Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2016

Every startup begins with an idea, but from that point forward, it’s all about execution. Founders soon learn that customers only spend real money for solutions rather than ideas. Investors have also learned not to invest in ideas but only in entrepreneurs and teams who can deliver solutions. billion in 2015.

Ideas 59

Ideas Technical Review Google Startup 59

TechCrunch LA

MAY 24, 2020

Limited edition “drops” of virtual sneakers would happen at locations around a city and players could go to those spots and add the virtual sneakers to their collection. Players earned points for traveling to various spots, and those points could be redeemed for in-app purchases or discounts at stores.

Design 219

Design Los Angeles West Los Angeles Social Media 219

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2022

even if your hair is on fire and the idea is worth billions. Dave’s note: This is a reprint of a 2015 insight that seems to have struck a chord with investors and entrepreneurs. None of this advice has changed… Let me tell you a few short hair–raising stories of entrepreneurs who have raised money and regretted it later.

Startup 317

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Course 317

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2023

As I work with aspiring entrepreneurs and business professionals, I often hear about stress and disappointment from a great idea or innovation that failed for reasons that you don’t understand. I will summarize her recommendations here, as well as adding my own insights: Pick a problem to solve rather than an idea.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Ideas Study Social Media 120

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2013

Are you a fan of the NFL or NBA--and wish you had an easy reference to the players and picks in the draft for those two sports leagues? A new, Santa Monica-based startup has created a new iTunes application, Draftpedia , aimed at providing a comprehensive source for NBA and NFL Draft history, player stats, and team rosters.

Santa Monica 227

Santa Monica Santa Barbara Statistics Seed Funding 227

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2018

These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, pitching their latest and greatest new idea, and looking for someone to give them money. Angel investors, like me, have long figured out that asking to see the prototype is a quick way to separate the ‘wannabes’ from serious players. Quantify the implementation challenges.

Ideas 53

Ideas Outsource Development Tool Outsource 53

Xconomy

AUGUST 23, 2016

How important is having a “big idea” for startups? Ideas can generate a lot of buzz and capture attention from investors and potential customers, but long-term success really depends on the capabilities of the team. This makes a lot of sense because if all you have is an A idea and hit an obstacle, the venture fails.

Ideas 40

Ideas Startup Examples Demand 40

socalTECH

APRIL 3, 2019

We approached some major licensees, including Major League Baseball, MLBAM, and the player's association. We caught up with Randy Saaf , the CEO of Lucid Sight, to learn more about how exactly the company is doing that, and why. What exactly is Lucid Sight? We created fourteen of the first, 100 free iPhone apps. That got interesting to us.

Examples 157

Examples Startup Platform Venture Capital 157

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 7, 2019

For Fox, the idea for Earbuds sprung from his experiences in the NFL, watching how other players interacted with crowds and hearing about the things fans wanted to know about their favorite players’ routines. “He was jamming. At its core, the app is just about making music more social, according to Fox.

Entertainment 224

Entertainment Social Media Social Network Media 224

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2022

These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, pitching their latest and greatest new idea, and looking for someone to give them money. Angel investors, like me, have long figured out that asking to see the prototype is a quick way to separate the ‘wannabes’ from serious players. Quantify the implementation challenges.

Outsource Development 110

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2022

During my many years of mentoring professionals and entrepreneurs in business, I more often see people focusing on how to get their ideas heard , than how to promote themselves. I’m convinced that great results are better than great ideas, and a great perception of you as a person is better than both ideas and results.

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Tips Social Media Mentor Technical Review 121

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2023

This point was illustrated well in the classic book, “ The Power of Positive Destruction: How to Turn a Business Idea Into a Revolution ,” by Seth Merrin. I like his approach to first making sure the idea has the potential for a unique selling proposition, by asking yourself a few key questions: Does the idea solve a painful problem?

Startup 96

Startup Education Ideas Customer 96

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2016

It only takes one person come up with a great startup idea, but in my experience as an investor, it’s a rare entrepreneur who has all the skills and resources to build a business as well as a solution. Yet I meet inventors and startup founders every week who balk at the thought of sharing the founder position.

Ideas 60

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup Examples 60

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

I agree with some excellent guidance on both fronts from a new book, “ Impact Players ,” by Liz Wiseman, an experienced advisor who teaches leadership to executives around the world: Look broadly to do the job that needs to be done. They build a reputation of being a flexible utility player, with the agility to adapt to changing needs.

Demand 123

Demand Mentor Startup Coach 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2023

Here are some pragmatic tips on how to make your startup more scalable and investable: If you need investors, start with a scalable idea. Just because all your buddies think an idea is cool, that doesn’t mean it is scalable. Simply stated, it means that your business has the potential to multiply revenue with minimal incremental cost.

Tips 135

Tips Invest Startup Outsource 135

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

The discipline of writing down your plan is the best way to make sure you understand how to transform your idea into a business, and how to communicate it. Not every great idea is a viable business. Dreamers come up with ideas, and do-ers come up with businesses. Convinced that many existing players means room for ‘me-too.’

Startup 124

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2023

Almost every entrepreneur starts their journey by developing a solution, based on their idea of a new technology or required service. These idea and developer skills are necessary, but not sufficient, to build a business. But we can all learn and step up if we get the right guidance. It is a transition built from small changes.

Develop 110

Develop Development Startup Entrepreneur 110

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

This point was illustrated well in the classic book, “ The Power of Positive Destruction: How to Turn a Business Idea Into a Revolution ,” by Seth Merrin. I like his approach to first making sure the idea has the potential for a unique selling proposition, by asking yourself a few key questions: Does the idea solve a painful problem?

Startup 166

Startup Education Ideas Customer 166

Berkonomics

APRIL 13, 2017

The dominant player in any niche controls pricing for all those under it, and often sets the risk profile for new entrants into the niche if the dominant player’s products or services fill the needs of customers at reasonable prices and quality. Some great ideas just can’t make money and ultimately die for lack of profit potential.

Patents 291

Patents Pricing Ideas Marketing 291

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

As a new business advisor and occasional investor, I get approached regularly by people who have a dream or a new business idea, and are looking for support and money to make it a reality. Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2021

With contract players, you assume a project duration, with easy transition to new players for the next campaign. By leveraging this broader network, you will improve your probabilities of finding the right skills and experience for your current project, and bring fresh ideas and solutions into your team. More than 40% of U.S.

Demand 143

Demand Training Outsource Development Organization 143

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2020

These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, pitching their latest and greatest new idea, and looking for someone to give them money. Angel investors, like me, have long figured out that asking to see the prototype is a quick way to separate the ‘wannabes’ from serious players. Quantify the implementation challenges.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 124

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2016

According to Gipper, its new app allows anyone to post, organize, share high school sports, letting players, parents, coaches, schools, and other upload sports highlights. According to Gipper, its new app allows anyone to post, organize, share high school sports, letting players, parents, coaches, schools, and other upload sports highlights.

SoCal 100

SoCal Southern California Coach Incubator 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2023

I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is. Universities and the marketplace are spawning tools like Brainly , which is a learning network or massively multi-player question and answer tool. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics.

Startup 108

Startup Education Entrepreneur Tool 108

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

The idea came from a full-day session we held last year at Upfront. Upfront Ventures has a deep-seated commitment to equality in funding & building diverse teams across all ethnicities, nationalities and genders. We do this not just because it’s the right thing to do but also we believe it will help drive large and differentiated returns.

Venture Capital 284

Venture Capital Coach Ideas Startup 284

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2022

Entrepreneurs and startups are big believers in innovation, but sometimes they forget that innovation must be continual to assure long-term success, rather than the one big-bang idea that initiated their journey. Get the right players on board and enable them to do great things. Hire slowly and fire fast.

Metrics 102

Metrics Startup Organization Demand 102

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

The discipline of writing down your plan is the best way to make sure you understand how to transform your idea into a business, and how to communicate it. Not every great idea is a viable business. Dreamers come up with ideas, and do-ers come up with businesses. Convinced that many existing players means room for ‘me-too.’

Startup 174

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 174

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2011

Only hire A players. There’s an old saying, “A players beget A players. B players beget C players.” Well, A players are discerning and tend to only want to join somewhere where they perceive other A players are. Your ability to keep up is dependent on having a great team of differing skills.

Startup 399

Startup Class Blogging Company 399

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2022

Generously reward your team for learning from innovative ideas, including failures. In my experience with business leaders, real innovation thinking is rare, compared to the urge to add just one more feature to an existing product, or make a small tweak to an existing business model. BlackBerry was left behind.

Competition 139

Competition Examples Customer Custom 139

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

My first suggestion is that entrepreneurs need to forget the old myth that all they need to do is sketch an idea on a napkin, and investors will line up to invest. They are not interested in research and development, or funding at the idea stage. The most investable ventures stem from painful needs by customers who have money to spend.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Invest Funding Patents 108

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2013

What''s the idea behind FieldLevel? We''ve been wildly successful in helping junior college players find four year schools, and helping high school athletes get offers to colleges they''d never known about otherwise. How do you take a process--recruiting of athletes--and make it more efficient, without getting in the way?

Coach 252

Coach USC Statistics Startup 252

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2020

Here are some pragmatic tips on how to make your startup more scalable and investable: If you need investors, start with a scalable idea. Just because all your buddies think an idea is cool, that doesn’t mean it is scalable. Simply stated, it means that your business has the potential to multiply revenue with minimal incremental cost.

Startup 154

Startup Outsource Ideas Research 154

Eric Greenspan

APRIL 11, 2019

TED happened because the need to share great ideas and stories about achievement, wonder, and change, happened. Sharing those ideas was the goal, but the achievements came first” It starts with the idea, or the accomplishment, whether it’s the NHL or TED. The TED carpet that speakers stand on is a red circle.

Writing 179

Writing Ideas Startup Coach 179

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Gate keepers are like goal keepers: rewarded for keeping the other player out of the goal… decision–maker. Another way to approach the gate keeper directly is with a strategic idea or extremely profitable suggestion that he or she can make their own, and enhance their standing within the company.

Ideas 120

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 120

socalTECH

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Where'd the idea for Bragstr come from? Plus, because they were relying on drafting players, you can't do college tams, and you can't go into the post season, because there's a reduced number of players available to pick. We got together, and started to pursue this idea. It's all completely fun.

Sites 237

Sites Startup Activity Ideas 237

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2012

We met and shared ideas and business cards, from the opening party at the Viceroy, to the packed panels starring Silicon Beach accelerators, VCs, startup CEOs, digital content creators, movie, music, games, and PR pros; hackathon, demo days, student pitch fests, parties and more. When's the next one?"

Dollar Shave Club 272

Dollar Shave Club Technical Review Santa Monica Southern California 272

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 9, 2012

Do you have the next big idea for a social game? s monthly active users play games, but only 5% of the players pay to play. Wednesday, August 15, 2012 -- TechBiz Connection Presents Profits in Gaming. Half of Facebook?s Meanwhile, over $2.3B worth of virtual goods were purchased in 2011.

TechBiz 113

TechBiz Activity Ideas 113