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.

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Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 2, 2013

I've had several Startup CTO Consulting sessions recently where it became apparent that the Founder needed help with the business and product as much or more than the technology. Then we discussed how they could go about finding this startup business advisor. These are not mutually exclusive and good mentors and advisors get into both.

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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. There are dozens of tools available to help you monitor relevant activity, including Social Mention and Google Alerts.

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

To that end, last week, Los Angeles-based MuckerLab (www.muckerlab.com) announced its plans--and a big lineup of local CEO mentors--to start up a new, YCombinator- and TechStars-type program in Los Angeles, headed by former Silicon Valley venture capitalist Erik Rannala , and affiliated with the TechStars Network. Erik, thanks for the time.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

But as I rose in my career (and post MBA) I moved into a role in which I was to advise board-level executives on topics where I was expected to rapidly become an expert. Some areas were easy because they were technical and the answer was knowable or estimate-able. And I encourage entrepreneurs to triangulate as well.

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Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Startup Venture Capital 337

Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 28, 2017

Composed of a three-month boot camp , the program aims to help startups build their brand while figuring out the nitty gritty of finance, manufacture, distribution and sales. Minnesota food and agriculture brand Land O’Lakes — yes, the one you know from butter packages — launched an accelerator in July 2017. The goal: Dairy innovation.

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Incubator Santa Clarita Technical Advisors FAQ 70

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

I only emphasize the question before I find it much more helpful to join a company with realistic expectations of what you want to get out of it. Join because if you do a good job we’ll help you punch above your weighclass and work in a more senior role. Join because you like the mission of what we’re doing.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

If I can help you avoid some of my first-time mistakes it would be a victory. Most people totally advise against stealth. I worked with an entrepreneur who was to appear at a startup networking event where he was to talk about his company’s plans. It also helps to keep down issues with crowds getting too big, too early.

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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. Maybe it helps that I love controversy and pushing the boundaries so people felt it was OK for them to do it as well. There’s a guy in Los Angeles that I met at several tech networking events. Making Things Happen.

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Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2010

More importantly, as a parent or mentor, what should you advise young potential entrepreneurs about getting an MBA? It’s now the second biggest social networking site (Facebook passed it recently) with about 125 million unique visitors per month. Chris DeWolfe, CEO and co-founder of MySpace. Consider it a waste of time.

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Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Education Social Network 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2023

Know yourself and find help to fill in the gaps. 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. Start today building a bigger network. Then pursue the people and education you need to build a winning business.

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Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur Software Review 149

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 21, 2014

Hackers for Charity is a non-profit organization that leverages the skills of technologists to help provide food, equipment, job training and computer education to the impoverished in Uganda. The purpose of this area is more to reiterate the warning most people ignore when connecting to public networks. The post DefCon 22 | DISOBEY!

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Technical Advisors Press Examples Training 107

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. Being a CEO begets the network to be a CEO.

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Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Often this situation is characterized as a “good problem to have” until you’re the technical person who needs to solve the problem—and quickly. Well, there are a number of technical reasons for applications suffering performance issues. We therefore routinely advise leads of new projects to consider performance early.

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Web Technical Advisors Framework Technical Review 200

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

You can find a good start-up lawyer to help or if you want to do it on the cheap there are tons of websites you can find on the Internet to help. If not, at least find someone really technical that you trust to help act as an adviser to you. Even if you keep it dormant for 2 years while you work on your idea.

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Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

I often advise these CEOs to make the tough choices early in the company’s history – either move up North or build your tech team in LA. In a perfect world they’d be in your home office but this is one area where I feel remote tools can help bridge gaps. There are pluses and minus for both cases.

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Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

L90 was the premier advertising network on the Internet. Their server room was larger than our entire office and our entire ad network was being run on the exact same type of computer that their receptionist used as her desktop computer. One guy was the creator of Microsoft Excel and the other created the first network for IBM. (No,

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