Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2013

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Technical Review Equity 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Every year, we feature the year end reflections of founders, CEOs, investors, and others in Southern California's high tech community. We've expanded our network activity outside of SoCal to potentially invest in and recruit founders and talent to the region. We'll be posting these throughout the next two weeks. READ MORE>>.

Southern California 113

Southern California Technical Review SoCal High Tech 113

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My advice to entrepreneurs was and is “ when the hors d’oeuvres tray is being passed take two ” (e.g. So I agreed to offer my current thinking on the economy and what it portends for the VC industry & fund raising for entrepreneurs. raise money now to weather any storms).

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2014

We''re continuing to feature reflections on the last year from movers and shakers in the local high tech community, and today have thoughts from Gerhard Apfelthaler , who is Dean of California Lutheran University''s School of Management , which has been very active in Ventura County helping to promote startup and entrepreneurial activity.

Westlake Village 147

Westlake Village Thousand Oaks Startup Ventura 147

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Technical Review Startup Equity 102

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

Every business owner and entrepreneur I meet in my consulting rounds dreams of finding that “ disruptive ” innovation that will supercharge their business and move it into the ranks of business unicorns (billion-dollar valuations), such as SpaceX and Apple. Focus on pragmatic innovation rather than disruption.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Metrics Resource Software Review 101

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

All schmoozing and networking aside, what are investors, entrepreneurs, and others in the industry thinking about? and who, as Sky Dayton aptly states --know that the one trait that all entrepreneurs must have: perseverance. Big disclaimer: the author and editor was one of the honorees at the event). READ MORE>>.

Ventura 182

Ventura Santa Monica Idealab High Tech 182

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2012

For the last week of the year, we're featuring the thoughts and reflections of some of the movers and shakers of Southern California's high tech community. We launched a Digital LA - Women series with four panels starring female founders, entrepreneurs, developers and PR, which will also continue into the new year.

Dollar Shave Club 272

Dollar Shave Club Technical Review Santa Monica Southern California 272

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Every year, we feature the year end reflections of founders, CEOs, investors, and others in Southern California's high tech community. 2020 was a crash course in leadership and we saw many great entrepreneurs step up and rise to the challenge. His current active investments include: Sovrn, Zyp Media, and QMerit.

Venture Capital 124

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Brentwood 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2015

A common challenge faced by every entrepreneur is that they don’t have the bandwidth, interest or skills to do everything that is required to build their startup. Investors worry about a single entrepreneur getting overloaded, disabled or led astray, with no balancing and supporting partner.

Startup 105

Startup High Tech Entrepreneur Writing 105

socalTECH

MAY 5, 2010

It's our pleasure today to feature an interview with Yossi Vardi , one of Israel's best known high tech entrepreneurs. What is it about Israel that has made it such a center of high tech and startups? etc--which are all necessary, but is insufficient for creating a high tech industry.

High Tech 150

High Tech Southern California Writing Conference 150

socalTECH

JULY 16, 2013

One of those high profile neighborhoods here is Pasadena, home of Idealab, Caltech, OpenX, and many other high tech companies and institutions. So, I thought I''d see if there was an interest here to active a community in town. We want to create businesses and engage with entrepreneurs.

Pasadena 242

Pasadena Santa Monica CalTech Technical Review 242

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

If you are a first-time entrepreneur, I recommend that you team with a co-founder with experiences, connections, and a skill set that complements, but doesn’t duplicate yours. Even experienced entrepreneurs need a partner to back up each other and improve fundability. Look for diversity in outside activities.

Startup 95

Startup Entrepreneur Activity High Tech 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2018

In my experience, the initial idea for a new product usually comes from a single entrepreneur, but the implementation plan for a new business requires a team, or at least a co-founder. Thus I always recommend a common series of steps that I have seen working for other entrepreneurs: Write a partner description for that ideal co-founder.

High Tech 55

High Tech Entrepreneur Writing Startup 55

socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2011

Watertower has been involved in a number of high visibility exits and fundings in recent months, including Riot Games (rumored to be $400M+), Machinima, and ExtendMedia. Norton spent some time talking about his vision of where LA's future in high tech lies. Derek Norton: It's that old adage--they invest in the entrepreneur.

Riot Games 199

Riot Games Technology Los Angeles Entrepreneur 199

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 14, 2014

Unlike R&D tax credit bill which specifically aims at motivating innovation and research, SEIS creates a relatively conducive environment for companies to engage in business activities. To ensure sustainability of the business, an entrepreneur must have access to capital, one of the essential factors of production.

Research 88

Research Invest Develop Development 88

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

Software startups made up nearly 63 percent (255 companies created) of all new high-tech ventures created in 2015, a trend fueled chiefly by software app development, according to the report.

San Diego 40

San Diego Report High Tech Study 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2011

If you are a first-time entrepreneur, I often recommend that you team with a co-founder with experiences, connections, and a skill set that complements, but doesn’t duplicate yours. Even experienced entrepreneurs need a partner to strengthen their position. Look for diversity in outside activities. Talk to people at work.

Startup 92

Startup Entrepreneur Activity High Tech 92

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 30, 2012

For many entrepreneurs, college has little appeal. Academia's arbitrary, bureaucratic structure, combined with its predominant focus on theoretical issues, causes many entrepreneurs to depart college early. Curiosity is a common trait among serial entrepreneurs. I don't spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities."

Tips 247

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 247

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Technical Review 95

Technical Review Startup Equity Entrepreneur 95

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Although he is a charismatic leader with rich and insightful experiences, Dr. Robert''s knowledge of the high-tech, startup world is limited. In fact, in many cases his insights are especially relevant because he is not mired in the conventional wisdom of the tech community. In a few instances, I have even become their mentor.

Mentor 263

Mentor Startup Technical Review Software Review 263

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

One of the biggest complaints you hear from both entrepreneurs and investors in Los Angeles, is the lack of a credible, visible startup accelerator in the Los Angeles area. At the time, that was high tech, and bricks were a combination of mud, hay, and muck. Where did the name MuckerLab come from?

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2010

All this week, we are sharing the opinions of some of the top influencers in Southern California's high tech community. We asked the same five 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 two weeks.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Southern California Cloud Computing Venture Capital 160

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 12, 2017

In this interview with #StartupsEverywhere , I talk withMichael Iseman, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Startup Junkie, about the mentorship pool, knowledge transfer, the latest happening in the ecosystem and the energy of this community within the region. Hunt Transport which makes the ecosystem ripe for startups to thrive.

Entrepreneur 70

Entrepreneur Startup News High Tech 70

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2010

If you are a first-time entrepreneur, I often recommend that you team with a co-founder with experiences, connections, and a skill set that complements, but doesn’t duplicate yours. Even experienced entrepreneurs need a partner to strengthen their position. Look for diversity in outside activities. Talk to people at work.

Startup 54

Startup Entrepreneur Activity High Tech 54

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2011

Rose, who has been described as "the Father of Angel Investing in New York" by Crain's New York Business, and a "world conquering entrepreneur" by BusinessWeek. He chairs New York Angels, one of the most active angel investment groups in the country, which has invested over $60 million into nearly 70 companies.

Invest 88

Invest Angel Venture Capital Entrepreneur 88

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

One of the most frequent questions from high tech startups is: where''s my exit? We don''t spend a lot of time there, except that we''re active investors and bankers who are affected by what''s happening in the IPO market. That''s fueling lots of the activity we''re seeing now. They''re also less valuation sensitive.

Southern California 124

Southern California SoCal Commerce Invest 124

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 13, 2012

Entrepreneurs like Matt Coffin , Kamran Pourzanjani and Brock Pierce were making their mark. He’s a man with a big laugh and an even bigger heart, known for being an active Big Brother and for leveraging his events to fundraise for various causes. However, that wasn’t the start … Rewind to the 90s.

Southern California 89

Southern California Santa Monica SoCal High Tech 89

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 24, 2011

There has recently been a common theme among the entrepreneurs I have interviewed and the conferences I have attended: despite the relatively weak state of the world economy, now is a great time to create a high-tech startup. As noted in Now Is Never Too Early , successful entrepreneurs are not inclined to wait.

Company 257

Company Companies Startup Study 257

InfoChachkie

JULY 20, 2015

Six outstanding entrepreneurs have created this sweet flavor of success in one of the most beautiful places on earth – Santa Barbara, California. Santa Barbara has become a high-tech startup mecca, rivaling cities many times its size. 6 Entrepreneurs Who Conquered The Magical Intersection Of Money & Fun.

Santa Barbara 100

Santa Barbara Startup Sales Entrepreneur 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2010

These efforts proved to be a major distraction from our main objective, namely sales and service of our high tech products. In practice that meant that we could once again focus on running our sales and service activities. Tags: entrepreneur startups international sensitive payments business.

High Tech 71

High Tech Outsource Press Coach 71

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2011

These efforts proved to be a major distraction from our main objective, namely sales and service of our high tech products. In practice that meant that we could once again focus on running our sales and service activities. However, in reality the U.S. Generally the cost for each such transaction was nominal, i.e. less than $200.

Outsource Development 88

Outsource Development High Tech Outsource Examples 88

socalTECH

JUNE 23, 2011

One trend in the Southern California high tech startup market has been an increasing number of startups--and executives--who have been looking to combine their interests in business with their enthusiasm for giving back through nonprofits and causes. First, for those not familiar with CauseCast, what is the company all about?

Causecast 222

Causecast Startup Content Education 222

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

Most US high-tech companies begin the utility patent process by filing a provisional patent application. Just as you should anoint someone within your adVenture to be Watson and monitor your competitors’ activities, you should also explicitly assign someone to manage your adVenture’s IP portfolio. Provisional Approach.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

The 11 Harsh Realities Of Being An Entrepreneur - OnStartups , November 1, 2010 There's always talk about the end game in the form of an acquisition, funding announcement, or eventual flame out. love to find great products and services made by entrepreneurs who are trying to change the world. This doesn’t make sense.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2009

Yesterday, Santa Monica-based SharesPost (www.sharespost.com) launched a new service of particular interest to the venture capital and high tech startup market, a new, online service which facilitates the buying and selling of private company stock. Do you run into any issues with securities laws by offering this service?

Startup 124

Startup Zag Venture Capital Equity 124