Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

Even if it’s only a few PowerPoint slides or typed paragraphs, writing something down is the first step toward making it real. Always write in the future tense, what you will do, and name yourself as the key person responsible. The process will force you solidify the specifics, and mentally commit to them.

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Ideas Slides Writing Startup 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2022

In my experience as a mentor to entrepreneurs, I find that self-doubt and lack of confidence are the primary constraints people have to overcome to move ahead. He writes from first-hand experience, and is now a recognized business leader, motivational speaker, and mentor to many entrepreneurs.

Mentor 134

Mentor Slides .Net Writing 134

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. Thinking out loud – I’m sure that’s important for entrepreneurs as well. If you haven’t spent time over there you should.

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Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

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. I think the norm in the industry is still to see Powerpoint slides and I wouldn’t hold this against anybody. I’m usually itching to just see what you’ve built. The best policy is to ask.

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Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

For extroverted people I recommend that entrepreneurs have an “executive summary&# slide up front that cuts to the chase. Don’t dwell on this slide for ever. If I have an hour with you I want to maximise the time we have a discussion so I want to get through the slides quickly. Most entrepreneurs are.

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Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2015

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

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Startup Writing Entrepreneur Slides 104

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

After seeing Chamillionaire interact with several entrepreneurs both at events and as an investor I started introducing him to startups in an advisory capacity. Chamillionaire has a way more refined sense of what customer behavior is like than most ivy league graduates with nice Powerpoint slides that I meet.

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Conference Slides Social Media Summary 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. Writing down key parameters will force you solidify the specifics, and mentally commit to them. Present at trade shows and network with your ten-slide pitch to build your following.

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Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. They cite sources like the BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this Forbes article. You need funding, and plan to get it from friends and family.

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Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 109

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I was an entrepreneur. Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. Some search.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Unless you are a serial entrepreneur with a string of successes behind you, you need a business plan to convince investors that you can build a business out of the dream that has been driving your passion to change the world. An entrepreneur who can’t manage a plan, probably won’t be able to manage the new business.

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Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. It became a huge kerfuffle with many VC partners writing to thank me for the post, which exposed those that gave their industry a bad name. And covered we did.

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Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

I’m a pretty natural public speaker so I can write my presentation the day before and do just fine. The first was to do a 5 minute “ignite&# presentation – 5 minutes, 15 slides. I did the outline of the 15 slides on the flight over (after a few beers). Get some seasoned entrepreneurs to come.

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Slides Email Entrepreneur Startup 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We take a really friendly, Shark Tank approach that promotes young entrepreneurs, and lets them pitch to a group of seasoned investors and venture capitalists on a panel, and where they not only get an actual investment, but also go through a retail challenge, to get consumer feedback. How did you get involved with angel investing, initially?

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

You put some update slides on things like key hires or biz dev deals being negotiated and you didn’t plan to talk about them. But they were in a slide and people asked you questions so it ended up chewing up 30 minutes. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. You didn’t intend it to happen that way.

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Startup Slides Guide Writing 331

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Note the full presentation deck with additional slides can be found on SlideShare here or you can simply scroll through it at the bottom of this post.]. Just 3 years ago there was talk of institutional investors “not being able to write small enough checks.” Why is this?

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 17, 2011

I do not often write blog entries which reference other blog articles. As he lowers his loupe for a moment and glances up from his slides, he suddenly notices a flash of brown amidst all the white outside his window. A UPS truck is pulling up in front of his studio.

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Slides Blogging Writing Demand 164

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2013

Business Writing for Email. Writing in business is not the same as in an academic environment. The challenge is to communicate your idea in one page, and close the deal quickly without a big slide presentation. entrepreneur business classes startup college course business professional' Touch-Typing for Dummies.

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Class Course Writing Slides 93

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

I spoke a lot about the need for “personal branding” which I plan to write about soon. My mom was an entrepreneur – she was kind of my inspiration for entrepreneurship. It was like nobody would give me any respect and they just saw me as the guy who goes and talks to senior people who does PowerPoint slides.

Startup 337

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Venture Capital 337

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2014

Results” these days are not PowerPoint slides, or theories and recommendations. Speak to people, rather than write a document every time you want a change. business consultant entrepreneur specialist startup' Share the everyday life of the startup team you are working with. Produce results. Marty Zwilling.

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Startup Slides Email Customer 102

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.

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Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2013

I will outline here ten key principles and disciplines that every entrepreneur must understand and practice to minimize surprises and failures in this area: Failure to document cash flow projections is a disaster. They pay just the smallest bills and let the rest slide. entrepreneur surprises startup cash-flow business'

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Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 114

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

Let’s start with the money slide: 10 years ago there was about the same money pouring into VC as found its way into startups but in the past two years 2.5 times the dollars went into venture-backed startups as went the money that poured into venture. In short, a slight clearing out of some older, weaker branches washed out by the storm.

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Venture Capital Startup Course Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2016

In the new business world, many entrepreneurs are so excited with large initial orders that they don’t anticipate the cash flow challenges that can quickly kill their startup. Of course, you can’t predict everything, but writing down what you know will identify existing problems sooner, and allow other team members to help.

Startup 64

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 64

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2012

Business Writing for Email. Writing in business is not the same as in an academic environment. The challenge is to communicate your idea in one page, and close the deal quickly without a big slide presentation. In school, you're taught to stretch weak ideas to reach your document page limit. Touch-Typing for Dummies.

Course 97

Course Writing Slides Email 97

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

This started as a post in which I was going to write out tips to personal branding and became in stead an essay of my own branding journey. Send me in a corner to work on slides, graphs, spreadsheets and charts. When I started my second company I was a serial entrepreneur. I introduced myself as a serial entrepreneur.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 16, 2013

It is meant to bring everyone together so that they can learn, network and leave with the sense that they now belong to a family of entrepreneurs, all trying to make LA a startup hub. If you are interested in obtaining the slide decks from the past “Intro to the LA Startup Community” events, you can do so here.

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Rustic Canyon Startup Los Angeles Class 74

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

Many firms do it in a way that can be more detrimental to entrepreneurs. VentureHacks laid out the debate in a truly awesome interview & PowerPoint slides if you really want an in-depth understanding of the issue. I’ve done 4 seed investments in the past year and they are 100% referenceable. This is the nature of compromise.

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Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2010

Results” these days are not Powerpoint slides, or theories and recommendations. Speak to people, rather than write a document every time you want a change. Tags: entrepreneur expertise internet consultant business. Share the everyday life of the startup team you are working with. Produce results. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 90

Startup Slides Email Customer 90

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2012

Results” these days are not PowerPoint slides, or theories and recommendations. Speak to people, rather than write a document every time you want a change. Share the everyday life of the startup team you are working with. Produce results. Have "customers", not "clients.

Startup 85

Startup Slides Email Customer 85

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

I know because many entrepreneurs I spend time with I can tell are in their own brains when we’re meeting rather than trying to understand what my position is. You’re in sales mode. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Sales & Marketing Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. Many of you are “tellers,&# too.

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Sales Startup Venture Capital Customer 314

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2011

Results” these days are not PowerPoint slides, or theories and recommendations. Speak to people, rather than write a document every time you want a change. Share the everyday life of the startup team you are working with. Produce results. Have "customers", not "clients.

Startup 93

Startup Customer Custom Slides 93

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Each sales person tends to slot in their own slides to win deals or to position things in their own words or style in order to win deals. The process in and of itself was pretty lengthy and at some point I’d like to write about it in more detail. Sales Decks – Most companies have a standards sales deck.

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Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

Each has a process in place to accept applications or recommendations for investment into new companies, and to review these and make decisions based upon their exploration, previous experience in the field, knowledge of the company or industry, or about individual entrepreneurs. Some can supply more when syndicating with other such groups.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

As an advisor to new hardware entrepreneurs, I often hear the myth that a business plan is no longer required to find an investor, if your idea is good enough. What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2012

From LA Demo Day to Silicon Beach Fest to Crowdstart LA to hackathons to Startup Weekends, companies and entrepreneurs alike have joined forces to feed the startup ecosystem. THIRD TIME’S A CHARM: On Sunday we presented to a panel of judges consisting of entrepreneurs and a VC investor. Interesting offer considering he did nothing.

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Startup Ideas San Diego Mentor 100