Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. It’s the first EIR that we’ve had in the years that I’ve been with the firm and I hope will be the start of our investment in this program.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Coincident has created a platform that will allow storytellers and producers to create robust second screen stories on the fly that incorporate video, images and other web content. To put this technology into perspective, let us take a step back for a moment and explain what the future of television and content is shaping up to look like.

Screening 109

Screening Content CTO Hire Platform 109

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 26, 2011

I have often said that what separates real entrepreneurs from pundits and bystanders is a bias towards getting things done versus over analyzing things. That doesn’t work in a startup. There’s a certain cadence that you can feel when you spend time hanging any well-run startup company. My credo has always been JFDI.

Startup 335

Startup Technical Review Framework Entrepreneur 335

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2020

Business success is all about having the best team, yet the average entrepreneur has little prior experience with hiring people and building top-notch teams. It’s no wonder that 45 percent of startups fail in the first five years, and an even smaller percentage ever see a return for their years of effort.

Organization 135

Organization Satisfaction Entrepreneur Screening 135

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. They are likely taking losses on their first project with the entrepreneur so they select carefully.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. They are likely taking losses on their first project with the entrepreneur so they select carefully.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2016

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. I was reminded of a number of these by a recent book, “ The Thing About Work: Showing Up and Other Important Matters ,” by Richard A. Showing up still matters. This is not about clocking in to work.

Startup 93

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 93

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. In my post “ Measure twice, cut once ” I’ve outlined how to plan before you start raising. Should You Start with Your “Safety Schools?”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking that funding is something you do in “funding season,&# some mythical 2-month period when you’re ready with a great Powerpoint deck and you hit up all of the VC’s at the same time so that you can quickly raise money and get back to the job of building a business.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. How did you start blogging? “My In 2004 / 2005 I was starting to get intrigued with user-generated content. was starting. Either it’s a bunch of pictures or screen shots or it’s a bunch of words. You still need the presentation to back that up.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I was speaking recently to the team at NuOrder , an LA-based company we’re an investor in about “realism in startups” — an impromptu talk I have given to any of our portfolio companies who ask. I answered in the same way I always do so I thought I’d just write it publicly. “I I fall in love.” Mission driven, commercially focused.

Invest 254

Invest Writing Pricing Metrics 254

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

Let me start by saying I’m a huge business book cynic. But Net had told me that he picked up some valuable lessons from the book, so I thought, “WTF? They can travel the world, take classes in interesting subjects, spend time with loved ones or start new hobbies. You’re on the DS (deferred startup) plan.

Startup 295

Startup Email Technical Review Course 295

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! I do what I wish all entrepreneurs would do. The same kind of tasks that a startup team has. It’s an entrepreneur with whom I’ve been wanting to work for 6 years. I met for coffee with one of my favorite “startup advisors” in LA. He has a startup.

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

Fred Wilson wrote two posts in 2010 that were very influential with the startup community. I know that they really impacted an entire cohort of startups because every company that was coming to pitch me businesses was (is) saying, “I’m a ‘mobile first’ company.” The power of large screen real estate.

Web 334

Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

Berkonomics

JUNE 11, 2015

It’s good advice; the theory being that entrepreneurs can discover the flaws in their business models sooner, make course corrections and move in a more favorable direction. In my case as a young software entrepreneur, I had a different approach: Fail Locally, one customer at a time. I became an entrepreneur by default.

Customer 120

Customer Custom Writing Southern California 120

socalTECH

JULY 22, 2016

Rufus Labs is one of a number of hardware startups which have started to proliferate in the community, due to low cost hardware, 3D printing, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Where they start to fail, is one, they are handheld. Because of that, wearables have a good leg up.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Startup Software Review CTO Hire 100

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. We want to give our brightest new startups the connections and interactions they need to help streamline success. Watch this space.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. But I never gave up. The opportunity came up to invest in this one and I pounced. Well, we started out a free text messaging platform. OK, that sounds like an interesting business, but nothing to write a freakin’ blog post about? More on that later.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Naturally, the next step in Bernstein’s evolution from blogger to businesswoman was a technology startup. ‘People say we’re crazy’ As venture capitalists wake up to the business opportunity, they’re seeding startups that help influencers go from hobbyists to professionals.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. We then spoke about startups.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2016

Business success is all about having the best team, yet the average entrepreneur has little prior experience with hiring people and building top-notch teams. It’s no wonder that half of startups fail in the first five years , and an even smaller percentage ever see a return for their years of effort.

Organization 57

Organization Entrepreneur Satisfaction Screening 57

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

where entrepreneurs share their stories. 63 Los Angeles Entrepreneurs To Be Proud Of By mario on May 2, 2012 in Features , grid. Free Corporations For First-Time Entrepreneurs. Right now they’re setting up 500 free corporations for first time entrepreneurs. Our Best Interviews Via Email: Monthly. Idea Mensch.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

We caught up with EcoMom CEO Jody Sherman , to learn more about the company. Jody--an experienced entrepreneur who was most recently co-founder of a firm he sold to the Virgin Group, and has been involved with such firms as Lycos, Buydirect.com, and Xoom--told us the story of EcoMom, plus how he connected with McClure on the investment.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post. Can you just show up without one? Does that work for you or would you prefer that I start with slides?&# And if you prefer a demo and they don’t – don’t be dogmatic.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series on Start-up Lessons that I learned from founding two companies. I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. But first I’d like to start with a story.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

This is an updated post from my ongoing series on Startup Advice that I learned from founding two companies. . I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. Write things down. I HATE LOSING.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2010

But when I read thoughtful pieces on the future of technology I start to imagine where our lives will be in 10 years. Yet 2010 is already showing me how connected our lives and our health are starting to become. Writing down your weight from your scale is obviously a manual process and it’s tedious. We’ll see.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Any SoCal entrepreneur raising early-stage money should put Rincon on their short list. I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while and was going to use AngelList by Nivi & Naval as the basis for my example and the perfect prompt came yesterday when I read Fred Wilson’s blog post on AngelList.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

Of course that website isn’t completely up to date but it’s a great resource for seeing the overall picture. Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. But let me start with some data.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 20, 2014

TechZulu recently sat down with east coast transplant Olenka Polak to talk about startup life in Los Angeles. Explain to our readers why you started your company, and why you created your app myLINGO. I mean, we’re new to this town and new to this industry – so just a lot of things came up during the launch that we’re now looking into.

Startup 91

Startup Entertainment CTO Coach Screening 91

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Steve Jillings has a long track record of running successful startups in Southern California, ranging from such companies as FrontBridge Technologies (sold to Microsoft in 2005 for over $200M) and Vantage Media (acquired in 2007). To learn more, we caught up with Steve. Every other hand goes down, and ours stays up.

Marina Del Rey 238

Marina Del Rey Startup IP Examples 238

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

Yet a critical mistake I see many entrepreneurs make is that they hand over too much control to their third-parties. And a key point is that when it comes down to “negotiations&# you need to turn up your personal heat and dial back the middle man. Let me start with an example. I told my agent. “That’s nuts!

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Steve Reich

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

They have to be aggressive, and they have to be willing to write a check. Clearly you start with the officers and directors of your Angel group, but also pay attention to who speaks up in meetings. He is a long-time Angel, a former Chairman at TCA, and has invested in more startups that most of us will see in 2 lifetimes.

Tech Coast Angels 40

Tech Coast Angels Angel Pasadena Angels Startup 40

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 30, 2012

For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. All it takes is an email address to start receiving our exclusive deals for sports tickets to your favorite teams in your city. We write and create our own content for the game.

CalTech 91

CalTech Company Companies Idealab 91

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2011

.&# And we’re here with Dan Martell , who like any great startup founder is wearing his company t-shirt for Flowtown. “Maybe,&# says Naval, “Certainly valuations are creepy up quickly in all stages of deals. It was a bunch of members of the Austin Startup Factory mixed with some out-of-towners like myself.

Ideas 294

Ideas Startup Marketing Pricing 294

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 22, 2014

SoCal startup Moving Analytics is tackling this global problem. Tell us about your startup Moving Analytics and your app Movn. HV: Our current focus is helping people get up and move more, and that’s why we created Movn. So should we be standing up right now? We also set up a competition between the two centers.

USC 104

USC Southern California Activity Study 104

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

This is an updated post from my ongoing series on Startup Advice that I learned from founding two companies. . I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. Write things down. I HATE LOSING.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333