SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 16, 2017

Wednesday, March 22, 2017 -- Join us at the Pepperdine West Los Angeles Graduate Campus and learn invaluable information about what it means to be an entrepreneur. The talk delves into the 4 Ps of Marketing; Product, Price, Promotion, and Place as well as supporting content. Breakfast provided.

Product 100

Product Pepperdine West Los Angeles Los Angeles 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

In my role as an advisor to startups, I often have to remind entrepreneurs to think more like sales people from day one, in finding a real problem to solve and designing the solution. The lowest price is not always the real customer motivator. That’s a recipe for business success that I recommend to every entrepreneur and professional.

Sales 82

Sales Entrepreneur Customer Custom 82

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. Social media is a boon for entrepreneurs and startups.

Entrepreneur 66

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Satisfaction 66

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 7, 2019

The eight-people team is led by Cheng Lyu, the 29-year-old entrepreneur who goes by Jesse and helped Baidu build up its smart speaker unit from scratch after the Chinese search giant acquired his voice startup Raven in 2017. “A lot of studios are asking how much we price our engine at, but we are targeting the consumer market.

Startup 235

Startup Artificial Inteligence Los Angeles Software 235

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?” Factor in project risk before setting a price.

Pricing 68

Pricing Entrepreneur Mentor News 68

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. Simplify your solution positioning.

Entrepreneur 63

Entrepreneur Competition Customer Custom 63

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

In essence, as a contractor, you are a consultant who is competing regularly for new work, and you constantly have to differentiate your offering from other candidates, including price. 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

Tech.Co

JUNE 9, 2017

Cofounders of Cousins Maine Lobster Sabin Lomac and Jim Tselikis wanted to share their Maine tradition of delicious cuisines to the masses for an affordable price. MSCW is a week long conference in Portland, Maine celebrating innovators, entrepreneurs & startups across Maine & the USA.

Startup 72

Startup Conference Pricing Ideas 72

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. The alternatives range from giving the product away for free (revenue from ads), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing).

Pricing 66

Pricing Customer Custom Advertising 66

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

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

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”). The founder had simply not done the work to validate a price and the perfect customer segment.

Product 55

Product Pricing Startup Customer 55

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

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 8, 2016

I thought it would be interesting to understand the challenges and concerns of entrepreneurs who began selling online for the first time in 2016, so I sat down with Heidi Muther, COO at Z S upply , LLC. Founded in 2011, Z Supply, LLC has created five women’s fashion brands with a sixth brand and extension into Men’s, launching Spring 2017.

Sites 100

Sites Sales Santa Barbara Design 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2017

Based on my years of experience mentoring and advising entrepreneurs, you need to attack problems and challenges with a mindset of success, or it is unlikely that you or your business will survive. He is a serial entrepreneur and founder of several successful startups, as well as a consultant to some of the world’s largest organizations.

Guide 60

Guide Entrepreneur Help Mentor 60

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

MARCH 17, 2017

They flocked to businesses like Apple, when influencer Steve Jobs was at the helm, and anxiously await the next moves from visible entrepreneurs, including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Entrepreneurs who are clearly willing to give as well as take in business become influencers because people feel the urge to reciprocate.

Social Media 58

Social Media Customer Custom Entrepreneur 58

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

JANUARY 16, 2017

Incents customers to pay a premium price. Sustainability and social responsibility are ways to extend your exclusivity and added value, thus lowering risk, improving profitability, and justifying a premium price. It takes a strong and adept business leader and entrepreneur to make the right tradeoffs.

Customer 64

Customer Custom Statistics Pricing 64

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2017

Entrepreneur of the Year” finalist. This will create a connection with them, which demonstrates more value than price or quality. Marty Zwilling Published by Xerox Small Business Solutions on 07/31/2017. Yet we are all still learning what that means, in terms of hard business practices.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Marketing 85

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2017

Ironically, the most common desire I hear from entrepreneurs selling wholly online, is the need for their entry into retail, as the next step in their growth strategy. Find your niche, and it’s probably not competing on price and volume alone. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 11/10/2017.

Customer 52

Customer Custom Technical Review Summary 52

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2017

Based on my experience advising new businesses, all of the principles that he outlines, including the following subset which I generalize here, should be taken to heart by every entrepreneur: Give customers fewer things that matter more. Marty Zwilling First published on Huffington Post on 04/12/2017.

Competition 65

Competition Social Media Metrics Customer 65

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2017

It's a line from an old movie "Field of Dreams" which is still leading to the demise of too many startups, led by entrepreneurs who really started their business to build an exciting new product or service. Of course, for a price, there are many marketing organizations and gurus willing to come to your aid.

Startup 64

Startup Sales Customer Custom 64

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2017

Many business executives and entrepreneurs I know are convinced that business success is all about having the right solution for the right price. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 08/02/2017. Thus most investors I know claim to invest in the person, rather than the product.

Software Review 57

Software Review Technical Review Startup Press 57

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

The new strategy here is to focus on unmet new customer needs, rather than enhancing the offering you have – product, price, promotion, and place (4Ps). Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 02/01/2017. Focus on different performance attributes.

Examples 67

Examples Customer Custom Product 67

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

He saw that the industry was being disrupted globally, and actually started with the idea of building a new company that could be scalable, and flexible, and offer delivery of that content at competitive pricing. We bought our first company in 2017 to create this, and we rolled up a few companies to bring this vision to life.

Content 113

Content Startup Mobile Platform 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2017

Too many startups give short shrift to the hiring process, because they are too busy, don’t want to pay market prices, or have no experience. Marty Zwilling First published on Huffington Post on 10/26/2017. Use the hiring process effectively. Don’t hire them.

Product 56

Product Customer Custom Pricing 56

Xconomy

AUGUST 12, 2016

Xconomy spoke with Jacks and CEO and longtime tech entrepreneur Bill Haney about the venture, a cancer immunotherapy startup that is relying on funding from family offices—among them the Disney family—rather than venture firms. —Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB ) disclosed the name for its coming hemophilia-focused spinoff: Bioverativ.

Google 52

Google Technical Review News Research 52

socalTECH

DECEMBER 29, 2017

Eighteen months ago, when MAKE IT IN LA's launch from Mayor's Garcetti's office was featured in a White House press release, we announced an audacious goal of reaching 1,000 entrepreneurs with our programming by the end of this year. We also started offering Factory Tour Workshops to entrepreneurs, with nearly 100 applying for the pilots.

USC 113

USC Startup News Entrepreneur 113

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

Yet as we enter February 2017 the VC funding markets are booming, Snap, Inc has filed for its IPO, AppDynamics was just purchased for $3.7 But the reality is that “global warming” massively blunted the effects of winter and my prognosis for VC fundings of entrepreneurs in 2017–2018 is now very sunny indeed. billion into Uber.

Venture Capital 229

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 229

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 3, 2017

If you just want something cool to pop in a stocking (or just need to bring up your shopping cart price tag high enough to qualify for free shipping), look no further than the Resistance X-Wing Fighter , which costs a paltry six bucks. But they can get a little pricey: A 1,376-piece First Order Heavy Assault Walker will run you $150.

Guide 72

Guide LAMP Pricing Entrepreneur 72

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. But putting large sums of money in the hands of first time or even experienced entrepreneurs with absolutely no oversight is a recipe for disaster.

Course 281

Course Startup Framework Marketing 281

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Smart entrepreneurs are just now starting to look at this option again, due to its unpredictability and the challenges of running a public company. The M&A alternative looks simple by comparison.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Report Entrepreneur 87

InfoChachkie

MARCH 2, 2019

For decades, the modestly priced Barbie became the ideal birthday gift for girls between the ages of 5 and 12, ensuring that each new generation of children would demand Barbie houses, cars, clothes, as well as Barbie’s friend. Mattel’s 2017 sales were $1.6 Twenty years later, she sold the business to Spenco Medical.

Company 100

Company Companies Sales Sample 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2017

The question every entrepreneur and business executive should be asking is what are the drivers of the digital transformation, and how can you make them opportunities rather than costs. Today people can find and switch brands based on delivery, prices, and new features, with one or two clicks and minimal risk.

Demand 54

Demand Technical Review Pricing Customer 54

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2017

VCs don’t expect any serious corrections to valuations in 2017 and they seem to be taking financial discipline in later-stage companies more seriously valuing unit economics over “growth at any cost.” Again, I suspect they would be more concerned today about net neutrality, cyber security, immigration and trade more broadly.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Artificial Inteligence Capital Startup 277