Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2021

They dream of appearing at the door, with their idea on the back of a napkin, and popping out a few months later with investor money to burn. His tests focus on personality traits alone (ignoring your startup idea), looking for fluid intelligence, openness, and agreeableness. Expert mentoring and training. Initial funding.

Incubator 146

Incubator Technical Review Entrepreneur Mentor 146

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Partially due to the pandemic, but also due to longer, healthier lives and changes in job tenure, Boomers are now expected to stay in the labor force longer, and according to projections , could actually dominate the labor market by 2024. In terms of job creation, innovation, and productivity, entrepreneurs drive growth.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Technical Support Entrepreneur Startup 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2020

Entrepreneurs need to be effective team leaders, since no one can transform an idea into a product and a business without some help. Unfortunately many founders I work with as a mentor are experts on the technical side, but have no insight into leading a team. Have monthly reviews with each team member.

Technical Review 130

Technical Review Startup Development Team Review Activity 130

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2017

Most business mentors tell me that the single biggest problem they have to deal with in small companies is the lack of open, honest, and effective communication, both from the top down and from the bottom up. Founders have to communicate their ideas and products to investors, business partners, and the rest of the team.

Mentor 61

Mentor Technical Review Entrepreneur Guide 61

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

In this world of constant change, new technologies, and a thousand cultures, it’s evident and somehow comforting to me that the basic rules for business prosperity really haven’t changed in the last hundred years. Business success is still more about the people than the technology or idea involved. Master-mind alliance.

Technical Review 119

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Custom 119

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2017

Entrepreneurs are people who dream up new ideas, and then commercialize them into new businesses. Most people believe that the hard part is coming up with the idea, and the easy part is turning it into a business. In today’s world, the market evolves even faster than the technology. Communication must be proactive, not reactive.

Ideas 72

Ideas Startup Metrics Entrepreneur 72

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

It seems inherent in the mind of most first-time entrepreneurs that it was their idea, and they must do all the work themselves to make it happen. In my role as mentor and advisor to many founders, I consistently fail in convincing them of the power in wise delegation. You need to divide and conquer.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Ideas Startup Entrepreneur 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2023

Inside the organization, it also pays to offer some of your time for coaching and mentoring to less experienced team members, as an entrée to a supportive relationship. I have seen too many careers and businesses fail due to projects that went off the rails. Graduate from an idea person to one who delivers results.

Startup 121

Startup Satisfaction Technical Review Ideas 121

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

Some get stuck in a rut and get run over by competitors with new technology, like Eastman Kodak, and others get pushed into a crisis, like Apple did, before they reinvent themselves into a new market. Here are the key recommendations from both of us, based on my own business mentoring insights: Re-launch using your enhanced core competency.

Technical Review 99

Technical Review Marketing Mentor Entrepreneur 99

Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2018

Fortunately, for those headed to SXSW, Startup Night SXSW 2018 , presented by the Kauffman Foundation and TechCo, will be filled with investors from a multitude of industries who are looking to discover and fund startups building the latest solutions and tech innovations. Blackwell, iTech Program Executive & OCT Innovation Liaison, NASA.

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Startup Software Review Entrepreneur 70

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most have the technical challenges well understood, but many are a bit short on some basic street smarts , or basic business realities. With information overload due to the Internet, you need to find your customers, rather than assume they will find you.

Entrepreneur 173

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Technical Review 173

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. Consistently review and respond to relevant online feedback. A positive personal brand will give your product instant credibility.

Product 127

Product Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Technical Review 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2022

Most business mentors tell me that the single biggest problem they have to deal with in small companies is the lack of open, honest, and effective communication, both from the top down and from the bottom up. Founders have to communicate their ideas and products to investors, business partners, and the rest of the team.

Technical Review 137

Technical Review Entrepreneur Guide Mentor 137

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

What are the biggest areas of technical risk? What technology research is required? What technologies will we use? What do we need to do to make sure we can survive technical due diligence by investors and partners? What specific technical innovations might make sense? How can we address this risk?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans take too much time, are inaccurate, and rarely add value. They can iterate and evolve their business idea with a low burn rate and minimal dependencies. On the other hand, your mother probably won’t read one.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2014

Some get stuck in a rut and get run over by competitors with new technology, like Eastman Kodak, and others get pushed into a crisis, like Apple did, before they reinvent themselves into a new market. Use that same technical and business expertise that served you well on this startup to find the next opportunity.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Technical Review Mentor Summary 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

Some get stuck in a rut and get run over by competitors with new technology, like Eastman Kodak, and others get pushed into a crisis, like Apple did, before they reinvent themselves into a new market. Here are the key recommendations from both of us, based on my own business mentoring insights: Re-launch using your enhanced core competency.

Technical Review 59

Technical Review Mentor Entrepreneur Custom 59

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2012

For the last week of the year, we're featuring the thoughts and reflections of some of the movers and shakers of Southern California's high tech community. We asked the same four questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next week.

Dollar Shave Club 272

Dollar Shave Club Technical Review Santa Monica Southern California 272

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2019

Partially due to the economy, but also due to longer, healthier lives and changes in job tenure, Boomers are now expected to stay in the labor force longer, and according to a USNews article, will likely dominate the labor market by 2024. In terms of job creation, innovation, and productivity, entrepreneurs drive growth.

Startup 119

Startup Technical Review Technical Support Entrepreneur 119

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

You can review all the specifics of this approach in the classic book by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom, appropriately titled “ Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation ,” but I will net it out here. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Custom Customer Entrepreneur 143

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2020

In this world of constant change, new technologies, and a thousand cultures, it’s evident and somehow comforting to me that the basic rules for business prosperity really haven’t changed in the last hundred years. Business success is still more about the people than the technology or idea involved. Master-mind alliance.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Custom 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2019

In reality, it takes a collaboration of many good people to build and run a business, even though the original idea probably did come from that innovative entrepreneur. Solo or autocratic entrepreneurs usually don’t survive, due to required skills and a workload far beyond the capacity of a single human.

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Technical Review Ideas Tool 94

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

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

I’m a believer in the old saying that investors look for great people, more than great ideas. For example, even though Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook as an innovative product, most experts believe it was successful due to his relationship with Peter Thiel and other top VCs that he convinced to invest early.

Startup 113

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

According to the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, the projects were selected by more than thirty members of the LA business and entrepreneurial community, who reviewed the proposals and mentored the research teams involved. USC Stevens said that the Ideas Empowered program was funded by James C. READ MORE>>.

USC 170

USC Funding Southern California Technical Review 170

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2022

One of the attributes that I often recommend to the business professionals and entrepreneurs I mentor is to always be totally accountable for your actions and ideas. Generously give credit to others where credit is due. Be available for mentoring and coaching to others. The same is true with team goals and expectations.

Activity 109

Activity Organization Mentor Training 109

Xconomy

NOVEMBER 13, 2016

View the Slideshow A little more than a year ago, amid a resurgence in San Diego’s software sector, Xconomy identified a baker’s dozen of local tech companies to watch in 2016. The idea was to feature early stage companies in the region that have not attracted much attention or raised a substantial amount of startup capital.

San Diego 40

San Diego Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Startup 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2022

In my role as a mentor, I challenge every business leader to be more open-minded as they face the challenges of change and new competitors entering their space. Technology, competitors, and customers are changing every day, so the “ tried and trusted ” ways you do things need to be reviewed and updated regularly.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Custom Customer Social Media 120

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

I have often thought that creative endeavors where one has a quick turn-around between idea and realization of one’s work as one of the more fulfilling experiences in life. Almost no financings, many VCs and tech startups cratered for the second time in less than a decade following the dot com bursting. There was no money train.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2019

In the entrepreneur world, it’s still a popular misconception that the “idea” is everything. Even though investors, like myself, have long made it clear that we invest in people, not ideas, new venture owners insist on talking about their latest “ million dollar idea ,” rather than their “ million dollar team.”

IBM 87

IBM IBM Ideas Technical Review 87

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 8, 2011

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. It’s a gathering of friends and tech enthusiasts of all stripes. This Spotlight takes place Thursday, July 14, at The California Institute of Technology (CalTech). RSVP: AGENDA.

CalTech 100

CalTech Technical Review Company Companies 100

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, technology has served you well. In 2006, a passion to help startups grew into Tech Cocktail , a company whose mission was to showcased burgeoning companies in bars around the country. The Case Foundation invests in people and ideas that can change the world.

Startup 140

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 140

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2016

The idea is to have a partnership between Cedars-Sinai and Techstars, where we select ten healthcare startup companies focused on innovative technology and care delivery in healthcare. Both sets of mentors re really united to help drive the pace of growth of these startups, must faster than they might have grown traditionally.

Mentor 100

Mentor Startup Coach Ideas 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2016

The idea is to have a partnership between Cedars Sinai and Techstars, where we select ten healthcare startup companies focused on innovative technology and care delivery in healthcare. Both sets of mentors re really united to help drive the pace of growth of these startups, must faster than they might have grown traditionally.

Mentor 100

Mentor Startup Coach Ideas 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2019

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have no idea how dramatically your own role has to evolve as you develop a solution, start a business, and expect it to scale into a successful self-managed company. Lead and mentor team members to run all business areas. All teams must be motivated and engaged by your leadership and mentoring.

Company 99

Company Companies Technical Review Startup 99

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

chapter of the Media, Entertainment and Technology Alliance (METal) and the voice of KenRadio's World Technology Roundup on CBS Radio, Rutkowski has recruited a roster of mentors to coach entrepreneurs who enroll in the institute's programs in LA. What role do the mentors play? The mentors at the L.A.

Mentor 185

Mentor Class Entertainment Technical Review 185

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2015

Entrepreneurs need to be effective team leaders, since no one can transform an idea into a product and a business without some help. Unfortunately many founders I work with as a mentor are experts on the technical side, but have no insight into leading a team. Have monthly reviews with each team member.

Technical Review 99

Technical Review Tips Development Team Review Startup 99