Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

Successful entrepreneurs must never stop looking for ways to improve their own productivity, as well as the efficiency and momentum of the team. The need for this focus may seem obvious to you, but I still hear many complaints from entrepreneurs and employees alike on the hours they work, and how they are underpaid for their time.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2015

So what should an entrepreneur do to convince themselves, as well as potential investors, that they have a viable business model before it is totally proven? Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales. Everyone must be part of the sales process. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 4/10/2015.

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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. Specific elements of your marketing and sales plans. Potential investor return calculation and exit strategy.

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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. What's the biggest lesson you've learned as an entrepreneur so far?

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InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2015

Good news: a quick review of TechCrunch’s March 2015 List of Top 20 U.S. My Forbes co-contributor Geri Stengel concurs that something is happening in the Volunteer State, writing last month about that state’s emerging women entrepreneurs. Savvy entrepreneurs - seek out programs which incorporate these post-graduation activities.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2015

If you find problem-solving to be energizing, you could be the next great entrepreneur. The first challenge for many aspiring entrepreneurs is to put aside their passionate advocacy long enough to acknowledge an existing problem. The best entrepreneurs understand that solving problems is what a business is all about.

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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. There's an opportunity for follow-on sales to existing customers. Every business brings a set of existing customers who are great candidates for additional sales from a partner-competitor.

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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

MAY 18, 2015

When an entrepreneur first incorporates his or her business, he or she may find him or herself the proud owner of 10 million shares of common stock, commonly called founder’s shares. Make sure the government waits for a stock sale to collect taxes. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 5/8/2015. In the U.S.,

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2015

Too many entrepreneurs tackle starting a business as a random walk into a business minefield, and they count on their street smarts, thick skin and pure determination to get them to their destinations alive. Some entrepreneurs run with passion into the minefield, only to find it’s harder to recover than to plan ahead.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2015

The way to start is with a sample financial model, freely available from many sources on the Internet, such as this one from Entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs realize that doubling their revenue each year puts them in a premium category with investors, so that may be your first target. entrepreneur Excel financial model startup'

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2016

Most first-time entrepreneurs seem to believe the myth that they need a minimum of a half a million dollars to start a business. Managing employees and contracts is difficult and expensive, and new entrepreneurs aren’t very good at it anyway. Entrepreneurs who start without a plan spend more money.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

James told us a bit about the lessons he's learned as the founder of a successful startup (SHIFT, which he sold to Brand Network for $50M in 2015), as well as his time as an executive at Snap. 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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Eric Greenspan

APRIL 27, 2015

After buying the wiper blade, I walked into the sales manager’s office and asked if I could talk to him privately. I almost bought it until the sales guy said, “Hey, how about a Chevy Volt?” Since 2015 has been a great year to date, this means I literally would be getting $9,000 in savings for the year.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2015

Here are four new strategies that every entrepreneur must now include in their marketing platforms to survive and thrive in this digital and highly mobile age, ranked by effort and cost on your part: Frequent new content on the web, social media and via mobile. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 8/19/2015.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2015

Many of the entrepreneurs I meet prefer to focus on the technology, so they desperately need a people-oriented partner for balance. This means every entrepreneur needs partners who are smarter than they are in complementary domains. This means every entrepreneur needs partners who are smarter than they are in complementary domains.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2016

That’s down from 69 in the first five months of 2015, and 115 over the same five-month period in 2014, according to Barrons. The total proceeds raised in Q2 2016 from IPOs diminished by three-quarters compared to Q2 2015. Concerns over valuations being reset to a new normal, and a soft exit market, are seen as key drivers.

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Xconomy

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Some entrepreneurs, though, are acting as if Prop 64, known officially as the California Marijuana Legalization Initiative, has already passed. Co-founder and CEO Eric Gomez said Canopy San Diego won’t enroll startups or entrepreneurs who are directly engaged in the cultivation or sale of marijuana or its derivatives.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

Most entrepreneurs looking for an investor can tell you how much money they need, but few have given much thought to what they are willing to give up for it. Smart entrepreneurs will limit these seats to one or two top investors, to keep the board size manageable, as well as to balance control with startup founders.

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Xconomy

JULY 5, 2016

In fact, they led the way for the state’s GDP growth of 3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, which was the highest in the nation , according to the U.S. Some of these entrepreneurs are faculty and staff members who license their own work. Their first thoughts likely turn to agriculture and manufacturing.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2015

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 1/9/2015. business due diligence entrepreneur investors startups'

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

We took it to the market in January of 2015. What's the biggest lesson you've learned so far as an entrepreneur? W actually opened up a second office in Columbus, Ohio, to serve as our East Coast sales office, and we're building out our sales force here in Los Angeles. How long has your software been available?

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 4, 2016

It was a decade ago that I led the sale of Expertcity (creator of GoToMeeting) to Citrix. During the early 2000’s, my team grew the company to one of the largest SaaS businesses of its day, with sales of $70 million. A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. Special thanks to Dan Engel, CEO of Mobile1st.com.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2015

Every entrepreneur needs a value proposition statement for his or her startup that can hook potential investors and partners in less than a minute -- the short time you might join them in an elevator on the way to their offices. Skip the sales pitch and avoid preaching. Build up for the punch line at the end.

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 21, 2019

Despite the retail sector experiencing its worst downturn since its inception in the 1830’s, Supreme routinely sacrifices sales by completely shutting down its stores and website, for weeks at a time, while it prepares the next season’s launch.

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socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2018

Justine Lassoff: I have a background in e-commerce, and we're both experienced entrepreneurs. I was the co-founder and CEO of an e-commerce company in 2001, which did eco-friendly beauty and style and fashion products, although more in the flash sales model. What's your background? Where is the business today?

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Entrepreneurs need to look more broadly into the business-to-business (B2B) space for more lucrative opportunities. LBS data can not only give you information to drive the relationship, but you can also use it to identify your sales reps with similar interests and partner them with the prospect. Marty Zwilling.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 2, 2017

Anne Fulton: I've always been an organizational psychologist crossed with a serial entrepreneur. I can't help myself in being an entrepreneur. I think we're seeing our growth finally is starting to be exponential, while back in 2015 and 2016 we found we needed to have some patience. This is like my fifth business.

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socalTECH

JULY 10, 2019

We ended up all going to three different colleges in the Fall of 2015. Finally, what's been your biggest lesson as an entrepreneur so far? Spencer Price: I think we've already touched on one, which is we're young guys, which might make it difficult in sales and business development. We were friends from high school.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2011

Internet marketers see it as a better way to target consumers, and even retarget them to close a sale. But entrepreneurs need to look more broadly than this to tracking, navigation solutions, safety, security, local business search, and payments. They claim 51% of the people surveyed around the world have already used LBS.

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Tech.Co

JULY 31, 2017

Yet as an entrepreneur, you can rarely hide under the rock and pretend there’s nothing else happening around you and no one is demanding your attention. While back in 2011, a cell phone user received or made 12 phone calls a day on average, the number has dropped to just 6 calls in 2015. According to Fundera survey , only 6.7

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Xconomy

NOVEMBER 13, 2016

Longtime tech entrepreneur and angel investor Marco Thompson, who is closely associated with San Diego’s EvoNexus incubator, contributed a number of companies to the list. Tim Rueth, a UC San Diego entrepreneur in residence and member of the EvoNexus selection committee, also screened the list, and offered his perspective.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Some of the big milestones we did, include a seed round of financing in the fall of 2015, which was led by Upfront Ventures. In summer, we got together to review after 90 days, and they already were seeing traffic sale, seeing customers convert, and realized that it was relatively easy for their staff to do. There are two things.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2012

But entrepreneurs need to look more broadly into the B2B space for more lucrative opportunities. LBS data can not only give you information to drive the relationship, but you can also use it to identify your sales reps with similar interests and partner them with the prospect.

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Services Competition Mobile Entertainment 82

socalTECH

JANUARY 8, 2020

Curtis is the former publisher of the Robb Report, which he sold back in 2015, and has a long history of operating media companies that have published such titles as Home Office Computing, Home Theater, Mobile Computing, Worth, and many others. We have published 74 different magazine titles over the last 30 years.

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socalTECH

MARCH 11, 2016

Scott Chisolm: There's a clear ROI case for a nonprofit, and it's similar to driving sales in a for-profit company. Scott Chisolm: We have raised $23M, $18M from our Series B, which we did in early to mid 2015. Our customers use this to raise more money, and we can make the case that investing in the product will get them X return.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

If one entered between 2009-2015 he or she is no doubt in the “hazard” phase where one need to be careful about thinking he know more about the industry than perhaps he do. The funny thing about “too much money” is that it doesn’t just come from entrepreneurs. I see it in many young pups. Same as I felt.

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