Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2016

I suspect the exuberance for an IPO is still being driven by the highly visible successes of several companies a few years ago, including Facebook, Yelp, and Twitter. In fact, IPOs are down again this year, with just 31 companies going public in the U.S. These include the following: Taking a company public is an expensive process.

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 12, 2015

Fredi''s email is worth reading, as it reinforces how lucky American entrepreneurs truly are. However, from an entrepreneur''s viewpoint, the philosophical distance can be measured in light years. We can understand how disruptive companies affect entire industries. Fredi''s Plea. You can read the details here.

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TechCrunch LA

MAY 29, 2019

This is like talking about the NBA and the value of its sponsorships and broadcast rights as if that is the entirety of the basketball market in the US. I recently sat down with Founder & CEO Delane Parnell to talk about his company’s formation and growth strategy. And then two additional franchises.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2015

Most entrepreneurs I know want to do the right thing for their businesses, as well as themselves, but they are not always sure what that means. The good news is that none of these need be mutually exclusive, according to recent studies of market trends. Manage your company based on long-term priorities.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 29, 2014

What was the most significant event for you or your company this year? We enjoyed three rewarding exits this year, which is always fun for our entrepreneurs and LPs. We also brought in several top-tier VC firms onto the Boards of our portfolio companies, including: Sequoia, Accel, Kleiner and Volition.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2023

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. Way back in 2015, the Kickstarter Pebble smartwatch raised $20.3 These groups are now largely run by volunteers at no cost to entrepreneurs.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of those demanding angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. Way back in 2015, the Kickstarter Pebble smartwatch raised $20.3 These groups are now largely run by volunteers at no cost to entrepreneurs.

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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. Insurance Companies. That’s why the best firms tend to raise every three years. Foundations.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Kara said “no” because she wanted to start her own company, which she did and I backed. The core of the investing job of course is investing dollars into startup companies and helping as a mentor, advisor and board member on the companies in which you’ve invested. It’s time to prepare Kara to help smash some more glass ceilings.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2015

If an entrepreneur can’t build a culture of excitement and commitment at a startup, the chances of long-term success are negligible. As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I often get asked what you can do to build the right culture. Entrepreneurs who are too busy for people never get the culture they envision. Every investor knows this.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2011

Other writers, like Guy Kawasaki, have irreverently called some of these “entrepreneur lies,” but I prefer to think of them as innocent over-enthusiasm or over-confidence that can kill your deal. Gartner says our market will be $50 billion in 2015.” All we have to do is get 1% of the market.” Sleeping giants do wake up.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. But these data points are often lagging indicators and perhaps a better barometer of the future would be to gather data on VC perceptions in the market right now.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Every year at Upfront we try to analyze the venture markets. Of course we fund companies in good markets and bad. In venture our goal is to fund companies over a 10-year+ time horizon, which is the time it takes to build truly transformational companies.

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Berkonomics

APRIL 8, 2021

Discord is a great example of a company going viral mostly from word of mouth. From its start in 2015, the number of registered users has “suddenly” climbed from 45 million in 2017 to a reported 300 million by the end of 2020. Marketing cost is not the best measure of success. Here is my list. First: Planning. Third: cost.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

Yet as we enter February 2017 the VC funding markets are booming, Snap, Inc has filed for its IPO, AppDynamics was just purchased for $3.7 But the reality is that “global warming” massively blunted the effects of winter and my prognosis for VC fundings of entrepreneurs in 2017–2018 is now very sunny indeed. Baidu alone raised $3.2

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Aspiring entrepreneurs often ask me what to do first when starting a business. Instead, entrepreneurs need to focus first on execution disciplines and timing. On the other end of the spectrum, a solution without a company will be seen as a hobby. Your credibility as an entrepreneur is at stake.

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socalTECH

AUGUST 26, 2019

For this morning's interview with an entrepreneur, we spoke with Thomas Russell , the Ceo and co-founder of ETC Solar (www.etc-solar.com), a Los Angeles startup developing technology to improve the efficiency and cost of solar cells. Afterwards, we heavily engaged with the solar cell community to identify product-market-fit.

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Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

In fact, Here's the post in its entirety: We have signed an agreement to be acquired by Amazon and are looking forward to working with them as we continue to build easy-to-use tools for entrepreneurs. To put it simply, Amazon is getting instant access to a market it used to operate in. Why Has Amazon Purchased Selz Now?

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socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2016

A report, issued earlier this week by venture firm the Female Founders Fund , says that Los Angeles, and New York, are better markets than Silicon Valley to find funding for female founders. READ MORE>>.

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InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2014

Want to be an entrepreneur? In addition, Entrepreneur Magazine recently included UCSB in its Top 50 Schools For VC Backed Entrepreneurs at number 37. This allowed the curriculum to efficiently find its product / market fit. A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. Don''t go to Wharton or Harvard.

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Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Coming up with a new idea, and launching your startup is one thing, three entrepreneurs do this every second. 2016 looks set to be a sobering year for the growth of startups in the world in contrast with the highs of 2015. A business leader should always be connected to the market, and ask themselves how they can constantly improve.

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 23, 2019

Even Salesforce abandoned it’s silly “No Software” tagline, after the company had to explain in 2015 that it meant, “No legacy software, just cloud software.”. You’re not a SaaS company, you’re a software company. You’re not a SaaS entrepreneur, you’re a software entrepreneur. ASP To SaaS To Software.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

The companywhich is being very quiet about what it is working onwas founded by a group of former Snap executives, and is venture backed by Upfront Ventures, and which also included Lerer Hippeau, Manta Ray, and angels. The lesson for me, and for most LA entrepreneurs, is that this is a market which can support a huge, massive business.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. By 2011 the market had started to change dramatically. So we went for it. But by 2014 much had started to change.

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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. The inevitable outcome will be the collapse of the weakest companies, while those with sound underlying business models will be recapitalized with reasonable valuations.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

That’s why I recommend that they find a co-founder who loves business challenges, including marketing and finance. Thus it’s a waste of time for most entrepreneurs to be looking for investors until they have a product and some customer revenue. Business people know how to downplay the technology and market the value of the solution.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

When pitching to investors, entrepreneurs always seem to start with a customer pitch, then add a slide or two about the business. Investors are business experts, while the entrepreneur is more likely the product expert. Here are the motivation elements that investors expect to hear: Size and growth potential of the market opportunity.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. There are just as many bad entrepreneurs who do bad things.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

We work with those companies, who tend to know a lot about what happens with their product in the retail sense, but who tend to lose track of what is happening with their products on the Internet. We then allow them to understand the true potential velocity of markets online. Andrew Schydlowsky: I'm a serial entrepreneur.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2015

In this age of relationships, you, the entrepreneur, are a very important element of your new brand, and it’s never too early to start marketing the value of your expertise, insights and ideas. Every entrepreneur should count on at least a couple of adjustments or pivots before they get it right. Start today.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2015

It seems that everyone I know who works in a corporate environment dreams of escaping to become an entrepreneur, and every entrepreneur wishes he or she had the security of a regular paycheck. As someone who has experience on both sides of this fence, I’m convinced that the move from employee to entrepreneur is far more risky.

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Tech.Co

JULY 12, 2017

What you might not realize is that the adorable droid was the brain child of Sphero, a robotics and digital technology company and an alumni to the Disney Accelerator program. The BB-8 app-enabled Droid had such a global adoption among kids and adults that it was named the number one Star Wars toy of 2015.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2015

Based on my experience as an investor and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, one of the quickest ways to kill your credibility and your startup is to offer a poorly written business plan, or none at all. An entrepreneur who can’t manage a plan, probably won’t be able to manage the new business.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

As a startup advisor, when I suggest cooperating with competitors, most entrepreneurs initially think I'm crazy or suggesting something illegal. Complementary advantages can expand both markets. A strategic partnership, sharing common gains, should be a growth opportunity by expanding the market for both.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

Mike tells us about the company, who uses its software, as well as how he was initially turned away from the Amplify.LA accelerator--which only inspired him to keep working on making his startup a reality and go from just an idea, to a real company. The company, which started in 2014, now has over 40 employees.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2015

Based on my experience advising entrepreneurs, I’m convinced that success is often more a mindset than a specific set of skills or intelligence. A fixed mindset is when entrepreneurs believe their abilities and market are fixed, and the challenge is to make the best of the hand already dealt. Market change is opportunity.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

As a model, think high-quality marketing collateral, with text and graphics in columns and sidebars, but focused on the value of your business, rather than selling your product. Skip the fuzzy marketing terms, such as "easier to use," "lower cost" and "disruptive technology."

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