Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I challenge them to think beyond what I call linear extensions to a current trend, such as another “easier-to-use” app for smartphones, a new dating site for pets, or another niche social network. Also evaluate the values of desired customers. Great social entrepreneurs are rare.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2019

Thus, in my consulting with entrepreneurs, I always encourage them to get more comfortable asking for help. She suspects, like me, that no self-respecting entrepreneur wants to seem weak, needy, or incompetent, and none of us like to feel indebted to someone we see as a peer or a competitor.

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Help Entrepreneur Course IBM 123

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2019

Every year, at the end of the year, we share some reflections on the past year from our readers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, sponsors, and others in the local technology community. An entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and bestselling author, she is passionate about communication, diversity and inclusion. READ MORE>>.

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Startup News SaaS Entrepreneur 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2020

Every year, at the end of the year, we share some reflections on the past year from our readers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, sponsors, and others in the local technology community. With customer acquisition costs (CAC) rising significantly across most products, one company experimented with a few low-cost initiatives.

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Capital SoCal Southern California SaaS 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2019

Much has been written recently about the requirement to focus today on the total customer experience, as a competitive edge or even for survival. The challenge I hear from savvy business owners and entrepreneurs operating on a shoestring is that providing a superior customer experience costs money.

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Custom Customer Coach Pricing 96

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

The realm of an entrepreneur is all about change, but in my experience as a mentor to business founders, I hear too much about incremental change, and not enough about revolutionary change. Great entrepreneurs cross industry boundaries to find synergies, and are constantly in learn mode on several fronts.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Social Media Artificial Inteligence Examples 103

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

It really is possible for an introvert to succeed as an entrepreneur, even though you can’t expect to start and build a business alone. You need to build business relationships with partners, team members, investors, and of course customers. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 08/20/2019.

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Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Startup Boost Los Angeles has opened up applications for its Fall 2019 class, according to the group. Matt Stodder, the co-director of the Los Angeles program, says it is seeking companies with the right team, a minimum viable product, customer traction, and viable plan for going forward.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2019, from 280 out of 100,000 to 310 out of 100,000 of the adult population. Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever.

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Tips Startup Social Media News 161

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2019

In reality, it takes a collaboration of many good people to build and run a business, even though the original idea probably did come from that innovative entrepreneur. Solo or autocratic entrepreneurs usually don’t survive, due to required skills and a workload far beyond the capacity of a single human.

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Technical Review Ideas Tool 94

TechCrunch LA

MAY 20, 2021

So in 2019 she founded Eano , a San Francisco-based startup that aims to walk a homeowner through a renovation and help connect individual contractors with new clients. We’re also helping these individual contractors increase the brand, and helping them with the administration and customer support side with our software.”.

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Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Software Review 185

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2019

After working in business at all levels, and consulting to entrepreneurs for years, I’m still surprised to see so many situations where things that should be easy are painful to customers, and lead to customers hating your business. Get out and meet your customers to learn what turns them on these days.

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Custom Customer Demand Examples 83

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Constance Curtis: I have been a successful entrepreneur for the past thirteen years. At that time, I didn't know it would cost me $14,000 to hire my own personal matchmaker, and leaving my first meeting when I learned that, and being an entrepreneur, I realized I had identified a huge problem. How did you start the company?

Startup 203

Startup Entrepreneur Southern California Netflix 203

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 15, 2021

E-commerce is booming, but among the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs of online businesses are finding a place to store the items they are selling and dealing with the logistics of operating. Tyler Scriven, Maxwell Bonnie and Paul D’Arrigo co-founded Saltbox in an effort to solve that problem. Now, Saltbox has completed a $10.6

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Commerce Help Startup Los Angeles 237

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2019

Many notable recent successes, including Airbnb and Uber, have done it by finding disruptive customers, with essentially no new technology. They seek customers willing to decouple from accepted buying models, or are actively looking for a better total experience. Instead seek out customers they can’t or won’t serve.

Custom 73

Custom Customer Social Media Startup 73

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2019

Startup Boost Los Angeles , the early stage startup program which is led in LA by Matt Stoddard, says it has opened up applications for its Spring 2019 program. Startup Boost says it is looking for companies with the right team, a minimum viable product, customer traction, and viable plan for going forward. READ MORE>>.

Los Angeles 124

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2020

In fact, I see more and more evidence that new entrepreneurs are coming from the older age groups (age 45-64), and success rates move up with age. We summarize the advantages of older entrepreneurs along the following lines: Think life-changing, not lifestyle entrepreneurship. Play to the fastest growing customer segment you know.

Startup 129

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2019

Image via Wikipedia From the advice I hear these days, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, or one of the few other financial hubs around the world. Being an entrepreneur anywhere without fear likely means your business is at risk. All businesses require collaboration.

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Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Custom 107

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

The new era of highly connected and interactive technology is changing not only how business employees interact with customers, but also how they interact with each other, and with their company. I am happy to see reports that young companies are leading the way in these trends, on both the customer and the employee side. In the U.S.,

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Competition Case Study Platform Yahoo 127

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give.

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Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

That makes it difficult to figure out what it costs to acquire a customer, and what a customer is worth. Dan LeBlanc: I used to run customer analytics for a brand called ProFlowers. Fast forward to 2019, and Shopify now has over a million stores in the world, man of them direct-to-consumer stores.

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Startup Platform Commerce San Diego 113

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 11/21/2019.

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Funding Startup Platform Examples 119

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2021

During my many years in business, both as a professional and an entrepreneur, I always wished I knew the secret to success. You need to understand that business is about satisfying your customer, as well as yourself. Although I was never able to pinpoint any single one, I have gathered some insights which I’m certain are key.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

Most entrepreneurs realize and budget for the additional costs of incorporating a business, marketing, equipment costs, and manufacturing. You find that you need to be near major customers, or employee transportation hubs, where rents are higher than you ever anticipated. Ramp-up facilities and utilities required.

Startup 105

Startup Software Review Technical Review Social Media 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. It makes customers feel special, and gives you the opportunity to highlight your broad experience and credentials.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2019

In my work with new and aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most struggle with putting together a written business plan, often pointing out that someone they know started a business without anything written down. You really need at least a prototype product or customer to make the video come alive. Make it light, but factual.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126

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. This concept isnt new, but it hasnt taken off in healthcare yet.

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Pasadena Startup Southern California Santa Monica 124

socalTECH

DECEMBER 26, 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. Our first is with Andy Wilson of the Alliance for SoCal Innovation. Happy Holidays!

Southern California 113

Southern California SoCal Pasadena Startup 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2019

A refrain I often hear from technology entrepreneurs to investors is that their product or solution is so innovative that it will cause a “paradigm shift” in the industry. Due to qualms of customers and governments, he sold less than 30,000 of the devices over the next five years.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Resource Social Media Entrepreneur 90

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I often hear the desire to run their own company, to avoid having someone else telling them how to run the business. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 12/18/2019. They then ask me to help them find investors who can provide the funding they need.

Technical Advisors 125

Technical Advisors Startup News Resource 125

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2019

When was the last time you changed how you communicate to your team and to your customers? As a business advisor, I still find owners and entrepreneurs who have never sent a business text message, written a blog, or produced a small video to update their constituents, or highlight a key message. Your success depends on it.

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Social Media News Tool Examples 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2019

Every aspiring entrepreneur I know is convinced that his or her idea could be the next big startup, blossoming into a billion dollar unicorn. Yet I find that only a few are able to put their passion aside for a moment, and compare their solution to the attributes that really attract a large market of new customers.

Startup 91

Startup Custom Customer Examples 91

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2019

Even worse, many entrepreneurs don’t even take the time to monitor what people are saying about them to others. If you find yourself and your business in one of these categories, it’s time to heed the steps I recommend to every business client today: Ask for a good review from every satisfied customer.

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Custom Customer Examples Sites 86

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2019

What is not so obvious is how to create and roll out solutions that can directly impact customer trust or financial well-being. Human employees and customers still need roles. Your role in business is to manage the transition where humans and machines will productively co-exist to keep human customers satisfied.

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Artificial Inteligence Help Examples Custom 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2019

If we build it, they will come ” may have worked as a movie theme for Kevin Costner, but as an investor, I tell entrepreneurs a great solution is not enough. They nurture connections to other innovators and entrepreneurs, financial benefactors, organizational leaders, and potential customers. The cycle repeats.

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Product Ideas Resource Capital 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2019

As an advisor to business owners, and an occasional angel investor, my job is to separate the actual challenges from the common misconceptions that distract many promising entrepreneurs while building the leadership team required for your solution, marketing, and finance success. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 08/09/2019.

Software Review 98

Software Review Ideas Outsource Development Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. In my experience, the key steps I look for always include the following: Testing the idea against customers who have money to spend. Prepare your marketing story for customers and investors.

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Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94