Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2023

Both authors are recipients of numerous academic and management awards for leadership thinking, and I will summarize here their key strategy insights, combined with my own experiences: Lead with a focus on finding customer value. Aim high to build a better world for customers. Don’t confuse the means with the ends.

Capital 142

Capital Netflix Resource Customer 142

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Every entrepreneur and every business I meet in my consulting and mentoring role has great intentions of bringing real innovation to the market, yet I find that most ideas are merely small extensions to existing solutions. Both fail to look first at what customers really need, and are willing to pay for.

Startup 146

Startup Mentor Entrepreneur Ideas 146

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. With information overload due to the Internet, you need to find your customers, rather than assume they will find you.

Entrepreneur 173

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Technical Review 173

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2022

A common request I get while mentoring entrepreneurs is for a copy of the startup checklist they need to follow, in order to build a successful new business. Platform as a Service (PaaS). Every entrepreneur needs to leverage social media for better marketing, requirements, and customer service. I wish it was that easy.

Technology 133

Technology Cloud Computing Social Media Networking 133

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2020

For example, I often hear proposals for new online social media or collaboration platforms, maybe more specifically tuned to inventors or artists, or easier to use, and populated by experts, to compete against Slack or Facebook. Remember that your goal is to build a successful business, and customers are in control of making that happen.

Startup 134

Startup Artificial Inteligence Ideas Entrepreneur 134

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2020

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. It’s tempting to believe that one more new platform will win for crowd funding or video games, like Indiegogo and Wii. Actually, great new customer solutions lead to great platforms, not the other way around.

Startup 124

Startup Netflix Social Media Customer 124

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs. The core of the investing job of course is investing dollars into startup companies and helping as a mentor, advisor and board member on the companies in which you’ve invested. And all the platform stuff. So What Does All This Mean?

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. Crowdfunding is not the best platform here.

Funding 119

Funding Startup Platform Examples 119

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2022

The hard part is providing the leadership required to align and motivate all the constituents and players – from engineers, to investors, vendors, and ultimately customers. It is not about leaders becoming coaches; it’s about leaders letting themselves be coached by others – advisors, team members, and even customers.

Coach 114

Coach Framework Entrepreneur Tool 114

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2022

In my experience as an advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs in business, one of the biggest failures I see is a lack of self-leadership. Both self-leadership and business leadership require a solid platform for decisions, based on moral and personal values. You can’t lead a business to success, if you can’t lead yourself.

Capital 114

Capital Coach Satisfaction Ideas 114

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2021

As a mentor to aspiring business owners. The tougher question is whether you are also wise, in the sense of cultivating the right relationships, understanding team dynamics, and keeping to the correct side of the ethical line to maintain the trust of team members and customers alike. Be willing to adapt quickly as conditions change.

Patents 138

Patents Mentor Customer Custom 138

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

Here are the key recommendations from both of us, based on my own business mentoring insights: Re-launch using your enhanced core competency. Move to a higher platform. A few are able to move to higher platform, like moving from a sole practitioner physician to create and run a much larger medical organization.

Technical Review 99

Technical Review Marketing Mentor Entrepreneur 99

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

Sometimes entrepreneurs are so focused on making change happen for customers that they forget that continually changing themselves and their company is equally important. Here are the key recommendations from both of us, based on my own business mentoring insights: Re-launch using your enhanced core competency.

Technical Review 59

Technical Review Mentor Entrepreneur Customer 59

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2014

Here is a summary of recommendations from both of us, based on my own business mentoring insights: Re-launch using your enhanced core competency. Move to a higher platform. A few are able to move to higher platform, like moving from a sole practitioner physician to create and run a much larger medical organization.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Technical Review Mentor Summary 105

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans take too much time, are inaccurate, and rarely add value. Major platforms are available online to find Angel groups or VCs, including Gust and AngelList. You need an investor, and want to solicit professionals online.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” Negotiate an advance from a strategic partner or customer. Use online platforms like Gust to find them, and local networking to find ones that relate to your industry and passion.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2021

The NSF determined eight to ten years ago that the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants they were funding to academic teams, to commercialize technology, they were losing, because not many academics had the background to understand how to go out and source customers, and did not know how to run a startup.

Marina Del Rey 150

Marina Del Rey Startup USC Incubator 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” Negotiate an advance from a strategic partner or customer. Use online platforms like Gust to find them, and local networking to find ones that relate to your industry and passion.

Funding 174

Funding Startup Equity Examples 174

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

A common request I get while mentoring entrepreneurs is for a copy of the startup checklist they need to follow, in order to build a successful new business. Platform as a Service (PaaS). Every entrepreneur needs to leverage social media for better marketing, requirements, and customer service. I wish it was that easy.

Technology 86

Technology Cloud Computing Social Media Networking 86

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2019

The hard part is providing the leadership required to align and motivate all the constituents and players – from engineers, to investors, vendors, and ultimately customers. It is not about leaders becoming coaches; it’s about leaders letting themselves be coached by others – advisors, team members, and even customers.

Coach 96

Coach Framework Entrepreneur Tool 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2015

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. It’s tempting to believe that one more new platform will win for crowd funding or video games, like Indiegogo and Wii. Actually, great new customer solutions lead to great platforms, not the other way around.

Startup 105

Startup Netflix Entrepreneur Social Media 105

socalTECH

AUGUST 12, 2014

to hear about how the program is both helping the studio tap into the energy and ideas of the startup community, as well as helping those startups find new customers in the media and entertainment business. These companies were each offering a product or platform that really addressed one of those areas. Are you going to do this again?

Startup 159

Startup Technology Hollywood Media 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2019

In my role as a mentor to many business professionals, I still see some who have no idea how to adapt to the new realities. You will find it pays big dividends, even in your personal life, to track and manage expenses with a simple business platform, like QuickBooks or Apptivo , for work and family.

Artificial Inteligence 96

Artificial Inteligence Startup Social Media Training 96

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 10, 2015

imperson provides an artificial intelligence platform enabling fans to have conversations with their favorite movie and TV characters. StatMuse is developing an artificial intelligence platform to help sports fans explore data using simple, natural language. Video Engagement Platform. 2 AI Companies. Advertiser Optimization.

Class 40

Class Artificial Inteligence AMA Platform 40

socalTECH

OCTOBER 26, 2015

We have about 350, nationally certified, trainers on the platform, all vetted internally by us, and by our mentor network. Jonathan Kohn: We've been out now in the LA market for four and a half months, we've done close to 1500 sessions in that time, very strong retention, and our average customer works out six times a month.

Training 100

Training Startup Orange County Malibu 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

He shared tons of information about how how they were using marketing to quantitatively make marketing decisions at HauteLook and acquire customers for prices that were far cheaper than similar companies. Natural mentors – a desire to help. I instantly hit it off with Greg because we was a fountain of knowledge.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

Tech.Co

JULY 12, 2017

” For startups entering program they receive investment capital, access to coworking space at Disney’s creative campus and mentor support and guidance from top Disney executives, entrepreneurs, investors and other notable business leaders from the entertainment and technology communities, and have a Demo Day at the campus.

Artificial Inteligence 109

Artificial Inteligence Startup Entertainment Press 109

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2019

In my experience as an advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs in business, one of the biggest failures I see is a lack of self-leadership. Both self-leadership and business leadership require a solid platform for decisions, based on moral and personal values. You can’t lead a business to success, if you can’t lead yourself.

Coach 70

Coach Satisfaction Ideas Entrepreneur 70

socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2015

Last week, Los Angeles-based Sense360 raised $2.75M in a funding round, to go towards its development of a platform to help developers pull together information and make sense of all the data coming from your mobile phone. What platforms will this work on? What did you learn from ThinkNear that you''re applying at this new company?

Startup 100

Startup Platform Mobile Advertising 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. And because I wanted Ethan to be able to attract a great team, build & iterate a product, test it with initial customers and refine his strategy before having to take the wrappers off of his company. The company was called Red Beacon. So there you have it.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2015

A common request I get while mentoring entrepreneurs is for a copy of the startup checklist they need to follow, in order to build a successful new business. Platform as a Service (PaaS). Every entrepreneur needs to leverage social media for better marketing, requirements, and customer service. I wish it was that easy.

Startup 107

Startup Cloud Computing Social Media Entrepreneur 107

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 10, 2016

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. It’s tempting to believe that one more new platform will win for crowd funding or video games, like Indiegogo and Wii. Actually, great new customer solutions lead to great platforms, not the other way around.

Startup 59

Startup Netflix Entrepreneur Social Media 59

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

I was mentoring some graduate students at a local university recently, and I sensed again that profit seems to be a dirty word these days to many aspiring entrepreneurs. I’m certainly not a fan of customer rip-offs, but even non-profits have to be cash-flow positive, or have deep pockets, to help anyone for long.

Pricing 66

Pricing Customer Custom Advertising 66

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2019

Bill Gates , for example, shared a common curiosity and mentoring relationship with Warren Buffet, although their business domains were quite different. Build connections with key customers and competitors. Connections across business domains are even better. Contribute time and skills to a non-business higher purpose.

IBM 87

IBM IBM Ideas Technical Review 87

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2016

A Maker space is a place where people can work on projects but not businesses, and the majority of accelerators are focused more on software or software platforms, or a mixture of hardware and software. It's about figuring out your market, building a product that resonates with customers. Do you make an investment in those startups?

Startup 100

Startup Incubator Invest Resource 100

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Using his connections, he was able to raise funding from his family and other investors to co-found Appboy , a customer relationship management platform for mobile app developers and marketers. Do you have any mentors that have been an integral part of your success? Spend time with family, get out, music, play hockey.

Startup 82

Startup Mobile Platform Ideas 82

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 11, 2011

Co-creator of Farmville and the technical platform for Zynga. Co-creator of the Lotus Share platform, which powers the new Lotus Connections Files and Wikis components at IBM. Co-creator of the Lotus Share platform, which powers the new Lotus Connections Files and Wikis components at IBM. Sizhao Yang: Co-founder of BetterWorks.

Santa Monica 72

Santa Monica Yammer Geni Southern California 72