Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2015

I may be old fashioned, but the term consultant still conjures up an image of a self-proclaimed expert who can make great presentations, generate recommendations and leave you to do the hard work of implementation. Startups need outside experts who can do the work, as well as provide training on what needs to be done.

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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. That might start with the CEO giving the investor pitch to the whole organization, and distributing the current business plan document to everyone.

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Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 108

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 22, 2016

Social networking continues to be a superior force in marketing, especially Facebook. percent of all social network ad spending worldwide. billion in 2015 alone. How can your company best benefit from social networking ads in 2016? How can your company best benefit from social networking ads in 2016?

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Marketing Social Media Social Network Technical Review 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

In my view, starting a new business has never been easier, and according to reports from the Kaufmann Foundation , the numbers are finally here to show it. The number of startups rose in 2015 for the first time in five years, with the largest year-over-year increase in two decades. The cost of social media done well is low.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

The smart ones get some extra support early on critical decisions, and work a bit harder on issues that are common startup killers. Do your homework to realistically size development, marketing and staffing requirements, and then increase the number by 50 percent. Don’t wait for the first cash-flow crisis to start talking to investors.

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Tech.Co

JULY 25, 2017

That all changed with social media , and now everyone is glued to their phone’s screen. The successor to social media, at least in terms of cultural significance, are the on-demand apps that have us reaching for our phones not just to message friends, but to make transactions.

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Demand Startup Social Media Training 73

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

Here are some of the key new rules I have learned by starting my own company, investing as an angel in other startups and mentoring many more new entrepreneurs over the last few years: Do incorporate a company, but keep it simple. Too many entrepreneurs still think plans are for investors, and investors are required to build a startup.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2015

If your startup culture doesn’t include a sense of urgency, your probabilities of long-term success are miniscule. Some of you may remember MySpace , which came early to social media, but lost the lead to Facebook by evolving too slowly, many analysts say. Try to squeeze it in before you get tied up handling the next crisis.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2015

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. The conundrum is that once you have really proven the business model, you no longer need the investor money you asked for to start the business. Plan for a real revenue model.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2015

Image via Flickr by Side Wages Some entrepreneurs forget that they need an innovative business model along with an innovative solution to have a successful startup. That’s why I say “two heads are better than one” in a startup. Early adopters love new technologies, but mass market customers want solutions, not technology. "If

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Technical Review Startup Social Media Competition 60

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. Starting a new business in an area where you have no experience, just because it appears to have great potential, is a recipe for failure. Entrepreneurs who start without a plan spend more money.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2015

Just as with names of people, there isn’t any ultimate right or wrong, and every name has unique implications in different cultures, economies and markets. In this world of information overload, you need a name that will remain memorable and meaningful for years to come, even after trends change and your startup has pivoted.

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Social Media Custom Customer Startup 103

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

Too many entrepreneurs look for that one magic bullet -- an exciting new technology, perhaps, or their own determination to make the world a better place -- to override any shortcomings in their startup model. Such failures ignore the essential business elements investors look for before committing to a startup.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2016

For example, I have known several sincere technology entrepreneurs who were so busy adding and updating features for their product to satisfy early adopter requests, that they ended up with a bloated, hard to use, late to market and expensive solution which really satisfied no one in their primary market demographic.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 8, 2020

For today's interview, we spoke to Bill Curtis , the founder of Malibu-based CurtCo Media (www.curtco.com). We spoke to Bill about CurtCo's move into the podcasting area, and why he thinks podcasting is the next frontier in media. It ends up being good for both. It's also a meritocracy, because anybody can put a podcast up.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Aspiring entrepreneurs often ask me what to do first when starting a business. The date of incorporation is the official start date for your business, so progress from this point will be scrutinized by investors. Start with the simplest legal entity, to minimize liability and taxes.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

Most technologists have little interest in the mechanics of starting and building a business. That’s why I recommend that they find a co-founder who loves business challenges, including marketing and finance. I exhort entrepreneurs to keep it simple, start with a minimum viable product (MVP), and test it out with early customers.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Patents Entrepreneur Custom 101

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2015

Most new entrepreneurs assume that great investors will find their startups based on the compelling solution the founders have created. Here are some key recommendations to get you started: Plan for adequate time to find an investment. Don’t wait until your startup is out of money before looking for an investor.

Startup 101

Startup Keiretsu Entrepreneur Invest 101

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2014

We''re based in Los Angeles, and make a game called Egg Baby, which so far has had more than nine million downloads, with zero marketing spend. How did the company start? Naomi Ladizinsky: We looked at the mobile gaming market and couldnt find the games we really wanted to play, so we decided to make them. READ MORE>>.

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Software Review Startup Mobile HTML 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2011

These days, I’m hearing more and more about Location-Based Services (LBS) as the next big opportunity for startups. Internet marketers see it as a better way to target consumers, and even retarget them to close a sale. Event marketing. Are you seeing a lot of your contacts attending certain business events? Lead generation.

Services 91

Services Startup Competition Entertainment 91

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2015

As a starting point, when we create videos (concerts, weddings, tech events, sports, kids) they often stay stranded on our devices and at best make it to iCloud. Second, videos that we do share end up in fragments across Facebook, Instagram, cloud services, email or text messages. Mark Suster (@msuster) April 23, 2015.

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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. There is no rule that marketing needs to report to the founder, or that every startup needs a chief operating officer. Make your startup a winning place to work. Every investor knows this.

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Entrepreneur Technical Review Mentor Training 102

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2015

Customers are more in control of their buying decisions than ever before, with the wealth of alternatives and information available online, and interactive access to sources they trust via social media. With today’s online tools, let the customer see and hear from your support organization, marketing and top executives.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2015

We all have to communicate and collaborate with other people at work, but most of us start out instinctively trying to maintain an emotional distance from others in the work environment. Yet the 2015 Office Romance Survey by Vault, Inc. Yet the 2015 Office Romance Survey by Vault, Inc. by Jan Yager, who is a Ph.D.

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Startup Course Competition Social Media 96

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Tealium, a San-Diego startup that provides online advertising tag management and marketing services for enterprise customers, has raised $35 million in a growth financing deal intended to expand its technology and market reach. Georgian Partners and Bain Capital Ventures, the investment firms that anchored Tealium’s $30.7

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

As outlined a while back by Adam Holden-Bache on Social Media B2B , I’m convinced that business-to-business has more money and more untapped opportunities, still waiting to be found: Find strategic partnerships. Provide focused event marketing. entrepreneur B2B startup smartphones location-based services business'

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Competition Entertainment Advertising Social Media 84

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 13, 2015

Los Angeles-based CurbStand (www.curbstand.com) is hoping to change that, by offering up a mobile app which connects you with the company''s network of CurbStand valet parking companies, which offers on-demand retrieval of your car, mobil payments, and on the valet parking operator side--lots of business analytics tools and reporting.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2016

a leading researcher on consumer behavior and the impact of digital, reports that decision makers, social media users, and younger demographics are more and more comfortable sharing data in order to close the gap between thought and action. In his new book, “ Digital Context 2.0: Norton, Ph.D., No-comfort consumers – 17 percent.

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Social Media Tool Anthem Google 53

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 26, 2016

In 2015 an additional 237 thousand joined the online community. Top media giants Facebook and Alphabet are determined to grow this number with the introduction of various airborne devices designed to bring internet to the far corners of the globe to boost their revenues. One of the stars of 2015 was undoubtedly Slack.

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Commerce Mobile Technical Review Google 40

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2016

Crowdfunding is the hot new vehicle for raising money to support your entrepreneurial efforts, with over 1,250 website platforms around the world to help you, according to a 2015 industry report. An advantage of professional investors is their validation of required amounts for marketing, inventory and staffing.

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Technical Review Platform Entrepreneur Funding 58

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2012

Marketers see it as a better way to target customers, but the current consumer offerings have been slow to deliver. As outlined a while back by Adam Holden-Bache on Social Media B2B , I’m convinced that business-to-business has more money and more untapped opportunities, along the following lines: Strategic partnerships.

Services 82

Services Competition Mobile Entertainment 82

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 31, 2015

Your social media feed was probably filled this morning with information about the 13-minute speech Kanye West made during the 2015 VMA broadcast, but only the objective big data behind Watson can really break it down scientifically. Kanye 2015 VMA Speech. IBM Watson Personality Analysis of Kanye West 2015 MTV VMA speech.

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Search Engine Optimization Social Media Technology Council Ideas 40

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 31, 2015

Your social media feed was probably filled this morning with information about the 13-minute speech Kanye West made during the 2015 VMA broadcast, but only the objective big data behind Watson can really break it down scientifically. Kanye 2015 VMA Speech. IBM Watson Analysis of Kanye West 2015 MTV VMA speech.

Search Engine Optimization 40

Search Engine Optimization Social Media Technology Council Ideas 40

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 28, 2016

This trend emerges in particular in the conduct of successful social media campaigns. Finally, Business Process Management directed software between 2015 and 2020 will likely entail a greater emphasis on specific niche functionality. Greater Niche Functionality. Other software vendors offer niche products, as well.

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Software Social Media Platform Mobile 40

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

And I’ll tell you why, starting with where you started and why you succeeded. In fact, Twitter was one of the first mobile social media platforms. Users could set up their phone to tweet from it; send an SMS txt and the tweet would appear on your profile. All these things set Twitter up for enormous user growth.

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Platform Startup News Content 40

Eric Greenspan

JANUARY 24, 2016

Like Ice Cube and Dr. Dre use rap lyrics, Seth and I use social media instead. I had no issue with this and actually helped him by marketing his offerings. That said, it was very challenging to get reports of the company’s cash flow or other financial information that was needed to build the fledgling startup.

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Content Blogging Burbank Course 100

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 3, 2015

Many started out in a completely unrelated field and fell into their current profession where they discovered a passion, skill and expertise they developed over time, becoming more successful as they grew in knowledge and experience. When Roxy approached them there was “authentic core-synergies in how each brand approached the market.”

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