Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

In this three-part series I will explore the ways that the Venture Capital industry has changed over the past 5 years that I would argue are a direct result of changes in the software industry, not the other way around. When I built my first company starting in 1999 it cost $2.5 Open-Source Software & Horizontal Computing.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software Capital Startup 334

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

San Diego-based sensemetrics , a startup developing software to digest the vast amount of industrial Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensor data in the areas of mining, dams, energy and the industrial machine sectors, said on Tuesday that it has raised $10M in a financing round.

Software 113

Software San Diego Equity Activity 113

TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

At TechEmpower, we frequently talk to startup founders, CEOs, product leaders, and other innovators about their next big tech initiative. Background Questions Let’s start with some background questions about the business and product. What are your key Startup Metrics ? Who are the customers? Ads, Viral/Social, SEO)?

Develop 520

Develop Development Technical Review SEO 520

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2022

As a startup, you need to use your limited resources to excel at a few core things for your best customers, in order to stand out and get the momentum going. Facebook’s winning strategy was a laser focus on increasing active user counts and time spent online. Revenue and competitive position followed.

Startup 144

Startup Social Media Metrics Custom 144

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

In a VC business when you raise additional capital you need to “level up” and act the round you are. But you do need to find a way to do activities that are more scalable. I’d say 20% of startups I see level-up early after their A round. CEO’s need leverage. Act your stage. But at what cost?

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

I have never been more optimistic about the impact that the tech startup community is having on cities in America or about the role that cities outside of San Francisco / Silicon Valley can play in our future. Changes in the Software World & in Venture Capital. Changes in the Startup Ecosystem.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

But today a startup that’s tackling a different aspect of the market — addressing the supply chain that subsequently turns the wheels of the bigger food distribution machine — is announcing a big round of funding as it continues to grow. GrubMarket has snapped up no less than 40 companies in the last three years.

Startup 249

Startup Platform Software Los Angeles 249

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

It’s still popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. Pivots and corrections are inevitable for startups in this age of rapid change, and the earlier you make them, the quicker you get to success.

Marketing 105

Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization Ideas 105

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

The startup--which was founded by Scott Kriz and Erik Gustavson--said the round came from Polar Partners, Amplify, Resolute VC, Double M Partners, Social Leverage, Karlin Ventures, Lazerow Ventures and Rob Glaser. The company said the new funding will go towards product development, sales, and marketing activities. READ MORE>>.

Software 153

Software Santa Monica SaaS Venture Capital 153

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

I believe the Maker Movement and hardware startups with limited resources are made for each other. They come at the early stage while a startup has no revenue or valuation, so professional investors are hard to find. There are already more than 1500 active hackerspaces worldwide, with info on Hackerspaces.

Startup 159

Startup Tool Design Demand 159

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication? 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication?

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

socalTECH

JULY 16, 2014

For the last few years, startup accelerator MuckerLab has been helping very early stage companies define and grow their businesses, using the accelerator model and small investments to get companies to the next stage. What we''ve done now is ramp up the size of our seed investments, and started to do more of them.

Startup 206

Startup Capital Incubator Invest 206

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. Innovate In the early years of a startup there is a lot of kinetic energy of enthusiastic innovators looking to launch a product that changes how an industry works.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. When you’re an early-stage startup that hasn’t raised any institutional money you end up doing almost every job function of the company yourself. When I founded my first company along with Brian Moran (whose idea it was) I had no real experience running startups.

Startup 299

Startup Venture Capital Technical Review Training 299

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2015

Is the world ready for another event management software provider? Gregg Parise What we are doing, is we are going into the event management software space, and doing it through a platform technology. Gregg Parise What we are doing, is we are going into the event management software space, and doing it through a platform technology.

Software 100

Software Activity Startup San Diego 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

If you team with a partner who likes to sleep late, and reserves the weekend for other activities, the partnership will likely not work. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. All partners have compatible work styles.

Software Review 154

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 154

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2012

Pokki , the desktop app software developed by San Diego-based Sweetlabs, the startup headed by former DivX exec Darrius Thompson, is launching a big update to the software today, saying that it now has over 1 million monthly active users of the software. The release launches the company out of beta.

Software 133

Software San Diego Software Development Activity 133

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

Frank Slootman , the CEO of San Diego-based ServiceNow , has invested in a big data startup, as he continues to expand out his angel funding activity. bluedata data software venture capital cloud saas vmware servicenow frank slootman' Slootman has also backed such companies as ScaleIO and PureStorage. READ MORE>>.

SaaS 202

SaaS Startup San Diego Venture Capital 202

socalTECH

JANUARY 24, 2017

Los Angeles-based Rodin , a virtual reality software tools developer founded by Taron Lizagub, Albert Poghosyan and Aram Avetisyan, has been selected as part of the Techstars Boulder startup accelerator, according to Techstars Boulder today.

JavaScript 100

JavaScript Startup Los Angeles Tool 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of the series on the changes to the software industry over the past decade that has led to changes in the venture capital industry itself. This led to an explosion in startups. I don’t think purely option-based investing in startups suits the long-term brand of the investor. That’s wise.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Sometime around 2003/04 my technology team turned me on to “Spolsky on Software&# a periodic newsletter served up blog style from Joel Spolsky of FogCreek Software, a maker of bug-tracking software. After leaving Juno, he founded his own software company, Fog Creek Software. Defensibility in Software.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software Blogging Startup 285

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. We only want software revenue.” We only want software revenue.” We like software.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. There are people who tell startups that they should hire the most senior people that they can find. Bringing in a senior person who’s “done it all before&# is often a mistake in a startup. So what if you’re already a mid-stage startup.

Startup 327

Startup Sales Class CIO 327

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2012

Los Angeles startup accelerator StartEngine has launched its third class, a new batch of fourteen startups which have set up shop in the incubator's Westwood Village space under the watchful eyes of Activision co-founder Howard Marks and investor Paul Kessler.

Class 196

Class Startup Activision Incubator 196

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

There''s a gap between the robust, growing technology startups in Los Angeles and the many students graduating from local universities, according to Steven Dietz , who is a venture capitalist at LA''s Upfront Ventures. We caught up with Steve earlier this week to learn more about the program. What''s the idea behind the program?

Startup 185

Startup UCLA USC High Tech 185

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

One of the most interesting things about the Wall Street Journal's list of top startups in the U.S.? Of the list of 50 startups, both San Diego's ServiceNow and fellow San Diego firm Active Network has IPOs last year, out of only a total of six IPO exits from the WSJ's list. READ MORE>>.

Southern California 223

Southern California Journal SoCal San Diego 223

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 11, 2021

As the vaccination campaign to counter COVID-19 gets underway (albeit with a rocky start), a number of companies are attempting to support its rollout in a variety of ways. times more likely to show up for their next follow-up appointment versus patients who received follow-up information and appointment notices via traditional methods.

Technical Review 201

Technical Review Software Review Startup Los Angeles 201

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2015

If you are one of the many professionals still trapped between jobs by circumstances outside your control, or are about to dump the loser job you have now, you should be actively defining and starting your own business, in parallel with looking for that ideal job. Have startup efforts to highlight in job interviews.

Startup 101

Startup Social Network Activity Ideas 101

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2022

Even young people who start out wanting to be different are called “freaks,” and most are slowly bent back into the norm by the time they “grow up.” I suspect that there are really a lot of “grown-up closet freaks” out there who could be great entrepreneurs. Start working on your weaknesses. Where do you start?

Framework 139

Framework Startup Entrepreneur Ideas 139

socalTECH

JANUARY 30, 2018

Los Angeles-based Moonshots Capital is the lead investor in the seed round of a startup, New Knowledge , which developed the artificial intelligence software which uncovered a large-scale Russian effort to influence U.S. presidential elections. According to New Knowledge, it has raised $1.9M READ MORE>>.

Capital 149

Capital Invest Artificial Inteligence Startup 149

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2020

As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m always surprised by the fact that some never seem to be able to that first startup going, while many others never seem to stop, starting their second or third initiative before the first one is fully hatched. You can’t win a race that you never start.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Software Review 131

socalTECH

DECEMBER 14, 2015

It turns out, there are lots of benefits to learning the logical thinking behind software coding, according to Grant Hosford , the founder of Pasadena-based codeSpark (www.codespark.org). We caught up with Grant to learn more about The Foos and his quest to use the principles of software programming to help kids learn.

Software 100

Software Template Startup Study 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according the Crunchbase. Institutional venture capital dispensed in 2019 was down a bit from record highs the previous year, but up significantly over the last few years.

Funding 125

Funding Venture Capital Startup Class 125

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2013

Vinny Smith , the former CEO of Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software , appears to have become one of the most active investors in recent months in enterprise software, after starting up a new venture capital firm, Toba Capital. There's a new venture investor in town, thanks to Dell. READ MORE>>.

Orange County 159

Orange County Southern California Startup Venture Capital 159

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. If you need funding for these early stage activities, I have some suggestions on better strategies to follow. Specialized VCs start to jump in at this stage. Commercial product prototypes.

Resource 102

Resource Ideas Funding Research 102

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Recently I wrote a post arguing to make the definition of a Startup more inclusive than that to which Silicon Valley, fueled by Venture Capital return profiles, would sometimes like to attach to the word. Most of what I think about startup communities came from mentorship by Brad Feld through hours of private discussion and debate.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Press San Diego 378