Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2015

Since the recession, and at least partially sparked by it, I’m seeing a real resurgence of entrepreneurial spirit, and more startup activity than ever before. The rate of new entrepreneurs increased about 10 percent, from 280 out of 100,000 adults in the 2014 Startup Activity Index, to 310 out of 100,000 adults in the 2015 Index.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

He eventually founded and sold consumer health firm ViSalus to a public company and is now back making investments, in technology companies, as a venture capitalist here at Los Angeles-based HashtagOne (www.hashtagone.com). Tell us a bit of the story on how you started HashtagOne? What's the theme of your investments?

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Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2014

The very mention of the word fundraising can illicit some powerful emotions among entrepreneurs. On one end, entrepreneurs who have (at minimum) built something customers love and are willing to pay for, and the other hand, investors who are looking for the very companies who fit that profile. From Finance to Crowd-Investing.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

I recently read a blog post by Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director of Sapphire Ventures about why entrepreneurs should care about from whom their VC funds raise their capital. There are a lot of things I think entrepreneurs should care about when raising from a VC: How big or small their fund is? I could go on for a long time.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2015

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). Rose, according to his recent book, “ Angel Investing.” billion collected in 2014.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2015

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan. Calculate investment amounts and timing.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. It’s the first EIR that we’ve had in the years that I’ve been with the firm and I hope will be the start of our investment in this program.

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Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, technology has served you well. Fortunately, the Startup of the Year program aims to make it easier for founders to connect with resources. BlackTech Week was created in 2014, and in four short years, they’ve gained over 2700 participants, 150 speakers, and 3 pitch competitions.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

The speaks to the continued confidence in the venture capital markets and as I had predicted some time ago the VC markets right now are a great place to invest – especially relative to other places to put one’s money. Our last fund we raised was in 2012 and we began investing it in April of 2012.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs. ” Still.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

We started March Capital in late 2013. We did our first close in the summer of 2014, and over the first nine months we raised our fund and started investing. Fund I was fully deployed by June 30th of 2017, and we went out to raised Fund II, which was a wet close, where you invest as you close.

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Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 21, 2014

Introducing Bitcoinference | A Decentralized Conference , hosted by illustrious startup accelerator, 500 Startups. Bitcoin has had a rough start to the year (to say the least) – with a never-ending news feed consisting of massive bankruptcy , scandal stories, and car chase media fiascos. Getting Things Started.

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Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

Mega startup campuses, the latest trend in coworking, are spreading their wings in Europe. As the founding head of Campus London , Google’s first physical hub for startups and now home to over 80,000 registered members, I thought it would be interesting to share the latest developments in this space from my perspective.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. But how does any entrepreneur know which ideas to implement, and which ones are best left behind? business entrepreneur idea reality check startup'

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. Here I make the case that entrepreneurs must stay focused on the prize, not the doubters. Entrepreneurs. ” **. It can be one of the strongest motivators.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

I often advise startup companies not to try and pin all of your brand equity into an announcement. It’s something you must earn over time by living up to the name you define. We are trying hard to live up to the guidelines we laid out for our investors, our portfolio companies and our community. It would be out of sync.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly. A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. Individual angel investors have been filling the gap, and now match VCs in total amount invested.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

We spoke with CEO and co-founder Dan LeBlanc , a veteran of ProFlowers and FTD, on how he started the company and he problem the startup is solving for direct to consumer brands. What does your startup do? What's your background, and how did the startup come about? Dan LeBlanc: Daasity is about two years old.,

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Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 25, 2014

Tons of great conversations about new startups, hardware, and the entrepreneurs building them. To cap off our 6th year at SXSW and follow up on last year’s amazingly successful Trend Lounge , we knew this year had to be bigger, better, more engaging, and of course, even more fun. A hit with the SXSW party crowd).

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Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 18, 2013

TechZulu is excited to invite you to the 2014 Startup and Entrepreneurial Forecast taking place on Tuesday Jan. We will have a line up of amazing panelist who will share their insights and forecast for startup trends in 2014. 28 from 7pm-10pm in Santa Monica. There will be plenty of FREE food and drinks!

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

Los Angeles-based AppOnboard , the startup developing mobile app demo and analytics software, has raised $15M more in a funding round, the company said on Tuesday morning. Zweig is a serial entrepreneur , and was the founding CEO and President of AdColony (which sold to Opera for $350 Million in June of 2014). READ MORE>>.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2014

I’m a strong believer that investors invest in people, before they invest in a business plan, or an idea. The good news is that both of these are looking up these days. Co-founder companies are the norm in California, but 40-50% of the startups in New York and Massachusetts have only one founder. Marty Zwilling.

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Funding Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup 108

Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2018

Getting face time with VCs or people of influence is an ongoing challenge for startup founders, and it may take layers of introductions to get to the right person. Lisha is a member of Pipeline Angels , a social impact angel investing group focused on women and non-binary femmes, and serves as the Deal Flow lead.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

My good friend Adam Lilling and I started Launchpad more than 5 years ago . I had witnessed a number of early-stage tech startups in LA raise seed capital from the Bay Area and relocate. By 2011 the market had started to change dramatically. Adam had a full time startup and then was doing consulting (he later raised a VC fund).

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. There is no room in this realm for negativism, excuses, or lack of confidence.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Cashflow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. The best entrepreneurs manage cashflow ruthlessly and never delegate decisions about spending money. They understand startup realities.

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Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 105

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2017

The top 10 companies only make up 45 percent of the entire space. In the last few years, we've seen a spurt of activity where technology has started to penetrate the industry, and has started to change it. Scott Cannon: We started in 2012, when it was basically a couple of people on a telephone and the yellow pages.

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 25, 2016

It is no secret that the number of private companies with valuations in excess of one billion dollars has skyrocketed since the start of 2014. As show in CBInsight’s chart, the number of such “unicorns” created during the first half of 2014 was roughly equivalent to the number created during the prior three years.

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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. Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, lawyers, venture capitalists, or Angels. Start simple. Download free website tools.

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socalTECH

JUNE 13, 2019

We caught up with Pluto TV's co-founder and Chief Growth Officer, Ilya Pozin , to hear about how the company started, and its path to acquisitionas well as to get some tips on startup success. Ilya also founded Coplex, a startup development studio. What's your story and how did you end up founding Pluto TV?

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2014

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. One of these experts, David T. Social-media advertising. Cold calling.

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Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

The Annual TechZulu Startup Forecast is one of our most anticipated events. This year’s TZ #startupforecast (Jan 28, 2014) was no exception. Speakers listed: Brock Pierce – Digital currency pioneer investing in Bitcoin, games, and online gambling businesses; Clearstone Global Gaming Fund. Summary of Topics.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2014

Every startup dreams of achieving that milestone, when they can focus more on scaling the business and enjoying their earnings rather than fighting for another investment infusion. Re-investing profits to grow the business is organic growth. Most are still confused about the right priority.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

*. If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000. I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000.

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