socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

A new competition--part of the Startup America effort launched by the Obama Administration, and spearheaded locally by Caltech, USC, and UCLA--said today that it is looking to award $200,000 in prize money to university students with clean energy business ideas. The competition is being funded via $360,000 grant from the U.S.

Competition 174

Competition Ideas CalTech USC 174

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2023

If you sold your last startup for $800 million, you probably already know how to build a business, and even conservative investors won’t worry about the quality of your next business plan. Most investors tend to think of startups without a plan as expensive hobbies. Marty Zwilling

Startup 102

Startup Writing Mentor Sample 102

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

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.

Resource 159

Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2022

You have to be extra tough mentally to start a new business venture. He spent many years with the SEALs, but has since started and built six multimillion-dollar business ventures. To be an entrepreneur or a Navy SEAL, you must first have vision, focus, and the courage to step up to lead. Set your targets high.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Mentor Training 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? There was no money train.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup LAMP Marketing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2022

In my consulting work, when I ask team members in startups and small businesses how they know whether they are doing a good job, the typical response I get is “Nobody has yelled at me today,” or “No news is good news.” A little competition for results is always a good thing. Show confidence in their progress and future.

Startup 133

Startup Mentor News Coach 133

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Funding is depleted before customer sales ramp up.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 131

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

As a startup advisor and investor, living in an area with several local universities, I’m continually surprised by how little many entrepreneurs know about the resources available from these institutions. Other project and research reports in their library are a rich source of new ideas, if you are still looking for a place to start.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2020

In my years of mentoring and working with startups, I’ve seen and read about some amazing disruptions, as well as recoveries, and I’m sure each of you could add your own. You can and should create realistic time ranges around deadlines, and work up “what if” scenarios around your milestones.

Startup 133

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Mentor 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2015

To confirm the value of checking yourself, I find more and more investment organizations and startup incubators, including StartupAmerica and CoFoundersLab , already use a formal process, such as StrengthsFinder , as part of their screening process. The Builder excels at constructing a business from the ground up.

Startup 106

Startup Incubator Entrepreneur Metrics 106

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Even though the color of their money is always green, all startup investors are not the same. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan. It’s no fun for either side.

Technical Review 138

Technical Review Startup Innocal Offshore 138

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2021

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. How many times have you actually made up work to keep an idle person busy? Marty Zwilling.

Startup 164

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Competition 164

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. In the startup world, this is often seen as a lack of focus.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

Similarly, it will be very satisfying to see the productivity increases from your leadership and mentoring. Watch that patent provide a real barrier to competitive entry. Enjoy that first video interview at an industry conference, or the newspaper story which enhances your startup visibility and credibility.

Startup 118

Startup Satisfaction Customer Custom 118

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

One of the most stressful and unanticipated challenges that comes with starting a new business is hiring and managing employees. I just finished a new book for entrepreneurs, “ Secrets to a Successful Startup ,” by Trevor Blake, which makes the same points, based on his own real-life experience with three successful startups.

Outsource 123

Outsource Startup Technical Review Training 123

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

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2016

Why is it that only the most successful entrepreneurs , including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson, admit to having a mentor and actually use them? Starting a new business is tough, and the last thing you need is to suffer the same mistakes that have killed businesses like yours before you.

Mentor 95

Mentor Metrics Coach Entrepreneur 95

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2021

In my many years of experience in business, and recent work as a mentor to entrepreneurs, I have seen the business world change, and can relate well to his five success practices paraphrased here: Build the team from people with a shared obsession. Teams must openly deal with their own weaknesses and take action on underperformers.

Class 155

Class Develop Development Startup 155

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2022

As with most investors and advisors, I always look first at some key personal characteristics and leadership strategies that I find often make you a more likely survivor and winner in the highly competitive world of businesses, both new and mature. In my view, too many businesses fail, simply because founders give up too early.

Startup 143

Startup Competition Coach Satisfaction 143

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and Kara said “no” because she wanted to start her own company, which she did and I backed. In any job you either find leadership opportunities for your best people BEFORE they ask or other people start asking them to become leaders somewhere else.

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2020

As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I often feel the frustration of someone trying to build a startup in the wrong place and time, and wrongly attributing their struggle to personal limitations. I saw these addressed well in a new book, “ The Startup Community Way ,” by Brad Feld and Ian Hathaway.

Resource 131

Resource Startup Capital Mentor 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2021

As an angel investor to startups, I’m still surprised to find entrepreneurs who expect investors to give them money, and assume no strings attached. Angel and venture capital money always comes with ownership and management implications, starting with the obvious ones outlined in the term sheet for the deal.

Funding 173

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Report 173

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2023

The best startups give everyone business cards and encourage team members to talk about the business with anyone who should be interested. They need incentives to investigate market trends and competitive actions, as well as continuous communication of the bigger picture of the business and current objectives. Empower engagement.

Startup 95

Startup Coach Mentor Social Media 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Utilize outside expertise and mentoring. No matter how much energy, experience, and passion you have, there is always more you can learn from an Advisory Board of external experts or a mentor. Track competition to stay ahead of copycats. Track competition to stay ahead of copycats.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Custom 160

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2018

The only “sustainable competitive advantage” in business is self-awareness. I was struck by this assertion in a new book, “ The Messy Middle ,” by Scott Belsky, who has spent more than a decade leading in the worlds of technology, design, and startups. It’s a recipe for disaster. Understand your feelings to recognize what bothers you.

Competition 81

Competition Startup Examples Coach 81

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Most of you business professionals that I know have at least thought about or talked about starting their own business, to get more control, make more money, or to get more satisfaction out of their life. As a mentor to young aspiring entrepreneurs , I often get asked for tips on a strategy to get started.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2021

Thus, in my role as mentor to young entrepreneurs, I always recommend that you first take a hard look at your own values and priorities, before jumping into any new startup, as the founder, or even as a side hustle. Timing is critical for every startup. Of course, if you wait for the perfect time, you may never start.

Startup 159

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Equity 159

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2022

The story most specifically targets big companies, like Boeing, but the concepts are just as applicable to a startup with one or more employees. The core message is that real innovation and competitive advantage are more people-based than product or process-based. Innovation is at the very heart of every successful startup.

Competition 153

Competition Mentor Ideas Organization 153

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most have the technical challenges well understood, but many are a bit short on some basic street smarts , or basic business realities. Thus I often recommend that before you kick off your own business, you join another startup or existing business to see how things really work.

Entrepreneur 173

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Technical Review 173

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

Kevin O'Connor: I've been doing venture since my first deal in 1995, and have been investing on and off since I moved to Santa Barbara in 2001, under the name O'Connor Ventures, and did that full time until 2009, when I started Graphiq, and switched back into doing another company. It's just hard to work 80-hour weeks when you're 57.

Venture Capital 145

Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

socalTECH

MAY 19, 2010

This time, Frank gives the Top 10 Ways to Win a Business Plan Competition. I'm a judge in a local university's business plan competition. Over the past few years I've been involved in different ways in the UC Irvine, Paul Merage School of Business, Business Plan Competition. They came in 2nd place. They came in 2nd place.

Competition 153

Competition Mentor Software Review Ideas 153

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2021

In my role as mentor to many of you aspiring entrepreneurs, I often find you convinced that all you need to start is a unique innovation or idea , and now you are ready to jump in with both feet and enjoy the ride. Remember that being an entrepreneur is all about starting and running a business, after the initial invention.

Satisfaction 135

Satisfaction Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 135

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. How many times have you actually made up work to keep an idle person busy? Marty Zwilling

Resource 112

Resource Ideas Competition Entrepreneur 112

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 30, 2020

As a startup advisor and investor, living in an area with several local universities, I’m continually surprised by how little many entrepreneurs know about the resources available from these institutions. Other project and research reports in their library are a rich source of new ideas, if you are still looking for a place to start.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2021

Career survival today requires thinking and acting like an entrepreneur starting a business, staying nimble and resilient, willing to pivot, and supersensitive to the market realities of supply and demand. Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn, helped me crystallize these similarities with his classic book “ The Start-up of You.”

Startup 143

Startup Entrepreneur Demand Competition 143

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2022

In my years of mentoring and working with startups, I’ve seen and read about some amazing disruptions, as well as recoveries, and I’m sure each of you could add your own. You can and should create realistic time ranges around deadlines, and work up “what if” scenarios around your milestones.

Startup 98

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Mentor 98