Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

And we wanted a head of global marketing. When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it. RedBeacon went on to sell to HomeDepot in what was considered a very successful acquisition on all sides. But Ethan had left by the time of the acquisition. What do we like about OpenTable? Nice sweep!

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

socalTECH

APRIL 2, 2014

How can marketers make better decisions and get better results from their online marketing? Pasadena-based Smartify (www.getsmartify.com)''s CEO, Carla Bourque , recently talked to us about the company''s online marketing platform, and how it differentiates itself from a lot of other competitors in the market.

Marketing 196

Marketing Pasadena Platform Email 196

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

The latest investment is being used to finance the acquisition of another company in the space — Appetize, a digital and mobile commerce payments platform for enterprises such as sports and entertainment venues, theme parks and zoos. The acquisition of Appetize extends SpotOn’s reach to the enterprise space in a major way.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Software Review Invest Acquisition 296

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 24, 2022

In one industry I know well, the dominant player with 22% market share was acquired by one of the largest companies in the technology world. What if you had abandoned that market, reallocated your resources, and focused instead upon other non–competitive geographical or industry segments? Opportunity can come when least expected.

Resource 156

Resource Competition Examples Customer 156

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2022

Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall. I’m not talking here about a small pivot. These are appearing earlier and earlier in emerging companies, as well as in mid-sized and mature companies: Your original market becomes saturated.

Startup 106

Startup Pricing Cloud Computing Customer 106

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

When people talk today about buying food, alongside traditional grocery stores and other physical food markets, they increasingly talk about grocery delivery companies, restaurant delivery platforms, meal kit services and more that make or provide food to people by way of apps. ” I don’t doubt that he means it.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

When people talk about “online food delivery” services, chances are that they’ll think of the Uber Eats, Instacarts and Getirs of this world. “We are still the first mover in this space,” Xu said when I asked him in an interview about rivals. The funding is coming from a wide mix of investors.

Startup 249

Startup Platform Software Los Angeles 249

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2020

Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall. I’m not talking here about a small pivot. These are appearing earlier and earlier in emerging companies, as well as in mid-sized and mature companies: Your original market becomes saturated.

Pricing 123

Pricing Cloud Computing Customer Custom 123

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2015

Los Angeles-based HelloTech (www.hellotech.com) wants to be the service that you refer all of your friends and family to, instead--by offering up low cost, on-demand, in-home technical support. We spoke with CEO and founder--and longtime startup veteran-- Richard Wolpert about the company. It's also a market that is growing.

Demand 100

Demand Technical Support Startup Seed Funding 100

Tech.Co

MAY 6, 2022

Now, it's dramatically expanding capacity in another area, fulfillment, with the acquisition of Deliverr. It's the biggest acquisition in Shopify's history. The two companies are a great match, according to Shopify's press release about the deal. Shopify is paying $2.1 Why Shopify Wants Deliverr. Sign up to the Tech.co

Networking 123

Networking Press Newsletter Startup 123

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 21, 2019

Thorstein Veblen coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption” in 1899 when commenting on the human desire to publicly display wealth through the acquisition of consumer goods. A Veblen good does not adhere to the traditional laws of price and demand. Fashion companies usually ramp production, as demand increases.

Demand 160

Demand Pricing Product Equity 160

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. Crowdfunding to gauge demand is not recommended, since failed campaigns don’t usually recover later.

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

socalTECH

JUNE 13, 2019

In January, Los Angeles-based Pluto TV (www.pluto.tv) was acquired by Viacom for $340M, one of the largest acquisition deals so far in the region this year. I saw that, if you build a good product that customers love, that people love to use, how you need to market it, how you need to run that project, and so forth.

Startup 124

Startup Content Demand Netflix 124

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Messenger : Rob Duva , Co-Founder, COO RingRevenue, prior Director of Customer Acquisition, CallWave. Value Prop Twitter Style : “Ringrevenue’s call performance marketing platform enables ad networks, agencies, advertisers & publishers to generate more inbound sales calls.”. 10) Rob, why does the world need RingRevenue? .

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2013

Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. Employees will care only about work they create.” Again, you get what you demand and reward. Employees will lose focus on their work.” Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Training Sales Technical Review 97

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy. For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Customer Custom Entrepreneur 143

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

After operating in stealth mode for about two years, First Resonance , a company founded by former SpaceX engineers, is finally showing the world their software toolkit designed to let manufacturers make things using the processes employed by their former boss.

SpaceX 248

SpaceX Tool Los Angeles Design 248

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

If you are the hot-shot technical innovator that invented your solution, make sure you have an equally adept business and marketing expert to complement your skills. “If Pivot early, as required, to tune your features and marketing to meet the market and technical realities. Mergers and acquisitions also require new skills.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2014

To get some insight into how those names are changing--we caught up with Steve Banfield , SVP and GM of Registrar Services over at Rightside (www.rightside.co) -- which is in the midst of spinning out from Santa Monica-based Demand Media. Talk about what''s going on at Rightside, and what the business looks like now?

Demand 231

Demand HTML Web Media 231

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

We caught up with Skyler to hear about HeyTutor, which already has 25 employees and is growing rapidly. HeyTutor is about connecting people hyper-locally. If you look at the other players, I believe, on-demand tutors will never exist. In this industry, customer acquisition costs are super high. What is HeyTutor?

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Beverly Hills Acquisition 113

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 to gauge demand is not recommended, since failed campaigns don’t usually recover later.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2011

Its primary goal is to focus on identifying what is truly driving demand, analytically, so that our customers can optimize their activities. We have a very sophisticated, analytics and software platform that over half the Fortune 50 are now using, to help guide how they invest in marketing and sales activities and investments.

Social Media 235

Social Media Demand Activity Marketing 235

TechCrunch LA

JULY 29, 2020

And as the company cast about for partners to pursue the strategy, Anthos and his firm, XRC, kept being mentioned, Fernandez said. “ If we had cracked user acquisition in LA we would have rolled it out in a bunch of places.” “ If we had cracked user acquisition in LA we would have rolled it out in a bunch of places.”

Invest 263

Invest Services Southern California Ideas 263

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 23, 2020

Bytedance owns the Resso trademark , so it’s a good bet that it will make its way to more markets soon. Possibly with features that differentiate this later entrant from others in the market? Resso was long rumoured and eventually spotted in the wild at the end of last year when Bytedance tested the app in India and Indonesia.

Services 182

Services Los Angeles Media Marketing 182

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Fight the urge do more things, to attract more customers in a broader market. In reality, too many choices actually dilutes customer interest in your existing market, and makes your job of production, marketing, and support much more complex. The company has since gone public, and is still a market leader.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2022

Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. Employees will care only about work they create.” Again, you get what you demand and reward. Employees will lose focus on their work.” Marty Zwilling.

Startup 134

Startup Training Sales Entrepreneur 134

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

The last thing a new entrepreneur wants to think about for a new startup is how it will end. Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Equity is stock, but private company stock has no market value until the company goes public or is sold or merged with another company.

Technical Review 105

Technical Review Equity Invest Startup 105

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

Think about the tension between media companies and cable operators like last year when Viacom threatened to pull Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, etc. Many of us learned about substitute products in undergrad economics courses. This is an age-old marketplace tension where leverage often determines the value captured.

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Most of their new claims to innovation are acquired through mergers and acquisitions from the entrepreneurial pipeline. Customers today demand products and services personalized or tailored to local needs with embedded quality of life services. Single-node factories may be home-based with a global market.

Offshore 55

Offshore Technical Review Entrepreneur Outsource 55

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2022

Every entrepreneur needs to know and communicate the total costs associated with their solution or product, including cost of goods sold, customer acquisition costs, capital costs, operational expenses, and partner costs. Investors will demand clear channel definitions. Customer relationships. Key partners.

Funding 133

Funding Activity Customer Custom 133

socalTECH

AUGUST 16, 2010

Los Angeles-based Hulu , the online video streaming site, is apparently in efforts to file for an IPO, as a long line of Southern California firms heads towards the public markets. According to a report in the New York Times, Hulu is in discussions with investment bankers about pursuing an IPO in the fall. READ MORE>>.

Hulu 150

Hulu Southern California ReachLocal Hollywood 150

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2015

In a world awash with on-demand startups, Los Angeles-based Serviz (www.serviz.com) stands out--not because of the market segment it is tackling, but because it was founded by two, very experienced serial entrepreneurs-- Zorik Gordon and Michael Kline. Our vision is really to become the premier provider of on-demand home services.

Services 100

Services ReachLocal Demand Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2021

For example, if you have ever watched the Shark Tank show on TV, they always ask about the cost of customer acquisition. I often hear about efforts that have been stalled for several years, pending more funding, economic change, or other priorities. Every startup demands logical changes along the way.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Social Media Examples Metrics 162

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We spoke with one of those companies-- El Segundo-based ConsumerTrack (www.consumertrack.com)--which is a $30M, bootstrapped an online marketing company which is driving millions of customers to big name, financial customers. What is ConsumerTrack all about? Brett Rossman: ConsumerTrack is a performance-based, online marketing company.

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

Of course the VC is looking to have specificity in how you plan to spend the money you’re going to raise and plans that show a pie chart that says, “25% on marketing, 30% on technology and R&D, 20% on infrastructure, 25% on G&A” do not get funded. Every VC wants to fund a deal that seems to have too much demand.

Venture Capital 247

Venture Capital Capital Funding Demand 247

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

We caught up with founder John Delacruz to hear more about what the company hopes to do as it expands beyond Pasadena. What is Foodme all about? We let restaurants set pricing based on demand, and then if you're hungry looking for a place to eat, we match you up with a restaurant offering a great deal.

Idealab 217

Idealab Pasadena Pasadena Angels Demand 217

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2015

Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall. I’m not talking here about a small pivot. These are appearing earlier and earlier in emerging companies, as well as in mid-sized and mature companies: Your original market becomes saturated.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Cloud Computing Customer 116