Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2020

In my experience with entrepreneurs, there seems to a wealth of self-proclaimed “idea people” who aspire to start businesses, but only a few who are willing and able to dig in and get the job done. Only rare great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, have proven to be both. Customer acquisition, retention, and support.

Ideas 122

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup IBM 122

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

The road to becoming an entrepreneur is a journey , and it’s not a short trip. Every entrepreneur starts by accepting the reality that you have a rare mindset of joy of discovery, with an intense curiosity about how certain things or people work, or why a new technology hasn’t yet been accepted. The right culture is the key.

Entrepreneur 139

Entrepreneur Help Incubator Startup 139

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2020

None normally work for or provide funds for early-stage startups. Typically, their service is to help you invest in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, much like independent financial advisors. Many investment banks even call themselves “boutiques.” Investment banks normally charge fees consisting of three components.

Invest 144

Invest Entrepreneur Venture Capital Funding 144

socalTECH

JULY 27, 2016

The The Stage Fund , a investment and acquisition firm focused on acquiring turnaround companies, has tapped a longtime Southern California entrepreneur, Dan Tamkin , as a new Managing Partner in Los Angeles. According to the fund, Tamkin will be setting up a West Coast office for the fund, which is based in Denver, Colorado.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Chief Technology Officer Funding Angel 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

The key elements of leadership in a company, both individual and organizational, are less tangible, but very critical in setting a market value for investment, acquisition, or going public. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Funding Organization Coach 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2020

Every entrepreneur I know finds it a challenge to balance the joys of entrepreneurship against a set of frustrations they never anticipated. You expected the difficulty of finding funding, but you never expected it to go so fast into unanticipated expenses, inventory, support, and marketing.

Entrepreneur 122

Entrepreneur Startup Course Examples 122

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. Identify your intellectual property or “secret sauce.”

Funding 132

Funding Template Resource Competition 132

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2013

Every entrepreneur tries to maximize his startup growth by building and selling more product and services for the widest geographic area that he can support. Many entrepreneurs are paranoid about the partnership approach, and think that M&A is only an alternative for large companies who are flush with cash. Partial acquisition.

Acquisition 88

Acquisition CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 88

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2023

In my experience with entrepreneurs, there seems to a wealth of self-proclaimed “idea people” who aspire to start businesses, but only a few who are willing and able to dig in and get the job done. Only rare great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, have proven to be both. Customer acquisition, retention, and support.

Startup 155

Startup Ideas IBM IBM 155

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. o CPM model gave him control over the information in the acquisition cycle so he focused on that. - On Entrepreneurship: What makes a great entrepreneur? [if On Entrepreneurship: What makes a great entrepreneur?

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2016

Mike Mothner: The business today, is we are a digital agency focused on customer acquisition and growth for businesses of all types. Our clients are everyone from fast growing, freshly funded startups, to the Fortune 100. We also have an office now in Houston as well as a result of the acquisition. Plus, they are great people.

Acquisition 100

Acquisition Paid Search El Segundo SEO 100

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

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Southern California's technology community--despite all of the recent excitement around Silicon Beach--continues to be underserved in terms of capital, with a lack of venture capital funds (with money), and other private technology investors. We are focused on the investment in and acquisition of software firms that are generating $2.5M

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

With the current volatile economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Yet reverse mergers are not all bad.

Funding 104

Funding Summary Entrepreneur Acquisition 104

socalTECH

MAY 4, 2021

Irvine-based e-commerce software developer Kajabi said this morning that it has raised a massive, $550M funding round, which values the company at over $2 billion. Kajabi says it is profitable, and will use the funding to scale its team and build out its products, expand internationally, and explore strategic mergers and acquisitions.

Commerce 113

Commerce Coach Course Equity 113

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. Over the past 4 years LA’s tech fundings have growing at a 30% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) which is > 4 times the US average VC CAGR (7%). “There’s something going on in LA.” Success begets success.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Even if you work every day in the world of new-venture funding, as I do, the options are confusing, and their meanings seem to change on a regular basis. I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. Business accelerator funding.

Funding 104

Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2021

Every entrepreneur tries to maximize his startup growth by building and selling more product and services for the widest geographic area that he can support. Many entrepreneurs are paranoid about the partnership approach, and think that M&A is only an alternative for large companies who are flush with cash. Partial acquisition.

Organization 132

Organization CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 132

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Great stuff. This post looks at the implementation details of HTML 5 video.

Pricing 150

Pricing Acquisition Customer Custom 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. Fund an entrepreneur you know and trust. Most entrepreneurs start asking for money from this tier, when they have very little more than an idea.

Invest 89

Invest Entrepreneur Startup Equity 89

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

The funding was led by Rincon Venture Partners, Wavemaker Partners, Frontier Venture Capital, and Apex Ventures. The startup, led by serial entrepreneur Ryan Born, said it also acquired a range of assets from Dart Music. Financial details of the Dart Music acquisition was not announced.

Startup 177

Startup Venture Capital Content Google 177

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. He points out that the word crowd precedes funding in crowdfunding. Startup revenues come later.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2014

With the uptick in the economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, and an old one long out of favor, the so-called “reverse merger.” Marty Zwilling.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Summary 98

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

First off, on our original article, we identified a number of people in the industry we specifically said did not qualify for the list -- because they had successfully exited companies in the past and who are proven entrepreneurs. award acquisition merger exit enterepeneur socaltech50' So then, how did our actual list do? READ MORE>>.

SoCalTech 166

SoCalTech Acquisition Truecar Southern California 166

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2017

Being called a lifestyle entrepreneur should be a point of pride, not an insult. Of course, even lifestyle entrepreneurs want to be happy, and want their business to be “successful.” Startup funding comes from personal savings and family. Non-equity funding has to come from personal sources, or government grants, or bank loans.

Entrepreneur 69

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Course 69

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. Yet the process is eerily realistic, and every entrepreneur can glean some important lessons. Investors invest in people, more than ideas.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Sample Ideas Customer 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2015

The best part of being an entrepreneur is having the independence to make your own decisions, the flexibility for a better work/life balance, and personal satisfaction from driving change. The road to business success is filled with challenges and frustrations that most aspiring entrepreneurs never even imagined.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Satisfaction Social Media 111

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

Mogul Millennial — this Dallas-based company is a digital media platform for black entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. Since launching the platform in 2018, startups from the Snap accelerator have gone on to acquisition (like Stop, Breathe, and Think, which was bought by Meredith Corp.) Hardworkers — a Cambridge, Mass.-based

Artificial Inteligence 331

Artificial Inteligence Social Network Los Angeles Snapchat 331

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 12, 2015

Fredi''s email is worth reading, as it reinforces how lucky American entrepreneurs truly are. However, from an entrepreneur''s viewpoint, the philosophical distance can be measured in light years. Although 75% of VC funds in Spain come from abroad, the government has decided to punish capital outflows. Fredi''s Plea.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Startup Santa Barbara Venture Capital 100

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Greathouse: Your collective experiences have clearly made bootstrapping a viable option for you, more so than might be the case for a typical, younger entrepreneur who needs more direction, doesn’t have cash discipline, etc. Metrics related to customer acquisition, lifetime value and churn. It was a viable option for us.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

socalTECH

AUGUST 29, 2013

Can tapping the power of the crowd not only help you find customers and help fund your project, but also help you shape your startup idea and find funding? Dirk Ahlborn: We are coming out of the nonprofit incubator, the Girvan Institute of Technology, which has been around since 2002, and is funded by NASA Ames.

Ideas 178

Ideas Patents Funding Startup 178

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2018

Galvanize, which is based out of denver but has locations in Austin, Boulder, Denver, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Seattle, said the acquisition and funding will add Los Angeles to its "innovation hubs" technology students, alumni, entrepreneurs, startups and established companies. READ MORE>>.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Angel Software Engineering Activity 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2019

With the current strong economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Yet reverse mergers are not all bad.

Summary 121

Summary Startup Entrepreneur Funding 121

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

The last thing a new entrepreneur wants to think about for a new startup is how it will end. If the entrepreneur plans to grow the company into a family business, or keep it private, they will either never be interested in buying out investors, or will certainly not be motivated to provide the 10x return that investors are looking for.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2017

New entrepreneurs are always looking for a shortcut in getting their venture story and plan across to investors, and closing on the funding they need. As an active angel investor, I look for this level of alignment and understanding in every funding presentation I hear. No startup or entrepreneur is an island.

Funding 57

Funding Startup Activity Customer 57

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Among the announcements at the demo day were the funding of smartphone toy company SnowShoe , and an acquisition of Smart Toy , a developer of an interactive toy. in its seed funding round. Disney offered up up to $120K in investment capital, access to entrepreneurs and executives at Disney, and other resources to its startups.

Class 185

Class Startup Seed Funding Entertainment 185

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Almost every entrepreneur and new business owner I mentor is certain that his/her idea has a very high probability of success, and all find it hard to believe that ninety percent of startups ultimately fail. I once met with an entrepreneur who had developed a new algae strain to cure world hunger and make him rich.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131