socalTECH

JANUARY 9, 2014

The online coupon search industry is very crowded, with dozens of sites, players large and small, and is a very confusing landscape for consumers. We make it really easy for consumers to compare information across similar retailers, and find the best deals. For a consumer, that makes it difficult to find and compare information.

Internet Brands 257

Internet Brands Content Startup Sites 257

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

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Traction is evidence that your product or service has started that “hockey- stick” adoption rate which implies a large market, a valid business model, and sustainable growth. Free and freemium products need a solid base. Customer acquisition cost. What does traction really mean to investors, and how much is enough?

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). ” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. But Ethan had left by the time of the acquisition. Nice sweep!

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2014

The buying process is just the beginning of the customer experience, and it has to remain a good one throughout the time that your customer actually uses your product or service. This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up. buying moments customer entrepreneur Robert H.

Customer 98

Customer Custom Entrepreneur Startup 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2020

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Initially, all companies sell to customers who are the easiest to reach and most excited about the new product. Customer acquisition gets harder and more expensive.

Pricing 123

Pricing Cloud Computing Customer Custom 123

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2013

Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. The first thing that entrepreneurs need to realize is that the process and framework for making social media marketing work are different from traditional marketing, and trial and error certainly doesn’t work.

Social Media 102

Social Media Media Product Metrics 102

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

One of the fastest growing startups in Southern California in recent years was Hautelook, which went from just an ideas to a huge, $270M acquisition by Nordstrom only X years later. Brett Markinson: The best place to start, is I'm a serial entrepreneur. Tell us a little bit about your background? I've been doing that for 25 years.

Southern California 200

Southern California Startup Customer Custom 200

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2018

In recent years, Los Angeles has become the capital of subscription, consumer-focused "box" businesses, where consumers sign up for monthly deliveries based on a subscription. We wanted to make it easy to buy cruelty-free and nontoxic beauty and skincare products. We're a little different from the sample size products out there.

Startup 157

Startup Commerce Los Angeles Product 157

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. Over the last four years, I watched numerous entrepreneurs raise equity. You'll be able to browse all of those contributions here.

Southern California 133

Southern California SoCal Culver City Venture Capital 133

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. Wessel measures a 39% acquisition advantage to being in-state.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2015

Every entrepreneur is quick to tell friends and potential investors about his or her vision of changing the world, about all the customers who have expressed an interest, and about all the other investors who are lining up to get a piece of the action. Is your customer-acquisition rate accelerating? Margins should be increasing.

Acquisition 100

Acquisition Entrepreneur Customer Custom 100

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 4, 2014

If you could share one startup lesson with a young entrepreneur, what would it be? So I ask prospective new entrepreneurs, ''What is it specifically that you can bring to the industry?'' How has this reality impacted your customer acquisition strategies? Even busy entrepreneurs need to take a break and recharge.

Entrepreneur 187

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Resource 187

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. When emblazoned with a highly recognizable logo, these goods allow conspicuous consumers to flaunt their wealth. Popular, rare items are expensive.

Demand 160

Demand Pricing Product Equity 160

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Entrepreneurs who experience promising initial success also play a similar game. Although the offer was gratifying, it was clear to the Founders that this windfall would ultimately fall far short of the value that could be created by productizing the technology and generating substantial user adoption. The payout was also unique.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Acquisition Pricing 124

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

We have just lived through the greatest era of fake entrepreneurs. It was a second-wave dot-com boom that lasted five to six years, when money was so readily available ( many have referred to it as the Age of the Unicorns ) that it felt like anybody could get in on the “become-an-entrepreneur” game. It’s an acqui-hire. Build a company.

Entrepreneur 40

Entrepreneur Startup Snapchat Product 40

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Entrepreneurs who experience promising initial success also play a similar game. Although the offer was gratifying, it was clear to the Founders that this windfall would ultimately fall far short of the value that could be created by productizing the technology and generating substantial user adoption. The payout was also unique.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Acquisition Pricing .Net 124

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2022

The buying process is just the beginning of the customer experience, and it has to remain a good one throughout the time that your customer actually uses your product or service. This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up. Sustain the keep-or-lose moment.

Customer 146

Customer Custom Startup Course 146

Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2015

He joined the firm in 2007 after having previously worked with Upfront Ventures for nearly 8 years as a two-time entrepreneur. Before joining Upfront Mark was Vice President, Product Management at Salesforce.com following its acquisition of Koral, where Mark was Founder and CEO. Mark Suster is a Partner at Upfront Ventures.

SaaS 70

SaaS Content Acquisition Entrepreneur 70

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Right now, there are no real efficient products in the dating market. The user has to do everything, which is really time consuming, especially for business professionals where their time is limited, and there's an opportunity cost. Constance Curtis: I have been a successful entrepreneur for the past thirteen years.

Startup 203

Startup Entrepreneur Southern California Netflix 203

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2018

Specific measures that go beyond the traditional linear thinking include the following: Develop new products for your existing segment. Rather than enhancing the offering you have, develop and offer new products that capitalize on the customers that you already know well. Redefine your product to reach a new category.

Examples 99

Examples IP Acquisition Social Media 99

InfoChachkie

MAY 9, 2011

This series describes how entrepreneurs can craft company-changing agreements with BDCs, while avoiding Kiss of Death contract provisions. Entrepreneurs should never agree to the following provisions when negotiating with a BDC, no matter how lucrative the potential relationship. Kiss of Death ConTraps.

Outsource Development 170

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Press Technical Review 170

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2015

“the ecommerce company gained fauxmentum by raising artificially high amounts of venture capital and spent lavishly on customer acquisition despite long payback periods and questionable LTV” __. I’m not saying don’t hire sales staff or market your products aggressively. __. faux·men·tum.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Customer Custom 150

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

Warby Parker filing to IPO last week was one more sign that direct-to-consumer (DTC) is an extremely powerful e-commerce trend. Created in 2014 and acquired by Dentsu in 2019, MuteSix was recommended to TechCrunch by Rhoda Ullmann, VP Consumer at Sense, a Boston-based startup building a home energy monitor.

Commerce 211

Commerce Content Marketing Startup 211

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2020

We try to make it very easy for the average consumer to get more financial information, content, and ultimately, product, in the financial industry. What kind of financial products are you talking about? We curate the best products within each category of finance. Scott Grimes: A lot of it is for new user acquisition.

Content 124

Content Social Media Startup Artificial Inteligence 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2022

Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. The next thing that entrepreneurs need to realize is that the process and framework for making social media marketing work are different from traditional marketing, and trial and error certainly doesn’t work.

Social Media 135

Social Media Framework Media Metrics 135

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. The best VCs don’t try to help entrepreneurs. He said, “I prefer to do Enterprise A rounds and Consumer B rounds. But VC is like congress.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

InfoChachkie

JUNE 16, 2011

In social media, the underlying artifact of the ecosystem is that consumers are following people. So who are the people who can help you reach the consumers you want to reach? 5) Twitter’s recent $40M acquisition of TweetDeck is an interesting development. It definitely works when you consider the intent of the consumer.

Social Media 252

Social Media Platform Media Networking 252

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

We sat down with Scott Morrow President of Curatemedia, to hear more about the firm's strategy and the thinking behind the acquisition and new investment in the firm. Essentially, we're still oriented around social shopping, where our fundamental value proposition is helping consumers figure out what to buy.

Content 165

Content Demand Sites Media 165

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2015

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Initially, all companies sell to customers who are the easiest to reach and most excited about the new product. Customer acquisition gets harder and more expensive.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Cloud Computing Customer 116

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 24, 2011

We all make important, complicated decisions in our life and having accurate, objective data about our choices allow us to find and compare products that meet our needs. With that said, what books, blogs or other resources do you recommend for emerging entrepreneurs? 10) Kevin, why does the world need FindTheBest (FTB)? . “We

Blogging 219

Blogging Entrepreneur Software Review Course 219

InfoChachkie

MAY 9, 2011

This series describes how entrepreneurs can craft company-changing agreements with BDCs, while avoiding Kiss of Death contract provisions. Entrepreneurs should never agree to the following provisions when negotiating with a BDC, no matter how lucrative the potential relationship. Kiss of Death ConTraps.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Press Technical Review 124

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

In fact, an entrepreneur friend of mine, who made millions on her marketing expertise, asserted recently that most inventors fail in business because they refuse to believe that any business expertise or experience is worth more than 5 percent in partner equity. Most founders bootstrap product development.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Patents Entrepreneur Customer 101

socalTECH

DECEMBER 26, 2012

We asked the same four questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next week. I think that the biggest news for StartEngine this year is our productivity. 12 major acquisitions this year putting it over 100 since 05.

Southern California 168

Southern California High Tech SaaS Social Media 168

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2012

It provides consumer rewards, and on the merchant side, it allows them to identify local customers and reacquire them by pushing them offers and incentives to come back. We're able to do lots of this segmentation and sophisticated remarketing back to consumers, to get them to purchase more from the businesses they love.

Southern California 245

Southern California Idealab Startup Customer 245

socalTECH

DECEMBER 29, 2017

Eighteen months ago, when MAKE IT IN LA's launch from Mayor's Garcetti's office was featured in a White House press release, we announced an audacious goal of reaching 1,000 entrepreneurs with our programming by the end of this year. We also started offering Factory Tour Workshops to entrepreneurs, with nearly 100 applying for the pilots.

USC 113

USC Startup News Entrepreneur 113