Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2021

Net out the problem and your solution in the first 30 seconds. Pitch your company, not your product. Disciplining yourself to write down the plan is actually the best way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. Successful startups are all about the right people with the right stuff. Executive summary glossy.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Tips Funding Startup 156

Eric Greenspan

JULY 9, 2012

As I write this, the articles and comments about my company’s demise continue. Someone called my company a scam today. We built an amazing company, full of amazing people, doing amazing things. When I started this company, the desktop and WindowsXP were all the rage. This is what happened to our company.

IBM 191

IBM IBM .Net Writing 191

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2015

We come to the end of this cycle of insights with a thought about how you might view your successful exit from the company you have spent so much effort to build. Email readers, continue here…] First there comes a sense of relief, knowing that you no longer need to worry over daily cash or threats to your net worth.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Writing .Net Sales 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2020

Although customers today are comfortable providing personal information in return for a better experience, they are also quick to write you off if you misuse the data, disclose it, or use it to push irrelevant products. Supplement this feedback with more formal modern satisfaction surveys, like the Net Promoter Score.

Customer 133

Customer Custom Social Media Startup 133

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

What changed — and why the definition changed — was it became 90+% cheaper to start companies and thus seed funds appeared en masse as did angels so the size of seed rounds actually INCREASED and the size of A-rounds in many instances decreased. So VCs started writing some smaller A-rounds. Why the latter?

Seed Funding 399

Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Derek Norton: I just closed on a new fund, worth $5M, which I raised from a group of high net worth, high profile LPs. We are going to write checks of between $100,000 and $500,000, and we are going to invest in what we are calling first institutional capital. Tell us about the new fund?

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2015

People cite sources like this BusinessWeek story a while back “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ,” or even my own article on this subject, “ 10 Reasons Not To Write A Business Plan First.” Net out the problem and your solution in the first 30 seconds. Pitch your company, not your product.

Startup 104

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Slides 104

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly. This statement leaves no confusion in the minds of investors, or customers, of what the company does and how it is different (and better) than the competition. The net value of this solution from the customer’s perspective.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

So founders took fewer risks and at the societal level with fewer companies taking fewer expansion risks job creation is weaker. After all, if people feel more of a safety net for trying and not succeeding more people are bound to try in the first place and more innovation is almost inevitable.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. I commented briefly on his blog and made a mental note to write a blog post. At the time he granted me permission to write about his story. So he decided to start his company in Canada.

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Startup High Tech Software Review 282

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

People cite sources like this BusinessWeek story last year “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ,” or even my own article a while back, “ 10 Reasons Not To Write A Business Plan First.” Net out the problem and your solution in the first 30 seconds. Pitch your company, not your product. Executive summary glossy.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

Tech.Co

APRIL 11, 2018

Plenty of workers have had enough: In the final quarter of 2017, according to real estate company Redfin , more residents left San Francisco than any other major U.S. You’d be forgiven, then, for assuming the city is seeing a net loss of tech workers. But, you’d be wrong, according to a new report out from LinkedIn.

Report 70

Report .Net Template Writing 70

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? Most VCs fund companies with a degree of traction.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

70–80% of the costs of most startups are employee costs so what you’re really talking about when a company is unprofitable is that they are growing their staff ahead of their revenue. Are you looking to potentially sell the company in the next year or two? I often ask entrepreneurs to consider, “What’s your objective?

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

Investor in Twitter, Foursquare, DISQUS, and (by Naval’s own admission) “a lot of other companies you have never heard of”. When great companies really hit, all the investors want in and there isn’t enough room. Long-term, we may start investing in some of these companies as they go through. Former Founder Epinions.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

Great companies are comprised of great individual point people or functional leaders. But when I’m looking to write my check I need to look in the eyes of the captain — the maestro who brings the whole orchestra together. There are plenty of great leaders who work really hard and work for big companies. They finally quit.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about: A fund-raising deck that articulates your company strategy, plans, team, market, competitors and so forth. VCs (and LPs) have a vested interest in having more data, whether they want to invest in your company / firm or not.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

LPs have been feeling great about venture capital due to holding valuable paper positions in companies like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Dropbox, all of which they feel confident will drive large cash distributions in the future. In fact, if you add the capital flows of the past ten years, there have been just shy of $50 billion in net cash outlays.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

And she didn’t start her company in Northern California. Tracy built her company, Recycled Media , out of necessity. She drove her company to profitability before paying herself a modest salary. She put all of her savings into her company. In one year of Airbnb Tracy netted more than $28,000.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. Selling at smaller retailers will net you fewer customers and higher margins.

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2010

As of the last four months, we've had about 200,000 plus downloads, a bunch of great write ups, and a lot of mom bloggers who have been reviewing the app and writing stories on it. The net-net, is they want to simplify their lives, and we've given them an application that allows them to simplify their life, save money, and share.

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2012

Usually it’s on behalf of a portfolio company. And if you send an intro to a company once without asking – no problem. My belief – unless you know the VC really well (you’re a portfolio company of theirs, for example) I’d always ask for permission first. Helping with a Sales Lead. I do this often.

Email 359

Email Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 359

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

Microsoft as a company also donates its products and services to help those less fortunate. We’ve all used Microsoft at one point or another, whether it’s when we run Windows on our laptop, write up a report in MS Words, play the last game on Kinect, or send an email to a coworker through Exchange (using Outlook). Giving back.

Writing 88

Writing Training Email .Net 88

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

After 4 years of retail she went to “the other side of the business&# working for a clothing brand where she sold apparel to department stores and other companies. “There are so many places you can go on the Net where you can find your community. This is where she first developed sales skills. Start early.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Venture Capital Entrepreneur 311

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2018

By far the most effective technique for improving your writing is simply carrying out user readability tests on every piece of content, and really listening to feedback. No company exists in a vacuum. Make your solution and company symbiotic but better than competitors. Usability problems kill conversions. Keep sentences short.

SEO 53

SEO Tips Newsletter Statistics 53

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

Net out the problem and your solution in the first 30 seconds. Pitch your company, not your product. Disciplining yourself to write down the plan is actually the best way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. Successful startups are all about the right people with the right stuff. Executive summary glossy.

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2013

I’m sure you have all been frustrated at least once by not being able to get the Internet domain name you want for your company. and.me, as well as allowing companies to set up their own top-level domains. I suggest following these steps to get the name you need for your business: First pick the right company and matching domain name.

Startup 87

Startup Pricing Tips .Net 87

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2013

Cash is king when it comes to the financial management of a growing company, so this is not the place for shortcuts and sloppy practices. No matter how small your company is today, there are more moving financial parts than you can manage dynamically in your head. You can be on budget, and still run out of cash.

Startup 114

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 114

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” in 2014 the data seems pretty conclusive because LA has now become the fastest growing tech startup region by numbers of companies being started and those of us here have noticed this pace accelerating. Both are massively funding other LA tech companies through what Fred Wilson once defined as “recycled capital.”

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2010

Based on a survey just last year by Robert Half Technology , over half of today’s companies block social networks completely, while another 19 percent only permit it "for business purposes." The net is that most companies do dare to put restrictions on social networks “at work.” To me, the answers are clear.

Social Network 87

Social Network Networking Tool Sites 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2016

Cash is king when it comes to the financial management of a growing company, so diligence is required. No matter how small your company is today, there are more moving financial parts than you can manage dynamically in your head. You can be on budget, and still run out of cash.

Startup 64

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 64

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

The value proposition is a short statement that clearly communicates the target customer, the customer’s problem and the pain that it causes, the unique solution that addresses this problem, and the net benefit of this solution (value derived versus relative cost) from the customer's perspective.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

It was recommended to me by my friend, Net Jacobsson , who was trying to do some basic Life Hacking. But Net had told me that he picked up some valuable lessons from the book, so I thought, “WTF? Want to take a year pursuing your dream to write a screenplay, travel through Asia, run a triathlon or start your own fashion line?

Startup 295

Startup Email Technical Review Course 295

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 26, 2012

Miselu presented their first prototype, neiro, this year at SXSW for an early debut of what is to come from the company. Miselu is his third company, the first in consumer electronics. Press, Pause, Play ‘s message of mediocrity is one that musical hardware device maker of this year’s SXSW, Miselu , plans to overcome.

Press 100

Press Ideas Product Activity 100

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 13, 2010

As noted in Net Profit Score , salespeople have used references as a means of establishing credibility with strangers for hundreds of years. Thus, cite quantified results, such as percentage growth in revenue, number of new accounts closed, Net Promoter Scores achieved, etc. Start by writing a draft of your reference.

Startup 113

Startup .Net Organization Networking 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

It has historically been the case that VCs would rather fund the promise of 100x in a company with almost no revenue than the reality of a company growing at 50% but doing $20+ million in sales. Goliath” mythology take on the titans of industry and wins. This “overnight success” was first financed in 2004.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363