Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Having a great idea in the wrong place won’t get you the funding you need, the experienced domain experts you want, or the pilot market results you need for survival.

Startup 97

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 97

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

He came to work in our offices at Upfront Ventures as an EIR and immediately began building software to improve how storage was picked up, photographed, scanned and routed to a warehouse. Sam began drawing out plans for a new way to provide storage after he had horrific experiences with traditional storage after the storm.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Having a great idea in the wrong place won’t get you the funding you need, the experienced domain experts you want, or the pilot market results you need for survival.

Startup 109

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 109

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2017

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Having a great idea in the wrong place won’t get you the funding you need, the experienced domain experts you want, or the pilot market results you need for survival.

Sites 59

Sites Startup Technical Review Oracle 59

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

It allows you to share private and confidential information about your company, and have a dialog with your investors, within a walled garden where you can put the documents you need for diligence. For investors, it gives them a dash board of key metrics, and ensures those investors stay in the loop. Who would find this most useful?

Southern California 243

Southern California Entrepreneur Software Review Yammer 243

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2013

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Having a great idea in the wrong place won’t get you the funding you need, the experienced domain experts you want, or the pilot market results you need for survival.

Startup 102

Startup Technical Review Oracle Entrepreneur 102

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

While Google and Facebook will buy “acquihires” (at least as of Dec 2011), many acquirers hate the idea of buying companies that aren’t profitable. As I like to say, “If you’re really on to an enormous idea then other people in the market are going to spot that and want to compete with you. Internet scale.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It says that selling an airplane ticket for $500 and getting paid a $5 fees by the airlines (1% gross margin) is not the same thing as selling $500 of software that you built (>90% gross margin). Sam did all this analysis before even deciding to build V1 of his software and before we put serious money behind him launching.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years. " Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. Usually a terrible idea as runway extension.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

What existing systems will we leverage, what programming languages, software development methodologies, web application frameworks, revision control systems, etc.? What do we need to do to make sure we can survive technical due diligence by investors and partners? What are the biggest areas of technical risk? Accounting?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1. If you want to understand the details of why this is, I covered it in detail in this post, Understanding Changes in the Software Industry.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

Design the full stack, not just a new software element. The idea is to build excellence in one area, and get the rest from the ecosystem. With a singular focus on building unicorns, very rapid growth has been a key metric. Indeed these principles are good for all startups Connect ideas and networks from around the world.

Capital 138

Capital Marketing Ideas Venture Capital 138

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2020

Design the full stack, not just a new software element. The idea is to build excellence in one area, and get the rest from the ecosystem. With a singular focus on building unicorns, very rapid growth has been a key metric. Indeed these principles are good for all startups Connect ideas and networks from around the world.

Ideas 124

Ideas Venture Capital Software Review Technical Review 124

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. What if someone copies your awesome business idea? No, the question is: What are doing now knowing that a big company will copy your idea? Metrics availability.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217