Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 20, 2022

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. Value to second-order customer advertisers is key. Internet disruptors make prices and margins transparent.

Customer 103

Customer Custom Competition Netflix 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2014

Every startup dreams of achieving that milestone, when they can focus more on scaling the business and enjoying their earnings rather than fighting for another investment infusion. The purest form of capitalism has always meant charging a fair price and making a fair profit. Re-investing profits to grow the business is organic growth.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Organization Invest Customer 98

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2010

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free (like Twitter), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). Portfolio pricing. Tiered or volume pricing. Cost-based model.

Pricing 98

Pricing Product Startup Competition 98

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

This is the last step of the process, where surprises in the evaluation of the management team, documentation, and personnel problems can derail the investment. If there are financial anomalies, or someone on the team doesn’t know the current strategy, or is unhappy with you or the company, the investment will be jeopardized.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 152

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

Ok, I know it’s an hour-long video, but if you have time in the evening, we had a series of great discussions once you get 6 minutes in or so past the upfront advertisements. Topics include: - Should you raise money at a high price and then just spend it slowly? - Why did the VC investment pace slow down so much? -

Startup 245

Startup Venture Capital Advertising News 245

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Don’t bash the competition. Being negative is never the answer.

Competition 120

Competition Patents Resource Invest 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. Value to second-order customer advertisers is key. Internet disruptors make prices and margins transparent.

Marketing 124

Marketing Customer Custom Competition 124

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. As the founder of an accelerator, I'm constantly being approached by ambitious people with big ideas, and generally we invest in 1/100th of what comes to us.

Southern California 168

Southern California High Tech SaaS Social Media 168

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

I was mentoring some graduate students at a local university recently, and I sensed again that profit seems to be a dirty word these days to many aspiring entrepreneurs. The alternatives range from giving the product away for free (revenue from ads), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing).

Pricing 66

Pricing Customer Custom Advertising 66

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2022

You'll be investing your time and energy into something with more potential upside in future. Need less expensive advertising? They have higher overhead, long-standing bills, yearly advertising contracts and high office leases signed years ago. Their prices are high and hard to lower. Make them an offer.

Startup 103

Startup Advertising Social Network Ideas 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2014

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free, to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). In this more traditional product pricing model, the price is set at two to five times the product cost.

Startup 114

Startup Pricing Customer Custom 114

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

He shared tons of information about how how they were using marketing to quantitatively make marketing decisions at HauteLook and acquire customers for prices that were far cheaper than similar companies. He was also the first one to challenge my conventional wisdom that it made no sense for tech companies to advertise on television.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Los Angeles-based online advertising technology provider Rubicon Project (www.rubiconproject.com) recently had its IPO, making it one of the big success stories of Southern California''s technology startup world. The third thing, is you have to continue to focus the company on managing the business, and not the stock price.

Startup 176

Startup Advertising Los Angeles Southern California 176

socalTECH

OCTOBER 6, 2017

Why are these colleges using you, rather than investing in their own custom applications? The platform approach we took allows teams and companies and venues to access the best functionality, at a subcription price, rather than a custom development price. We split that advertising revenue with our partners.

Mobile 162

Mobile Platform El Segundo UCLA 162

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Many (Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, True Ventures, GRP Partners, Mike Hirshland at Polaris Ventures) do it the right way – we treat it as a normal investment and we don’t have a “options&# strategy with our investment.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2015

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. The price of entry can be less than $10,000, so the competition is huge and growing rapidly. We don’t hear about the remaining three million apps that are mostly free, and garnering only trivial revenue through advertising.

Startup 98

Startup Platform Pricing Netflix 98

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Investors invest in people - not just ideas. Marketing, sales, and partners.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

One or more of the following parameters are viewed by most investors as traction indicators, but good entrepreneurs are often creative and define their own to supplement these: Start with sales to-date for a priced offering. As an investor, I would like to see one month of sales, and see how that compares to your projections.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

This was really a fun week at TWiVC because we decided to have an entrepreneur come and talk about raising capital rather than having a VC come on. It’s always such a pleasure for me to spend time with Farb because he has all of the enthusiasm and energy you love to see in entrepreneurs. He’s also candid, humble and helpful.

Venture Capital 214

Venture Capital Startup Design S3 214

Tech.Co

OCTOBER 28, 2020

Granted, this ad channel isn't reinventing the wheel: It's still just a way to put eyeballs in front of advertisements. They'll also need to invest time and money into iterating their campaign approach until they figure out what works. Fitting the right audience to the right product will be tricky, but the potential upside is big.

Help 149

Help Platform Startup Social Media 149

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Others, like Guy Kawasaki , have irreverently called some of these “entrepreneur lies,” but I prefer to think of them as innocent enhancements or omissions that can kill your deal. It takes a huge upfront investment to attract users, before advertisers are interested. Entrepreneurs in this category are usually dreamers.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Innocal Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2018

According to most investors I know, traction is some clear evidence that the “dogs are eating the dog food” – usually meaning that you have at least one customer paying full price for your solution. A sure sign of no traction is a lone inexperienced entrepreneur looking for an investor.

Tips 79

Tips Metrics Technical Review Customer 79

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. So the people who invest in VC funds have two problems.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. Value to second-order customer advertisers is key. Internet disruptors make prices and margins transparent.

Customer 101

Customer Custom Competition Netflix 101

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Don’t bash the competition. Being negative is never the answer.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In the short term you need customers to find you at any price, and in the longer term you need revenue, profit, and return loyalty. Even a million users on your social media site won’t pay the bills until you sell some advertising or a premium service. Cote, former Chairman and CEO of Honeywell.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2014

You fill out the short questionnaire, lawyers submit their price quotes, and they get hired. You put your project up, and shortly thereafter, you get price quotes from lawyers. To fix that, we actually don''t allow lawyers to see prices, and they''re not bidding with each other. That happens in just a five minute process.

Help 240

Help Startup CTO Hire Pricing 240

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

Every new entrepreneur soon realizes he or she has some big ones, but very few figure out how to use these them to their advantage. I believe that the resourcefulness to turn constraints into competitive differentiators and new opportunities is a trait that separates the great entrepreneurs from the “wannabes.”

Startup 57

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Outsource 57

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2012

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free (like Twitter), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). Portfolio pricing. Tiered or volume pricing. Cost-based model.

Pricing 112

Pricing Competition Customer Custom 112

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. It’s part of what makes him so likable.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Helping entrepreneurs succeed. Middle Market Investment Banking. An on-line community for entrepreneurs. Advertisers. Contact Scott Herson for an overview, pricing and information at herson@joyent.com or 949-861-1069. Redpoint Ventures (www.redpoint.com). Silicon Valley Bank (www.svb.com). Startups Made Simple.

Southern California 113

Southern California Tech Coast Angels IP Orange County 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2018

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Don’t bash the competition. Being negative is never the answer.

Competition 51

Competition Patents Resource Entrepreneur 51

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 30, 2019

You'll be investing your time and energy into something with more potential upside in future. Need less expensive advertising? They have higher overhead, long-standing bills, yearly advertising contracts and high office leases signed years ago. Their prices are high and hard to lower. Make them an offer.

Startup 80

Startup Advertising Social Network Ideas 80

InfoChachkie

MARCH 2, 2019

In 1952, banks refused to loan Ruth the money needed to invest in a windup, music-box piano that she was convinced would be a hit. At the time, toys were advertised to adults, under the premise that adults were the decision makers. million 2018 dollars. In 1955, the company’s net work was $500,000 ($4.6 million, inflation adjusted).

Company 100

Company Companies Sales Sample 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2013

This is the last step of the process, where surprises in the evaluation of the management team, documentation, and personnel problems can derail the investment. If there are financial anomalies, or someone on the team doesn’t know the current strategy, or is unhappy with you or the company, the investment will be jeopardized.

Technical Review 97

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Investors invest in people - not just ideas. Marketing, sales, and partners.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113