StartUp Beat

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

What do entrepreneurs do when they finally establish their startup? 2017 has already witnessed a load of successful and exciting conferences, including World Domination Summit, Startup+Fest and CEO Space. Pirate summit also adds a financial incentive of $50,000 to spice up the competition. Disrupt SF ( Sep 18-20).

Conference 40

Conference Startup Artificial Inteligence Competition 40

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. You'll be able to browse all of those contributions here. What was the biggest news for your organization in 2018?

Startup 124

Startup Press Commerce Southern California 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2017

In the heat of scaling the business, it’s tempting to skip the cost and time of finding qualified job candidates, and enlist those close at hand, without paying them a competitive wage for the hard work and commitment you need. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 07/14/2017. You can’t win if you don’t try to push the limits.

Entrepreneur 72

Entrepreneur Competition Customer Custom 72

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

In addition, like an entrepreneur with a new business, you have to factor in all the indirect costs previously covered by employers, including training, health care, and time off for vacations. In fact, thinking like an entrepreneur is a good strategy today for success, even if you are currently in a long-term employment situation.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Kevin sold his last company, Santa Barbara-based Graphiq, in July of 2017 to Amazon, but has a long history of successful companies, including founding DoubleClick.

Venture Capital 145

Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2023

New and old entrepreneurs submitted over five million startup business applications in 2021 and again in 2022, making these the most popular years on record , according to data released by the U.S. Thanks to COVID-19 and the policies of previous US administrations, immigration to the US sharply declined from 2017 to 2022.

Layoffs 113

Layoffs Technical Review Startup Class 113

socalTECH

DECEMBER 21, 2017

What's wonderful about this new fund, is we literally started in April of 2017. The fund has been about two years of development with Peter Warnoe, who is a serial entrepreneur who is very famous in the Nordics. Lars Tvede has written fifteen books on entrepreneurship, is a serial entrepreneur himself, and has been uber-succcessful.

Southern California 133

Southern California Startup Venture Capital Invest 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2017

In my view, the gig economy is a key driver to the current boom in entrepreneurship – every professional and consultant is actually a solo entrepreneur. One question I often hear from solo entrepreneurs, and she addresses directly, is “How do I set the right price for my services?” Know your competitive value.

Pricing 68

Pricing Entrepreneur Mentor News 68

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Unless you are a serial entrepreneur with a string of successes behind you, you need a business plan to convince investors that you can build a business out of the dream that has been driving your passion to change the world. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. No mention usually means no plan and not competitive.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2017

In my own work as an advisor to many entrepreneurs and startups, I see many who are focused on that single big disruptive innovation that will change the world. Design your invisible competitive advantage. Remember that every specific competitive advantage is temporary – every product or service becomes a commodity over time.

Startup 81

Startup Metrics Organization Ideas 81

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2017

Entrepreneurs are people who dream up new ideas, and then commercialize them into new businesses. Yet, in my experience as a mentor to entrepreneurs, the majority of failures I see are related to starting and growing the business, not developing the solution. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 01/17/2017.

Ideas 72

Ideas Startup Metrics Entrepreneur 72

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

Most budding entrepreneurs don’t realize that nine out of ten startups fail within 24 months. One resource that’s worth your time is a new book, “ The Ultimate Start-Up Guide ,” by a couple of entrepreneurs and marketing experts who have been there, Tom Hogan and Carol Broadbent. Never under-estimate or ignore the competition.

Startup 65

Startup Competition Resource Snapchat 65

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2019

A large portion of your competitive advantage and your potential value to investors is the size of your intellectual property portfolio. When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most entrepreneurs think only of patents. In reality, patents are only one of at least eight items that should be in your IP portfolio.

IP 93

IP Invest Patents Social Media 93

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

founded in summer of 2017. They are really focused on their core product, and they have an ecosystem where they want other entrepreneurs and other businesses to help their entrepreneurs. Their mindset is that everyone should be an entrepreneur if they want to be, that's their mantra. What does your startup do?

Startup 113

Startup Platform Commerce San Diego 113

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

Jordan Glazier: We did a seed round in July of 2017, led by Mucker Capital, out of Santa Monica. As a serial entrepreneur, what are you doing differently this time based on what you learned from your prior ventures? At the same time, there's not that intensity of competition for engineers as in Silicon Valley.

San Diego 159

San Diego Social Media Commerce Snapchat 159

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2017

Entrepreneur of the Year” finalist. Satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who can be easily wooed by the competition. The inverse case is that you can lose you competitive lead very quickly by focusing on the wrong things. Marty Zwilling Published by Xerox Small Business Solutions on 07/31/2017. Detractors.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Marketing 85

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2017

Most entrepreneurs relish being their own boss, but find the transition to “ownership thinking” to be more difficult than anticipated. Incidentally, if you never thought of yourself as being an A-Player employee, you probably will struggle even more in the competitive entrepreneur world.

Entrepreneur 54

Entrepreneur Customer Custom Competition 54

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2017

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Entrepreneur 56

Entrepreneur Competition Press Mentor 56

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2017

As an angel investor and business advisor on new ventures, I expect to see five-year financial projections from every entrepreneur. Does this entrepreneur understand the basics of business costs in the selected business domain, growth dynamics, and the competitive environment?

Pricing 57

Pricing Startup Entrepreneur Invest 57

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2017

In my experience as an advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs in business, one of the biggest failures I see is a lack of self-leadership. For example, I often hear from aspiring entrepreneurs that “I had that idea first, and he stole it, and is now making money on my idea.”

Satisfaction 59

Satisfaction Coach Ideas Entrepreneur 59

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2017

Many entrepreneurs I know are confused by definition and need for an Advisory Board versus a Board of Directors. Shultz provides a set of considerations that I recommend to every entrepreneur for deciding when and how to create the board that has the most value to a specific CEO and a specific business.

Allegis 69

Allegis Startup Entrepreneur Acquisition 69

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2017

Chowdhury is one of the world’s leading management consultants, and he argues that accountability is only one part of a real caring culture that must be built and maintained to achieve a sustainable competitive difference. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 02/24/2017.

Examples 80

Examples Organization Customer Custom 80

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2017

Many startups and entrepreneurs I advise still default to growing their business via the traditional top-down, order-taking culture. I’m convinced that you can’t stay competitive that way with today’s customers, and today’s employees. Constant debates and re-analysis of data are the enemy in a fast-moving and competitive marketplace.

Competition 50

Competition Organization Customer Custom 50

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2017

A large portion of your competitive advantage and your potential value to investors is the size of your intellectual property portfolio. When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most entrepreneurs think only of patents. In reality, patents are only one of at least eight items that should be in your IP portfolio.

Startup 69

Startup Patents IP Social Media 69

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2017

Every opportunity is global, but so is the competition. Today the market and competitive landscape are changing so fast that the best lever to growth is the ability to anticipate and adapt to change, to beat competitors and excite customers. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 09/29/2017.

Competition 60

Competition Customer Custom Social Media 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2017

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve heard and seen hundreds of pitches from entrepreneurs, and the majority of founders are convinced that if you will just give them an hour or more time, you will love their business. Don’t try to explain your technical implementation, your patent algorithm, or your unfair competitive advantage here.

Startup 58

Startup Education Ideas Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2017

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Marty Zwilling First published on Huffington Post on 12/09/2017. Where are you along this spectrum?

Tool 53

Tool Entrepreneur Statistics Metrics 53

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2016

Why ADD Might Actually Benefit Startup Entrepreneurs. I wrote about that experience in my post, “ The Yo-yo Life of a Tech Entrepreneur ,” in which I described an experience that some entrepreneurs has told me mirrored their own so much they found it scary. Turning the Urgency Addiction into a Competitive Asset.

Tips 150

Tips Startup Help Mobile 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2017

Success in today’s rapidly changing and highly competitive business environment requires a total alignment between the needs of each business function and the priorities of all team members. Failed strategies erode your competitive position. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 05/09/2017.

Companies 54

Companies Company Technical Review Coach 54

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2018

In my experience with technical entrepreneurs, they work hard on creating an innovative and elegant solution, and assume that customers will flock to them (“if we build it, they will come”). Your business model may be a more sustainable competitive advantage than your product features, or it can be your biggest risk exposure.

Product 55

Product Pricing Startup Customer 55

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2017

In my many years of experience in business, and recent work as a mentor to entrepreneurs, I have seen the business world change, and can relate well to his five success practices paraphrased here: Build the team from people with a shared obsession. Marty Zwilling First published on Huffington Post on 02/12/2017.

Netflix 62

Netflix Social Media Startup Mentor 62

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Most of the guidance you see for entrepreneurs is aimed at those who are selling a product (Apple, Tesla, Xiaomi), or selling a service (Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat). The “product” value is difficult to quantify, the costs are nebulous, and entrepreneurs have to clone themselves to scale the business.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2017

Is seen by customers as a competitive edge. It takes a strong and adept business leader and entrepreneur to make the right tradeoffs. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 01/02/2017. Loyal customers post great reviews and bring in many new friends. The opportunities are endless.

Customer 64

Customer Custom Statistics Pricing 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done. Marty Zwilling First published on Huffington Post on 07/15/2017.

Software Review 56

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 24, 2017

More than ever, businesses need to take full advantage of automation, data, and analytics to run their business more productively and competitively. Don’t be one of the many small businesses I see that crawls along at a snail’s pace, and ultimately gets stepped on by the competition. Keep your eye on the data and the analytics.

CTO Coach 59

CTO Coach CIO Startup Competition 59

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2017

In this new world of constant cultural and technological change, the only source you can trust is your own ability to learn faster and be more creative than your competition. Lewis offers eight steps to reclaiming your creativity that I believe every entrepreneur should adopt: Quiet – creativity speaks quietly and needs concentration.

Ideas 60

Ideas Social Media Press Mentor 60

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

I was mentoring some graduate students at a local university recently, and I sensed again that profit seems to be a dirty word these days to many aspiring entrepreneurs. It is a very competitive approach, but requires design and development effort for value at every level. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 11/17/2017.

Pricing 66

Pricing Customer Custom Advertising 66