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. billion by 2030, exceeding the amounts contributed by either angel groups or VCs alone. billion to USD 3.62 Risk is increased.

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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. As an accredited angel investor, I claim to be one of those professionals, and I’ve talked to many more. Risk is increased.

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Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 27, 2016

TechZulu is excited to invite you to the 2016 Startup and Entrepreneur Forecast taking place Thursday, February 11 from 7 p.m. We will have amazing panelists from Crosscut Ventures, Machine Shop Ventures, Techstars, and more to be announced soon who will share their insights and forecast for startups in 2016. Powered by Bizzabo.

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TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

The Los Angeles-based workout app launched by Landon Hamilton and Cam Speck has closed on $4.5 The two men actually reached out to Rodriguez about the investment because they noticed him following fitness influencers specifically. “We are invested heavily in health and wellness brick and mortar companies,” he says.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

Angel investors are still the lifeblood of early-stage startups, despite the surge of activity in crowdfunding and an increasing early interest from venture capitalists. According to the Angel Capital Association , at least 300,000 people have made angel investments in the last two years, totaling $24 billion in the U.S.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

In my experience as an advisor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I often encounter the myth that an initial startup requires investors. The reality is that over 80 percent of new businesses will never attract venture capital or Angel funding, according to experts , and there are many good reasons for skipping that painful and distracting process.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 26, 2017

Since we started Science six years ago, we've co-founded and invested in more than 70 companies and have exited multiple portfolio companies. So this fall, we launched Science Blockchain, a new incubator that partners with leading entrepreneurs to build a portfolio of blockchain and cryptocurrency related businesses.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

There is a common belief in the angel and venture capital community that you put your money on the best team, rather than the best idea. Thus the top priority of every entrepreneur who wants funding should be to build and highlight their “dream team” of co-founders, executives and advisers, to attract the biggest and best investors.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2018

Editor's note: All this week, and into the start of next year, we'll be featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. Our investment in PlayVS and the subsequent launch of their Season Zero high school e-sports platform was very exciting.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors. Access to intellectual property and current research.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Our interview this morning with an entrepreneur is with Anthony Citrano , the founder of Los Angeles-based Acquicent (www.acquicent.com), a startup which wants to make it as easy for you to invest in museum-grade collectibles such as classic cars and art, without having to invest millions of dollars in those assets.

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socalTECH

MAY 10, 2018

Behzad Kianmahd is the co-founder of Los Angeles coworking space Cross Campus , which is one of the major centers of startup activity in Silicon Beachand also involved as co-founder and lead investor in a brand new, venture capital fund, TAU Ventures (www.ideasimmersion.com/tau-ventures/). It was the Summer of 2016, if I'm not mistaken.

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StartUp Beat

NOVEMBER 9, 2017

Grigori Mikayelyan was a failed and an aspiring entrepreneur; furnished with a new idea – and determined to make a success of it – he became a Lyft driver to conduct customer research with his passengers. Mikayelyan was determined to test the idea properly before investing “a penny” in it.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 28, 2017

This morning, we have a contribution from investor and investment banker Peter Cowen of Sutton Capital Partners. Sutton Capital Partners is a technology investment banking firm and we are, investors in local SaaS/subscription companies and is well known as the host of the annual Recurring Revenue Conference.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Others, like Guy Kawasaki , have irreverently called some of these “entrepreneur lies,” but I prefer to think of them as innocent enhancements or omissions that can kill your deal. It takes a huge upfront investment to attract users, before advertisers are interested. Entrepreneurs in this category are usually dreamers.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. In that context, I offer you my latest collection of popular investor-to-entrepreneur terms and concepts. Frothy is good for entrepreneurs. Seed-round investment.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

After many years of working with angel investors seriously trying to find new ventures worthy of their hard-earned money, I find their frustration often exceeds that of entrepreneurs sincerely looking for financial help. The most investable ventures stem from painful needs by customers who have money to spend.

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InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 7, 2015

Who makes more money, entrepreneurs or venture capitalists? Jason’s comments caused me to compare my career as an entrepreneur and a VC with Rincon Venture Partners. This analysis is particularly timely, given the recent tidal wave of successful entrepreneurs who have become Angel and venture investors. My Experiences.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2016

Most entrepreneurs I know are so passionate about their new idea that they are surprised when family and friends don’t line up to invest in their new venture. They don’t realize that most Angel investors and venture capitalists will also decline to be first, if you have no commitment from friends and family.

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SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 9, 2016

We are an innovation, investment, and advisory firm. Peter Csathy: I'm an entrepreneur, a builder of companies. Manatt is a significant brand in the digital media space, particularly in Los Angeles, and it's a great place, and we'll continue to collaborate on opportunities. Does this include investments or an investment fund?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2016

One of the myths I often hear as an advisor to many entrepreneurs is that their lifestyle would somehow be better if they could more easily find other people’s money to build their startup. Most entrepreneurs never forget for a moment that having investors means owing money, even if they can legally argue that equity is not debt.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2016

As an entrepreneur looking for professional investors, one of the quickest ways to lose credibility and get rejected is to start with a ridiculously high pre-money valuation. I see it happen often in my angel investment group, and you can see it happen almost every week on the Shark Tank TV show.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2016

There is an old saying in the startup investor community, “Smart investors invest in the team, not the idea.” As an angel investor, I’ve learned to believe in this approach, since I have seen great ideas go astray, due to poor execution and I have seen apparently marginal ideas make millions, managed by a savvy entrepreneur.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2016

Most entrepreneurs work long and hard to get a handshake agreement from an investor, and then tend to relax and wait for the check to clear. What they don’t realize is that about half the investment deals fail to close at this stage, including mergers and acquisitions , during the due-diligence process. Customer and market interaction.

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socalTECH

MARCH 4, 2021

I had been seed investing and incubating businesses, and was sitting with a friend of mine, John Miller, who ran Caliburger, which is a 35 location burger chain, which is exporting the California lifestyle, much like In-N-Out does. There are now over 8,000 investors to date who have invested $1000 to $2000 each. The demand is there.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2016

If you expect an equity investment from reputable investors for your new startup, you need to know the boundaries that often limit their interest. As an active angel investor, here are some key ones I have seen, with some guidance on how to improve your odds. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 04/15/2016.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable. And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

Unfortunately, as a startup advisor and angel investor, I’ve seen too many ventures with great potential get destroyed or set back by legal and other shortcuts that should never have been allowed to happen. A common myth these days is that every startup needs an investor, and large investments are better than small ones.

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Xconomy

NOVEMBER 13, 2016

View the Slideshow A little more than a year ago, amid a resurgence in San Diego’s software sector, Xconomy identified a baker’s dozen of local tech companies to watch in 2016. million in a Series D round of investment capital, according to founder and chairman Tony Farwell. The results were so encouraging, we’re doing it again.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 2, 2017

Los Angeles-based Fuel50 (www.fuel50.com) 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.

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Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 18, 2016

Other investors include TEEC Angel Fund and wCapital. In the 2016 Policy Address, the Chief Executive stated that the Government will set aside HKD 2 billion to set up an Innovation and Technology Venture Fund to co-invest in local startups with private venture capital funds on a matching basis. Closing a round of USD 4.5

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

The average length of a funding pitch to Angel investors is ten minutes. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. According to Gartner, the opportunity is 100 million by 2016, with 12% compounded growth.” Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

In our industry we applaud the efforts for entrepreneurs to have tried and we know that today’s failure can bring the experience for tomorrow’s success. In many ways the fact that it has become so cheap to start a company and relatively cheap to raise angel/seed money that we as an industry have gotten lazy on basic planning.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2017

Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. First of all, it’s more of an investment in people than in a business, since the startup is usually an idea barely half-baked when they need your money. Join an existing angel investor group.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2018

According to the 2017 Kauffman Startup Activity Index , the share of new entrepreneurs who started businesses to pursue opportunity rather than from necessity reached 86 percent, more than 12 percentage points higher than in 2009 at the height of the Great Recession. Thus a record number of entrepreneurs (and team members) are getting rich.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. ” “This will be great for VCs and bad for entrepreneurs.” What is the True Sentiment of VCs? ” “Sure, prices are dropping.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

Rise of Angels. The second major trend was the rise of the angel that was a function of the boom in Silicon Valley wealth (Google, Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Salesforce.com, etc) plus the rise of crowd-funding platforms (AngelList) plus the rise of Y Combinator / 500Startups / TechStars. Explosion in Seed Funds. VC Infighting.

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