Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 19, 2012

The rise of couponing in late 2008 coincided with the recession of the late 2000s;” this factor combined with an increased consumer interest in mobile technology and devices led to an unprecedented decline in print media. Getting Mobile-Ready. With roughly 91% of the population using mobile devices and 26.3%

Mobile 85

Mobile Software Review Statistics Technical Review 85

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We spoke with one of those companies-- El Segundo-based ConsumerTrack (www.consumertrack.com)--which is a $30M, bootstrapped an online marketing company which is driving millions of customers to big name, financial customers. The world here is constantly changing -- particularly with shifts to mobile, Google algorithms, etc. -

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

You can ask them to come and watch your videos at your owned & operated websites (O&O) where you can make higher margins as well as ask directly for more meaningful customer information such as Facebook connections, Twitter oAuths, email addresses and the like. Video production & distribution is becoming much more programatic.

Company 339

Company Companies Technical Review Content 339

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2013

They look at the following high level definition of Lean: and they interpret that as write up an executive summary with your ideas and hand it to developers to build. Have you conducted Problem, Solution and Feature Interviews with customers? Do you have a Technical Advisors: Every Web/Mobile Startup Must Have One ?

CTO Coach 219

CTO Coach Metrics Framework Software Development 219

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

And in the case of defining mobile/web/software, there is even more variability in terms of form and format. You likely are writing your first one of these. You likely are writing your first one of these. This should be an iterative process with advisors and customers providing feedback on the product.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

But, they could not write, and did not know what to write from the travel perspective. Every one of those writers has a byline and a bio, and are paid twice a week at a pretty decent rate for that writing or assignment. They couldn't find enough people to write the content they needed, at the quality they need.

Demand 240

Demand Media eHow Content 240

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey). In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). People don’t want to speak to customer service reps.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

InfoChachkie

APRIL 16, 2012

The Lean Startup approach dictates that successful customer development is an iterative process. Eric (Ries) was a student in one of the very earliest customer development classes at Berkley. Large companies write business plans, why of course, that’s the organizing document for a startup. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

Startup 229

Startup Class Press Custom Development 229

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know that you can use an email system with this to track my open rate, whether I forwarded the email, the IP address where I read it, whether I was on a mobile device or a wired computer and you can tell who else read the document. What should not be in your deck?

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. OK, that sounds like an interesting business, but nothing to write a freakin’ blog post about?

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? I am a VC. I hand out money. How differentiated is that? Final example.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2017

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 66

Social Media Media Tips Platform 66

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2013

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 101

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Metrics 101

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

Mobile Application Creation Utility. is a mobile application creation utility with free code and API open for developers to create ‘micro-apps’ that can engage an applications audience. will help clients send their user’s real-world data-collection expeditions, prototype a mobile idea or companion app for a website.

Mobile 68

Mobile Writing Activity Screening 68

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2017

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 58

Social Media Media Platform Tool 58

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

You find that you need to be near major customers, or employee transportation hubs, where rents are higher than you ever anticipated. These days, computer hardware also extends to smartphone subscriptions, iPads, and laptops as your employees and customers expect mobile operation. Ramp-up facilities and utilities required.

Startup 105

Startup Software Review Technical Review Social Media 105

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. Selling at smaller retailers will net you fewer customers and higher margins.

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Think of web vs. mobile. I’ve sat on ad tech boards with board members who clearly knew little about impressions, fill rates, CTRs, RTB, eCPMs or the difficulties & opportunities of embedded mobile SDKs vs. HTML5.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

We've taken matchmaking onto a mobile application, as a modern matchmaking company. As I was driving home from that meeting, I decided to work from there, and ended up writing a business plan and fundraising from family and friends. Another big thing that I've learned, which is really useful, is about acquiring customers.

Startup 203

Startup Entrepreneur Southern California Netflix 203

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2012

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 95

Social Media Media Startup Platform 95

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2019

Catch up by reading the first edition here or check out last week’s edition , which offered the gamut of mobility news from Lyft and Bird to Waymo’s laser bears and cybersecurity. VW also has a partnership with AV startup Aurora to integrate self-driving systems in custom-designed electric shuttles for VW’s new Moia brand.

San Fernando 217

San Fernando Los Angeles Commerce News 217

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

You might write a piece now and then that catches fire but there is nothing repeatable that would be useful for a business. Simply write a great book? What about mobile? I’m sure many of you know the techniques that mobile app companies use to get onto the iOS top chart list. How do people drive SEO growth?

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures wrote a great post the other day that reminded me I’ve been meaning to write about this topic. But I do know that FourSquare has captured the zeitgeist of what young, mobile & social people want. Did they crawl through Craigslist spamming people to acquire customers more rapidly?

Startup 313

Startup Press Writing News 313

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

If you're a web publisher, or even a brand developing your own outreach to customers through a newsletter or microsite, how do you efficiently gather and curate all of the news and information out there? We're really monitoring the content areas for our customers, in a way that brings that social signal to it. We're in beta now.

Web 237

Web Newsletter Content Startup 237

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 12, 2010

If I were to re-write the original post I would have taken out the section on “how to get better intro’s from VC’s&# and made it it’s own post. Once I was done writing my post and had re-read it I started thinking more abstractly about decision making. It was best practice then.

Startup 267

Startup Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur 267

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to. They have developed a cloud-based platform for merchants to publish to multiple distribution networks, including social, mobile and email. Watch this space.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2011

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 93

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Platform 93

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 1, 2011

It’s similar to American Idol , but they judge more on your song writing ability rather than your ability to cover other songs. We ran contests where selected winners won their own custom jingle write by Jes. She actually sat down and wrote custom songs for them, they were great. Mobile is the big thing.

Social Media 99

Social Media Startup Media Writing 99

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

This means selling at least 5-10 customers in advance, before it is even built. Offer the customers a discount for buying in advance. web & mobile development resources to find and hire a developer. cleverua.com – outsourced web & mobile app development based in the Ukraine, Ask for Pavlo.

CTO Hire 81

CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop Development 81

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

The final clip is Fred & I talking about whether “the best product wins” and my assertion that the bias in today’s Silicon Valley dominated tech world there is probably too much emphasis on tech at the expense of how to sell, implement and service customers. I remember writing about online video nearly 5 years ago.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

“I would far rather give out my mobile phone number than my email address.” You’re writing a freaking blog post! Customer support – After my pre-breakfast meeting I had my actual breakfast meeting. But it’s mostly customer service. I never get grumpy that people write. I get tons of.

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 18, 2016

As much of the world has shifted to mobile, smartphones are an important way to reach consumers. However, this year many brands still won’t deliver a full mobile experience, which is to say that, in 2016, many retailers still won’t have apps. The report notes that in general, the companies that prioritize mobile had modest budgets.

Mobile 40

Mobile Sites Customer Custom 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

I’m writing this post to make sure you’re all on that same playing field. One of our core tasks was “market analysis,&# which consistent of: market sizing, market forecasts, competitive analysis and then instructing customers on which direction to take. So, where is this all coming from, Mark? What are you on about?

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

So that we’re speaking the same language I would define “exclusive” as a period in which your company is prohibited from doing business with certain customers or business partners, which is why many incorrectly assume this is necessarily bad. Why Exclusivity Matters to Your Customers or Business Development Partners.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Customer Custom 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 18, 2010

Vince: In addition to my management writing I’ve interview many CEOs and innovators. I’d love to get your thoughts at some point about writing for these publications vs. on your own blog. Vince: Digiday Mobile and Digiday Social Who are some of your go to people in Los Angeles? What was the best one you've been to recently?

Startup 225

Startup Los Angeles Twiistup Social Network 225

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2020

The other nice thing about that, is as things are happening on the same computer, there is no server code to write. It's really simple to write an application, compared to the complexity of an application that is multi-user. David Smith: We actually have customers now. It's all on the client side. That's what happened here.

Platform 168

Platform Startup Examples Web 168

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2017

of all Statistics are Made Up ” My summary is an example I use often: when I consumed reports from Goldman Sachs about the future predictions of mobile phone penetration for a report I was working on for a client I would call the analyst to ask how she calculated her data because I wanted to be sure of my conclusions.

Venture Capital 182

Venture Capital Statistics Writing Report 182