Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

To be effective at sales you need to really understand the business of the person who will buy your product. It’s the key to growing a successful business and is a theme the Steve Blank plays up a lot. You need to keep your relationships up.&#. You already know that&# ), in sales and more broadly as an entrepreneur.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Venture Capital Entrepreneur 311

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2015

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

Startup 104

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Slides 104

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

” Here’s how all the drama started for me. A rounds back then seemed to be anywhere from $2-3 million (LA or NYC) or up to $5 million in Silicon Valley. $5 So VCs started writing some smaller A-rounds. If you want a great primer on how the VC and startup funding scene changed here’s a great primer.

Seed Funding 399

Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I find that I often have to remind them that the world of customers has changed since they started their last business. Start with employees and executives who are willing to really listen to customers, and make them do it regularly. Regularly ask your customers what they think and why.

Customer 133

Customer Custom Social Media Startup 133

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2014

Sponsored by VISA Business If you have a unique product or service, and you are not selling it around the world on the Internet, now is the time to start. In the early days (20 years ago), most new e-commerce sites, for example, cost a million dollars to set up. Start simple. The cost of entry has never been lower.

Startup 100

Startup Commerce Sites Blogging 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. They often make great team members such as head of products, CTO, head of sales, CFO, etc. And we’re lucky because they deliver many of the great products, services and content that we consume in our lives every day.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you. Executive summary glossy.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

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. Let me start by saying I’m a huge business book cynic. But Net had told me that he picked up some valuable lessons from the book, so I thought, “WTF? You’re on the DS (deferred startup) plan.

Startup 295

Startup Email Technical Review Course 295

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

If you have a unique creation or invention, and you are not selling it around the world on the Internet, now is the time to start. In the early days (20 years ago), most new e-commerce sites cost a million dollars to set up. The cost for the domain name is maybe $10/year, and the hosting starts around $50/year. Start simple.

Commerce 99

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 99

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2012

More likely they either end up finding an excuse not to meet, delaying a meeting indefinitely or in most cases actually taking a meeting. Ask yourself the tough question about how you might spend that time more productively getting your job done well. Over-introducers also consume a lot of personal time in making intros.

Email 359

Email Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 359

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2013

The sad truth is that cash flow surprises kill many startups, even though they should have been adequately funded to survive. Of course, you can’t predict everything, but writing down what you know will identify existing problems sooner, and allow other team members to help. Your startup may be profitable, but broke.

Startup 114

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 114

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

Value Prop Twitter Style : AngelList is the productization of raising startup funding. 6) Naval, why does the startup world need AngelList and Venture Hacks? . “As AngelList is the productization of that. These days, thanks to code and community, we can productize almost any process done by humans.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

If you have a unique creation or invention, and you are not selling it around the world on the Internet, now is the time to start. In the early days (20 years ago), most new e-commerce sites cost a million dollars to set up. The cost for the domain name is maybe $10/year, and the hosting starts around $50/year. Start simple.

Commerce 88

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 88

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? Where are you planning making investments?

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2016

In the new business world, many entrepreneurs are so excited with large initial orders that they don’t anticipate the cash flow challenges that can quickly kill their startup. Of course, you can’t predict everything, but writing down what you know will identify existing problems sooner, and allow other team members to help.

Startup 64

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 64

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 29, 2013

The following six tactics will help ensure that your future matchmaking efforts will be welcomed and productive for all parties involved. Proper Context – If the context of the intro is the least bit unclear, I ask the person requesting the introduction to write a paragraph or two that I can forward to the target contact.

Email 256

Email RSS Social Media .Net 256

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

After considering about 200 investment opportunities over the past two years, we have established a decision making process to identify trophy entrepreneurs and startups. A poorly understood value proposition causes false starts, lost time, costly mid course corrections and general frustration for all stakeholders involved.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 10, 2013

If you have a unique creation or invention, and you are not selling it around the world on the Internet, now is the time to start. In the early days (20 years ago), most new e-commerce sites cost a million dollars to set up. The cost for the domain name is maybe $10/year, and the hosting starts around $50/year. Start simple.

Sites 78

Sites Commerce Startup Tool 78

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

If you are a leader at a startup and you are reading a business book, you are not closing customers, raising capital, improving your product, or spending time with your loved ones. If you are curious as to why a serial entrepreneur who does not generally appreciate business books gives Enchantment a thumbs-up, read on….

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

We’ve all become so used to having Microsoft in our lives that we’ve started to take their products and services for granted. Since then, Microsoft has come out with product after product, always improving and innovating – and you can keep counting on it to keep doing so. came out in 1985. 2. 1.0,

Writing 88

Writing Training Email .Net 88

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. It’s a made-up term and not even a good one at that. ” Don’t.

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2010

For our interview today, we caught up with Al Eisaian , CEO of Pasadena-based IconApps (www.iconapps.com), which is developing mobile applications for the iPhone market. We caught up with Al recently to hear about his latest startup. How did you end up in the mobile market from last running an enterprise software firm?

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

Founded in the summer of 2011 and their first product out a few weeks ago amSTATS wants to help users to follow fitness events and programs near them and find a great fitness trainer to help them stay fit. TechZulu caught up with Michael Piermont, amSTATZ Chief Executive Officer and this is what he revealed. What problem do you solve?

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Does the world really need more servers in more datacenters gobbling up more power to send more tweets and Facebook pages around the world? That’s what we’ve started to tackle and the mission RightScale is on. 9) The story of how you started RightScale is classic. But throughout the transition I had my safety net.

Cloud Computing 188

Cloud Computing Santa Barbara EC2 Startup 188

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

This morning's interview is with San Diego-based Kadonk (www.kadonk.com), a startup which is creating project management tools that work with Microsoft Project. We spoke with Dipanshu Sharma, Chairman of the firm, to learn more about the company and its products. There was a disconnect between the product and the sales process.

Startup 100

Startup Software Review Technical Review Software 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2018

Even more disappointing are other statistics that show most websites that do exist have a very low “conversion rate,” or ratio of visitors to the site versus ones who meet your goal of buying a product or signing up for a newsletter. Use Net Promoter Score (NPS) to help you turn visitors into raving fans. Keep sentences short.

SEO 53

SEO Tips Newsletter Statistics 53

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Ive not found that much use for LinkedIn to help my blogging, but Im starting to think about this. I am in the middle of writing up some of my thoughts on this and will post about it and let you know. Im very happy with the time Ive spent building up my LinkedIn network. I definitely check people out using LinkedIn.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

We live in interesting times where working at a startup is glamorized to the point that many founders even refer to their team members as “rock stars,” which to my ears is cringe worthy. Running a startup is a grind. Great programmers are artists, for sure, but rock stars is about the last definition I’d choose.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2010

" The blocking percentages are still going up, rather than down. Beyond wasted productivity and network bandwidth, here are ten additional reasons given by employers in a recent Network World article for why they continue to place these restrictions: Data leaks – social networks are all about easy sharing, and employees go too far.

Social Network 87

Social Network Networking Tool Sites 87

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A This applies equally to VCs, startups & big company executives. The need for creativity extends well beyond product design. When I write a blog post I often see the words before I write them. Many people are visual thinkers.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. Thus, while we maintain a healthy degree of optimism, we begin each funding discussion knowing that most nascent startups are not worthy of an investment, until we prove them otherwise. Unicornless.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

Facebook popularized the short-form “status update&# and this initially is called the “feed&# but over time starts to become known as the “ stream.&# Twitter then popularizes the idea of having only a stream (e.g. So we ended up with “real-time streams&# in Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Blip.FM, etc.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

As I write these words I already imagine my next deposition in which I’m asked to read this out loud. They were then sued for trademark infringement by a foreign company who had no product, no customers and no employees in the US. So why exactly have lawsuits (anecdotally) picked up so much in the past 5 years?

Startup 150

Startup IP Writing Ideas 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

The Valley has obsessed with a quick up-and-to-right momentum story because we were thought to live in “winner take most” markets. But markets have changed and I think investors, founders and experienced executives who want to join later-stage startups can all benefit from playing the long game. It literally drove FOMO.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2009

A Writer Is Someone Who Writes. A writer is someone who writes, not someone who goes about telling their friends that they are “a writer”. Dreaming is great, but if you never wake up and act upon your dreams you might as well stay in bed. For instance, when you were growing up, did you partake in any of the following activities?

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Ideas Writing Startup 153