Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

recently wrote a post talking about how some VCs meddle in operating company decisions or some executive teams are too reliant on VCs to jump in and make hard calls for them. At times I wanted the engineering team to produce features to support our sales efforts to I occasionally leaned on them a bit. I did this. ” PR.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2016

Last week El Segundo-based Wpromote acquired fellow marketing agency Standing Dog, in a deal which brings the company to 260 employees, and continues to grow the company. Tell our readers who haven't heard of Wpromote, what your business is all about? We also have an office now in Houston as well as a result of the acquisition.

Acquisition 100

Acquisition Paid Search El Segundo SEO 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

We have made 5 online video investments in total – some we will talk about later this year. The point isn’t to “build a business on YouTube” but rather to use YouTube as a marketing platform to build a video business that works across many platforms. I’ve written about that, too.

SEM 150

SEM Content Platform Acquisition 150

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

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

Shots on Goal Being great as a startup technology investor of course requires a lot of things to come together: You need to have strong insights into where technology markets are heading and where value in the future will be created and sustained You need be perfect with your market timing. I’ve definitely been wrong on market value.

Funding 294

Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

Tech.Co

MARCH 10, 2022

Amazon could substantially expand their dominance over the ecommerce market, as the Seattle-based tech giant has announced the acquisition of Veeqo, a UK-based ecommerce startup. Everyone knows that Amazon has been pretty acquisition happy over the last few years. What does this mean for the ecommerce market?

Startup 128

Startup News Acquisition Platform 128

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

“The only success criteria of my startup career is whether GrubMarket can eventually make $100 billion of annual sales,” he said to me over both email and in a phone conversation. Its opportunity comes in the form of disruption and a gap in the market. ” I don’t doubt that he means it.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

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. - if you don't have experience with venture debt you might want to listen to this bit in the video - we talked a lot about how it works].

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

We thought it might be interesting to talk with one of the fund's managing directors, Jeb Spencer about the fund's success in technology investments, plus how it managed to raise another fund in this kind of environment, plus its unique goal of getting companies to an acquisition--and not an IPO.

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168

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

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

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. Of if your VP Sales isn’t complaining about marketing she’s trying to get the function reporting to her. Marketing of course often feels the opposite.

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

socalTECH

MARCH 23, 2018

San Diego-based Peachjar , which develops software used in the K-12 market to help get flyers and information to parents, has named Joyce Whitby as its new Vice President of Sales, and Tom Motter as Vice President of District Relationships. Motter also served at NextLesson and Social Sentinel.

San Diego 100

San Diego Education Sales Activity 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. Gross margin positive != End of story.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

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.”.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2015

Entrepreneurs and startups often ask if they should select only social media for marketing, or stick with digital media, or just count on traditional media. Social media as a marketing tool is here to stay, and is now widely accepted. Traditional marketing is sales-focused, one-way push.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Marketing Resource 108

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2017

Entrepreneurs and startups often ask if they should select only social media for marketing, or stick with digital media, or just count on traditional media. Social media as a marketing tool is here to stay, and is now widely accepted. Traditional marketing is sales-focused, one-way push.

Media 59

Media Marketing Social Media Resource 59

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.” Sales will be the organization’s sole focus.” Employees will lose focus on their work.” Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Training Sales Technical Review 97

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

spends hundreds of millions of dollars on a media property, runs it for about seven years, and then decides to unload that same property for a fraction of the price it paid to a Southern California technology--not media--company. How about IGN ? Well, could be. READ MORE>>.

News 159

News Southern California Sales Los Angeles 159

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Every aspiring entrepreneur I know is talking about the fact that there are over 2,000 billionaires in the world today, and how their innovative idea could make them one of the next ones. Don’t forget to market yourself before, during, and after your initial idea, through social media, websites, and events.

Outsource Development 154

Outsource Development Social Media Software Review Customer 154

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.” Sales will be the organization’s sole focus.” Employees will lose focus on their work.” Marty Zwilling.

Startup 134

Startup Training Sales Entrepreneur 134

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2013

Entrepreneurs and startups often ask if they should use social media for marketing, digital media, or traditional media. The place to start today is if your company only uses traditional media for marketing, or no marketing. The place to start today is if your company only uses traditional media for marketing, or no marketing.

Social Media 103

Social Media Media Marketing Startup 103

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2020

I’m not talking about just making incremental improvements in their products and processes, but more fundamental changes to the business model, such as the following: Announce a new market launch that fits your core competency. You didn’t wait until a new market was totally proven before entering.

Customer 143

Customer Custom Examples IBM 143

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

The company said it expects the offering to close on or about February 8th. The offering is being underwritten by Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC, Northland Securities Inc., Davidson & Co., Maxim Group, and Ladenberg Thalman & Co.

Los Angeles 113

Los Angeles Pricing Sales Capital 113

Tech.Co

MAY 6, 2022

Ecommerce company Shopify supports small businesses with technology like ecommerce website builders and retail Point of Sale systems. Now, it's dramatically expanding capacity in another area, fulfillment, with the acquisition of Deliverr. It's the biggest acquisition in Shopify's history. Shopify is paying $2.1 newsletter.

Networking 123

Networking Press Newsletter Startup 123

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2012

Entrepreneurs and startups often ask if they should use social media for marketing, digital media, or traditional media. The place to start today is if your company only uses traditional media for marketing, or no marketing. The place to start today is if your company only uses traditional media for marketing, or no marketing.

Media 92

Media Social Media Marketing Resource 92

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. As an investor, I would like to see one month of sales, and see how that compares to your projections. Market penetration. Customer acquisition cost.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

The document should also contain clear buy-sell clauses, forcing any sale of shares to first be offered to the corporate treasury, then to the other founders in proportion to their holdings, and then if there is no interest, to outside investors. An option plan should carve out an addition of about 15% of the “fully diluted” shares.

Equity 156

Equity Class Pricing Sales 156

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. and Canada.

Startup 249

Startup Platform Software Los Angeles 249

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2014

We also built two very high-quality mobile apps that we were experimenting with in terms of building better customer acquisition toools. We at Upfront Ventures enthusiastically led a $7 million round of funding in a combined company on track to top $10 million in sales soon and geared up for growth. Huge congratulations to both teams.

Startup 296

Startup Southern California Marketing Activity 296

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2015

when a technology startup, its investors or the market believe in robust growth rates writ large. “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” __. __. faux·men·tum.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Customer Custom 150

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

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2022

Popular revenue models today include recurring subscription charges, licensing, as well the traditional sale or lease model. Today, businesses are all about customer relationships, not just transactions. Every team needs to understand how their activities relate to customer revenue. Customer relationships. Key activities. Key partners.

Funding 133

Funding Activity Customer Custom 133

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2011

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. Dominique Hanssens, who is a prominent UCLA professor and specialist in the area of market response models. Did the TV stimulate search?

Social Media 235

Social Media Demand Activity Marketing 235

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. One of them is profitability. If you don’t, somebody else WILL!”

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418