Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2020

The biggest complaint I hear from fellow investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point.

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Startup Slides Technical Review Research 118

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. Every entrepreneur, especially an introvert, can benefit from the perspective of another business person, ideally one who has prior experience in the domain you are about to enter.

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Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2019

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 back before 2000. Startups going public are laid open to competitors and critics.

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Startup Technical Review Report IBM 84

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

Image via Flickr by Phil Gyford Starting a new venture still costs real money, even though the entry price has come down dramatically in last few decades. Most entrepreneurs realize and budget for the additional costs of incorporating a business, marketing, equipment costs, and manufacturing. Ramp-up facilities and utilities required.

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Startup Software Review Technical Review Social Media 105

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 7, 2019

Thursday, June 13, 2019 -- Orange County FundingPost VC and Angel Investor PitchFest + Pitch Workshop. Due to the overwhelming demand to pitch at our last event in Orange County, we're throwing an exclusive PitchFest speed dating event where you will be pitching to over 20 investors one-on-one! We're doing it again!

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Orange County Venture Capital Angel Tech Coast Angels 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2019

Most of us have blind spots in our ability to build a business, due to lack of experience, too much ego, over-confidence, or unjustified faith in a subordinate. It’s fair to start with what people think they know, as long as you use that to zero in on corroborating evidence and real examples.

Technical Review 127

Technical Review Activity Mentor Entrepreneur 127

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2020

Every year, we feature the year end reflections of founders, CEOs, investors, and others in Southern California's high tech community. Today, we have Brian Mac Mahon of startup accelerator ExpertDojo (www.expertdojo.com). I believe that most of our success came from startups resonating with our message to build big, fast.

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Southern California Technical Review Santa Monica Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

In my experience as an advisor to entrepreneurs, business startup founders most often point to a shortage of funds as the primary cause of their startup failure. In fact, this problem is so common among business startups, that is has been tagged with the name “ founder’s syndrome ” or “ founderitis.”

Technical Review 89

Technical Review Startup Demand Examples 89

socalTECH

JANUARY 28, 2019

However, there is already the technology out therefrom San Luis Obispo-based Whitefox Defense (www.whitefoxdefense.com)  to both detect, and neutralize those drones. We spoke with founder and CEO Luke Fox to learn more about the company, and its technology. Explain how your technology works? How did the company start?

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Startup Technical Review Technology Competition 187

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. What does that mean for the rest of us, who reside or grew up in the thousands of small towns that cover most of the landscape?

Technical Review 107

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Customer 107

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

Every new business dreams of growing from a startup to a global market leader in a few years, like Amazon.com, but that goal is elusive. As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I often get asked for the magic that has made Amazon the world's most valuable brand , from a total unknown only twenty years ago.

Marketing 123

Marketing Technical Review Customer Custom 123

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

When you are starting a new business, every resource is precious, including time, funding, and people. Unit costs are important, but don’t forget about the cash flow hit, extra storage costs, and the probability of obsolete inventory due to necessary updates or pivots. Most challenges you have are not unique to your business.

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Outsource Development Outsource Metrics Technical Review 122

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

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Based on my experience and data from the field, over seventy-five percent of new startups fail, even with venture backing. Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. Make sure your solution is defensible and unique.

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Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2019

Yet, in my daily role as an advisor to entrepreneurs and small business owners, struggling to boost revenues, profits, and earnings, I still see too many managers falling back on command-and-control, a focus on weaknesses, and not enough time for people. They want ongoing conversations, not just annual reviews. Change is hard.

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Coach Technical Review Satisfaction Examples 95

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2019

In the entrepreneur world, it’s still a popular misconception that the “idea” is everything. For example, I grew up in IBM when Bill Gates was helping us deliver the first IBM PC. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 09/27/2019. The power is in the people, their business relationships, and their connections.

IBM 87

IBM IBM Ideas Technical Review 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2019

As a business advisor, when I bring this up, at best I will hear the defense that you are focused on the strategy of the moment, such as such as how to increase sales, or reach a new market. Highlight your competitive value, not your technology. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 07/03/2019.

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Customer Custom Competition 87

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2019

Examples include the Theranos failure brought about by Elizabeth Holmes’ inability to work with her team, the early Apple setback due to differences between Steve Jobs and John Sculley, and the travails of Uber under Travis Kalanick. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 08/06/2019.

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Tips Technical Review Examples Coach 97

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

How did you start Happy Returns? We ended up being acquired by Nordstrom. That seed funding was really to let us prove the concept and build the technology to enable returns in person at retailers, and let us figure out whether or not customers wanted to return this way, and get an idea of how to scale.

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Training Customer Custom Software Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2019

Conventional business wisdom tells us that entrepreneurs are today’s main source of innovation. In fact, a Wharton Business School study in this decade of the “Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years,” concluded that only eight were first conceived by entrepreneurs, and twenty-two were conceived by employees.

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IBM IBM Java Google 53

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. Yet, most good business people I know agree, but don’t know where to start.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2019

If you listen primarily to the popular press, you could easily be convinced that all successful startup businesses are built by one smart person, such as Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, or Jeff Bezos at Amazon. Solo or autocratic entrepreneurs usually don’t survive, due to required skills and a workload far beyond the capacity of a single human.

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Entrepreneur Technical Review Ideas Tool 94