Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2013

Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Use voicemail, a world-class website, and personal customer service, with small expenses, to beat your big competitors. Act big, behave small. Do it yourself. Marty Zwilling.

Equity 96

Equity Startup Summary Tips 96

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

I saw a good summary of the most effective ways to source prospective investors in a classic book, “ The Art of Startup Fundraising ,” by Alejandro Cremades, who has been there and done that, both as an entrepreneur and an investor. Identify customer executives who need your solution. Reach out to your biggest fans for investor leads.

Funding 173

Funding Tips Startup Statistics 173

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

I like the summary of the competitive reality in a new book, “ Rethinking Competitive Advantage: New Rules for the Digital Age ,” by Ram Charan, who relates a wealth of current experience from global clients: Customers expect a personalized experience. Features, availability, and brand are just the price of entry.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

Others schedule exhaustive training sessions for everyone on the team, including showcase customers, to make sure that everyone paints a consistent picture. Due diligence always involves on-site visits, informal discussions with any or all members of the team, vendors, and good customers as well as bad. Traction in the marketplace.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2021

Customers are looking for a differentiator today. Make sure your hiring practices include diversity, inclusion, and equity. Skip the shortcuts you may be taking to get an edge on your competitors at the expense of quality or customer service. In summary, business collaboration and “lead with we” is more than a new mindset.

Examples 128

Examples Social Media Summary Satisfaction 128

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2022

You need to do the due diligence to make that decision before you sign away your equity. I support his summary of recommendations for what to look for in every candidate: Being around this person is a positive experience. We all understand that partners, employees, and customers are people with emotions, rather than machines.

Technical Review 125

Technical Review Satisfaction Summary Startup 125

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Every investor in your startup, even friends and family, normally expects a share of your company (equity), which means your return for all your effort goes down quickly. This is at least double the time required for most equity investments, and may be a delay you can’t afford in keeping up with the market and your competitors.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

This overview (executive summary) needs to include: Product and Business What is the product? Who's the customer? I'm looking for free (equity only) development, should I contact you? See Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers for more on this. How Does it Work? How does the product solve a pain?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

This overview (executive summary) needs to include: Product and Business What is the product? Who's the customer? I'm looking for free (equity only) development, should I contact you? See Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers for more on this. How Does it Work? How does the product solve a pain?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Yet many entrepreneurs rely on expensive outside services and outside money, rather than do the networking for a co-founder or two who have the right skills to work for equity. Here is a summary of the top four wrong reasons I see for looking for investors: A desire to start with an impressive infrastructure.

Startup 101

Startup Entrepreneur Equity Summary 101

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

But like the company Kyriba, where we recently sold our position at above $1 billion, it took time until the revenue exceeded $100 million recurring and then the industry really competed to back this amazing company since it had scale, defensible technology and long-term, committed customers. Over the past 2.5 Why does that matter?

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2016

With one of the new free tools and a dose of sweat equity, you can create a website for almost nothing -- and you are on your way to success with ecommerce, your latest invention or personal services. Keep expenses down, but keep customer visibility and sensitivity as a top priority. Practice living on a shoestring budget.

Social Media 60

Social Media Startup Equity Entrepreneur 60

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Your historical trading information including financials and a “customer file” which shows the history of your transactions so that investors can run “cohort” analyses Customer reference, personal references, key team members, compensation, cap table, stock option plan, etc. But just putting a customer reference list in a data room?

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

Angels are most interested to help you scale the business, once you have real customer traction and ready to break out. Prepare an executive summary and investor presentation. Remember that angel investors are buying equity in your business, so they are not impressed with a customer presentation.

Angel 65

Angel Startup Technical Review Social Media 65

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

I think you’ll really enjoy this video , but as always I have summary notes for those with less time. If you like the quick summary notes, please check out Adam’s blog on tech, entrepreneurship & VC as a thank you. Hopefully it will entice you to come back and watch the show at a later time! West Coast”).

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

The corporate entity lends itself best to the concept of “sharing” equity required by investors, and unincorporated entities don’t get funding. Build an investor presentation and summary. Investors expect a one or two-page executive summary sheet for the initial screening, backed up by a ten-slide Powerpoint investor presentation.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

You company is the product and you’re selling an equity ownership in your company but much more broadly you’re selling trust & confidence that you’re going to build something enormously valuable and that you’re going to be enjoyable to work hand-in-hand with over the coming decade of each other’s lives.

Venture Capital 314

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest Slides 314

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

Many of the growth equity firms have had outbound dialing programs for years. Growth equity firms typically target profitable businesses that are often not technical in nature. Perhaps outbound dialing / emailing programs worked well for growth equity firms in their core business. These kind of companies were seldom startups.

Venture Capital 294

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Sales people aren’t always motivated only by cash – especially in early-stage business you need to focus on equity because cash won’t be plentiful. I think it works well for startups because in startups there are inherently less rules and with customers there is less clarity about your product category. In Summary.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2015

Others schedule exhaustive training sessions for everyone on the team, including showcase customers, to make sure that everyone paints a consistent picture. Due diligence always involves on-site visits, informal discussions with any or all members of the team, vendors, and good customers as well as bad. Traction in the marketplace.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

The corporate entity lends itself best to the concept of “sharing” equity required by investors, and unincorporated entities don’t get funding. Build an investor presentation and summary. Investors expect a one or two-page executive summary sheet for the initial screening, backed up by a ten-slide Powerpoint investor presentation.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2016

I saw a good summary of the most effective ways to source prospective investors in a new book, “ The Art of Startup Fundraising ,” by Alejandro Cremades, who has been there and done that, both as an entrepreneur and an investor. Identify customer executives who need your solution. Reach out to your biggest fans for investor leads.

Startup 61

Startup Entrepreneur Statistics Funding 61

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Use voicemail, a world-class website, and personal customer service, with small expenses, to beat your big competitors. Act big, behave small. Do it yourself.

Organization 111

Organization Startup Summary Entrepreneur 111

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

The corporate entity lends itself best to the concept of “sharing” equity required by investors, and unincorporated entities don’t get funding. Build an investor presentation and summary. Investors expect a one or two-page executive summary sheet for the initial screening, backed up by a ten-slide Powerpoint investor presentation.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

The founders could reinvest this in growth (0% tax, focus on future equity growth) or take the profits of $12 million and divide amongst the founding partners. Customer financing often comes in the form of your company agreeing to build a product with a “sponsor&# customer or two and helping them with the rollout / implementation.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

This can be a great way to test your product and get customer feedback. Expect to be diluted by 20-25% with each equity round. They’re typically issued at a 10-20% discount to equity depending on the timeframe; higher range is for longer timeframes. They will want board seats and a say in decision-making. Crowdfunding.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Solution and benefits. Focus is the keyword here.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Solution and benefits. Focus is the keyword here.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

Other signs of engagement are: they ask you to meet with portfolio companies (they want feedback on your product and you), they ask you to meet a colleague, they set up a call to go through a product demo / financial walk-through, they ask to speak with customers, etc. As dumb as it sounds, this is a very common playbook for entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Even when you do sign-up initial customers it’s still not clear that your company will be a success and you’re still likely paying yourself under market rates. They own a fixer-upper in an outskirt neighborhood in the wrong school district but they’ll make do. He still has the dream. He has the hunger.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Use voicemail, a world-class website, and personal customer service, with small expenses, to beat your big competitors. Act big, behave small. Do it yourself.

Tips 96

Tips Startup Summary Entrepreneur 96

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Solution and benefits. Focus is the keyword here.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. Date & Time: Friday, March 13. Session #1, for CEOs with VC investors or over $1m raised.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. Date & Time: Friday, March 13. Session #1, for CEOs with VC investors or over $1m raised.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. Date & Time: Friday, March 13. Session #1, for CEOs with VC investors or over $1m raised.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. Date & Time: Friday, March 13. Session #1, for CEOs with VC investors or over $1m raised.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

socalTECH

DECEMBER 1, 2008

We're the venture capital arm of Saban Capital Group, which is Haim Saban's investment vehicle and private equity firm, which he founded in 2001. We make Series A and Series B investments in digital media, mobile, and consumer Internet. Haim's background is in media and the entertainment industry, for several decades.

Southern California 100

Southern California Media Venture Capital Invest 100