Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2022

As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Examples are the risks from employees’ unauthorized, illegal, unethical, or inappropriate actions and the risks from breakdowns in routine processes. Operational.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 153

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

As an entrepreneur, I understand your passion when pitching your solution to investors and customers, but passion alone won’t make one more technology pitch stand out above all the rest. Good relationships are the primary basis for trust in business, leading to supportive investors, loyal customers, and effective partnerships.

Startup 145

Startup Competition Customer Custom 145

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

These often lead to angel investors and venture capital investments later, or connections to local company venture funds for selected focus and technology areas. These also get used for guest lectures in business classes, judges for business plan competition, and introductions to accredited investors.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2021

Based on my own years of experience in startups and big business, and more recently as an angel investor, I often cringe when I see one of you entrepreneurs missing a cue that I have seen work for many before you. For example, if you have ever watched the Shark Tank show on TV, they always ask about the cost of customer acquisition.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Social Media Examples Metrics 162

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

Angel investors are still the lifeblood of early-stage startups, despite the surge of activity in crowdfunding and an increasing early interest from venture capitalists. According to the Angel Capital Association , at least 300,000 people have made angel investments in the last two years, totaling $24 billion in the U.S.

Angel 65

Angel Startup Technical Review Social Media 65

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2018

As a startup advisor and angel investor, I tend to focus on the much longer list of ways your startup can fail, based on my own experience and inside knowledge from peers who you will never see highlighted on the Internet. If there is no competition, there is likely not a market. Don’t try to be all things to all people.

Startup 99

Startup Competition Examples Ideas 99

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2022

Current examples include Conscious Capitalism® , popularized by John Mackey, The B Team , founded by Sir Richard Branson, the 1% for the Planet organization, and the Benefit Corporation (B Corp) now available in 35 States. Most customers today won’t pay you five times the cost of alternatives, just because yours is “green.”

Startup 110

Startup Entrepreneur Capital Examples 110

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

As a long-time business advisor and angel investor, I’m a believer that “two heads are better than one” in building a new business. A good overall example is the synergy between Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, as well as long-time Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. Conflicting visions won’t work.

Software Review 154

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 154

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. In the real world, most angels are regular business people like you and me.

Funding 119

Funding Startup Platform Examples 119

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

See the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos for an example of product snags leading to a disaster. Funding is depleted before customer sales ramp up. One of the pitfalls of optimism is the expectation for early customer growth, and understating the real costs of design, development, and inventory.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2022

The result is that ideas are no longer in short supply, and no longer a differentiator in competition. Elon Musk, for example, likely receives thousands of ideas from friends, but he has been able to focus a few of these into initiatives that demonstrate real innovation. Visionary execution, on the other hand, is not so common.

Ideas 149

Ideas Startup Entrepreneur Resource 149

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2022

Can be a competitive advantage. Competition over salary, promotions, and position. This can cause feelings of unfairness, and initiate emotionally competitive efforts. As an example, I find that most Angel investors still decline to fund startup founders that are romantically involved, citing the high risk of breakup.

Startup 119

Startup Course Competition Social Media 119

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2018

Most of you new venture founders I meet as an angel investor seem convinced that starting the business is the hardest part. I’m sure you can all think of several examples of businesses that popped up quickly, with great business models, but then faded just as quickly. Examples would include Pets.com, Webvan, and Blockbuster.

Examples 67

Examples Customer Custom Software Review 67

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

These often lead to angel investors and venture capital investments later, or connections to local company venture funds for selected focus and technology areas. These also get used for guest lectures in business classes, judges for business plan competition, and introductions to accredited investors.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

When a product is truly unique and demanded a retailer willingly promotes and sells it en masse in part because it does get margin on the good but also because it brings customers in the door who spend on other products. Ariel understood her customer?—?the So Why Does This Matter? the modern buyer of home products?—?better

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

Unfortunately, in my experience as an angel investor, about ninety percent of new business efforts fall short , leading me to believe that many of you may be better off staying where you are. Also, initiating a startup is quite different from taking over a thriving business, where the focus is on repeatable processes and quarterly profits.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

For example, if you are working on a great social networking idea to replace Facebook, and need funding, you probably won’t find any interested and focused VCs or angel investors in Arizona, where I live. Exposure to customers, incumbents, and competitors all drive success. get the attention of the market they choose.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2015

Image via Pixabay.com Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. Fresh customer base. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came quickly.

Organization 100

Organization Startup Competition IBM 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2023

A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give. I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors.

Organization 92

Organization Incubator Startup Resource 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. That means it solves a real problem for real customers who are ready and able to spend real money. The number of current potential customers is large and growing. Design a product or service that you can sell.

Platform 118

Platform Snapchat Startup Course 118

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

For example, is the person who starts a new trend likely to be the one who controls it through the growth phase? You don’t want to take money from friends and family, but it’s too early for angel investors and VCs. Bootstrap if you can, otherwise climb the pyramid of family, friends, angels, and VCs.

Startup 130

Startup USC Entrepreneur Statistics 130

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give. I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors.

Resource 159

Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2013

and there was certainly less competition from everybody pitching local merchant solutions. We then spent much of 2013 proving out the merchant model in one city – Los Angeles. We have an entire dev team dedicated solely to calendar integrations, for example. That is what we set out to solve at MyTime.

Development Team Review 324

Development Team Review Course Mobile Writing 324

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 8, 2020

He did note that in the four markets where the company has gone live since launching its business in January 2019 — San Diego, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire , and Sacramento — has yielded an annualized revenue run rate of over $400 million in gross merchandise value (the total value of home sales transacted on its platform). .”

Sales 282

Sales Demand San Diego Funding 282

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

billion company in the brutally competitive beauty industry, especially one with such broad appeal. Green has spent her career bankrolling the companies that define what’s cool, including Glossier, Outdoor Voices and Away, whose founders are often cited as the archetypal examples of “girlbosses.”. “I

Startup 280

Startup Netflix Los Angeles Innocal 280

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Examples are the risks from employees’ unauthorized, illegal, unethical, or inappropriate actions and the risks from breakdowns in routine processes. Operational.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 107

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2019

Current examples include Conscious Capitalism® , popularized by John Mackey, The B Team , founded by Sir Richard Branson, the 1% for the Planet organization, and the Benefit Corporation (B Corp) now available in 35 States. Most customers today won’t pay you five times the cost of alternatives, just because yours is “green.”

Startup 93

Startup Entrepreneur Capital Examples 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2018

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Competition 51

Competition Patents Resource Entrepreneur 51

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2014

Investors hear this as trying to do too many things with limited resources, meaning the startup will not shine at anything, and will not survive the competition. Keep these balanced and aligned between people (customers, employees) and process (quality, service, revenue), and keep the scope realistic (eliminating world hunger is too broad).

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Competition Technical Review Oracle 103

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

Almost every online business I know (eCommerce, online software, mobile games) invests heavily in “customer acquisition” This includes investments often not properly measured (SEO, PR, Social) as well as costs that people measure more precisely (advertising, SEM, FB CPA/CPI ads). Take for example, an eCommerce company.

SEM 150

SEM Content Platform Acquisition 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. An example of a startup which used non-organic growth early and effectively was Microsoft.

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Organization Startup Competition 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2015

Passionate entrepreneurs tend to talk on and on about their disruptive technology, their intent to change the world and free services, but if a business can’t provide quantifiable value to real customers, the dream will likely turn into a nightmare. Investors worry about competitors more than customer features.

Startup 104

Startup Summary Patents Examples 104

socalTECH

OCTOBER 19, 2018

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based Catalog (www.catalog.cc), a startup developing artificial intelligence software to help independent visual artists scale their content production efforts, announced it raised $1.5M To bundle all of these components requires you to have customers with similar needs. in a seed funding round.

Help 133

Help IP Content Google 133

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Based on my experience as an angel investor and a mentor to dozens of entrepreneurs, having no business plan is the quickest way to define yourself as just a dreamer, or at best a hobbyist. For example, “I just patented a new cell-phone technology that will double battery life for half the cost. Skip the acronyms and jargon.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65