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. Here in LA we continue to be excited about the growth of the startup ecosystem and the quality of the companies here.

Startup 124

Startup Press Commerce Southern California 124

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

The best entrepreneurs in our industry focus on it year-round as opposed to just once every 18 months. Rather than overwhelm you with a super long Suster post I thought I’d break it up into a series of 13 (or so, might expand) posts. Below is the outline Upfront. Let me give you an example.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

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

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2017

Thus I believe that business leaders and entrepreneurs need to focus first on people leadership, rather than process leadership. As a business advisor and investor in new startups, I see how difficult it is to make any process work, no matter how well designed, if the team is dysfunctional. What goes around, comes around.

Entrepreneur 78

Entrepreneur Coach Organization Mentor 78

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

We spoke with CEO and co-founder Dan LeBlanc , a veteran of ProFlowers and FTD, on how he started the company and he problem the startup is solving for direct to consumer brands. What does your startup do? founded in summer of 2017. What's your background, and how did the startup come about?

Startup 113

Startup Platform Commerce San Diego 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2019

It’s enough to drown any business which tries to fight it or ignore it, and it’s an opportunity to ride higher and faster than even the successes of Google and Facebook, for those startups that use it as their driving force. exabytes per month at the end of 2017, of which more than half was video. Smartphone penetration in the U.S.

Technology 97

Technology Social Media Startup Entertainment 97

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2017

Thus one of my key messages to entrepreneurs, as a business advisor and angel investor, is “focus.” For example, it’s all too common for a technology entrepreneur to highlight a new battery technology as the ultimate power for smartphones, medical heart pacemakers, and home lighting. Realistically characterize the competition.

Entrepreneur 63

Entrepreneur Competition Customer Custom 63

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

According to a recent poll , contractors and freelancers could make up half of the American workforce within a decade. 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.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

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. You need all these before you start looking for funding. Here are the key elements: Company name.

Startup 69

Startup Patents IP Social Media 69

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

Most budding entrepreneurs don’t realize that nine out of ten startups fail within 24 months. While last year was not a banner year for new businesses, the startup rate is still about one per minute, so you need more than luck to improve your odds of success. Never under-estimate or ignore the competition.

Startup 65

Startup Competition Resource Snapchat 65

socalTECH

DECEMBER 21, 2017

For today's interview, we spoke with Richard Sussman , who is leading up investments for a new venture capital firm in town, NordicEye (www.nordiceye.com), which just saw a big exit in one of its very first investments, Los Angeles-based Weblife. What's wonderful about this new fund, is we literally started in April of 2017.

Southern California 133

Southern California Startup Venture Capital Invest 133

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

OCTOBER 11, 2017

Every aspiring entrepreneur would love to be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos, but most have no idea what really sets these guys apart from all the rest. Conventional wisdom has them looking for a painful problem, a very large opportunity, and minimal competitive barriers to entry. Don’t jeopardize key relationships.

Entrepreneur 56

Entrepreneur Mentor Satisfaction Class 56

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2017

Entrepreneurs are people who dream up new ideas, and then commercialize them into new businesses. Most people believe that the hard part is coming up with the idea, and the easy part is turning it into a business. Business objectives need to be quantified and measured to assess progress and positioning against competition.

Ideas 72

Ideas Startup Metrics Entrepreneur 72

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is up from the dead zone, but is still half the rate of 15 years ago. Startups going public are laid open to competitors and critics.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Report Entrepreneur 87

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. You need all these before you start looking for funding. Here are the key elements: Company name.

IP 93

IP Invest Patents Social Media 93

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. It’s a good start, but that’s not the continuous flow of smaller innovations required to survive, thrive, and win in today’s rapidly changing world.

Startup 81

Startup Metrics Organization Ideas 81

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? Project unit-volume and price levels.

Pricing 57

Pricing Startup Entrepreneur Invest 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2017

Starting a new business is a long, hard process, and I can’t blame any founder for looking for shortcuts. I recommend starting early with a cheap and simple Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), and converting later to a C-Corporation, if required. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 07/14/2017.

Entrepreneur 72

Entrepreneur Competition Customer Custom 72

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2017

Every startup and every new business needs a unique selling proposition (USP) to get people’s attention these days, and make it stand out in the information overload we all see. I’m looking for the “hook” right up front, or I lose interest quickly, just like every customer and investor these days.

Startup 58

Startup Education Ideas Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2017

Entrepreneurs always work hard to create an innovative product or service, but often count on standard seller marketing for sales. Don’t start from how you want to sell. Start where the customer wants you to be and work backwards. People are quick to make things up to fill a vacuum, and rumors or myths die hard.

Search Engine Optimization 58

Search Engine Optimization Startup SEO Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2017

One of the biggest challenges in changing your lifestyle from an employee to starting your own business, is focusing on the right ownership elements, versus having a boss who sets the business goals, and provides performance feedback. I now believe that every entrepreneur needs to think like an A-Player.

Entrepreneur 54

Entrepreneur Customer Custom Competition 54

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

San Diego-based uCast Global (www.ucastglobal.com), backed by Gary Winnick, is looking to tackle that entire area of content distribution, and is led by startup veteran Dr. Kanaan Jemili. We caught up with Kanaan to learn more about uCast Global. Weve also developed technology that allows them to get a really easy start.

Content 113

Content Startup Mobile Platform 113

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”). This may also be a great source for leads as a key part of that final rollout and scale-up effort.

Product 55

Product Pricing Startup Customer 55

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.

Company 54

Company Companies Technical Review Coach 54

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. Yet I suggest a small one has value for every startup, starting at inception, prior to a major investor or key business scaling initiative. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 03/28/2017.

Allegis 69

Allegis Startup Entrepreneur Acquisition 69

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2017

Most business leaders today realize that smart management of scarce resources is the key to competitive success. Leaders who are able to optimize these find multipliers of 20 percent up to nine times the average productivity. This starts with instilling the discipline to build a robust, focused set of objectives for every team member.

Product 58

Product Startup Guide Framework 58

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2017

When you are starting a business with an exciting new idea, it’s easy to dismiss potential competitors as not being in the same space, or too fat, dumb, and happy to be concerned that you even exist. Have you lined up the stakeholders who drive success? This will speed up pivots and remedial actions and minimize damage.

Metrics 58

Metrics Resource Startup Training 58

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2017

This simply means that the number of people with a long-term single-employer agreement is going down, and the number of short-term contractors and freelancers is going up. 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.

Pricing 68

Pricing Entrepreneur Mentor News 68

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2017

In this age of information overload, success is all about building a brand that stands out above the competition. Whether you are focused on your professional career, or starting your own company, YOU are the first or only brand that anyone will see and remember. Start a blog and write for industry forums and newsletters.

Startup 55

Startup Organization Newsletter Content 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2017

In my role as an advisor to entrepreneurs and new businesses, I often get asked to critique an idea, but rarely get asked to comment on an implementation plan, or execution actions to date. While you are still thinking, your competition will be stealing your market or the opportunity itself may go away or evolve.

Ideas 72

Ideas Entrepreneur Examples Satisfaction 72

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. The doctor told me. My brain and my body.

Tips 150

Tips Startup Help Mobile 150

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. Anything you or your team knows about the market today may change tomorrow.

Competition 50

Competition Organization Customer Custom 50

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 start with finding what you want – having a specific end in mind assumes you have knowledge of the future. Keep up on the details, but don’t miss the big picture.

CTO Coach 59

CTO Coach CIO Startup Competition 59

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’s naïve to think you can sell below costs, and make it up by attracting more customers. Facebook spent $150 million getting started.

Pricing 66

Pricing Customer Custom Advertising 66

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

I believe this use of cryptocurrency will develop and flourish long after the dust settles from the hype and crash of cryptocurrencies that we’re experiencing in 2017. This market structure in which the few, large players use their market position to eliminate competition is inevitable. It’s Hobbesian economics 101.

Course 280

Course Startup Framework Marketing 280

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