Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

Getting customer attention often takes more innovation today than solving the tough technical problems. As a business adviser, I still see too many new venture founders who skimp on their marketing focus, or start too late. It works in fashion, real estate, and certainly in the technical world.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2023

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.

Equity 121

Equity Technical Advisors Funding Ideas 121

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

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. I strongly advise you create a separate bank account and credit card for your business, even though it is all your money. You will also need a line of credit for financing.

Technical Advisors 125

Technical Advisors Startup News Resource 125

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

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

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 2, 2013

Then we discussed how they could go about finding this startup business advisor. Great question and I believe that just like finding a Technical Advisor for your startup is critical, finding a good mentor is critical. These are not mutually exclusive and good mentors and advisors get into both.

CTO Coach 259

CTO Coach Mentor Startup Technical Advisors 259

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

If you're familiar with YCombinator or TechStars, you know that companies also get access to a deep network of top tier mentors and advisors, who help them with a variety of things, such as product marketing, go-to-market, and funding. 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

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. I feel strongly, that if you're going to do this, you need to be technical, or have a technical co-founder. He's based in LA. I went to Michigan with him.

Technical Advisors 100

Technical Advisors Technical Review Metrics Startup 100

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

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

In my business of mentoring new entrepreneurs and advising small company owners, I recognize that most don’t start as experienced leaders, and most don’t realize that people leadership is a primary key to their future success. Building a business is not a one-person job, and leading by edict rarely works today.

Develop 124

Develop Development Technical Advisors Satisfaction 124

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.

Entrepreneur 337

Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Startup Venture Capital 337

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

In my years of advising startups, and also as an occasional angel investor, I still recommend this set of best practices to prepare you for platform applications: Formalize a business entity immediately. Most solo entrepreneurs can’t show the range of experience or skills to build a winning business alone.

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. The specialists to support these may speak different technical as well as communication languages, and be physically dispersed around the world.

Technical Advisors 83

Technical Advisors Tool Software Product 83

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

Unfortunately, too many of the technical entrepreneurs I mentor and advise are focused on their technology, and assume that the value will be self-evident to customers. Tech may be the tool, but hospitality – making life a little easier, more comfortable, and more enjoyable for your customer, is the winning focus.

Technical Advisors 82

Technical Advisors Artificial Inteligence Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

Steve Jobs started his technical career creating circuit boards at Atari, before joining Steve Wozniak to build personal computers in his garage. I advise owners that they have to know when to give up a business, as well as when to buy one. This starts with picking your roles carefully – to be in the right place at the right time.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

Eric Greenspan

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

I checked with our Director of Delight and she assured me we gave a full refund to both and that we formally responded to this within the required time, but the BBB website had a technical issue. Please advise. link] we have been unable to resolve this issue due to technical issues on your site and yet this remains on our profile.

Santa Barbara 265

Santa Barbara Technical Advisors Email Technical Review 265

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

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 75

Technical Advisors Entrepreneur Equity Ideas 75

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2011

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. They don’t insist on something very narrow, with proper technical content. It is in the jargon not “technical.” Different rules around the world.

Patents 91

Patents Software Technical Advisors Innocal 91

Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 28, 2017

The aim, according to the private college’s press release, is to provide “mentoring, advising and access to resources for up to 15 student- and community-run companies with a philanthropic twist.” Salt Lake City, Utah’s Westminster College debuted it’s Social Impact Incubator on August 30 of this year.

Incubator 70

Incubator Santa Clarita Technical Advisors FAQ 70

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2014

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. They don’t insist on something very narrow, with proper technical content. Different rules around the world. What I have described so far is the situation in the US.

Patents 100

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 100

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Despite this technical glitch, I opted to publish our discussion, given the high-quality content of his comments. Len remains an active advisor to several startups. In this regard, I asked him to share the lessons from his early days of online marketing that remain relevant to the startups he currently advises.

Google 220

Google Technical Advisors Technical Review Equity 220

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2016

I still generally advise software startups to file a patent as a barrier to entry from competitors and to increase their valuation by investors, but every entrepreneur needs to understand the tradeoffs. The patent application process has become a legal negotiation. Patents can become a commodity for buying and selling.

Patents 53

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 53

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

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 80

Technical Advisors Startup Equity Ideas 80

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

In these kinds of businesses I’m on the record as advising “ Ring the Freakin Cash Register.” You technically have more gas left but you never know if some unexpected circumstance causes you to run out of gas. Valuation. I wanted to call out special attention to valuation in this debate.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2012

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. They don’t insist on something very narrow, with proper technical content. Different rules around the world. What I have described so far is the situation in the US.

Patents 93

Patents Software Technical Advisors Startup 93

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2011

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. We retained legal council in Milan and were advised that we would loose if the case went to trial.

Startup 90

Startup Technical Advisors Sales Examples 90

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2010

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. They don’t insist on something very narrow, with proper technical content. It is in the jargon not “technical.” Patents are litigation intensive.

Patents 50

Patents Software Technical Advisors IBM 50

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

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. When I was CEO of my first company (where I admittedly F’d up everything before I figured it all out) we initially calculated for people how much there options were going to be worth some day.

Startup 418

Startup Technical Advisors Venture Capital Santa Monica 418

Jason Nazar

APRIL 7, 2011

You take no interest nor show any curiosity in how technical systems are built or maintained, and Engineering is the least valued/respected part of your organization. The WannaBe Board of Advisor. What’s the Remedy: Don’t ever offer to be a Board of Advisor unless your asked first. Self-Entitled Social-Media HotShots.

Technical Advisors 112

Technical Advisors Startup Social Media Ideas 112

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2010

More importantly, as a parent or mentor, what should you advise young potential entrepreneurs about getting an MBA? If you have a technical career with no business background, and you want to start your own business, an MBA can be a blessing by giving you the basic knowledge you need to manage your business.

Entrepreneur 60

Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Education Social Network 60

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. In the early days you don’t really want 3 extra teams hearing your ideas and gearing up to compete before you feel you’ve got a solid head start.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

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