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 Startup Ecosystem. Open source computing, which reduced costs to start a company by 90%.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

We remain confident in the long-term trend that software enables and the value accrued to disruptive startups; we also recognized that in a strong market it is important to ring the cash register and this doesn’t come without a concentrated effort to do so. In fact, I am still active on two boards where I first invested in 2009.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Fred Wilson also wrote on a similar topic in his usual more succinct manner , with a great quote being: “One thing I know for sure is that those who advise and invest in startups cannot and should not meddle in the day to day decision making. It’s harmful and hurtful to the startup and those that lead it. Startup Lessons'

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Shallow and superficial and racing from segment to segment in search of some take up has never been a strong strategic plan for me. I have written this up before if you’re interested – I call it Deflationary Economics. 65 million monthly actives. LEAN STARTUP MOVEMENT. INNOVATOR’S DILEMMA.

Startup

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

When talking to startup founders or other innovators, we always ask questions to better understand their business as a core. Start by building just enough of your product to get early CAC and CLV signals (they won’t be perfect). A : Activation - What % have a "happy" initial experience? What does the business do?

Metrics

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2021

If you want to get in better shape and haven’t read that you might start there. I started advice with the premise that no amount of exercise or food eating plan would help with long-term fitness or weight goals unless you first had a mental plan and a set of measurements to track your progress. I want to share with you how I did this.

Coach

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Most are sitting on large portfolios of private companies that are raising money now or will need to do so in the future and they know that they’re up against some headwinds. The Motive for Speaking Up. ” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” So prices start dropping.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

Of course this can be done and of course I am a big proponent of the rise of startup centers across the country as the Internet has moved from the “infrastructure phase” to the “application phase” dominated by the three C’s: content, communications and commerce. ” But I think this misses the point.

Company

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2020

You don’t have to have previous startup problems to show resilience – everyone should have a story of tackling a tough challenge with minimal success, but using the failure to move on and achieve an objective. Evan Williams , for example, before cofounding Twitter, started a podcasting platform named Odeo.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2021

These days I see a surge of new startups as businesses seem to be recovering from the pandemic. If you are not starting one yourself, the next best thing is joining one as a partner, or as an early employee. He and I believe that these next few months are the perfect time, especially with the pandemic, for starting a new career.

Tips

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000. Neither did Y Combinator, 500 Startups, TechStars, Amplify, Mucker and countless others. And importantly they play an important role in helping to introduce you to the right A-round VC based on your startup type. It is, of course, a very recent phenomenon.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

This is part of a series on a Board of Directors at a Startup. High Functioning Startup Boards High-functioning boards have a tight-knit relationship between all members based on mutual trust and admiration. They are able to divide responsibilities and work to gain consensus on tough decisions that every startup inevitably faces.

Startup

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2019

Today, we share the thoughts of Greg Monterrosa ,a startup community leader who is currently Startup Weekend organizer, facilitator, and mentor and was a former Founder of MyLLC.com and Hub101. The continued growth of startup communities in Los Angeles. What was the biggest news for you/your company this year?

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. ” So it’s now March 2014 – 5 years since I started investing. Disney Acquires Maker Studios f0r $500 million and with earn-out potentially up to $950 million. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10. Since then?

Venture Capital

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2020

They become frustrated when they are unable to build their startup over a weekend, and give up way too soon when the path to real success seems to be interminable. A successful startup needs to be a daily task, with consistent focus. Getting started is always a challenge. Frequency keeps insights current.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2017

Only those with maniacal focus on results and a willingness not to engage in every activity achieve extraordinary results. I have written about this before and often recommend to executives that they do less, but complete more by avoiding the shiny objects and distractions stop us from living up to our true potential.

Activity

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2020

As an angel investor and a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m always disappointed to see founders who seem stressed out most of the time, and more annoyed than energized by the abundance of challenges they see in building their startup. Able to balance right-brain and left-brain activities.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

In my view, starting a new business has never been easier, and according to reports from the Kauffman Foundation , the numbers are here to show it. Who would not want to join the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)? Networking no longer is primarily a face-to-face serial activity.

Tips

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Kara said “no” because she wanted to start her own company, which she did and I backed. In any job you either find leadership opportunities for your best people BEFORE they ask or other people start asking them to become leaders somewhere else. Leadership is about recognizing your next generation of talent and helping lift them up.

Venture Capital

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. The default answer, to keep peace in the family, is to split everything equally, but that’s a terrible answer, since now no one is in control, and startups need a clear leader. Now comes the reality check.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

A common pain of startups after an exhilarating first surge of early adopters is a long and frustrating plateau of slow growth, where it seems like nothing you do will get your business to profitability. This starts with multiple messages from the top that growth is now the highest job priority, and key to survival. Marty Zwilling.

Startup

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Today, one of the companies that is supplying produce and other items both to consumers and other services that are in turn selling food and groceries to them, is announcing a new round of funding as it gears up to take its next step, an IPO. ” I don’t doubt that he means it.

Technical Review

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2023

Over my many years of mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs and business professionals, I often hear a desire to start a new business, with a big hesitation while waiting for that perfect idea and perfect alignment of the stars. Your time is precious, so don’t waste a minute of it on useless activities or dreaming.

Technical Review

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s noteworthy news pertaining to startups and venture capital. Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit. Last week, I profiled an e-commerce startup Part & Parcel. Startup Spotlight: Landline. IPO Update.

Services

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2020

Entrepreneurs inherently understand that they have to be the initial leader of their startup, but often they don’t have the experience or the training to know where their leadership competencies lie, or how to build a leadership team. They tend to bury themselves in activities, but can be impulsive and select quantity over quality.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2022

Instead of sizing up new opportunities and actively courting every new customer, you start worrying about cutting costs, repeatable processes , and overtaking known competitors. As a consultant, I hate to see you lose that startup focus on innovation, change, and customers.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. Given how efficient markets are when a large market like LA starts to blossom it attracts capital pretty quickly. LA By The Numbers. But even this is changing.

Entrepreneur

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). I was telling him that it was much easier when I started because there were fewer deals, life was less public and somehow the world seemed to be spinning more slowly. I don’t.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2014

PR is an insanely valuable activity in early-stage companies. Very few investors understand this and even fewer startups. When you’re an early-stage business every dollar matters and because many startup teams these days are very product & technology centric they often miscalculate the importance of PR.

Press

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

It came from my weekend activities. I will soon announce a few fundings (not yet closed, sorry) and I’m beginning to help them think about how to ramp up their engineering teams. But they must all start somewhere. He had been asking me to speak at his conference Startup Grind. Of course I could go on and on.

Networking

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2018

California Lutheran University has been particularly active engaging with the startup and technology industry in Ventura County, and runs the Hub101 startup incubator and coworking space in Westlake Village, one of the most active locations for startup events and the local startup and tech community in the county.

Westlake Village

Tech.Co

JUNE 29, 2021

You know what a startup is, right? Or at least you have an idea of what a startup is like to work in? That is, of course, until the small, ambitious startup is acquired by a larger, more traditional company in its sector, or the small startup goes public with angry shareholders and regulators asking difficult questions.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

Although the carriers made a lot of money initially by selling dial-up Internet services, customers never took their software because, well, it sucked. So the value on the Internet went “up the stack” to portals such as Yahoo!, Excite, MSN and eventually Google.

Outsource Development

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

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2019

The startup has developed a system which uses information from online forums, source code sharing, technical communities, and the like to help find and rank technical talent. We're going up against the game of the resume, because we don't serve up bullet points of technical skills, we only surface data that shows tangible accomplishments.

Sites

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 11, 2021

The link-in-bio business is heating up as more mobile website builders compete for a coveted slice of real estate on a creator’s TikTok, Instagram or Twitter. Linktree has been around since 2016 and has more funding than its up-and-coming competitors. Now, Snipfeed enters the ring with its own $5.5 Image Credits: Snipfeed.

Platform