with Federal Express, or Ingvar Kamprad with IKEA.

Startup 103

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Competition 103

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Binary Pulse Technology Marketing (www.binarypulse.com). Middle Market Investment Banking. www.pitchtheangels.com) Join Tech Coast Angels members and other start up investors at the 5th Annual Los Angeles Fast Pitch Competition. Fast Pitch Los Angeles is one of the best start up networking events of the year.

Southern California 113

Southern California Tech Coast Angels IP Orange County 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2010

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. Your solution fills a real market need. Love that sustainable competitive advantage. Reserve the same names on the leading social networks and blogs.

Startup 88

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2015

Rely on marketing content and emotion vs. facts. For example, “I have patented a new LCD with double the intensity at half the cost, already proven locally, and I just need resources to scale for this market.” Your second sentence should acknowledge competition, but highlight your added value.

Startup 104

Startup Summary Patents Examples 104

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

Of course, previous successes provide more direct evidence of a network of the right people. Registered patents and other intellectual property. From an investor perspective, understanding and acting early to establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and barrier to entry, is the best assurance of a financial return.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Angel Social Media Patents 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2013

Every entrepreneur has an idea for transforming a market with innovative new technology, or transforming society with a new process. Ideas have to be implemented well to change a market, or the world. Make your business model your competitive differentiation, like Fred Smith with Federal Express, or Ingvar Kamprad with IKEA.

Startup 105

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Competition 105

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

Use it in every networking situation and business conference introduction. Who is your market? How large of a market do they represent? Who is your competition? Successful competition is a positive - they are proof your business model and/or concept work. What is your competitive advantage? Don't have any?

Startup 93

Startup Competition Summary Patents 93

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2013

Market and opportunity risk. There is always less risk with a well-defined problem in a large and growing market. All the people in China is a large and growing market, but all the people with cancer is much more well-defined. Competitive risk. Market entry strategy risk. Political and economic risk.

Startup 104

Startup Examples Entrepreneur Social Network 104

socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

That data--if you could just find the right piece--could be useful in a number of areas, particularly in the financial markets. Whether that''s for competitive analysis or market analysis, our product is basically able to monitor--on a very large scale--things that are important to your particular company.

Orange County 245

Orange County Startup News IBM 245

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

How is this different from a typical content delivery network (CDN)? These large mobile carriers have audiences, but something they dont have content services to attract and retain subscribers to a mobile network. For the first three years, it was all about research and development, building IP and patents and so forth.

Content 113

Content Startup Mobile Platform 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2012

Market and opportunity risk. There is always less risk with a well-defined problem in a large and growing market. All the people in China is a large and growing market, but all the people with cancer is much more well-defined. Competitive risk. Market entry strategy risk. Political and economic risk.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Examples Social Network Marketing 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2012

Every entrepreneur has an idea for transforming a market with innovative new technology, or transforming society with a new process. Ideas have to be implemented well to change a market, or the world. Make your business model your competitive differentiation, like Fred Smith with Federal Express, or Ingvar Kamprad with IKEA.

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Competition 94

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2015

Find out if something very similar is already selling, and who your competition would be if you proceed. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks. Attend trade shows and network to find the right players and pitch your product. Now get real (cook it). Look hard at the technology for feasibility and risk.

Ideas 104

Ideas Mentor Resource Entrepreneur 104

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

But many entrepreneurs don’t realize that Angels are also extremely discerning in the projects that they will invest in, rejecting approximately 97% of the proposals submitted to them, according to the California Investment Network. Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. Define some intellectual property.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 23, 2014

So step by step, she began the works on what is now Grokker.com , the expert video network, to address this need. The network produces its own videos in-house, featuring a notable network of expert yogis, chefs, trainers and fitness instructors, and also curates a selection of the best videos from around the Web. That was 2012.

Help 87

Help Content Activity Networking 87

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2014

Find out if something very similar is already selling, and who your competition would be if you proceed. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks. Attend trade shows and network to find the right players and pitch your product. Now get real (cook it). Look hard at the technology for feasibility and risk.

Ideas 107

Ideas Mentor Entrepreneur Resource 107

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2017

Find out if something very similar is already selling, and who your competition would be if you proceed. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks. Attend trade shows and network to find the right players and pitch your product. Now get real (cook it). Look hard at the technology for feasibility and risk.

Ideas 56

Ideas Mentor Resource Product 56

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Market and opportunity risk. There is always less risk with a well-defined problem in a large and growing market. All the people in China is a large and growing market, but all the people with cancer is much more well-defined. Competitive risk. Market entry strategy risk. Political and economic risk.

Startup 89

Startup Examples Entrepreneur Social Network 89

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

"Authentic" is dead - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , May 3, 2010 It's time to retire the following phrases. Why Lawyers Don’t Run Startups - Steve Blank , May 27, 2010 Startups need to have a great lawyer, accountant, patent attorney, etc. Enjoyed this post? Putting customers first. It's a great talk.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Photos that are prime real estate and have never been monetized before, until one very ambitious Silicon Beach startup, GumGum , recognized the opportunity and created the first and largest in-image advertising platform, and an entirely new market. Though competitors have sprung up, Tanz welcomes the competition to help define the market.

Advertising 98

Advertising Santa Monica Startup Content 98

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2021

A large portion of your competitive advantage and your potential value to investors is the size of your intellectual property portfolio. When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most entrepreneurs think only of patents. In reality, patents are only one of at least eight items that should be in your IP portfolio. Copyrights.

Startup 145

Startup Patents IP Social Media 145

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. File a patent and trademarks to show real intellectual property. Having a defensible competitive advantage or “barrier to entry” is another critical step to funding, and another common stumbling block during all phases of the funding process. Free trials don’t count.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.”

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2012

One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential startup investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition. Lock on the market or customer base.

Competition 97

Competition Patents Startup Social Network 97

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2015

We have thirteen patents associated with the Ice bear. These Ice Bear units are all networked and linked into control systems, and communicate with the web, where they can be remotely controlled and monitored by our customer. I think that's really established energy storage as a competitive, reliable resource for utilities.

Southern California 100

Southern California Technical Review Demand Outsource Development 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2011

One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential startup investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition. Lock on the market or customer base.

Competition 102

Competition Patents Startup Social Network 102

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. File a patent and trademarks to show real intellectual property. Having a defensible competitive advantage or “barrier to entry” is another critical step to funding, and another common stumbling block during all phases of the funding process. Free trials don’t count.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.”

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.”

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2021

But make no mistake about it, this is a tough and oversaturated market to enter at this stage. Here are six key reasons, from a business perspective: Direct competition is huge. It’s hard to invent and patent more “scientific” methods on how to match people. Social networks. The trend is to more mobile and niche markets.

Sites 134

Sites Social Network Competition Networking 134

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. They looked nervous at having to speak with me impromptu and without the benefit of financial figures to scoff at, product pitches that they’ve seen 100 times and a market sizing to unpick. Page 1: Market Size. $3

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274