Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity. Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 8, 2019

Warren’s plan called for regulators to be appointed to oversee the unwinding of several acquisitions that were critical to the development of the core technology that make Alphabet’s Google and the social media giant Facebook so profitable… and Zappos. — Balaji S.

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Startup Chief Technology Officer Social Media 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. The most common failures on the show, and in real life, are people who don’t know their margins, cost of customer acquisition, channels, or other key data.

Entrepreneur 127

Entrepreneur Sample Ideas Customer 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2021

Based on my own years of experience in startups and big business, and more recently as an angel investor, I often cringe when I see one of you entrepreneurs missing a cue that I have seen work for many before you. For example, if you have ever watched the Shark Tank show on TV, they always ask about the cost of customer acquisition.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Social Media Examples Metrics 162

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2019

Ian talked to us about the rewards and challenges of being an entrepreneur, plus how important it is to manage lifetime value (LTV) of a customer versus customer acquisition cost (CAC) in making a successful company. (We Ian Chen: In my previous life, I was working in private equity in LA. What is Discotech? How are you funded?

Startup 113

Startup Equity Customer Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2015

Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came quickly. These relationships need not require cash investments; often they are done with exchanges of equity or assets. Economies of scale. New management skills.

Organization 100

Organization Startup Competition IBM 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2014

Projecting the financials should be the last step of your business plan preparation, since it assumes you already know the opportunity size, customer buying habits, pricing, costs, and competition. Here are some basic “rules of thumb” that every Angel or venture capital equity investor uses, to help you anticipate their reactions.

Equity 99

Equity Venture Capital Invest Pricing 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

As an angel investor, what I’m looking for is key data from your business plan, including financial projections, how much money you are looking for and a quantification of my potential return. Include your sustainable competitive advantage. Once you have their attention, content is key.

Summary 101

Summary Patents Technical Review Competition 101

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came early. These relationships need not require cash investments; often they are done with exchanges of equity or assets. Economies of scale. New management skills.

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Organization Startup Competition 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2013

Projecting the financials should be the last step of your business plan preparation, since it assumes you already know the opportunity size, customer buying habits, pricing, costs, and competition. Here are some basic “rules of thumb” that every Angel or venture capital equity investor uses, to help you anticipate their reactions.

Startup 97

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Venture Capital 97

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2019

Most founders and CEOs will not voluntarily establish a formal Board of Directors, unless they are trying to attract a major investor, preparing for an IPO, or planning for an acquisition. It’s a resource that you can’t afford to ignore if you intend to stay competitive today. How much are you willing to spend on your board?

Startup 98

Startup Allegis Entrepreneur Acquisition 98

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Based on my experience as an angel investor and a mentor to dozens of entrepreneurs, having no business plan is the quickest way to define yourself as just a dreamer, or at best a hobbyist. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. No mention usually means no plan and not competitive.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

Los Angeles-based Maple Media (maplemedia.io) recently announced a big, $30M funding from Shamrock Capital, to assemble a collection of mobile applications in the utility, productivity, games and entertainment verticals. You're known as quite the angel investor here in companies (ie. What's the idea behind Maple Media?

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came early. These relationships need not require cash investments; often they are done with exchanges of equity or assets. Economies of scale. New management skills.

Startup 93

Startup Organization Competition IBM 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2015

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. The most common failures on the show, and in real life, are people who don’t know their margins, cost of customer acquisition, channels, or other key data.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Sample Ideas Customer 106

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? Set a target growth and market penetration rate.

Pricing 57

Pricing Startup Entrepreneur Invest 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2017

As a new business advisor and angel investor, I have assembled my own favorite list of shortcuts to avoid, in the hope of saving you from learning these lessons the hard way: Be satisfied with verbal or handshake partner agreements. Retain maximum equity by requesting minimal funding.

Entrepreneur 72

Entrepreneur Competition Customer Custom 72

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2017

Most founders and CEOs will not voluntarily establish a formal Board of Directors, unless they are trying to attract a major investor, preparing for an IPO, or planning for an acquisition. It’s a resource that you can’t afford to ignore if you intend to stay competitive today. How much are you willing to spend on your board?

Allegis 69

Allegis Startup Entrepreneur Acquisition 69

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2016

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. The most common failures on the show, and in real life, are people who don’t know their margins, cost of customer acquisition, channels, or other key data.

Startup 57

Startup Entrepreneur Sample Ideas 57

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2013

Earlier, the firm said that FF Angel, Siemer Ventures, 500 Startups , and Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal), among others, had invested $1.6 Jackson and Christopher Grey, CapLinked empowers its clients to manage complex business transactions such as mergers & acquisitions, financings, asset sales, and investor reporting.

Draper 68

Draper Google Software Engineering Invest 68

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2013

One of the largest concentrations of technical talent in Los Angeles is in Glendale, at YP -- staffed with a surprising number of Los Angeles startup vets. We also know we''re not a startup, and don''t have equity to offer. How did what was a staid publisher of phone books become a hotbed of online talent? How big is YP?

Technical Review 223

Technical Review Glendale Advertising Google 223

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

We want money to make some acquisitions (investors would prefer to fund M&A if they know specific deals – not to encourage bad behavior. So money spent should add equity value or create IP that eventually will. We want a strong balance sheet (um, ok. but that’s our firm’s money on your balance sheet.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2013

One of the largest concentrations of technical talent in Los Angeles is in Glendale, at YP (www.yp.com) -- staffed with a surprising number of Los Angeles startup vets. We also know we''re not a startup, and don''t have equity to offer. How did what was a staid publisher of phone books become a hotbed of online talent?

Technical Review 211

Technical Review Glendale Advertising Google 211

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. Semick: In the beginning, many of our conversations were about whether we wanted funding from angel investors and eventually VCs.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

From the Venture Trenches

MARCH 27, 2013

Yet despite his ability to raise over $1 billion of private equity and to build an organization that is worth $5 billion as of this writing, Mason was shown the door. Groupon raised seven series of private equity before going public. Money raised from friends and family typically come with few constraints and very simple terms.

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Anthem Startup 45

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2021

As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs and occasional angel investor, I often see and hear innovative product pitches that sound exciting, but are missing one or more of the key business elements that investors deem critical for funding consideration. Convince me that you understand your competition.

Funding 132

Funding Template Resource Competition 132

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2012

A month ago, I participated in my first ever Startup Weekend event in Los Angeles, California in the co-working spaces at Coloft. I faced the same challenge not being able to form a team because most people joined the competition with friends that they had already planned on working with.

Startup 100

Startup Ideas San Diego Mentor 100

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

Collaboration Over Competition: Competitors as Business Partners. Entrepreneurism / Monetization competition, ecommerce, small business. . Entrepreneurism / Monetization Pitch Session, Startups / Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital (VC) / Angels / Investors. . Angels in the Infield. Sally Strebel, Page.ly. Having the.

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Competition: Chegg (has raised $144 in debt and equity)—estimated by Steven Carpenter ( TechCrunch ) to be 10x more unique visitors than BookRenter (during peak book renting seasons) with nearly $140mm in revenues for 2010. -New Launched in 2007 in Los Angeles by Adam Bernhard and Konstantin Glasmacher.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Competing To Win Deals - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , November 7, 2010 The venture capital business is highly competitive. But I don’t think so.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. In reality, crowdfunding has become a major startup funding vehicle, expected to reach $3.62 Marty Zwilling

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. Crowdfunding success does not mean business success. We still have no experience on how well this will work.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2015

Boy wearing Oculus Rift via Wikipedia As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. Crowdfunding success does not mean business success. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 53

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 53