Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I often hear the desire to run their own company, to avoid having someone else telling them how to run the business. They then ask me to help them find investors who can provide the funding they need. are still bootstrapped today, often starting with less than $10,000 of personal funds.

Technical Advisors 125

Technical Advisors Startup News Resource 125

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 105

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

Include any empirical evidence--including market research or technical analysis, if that's appropriate--in order to bolster your case about why you believe you will succeed. If you don't have a team on staff, then a banker is going to want to hear about outsourcing and advisors. A winning product or service. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2007

My role is to work as part of the team to (1) understand related technologies and technical opportunities, (2) understand and help drive alignment around a vision of where the business should go, and (3) mesh those together to help make disciplined, proactive technical decisions.

Startup 231

Startup CTO Hire Technical Advisors Technical Review 231

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Accelerator programs--like YCombinator in Silicon Valley, and TechStars in Colorado--have come to the forefront of the minds of entrepreneurs as a way to boost their ideas quickly into the market, find funding, and into existence. We're providing seed funding, office space, and put them through a three month, structured program.

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Many of the entrepreneurs I advise or invest with spend considerable time on the Internet, keeping up with technology, customers, and competitors, but very few feel the need for an early personal presence. In fact, some totally avoid it, assuming their product or solution will speak for itself later.

Product 127

Product Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Technical Review 127

socalTECH

AUGUST 28, 2017

He and I connected, and walked through PartySlate and what we were doing, and he immediately said he wanted to invest and become an advisor to the company. That is all gearing up for a Series A funding, which will happen in the summer of 2018. He's based in LA. I went to Michigan with him.

Technical Advisors 100

Technical Advisors Technical Review Metrics Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Prepare a slide deck to highlight product and business.

Platform 94

Platform Equity Invest Technical Advisors 94

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Most of the entrepreneurs I advise today are ready to declare success when they get that first surge of traction with a real customer. You need to find investors for funding, vendors for volume manufacturing, processes for repeatable execution, as well as marketing and distribution to attract customers far beyond your pilot rollout.

Technical Advisors 83

Technical Advisors Tool Software Product 83

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

It’s what signals to existing investors how quickly their teams need to be fund raising and the level of risk the company is facing and also it signals to potentially new investors both how quickly you need to raise (ie you have less leverage if you’re in a rush) as well as how much cash you’ll need if they fund you.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2018

I made the jump myself from IBM several years ago, and now have a satisfying startup advising small businesses and mentoring entrepreneurs. Most technical people I know love to discuss and debate technology, but avoid business subjects, including finance and marketing, like the plague. Focus on customer value in every job.

Startup 52

Startup Technical Advisors Entrepreneur IBM 52

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 28, 2012

The team needed would consist of at least 1 non-technical business person (me) and 2 or more technical people—designer and developer. I was only able to create a team with non-technical business people and a designer. The next day, the technical team started coding away, building a cool game for developers to battle skills on.

Startup 99

Startup Technical Advisors Ideas USC 99

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2011

He could not be persuaded to commit the funds required for localization. Our own subsidiary, of a major technology company, started to repair and service competitive products in order to maintain our own technical staff and service capabilities. Thorough name searches as well as professional advice in this area is highly advised.

Startup 90

Startup Technical Advisors Sales Examples 90

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

I spoke with an investor recently who told me that 1,500 deals get funded / year in the US, 80 (5.3%) eventually sell for $50 million and only 8 (0.5%) eventually sell for $150 million or more. I advised against the SF role because it was a bigger company and his role would be pushing paper from one side of his desk to the other.

Startup 418

Startup Technical Advisors Venture Capital Santa Monica 418

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

Most people totally advise against stealth. You always have too much technical debt, too many problems, staff members quitting, not enough capital, customer complaints, etc. And example is lumping your VC funding announcement into a story about major customers wins, product features or key milestones. Also be careful about VCs.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I spent nearly a decade building software for large companies and then advising companies on the same. He would have found somebody technical and inspired that individual to work for equity or deferred payment. Good entrepreneurs have a penchant for doing vs. over-analyzing. obviously don’t read this as zero analysis).

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Tech.Co

MAY 22, 2018

Truth be told, your only path to some serious funding is perseverance and diligence in getting meetings and being prepared. Try to compile all the different types of questions you could be asked about your business, like technical details, financial assumptions and projections, marketing, IP, etc., and prepare a response.

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2023

In my own experience with technical startup founders, I still find it hard to name one who was also good, or even interested in financials or business operations. A mistake often made by new business owners due to the unfamiliar new workload is to ignore and lose existing relationships with outside advisors as well as team members.

Technical Review 149

Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur Software Review 149

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I would argue that this mostly consists of consumer Internet companies (although not exclusively) and it is predominantly early-stage people who are product gurus and have a mildly technical bend to them. I funded them 8 weeks later. I’m sure there are many more. I would mostly lump me in that category.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

I am looking for one or two startups that I can work with on their road to success as a virtual C-level officer, board member, advisor or other relationship. This is actually fairly common and I think it’s a bit challenging in that the technology roles (from technology advisor to CTO) in a startup vary widely.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Technical Advisors CTO Coach Startup 170

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

There is a second set of career discussions I have even more frequently than my “angel yourself” advice but this type is almost never discussed publicly in blogs, which tend to emphasize only billion-dollar opportunities, 20-something technical founders and Silicon Valley elitism.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Each company is investing untold billions of dollars in developing AI technologies, betting on a future defined by computer systems that can perceive, reason, advise, and decide. The Partnership on AI , formally unveiled Wednesday, includes Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, Google and its 2014 acquisition DeepMind.

Artificial Inteligence 40

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Technical Advisors Research 40

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

Assuming normal valuations at fund raising rounds you’ll be down to 6-12% after you’ve created a stock-option pool and raised capital. If not, at least find someone really technical that you trust to help act as an adviser to you. It is hard enough to have a great financial outcome when you start with 100%.

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

Venture Capital Funding 7. Prior to raising $16M+ in funding from top-tier venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital, Globespan Capital and Evercore Ventures, StrongMail was self-funded and cash-flow positive. I decided that I was going to consult/advise a few companies and relax for a bit. Relaxing 2. Incubation 3.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Morgan Stanley then funded one of our competitors. Had I delayed my fund raising in 99/00 by even 3-4 weeks I’m convinced I would not have raised any money at all. I’ve offered to fund an early stage company where I promised cash in bank in less than 30 days. Morgan Stanley then funded one of our competitors.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

In fact, we probably had hundreds of competitors including seven that were either very well funded with significant venture capital or publicly held (e.g. After getting the run around from the CEO, I was advised to take action to remedy the situation. DoubleClick, 24/7 Media, AdForce, Engage, Flycast). The story is still not over yet.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

Those cultural normals are established through human connections: the night we all stayed late to get that release out the door, the day we celebrated our funding round or the day we landed our first big account. If they’re not I won’t fund. If they can’t, I doubt it will become a big, important technical company.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

Our firm has funded many of them. The truth is that many “unicorns” have reached the status solely because the funding markets have said so. I spoke with a guy who is doing deals all over the world and told me he is differentiating from other capital by his firm’s “technical skills.”

Technical Advisors 150

Technical Advisors Startup Writing Blogging 150