Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

External investors will demand a financial forecast, but it’s equally valuable to you, even if bootstrapping. Projecting financials is a natural extension of the homework every entrepreneur needs to do on customer opportunity size, product costs, pricing, competition and customer value. Calculate investment amounts and timing.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

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

AUGUST 11, 2021

Linktree leads the space, securing a recent $45 million Series B raise to build out e-commerce features, but Beacons boasts competitive creator monetization tools with just a $6 million seed round in May. Now, Snipfeed enters the ring with its own $5.5 ’ ” Image Credits: Snipfeed.

Platform 286

Platform Commerce Startup Tool 286

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2015

There''s been a major, market battle in Los Angeles over the last few years, between on-demand ride services such as Lyft and Uber , not to mention local taxi and transportation companies. percent stake in Lyft, investing $300M in the company as part of a larger, $530M Series E funding for Lyft. The funding follows a bigger, $1.2

Demand 100

Demand Commerce Competition Mobile 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2022

As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Then you walk the delicate balance between burn rates, revenue flows versus expenses, investment in marketing, and employees. Look at marketing as an investment, not an expense. Operational.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 153

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. Crowdfunding to gauge demand is not recommended, since failed campaigns don’t usually recover later.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

“The climate-oriented investment in Biden’s new plan would be roughly ten times what came through ARRA,” wrote Shayle Kann, a partner with the investment firm, Energy Impact Partners. ” Climate resiliency . Given the steady drumbeat of climate disasters that hit the U.S.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

External investors will demand a financial forecast, but it’s equally valuable to you, even if bootstrapping. Calculate investment amounts and timing. Project your cash burn rate to keep at least 18 months between venture capital or angel investments.

Startup 147

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 147

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. would you want to give up the right to invest in subsequent rounds?

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 31, 2022

We decided to take a look at two cities that were at the forefront of the e-scooter revolution – Los Angeles and Paris. Los Angeles: City of Autos. A shared scooter parked on a sidewalk in Koreatown, a neighborhood in central Los Angeles, on December 29, 2022. What have we gained by introducing shared micromobility to cities?

Los Angeles 257

Los Angeles San Pedro Santa Monica Study 257

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Don’t count on friends and family, crowdfunding, angels, or other external investors. Incubating is not enough; successful new ventures must be quickly scaled to stay ahead of competition and show a level of acceptance by customers as well as your financial executives. A documented business plan for the new venture is critical here.

Incubator 143

Incubator Seed Funding Metrics Customer 143

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.

Startup 99

Startup Competition Examples Ideas 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. When their deep pockets went empty, Facebook stepped in, but demanded revenue from ads. Identify the total investment required for profitability. MySpace wasn’t ready for this, and it soon faded.

Platform 118

Platform Snapchat Startup Course 118

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 22, 2018

How can Lime differentiate its scooters and bikes from the piles of Birds and Spins filling Los Angeles sidewalks? Apparently with a physical storefront where it can convince customers of the wonders of on-demand mobility. They can make it clear that they care about the constituency there.

Santa Monica 221

Santa Monica Startup Technical Review Education 221

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2017

The startup is backed by the Tech Coast Angels and Dolby Ventures. Eugene Cho: We had a seed round for less than $3M, and we did a note round with the Tech Coast Angels for $2M after we won their Quick Pitch competition, over about 150 other companies. After that, we had a $7.5 We've now raised a total of $12.5M.

Tech Coast Angels 124

Tech Coast Angels Startup Sales Slides 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2022

Competitive advantages are rapidly vaporizing on these. Customers today demand products and services personalized or tailored to local needs with embedded quality of life services. Internal corporate processes thwart innovation due to inherent inefficiencies of scale, high overhead, and the risk of impact on the corporate bottom line.

Startup 126

Startup Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Offshore 126

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. Every startup demands logical changes along the way. Postulate competitive reactions and your responses.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Social Media Examples Metrics 162

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

The reasons are a lot more complex than the meltdown of key investment banks in the US a few years ago, so don’t expect any real change in the numbers soon, especially with recent stock market downturns. Thus, there is tremendous pressure to increase current earnings, and little appetite for strategic investments.

Startup 98

Startup Report IBM IBM 98

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

If you haven’t raised any money or if you raised a small round from angels or friends & family I would suggest you avoid setting up a formal board unless the people who would join your board are deeply experienced at sitting on startup boards. This is the norm and unless you have a hugely competitive round it’s not worth fighting.

Startup 236

Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2017

The startup is backed by the Tech Coast Angels and Dolby Ventures. Eugene Cho: We had a seed round for less than $3M, and we did a note round with the Tech Coast Angels for $2M after we won their Quick Pitch competition, over about 150 other companies. After that, we had a $7.5 We've now raised a total of $12.5M.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Startup Sales Slides 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Then you walk the delicate balance between burn rates, revenue flows versus expenses, investment in marketing, and employees. Look at marketing as an investment, not an expense. Operational.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 107

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2011

For our Friday interview, we thought we'd catch up with Los Angeles-based MarketShare , the Elevation Partners-backed software provider, to hear where the firm is nowadays. Its primary goal is to focus on identifying what is truly driving demand, analytically, so that our customers can optimize their activities.

Social Media 235

Social Media Demand Activity Marketing 235

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. Launched in 2007 in Los Angeles by Adam Bernhard and Konstantin Glasmacher. Online DSP (demand-side platform) and ad exchange for display advertisers.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization. We write about $40 million of first-checks into new deals / year and about $40 million of follow-on investments. The Laws of Supply & Demand. In short – no.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

If you invested in the first angel round of a startup company it is usually very hard to sell your stock – usually for many years if ever at all. The earlier you invest the higher the chances the company won’t work out and thus you pay a lower price than later-stage investors. They are pretty illiquid.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. ” So other partners at the firm might sling mud at your ideas as you go for approval on an investment. Lots of it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

We Create Demand for California's Technology Companies. Middle Market Investment Banking. Los Angeles-based executive search for emerging growth companies. Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch - February 24th - UCLA. Fast Pitch Los Angeles is one of the best start up networking events of the year. Think Glendale.

Southern California 113

Southern California Tech Coast Angels IP Orange County 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

The problem with VC Seed Funding – Chris is right to raise the issue with entrepreneurs because there have been instances where large VC funds have set up seed programs where the investments have been used as “options.&# There are many problems with this. invested in the seed round they have more inside knowledge than I do.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

Los Angeles-based Radical.FM (www.radical.fm) thinks it has a new formula for Internet streaming, and can take on Pandora and others in head to head competition. The difference between Pandroa and us, versus who we are, and on demand services like Spotify, Beats, or Rhapsody, is they have direct licenses.

Startup 237

Startup Services Advertising Content 237

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2019

The reasons are a lot more complex than the meltdown of key investment banks in the US a few years ago, so don’t expect a big change in the numbers soon, even with recent stock market rallies. Thus, there is tremendous pressure to increase current earnings, and little appetite for strategic investments.

Startup 84

Startup Technical Review Report IBM 84

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

You have to understand whether they’re likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off. If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market. ” The Details.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2018

On the other hand, everyone is doing it, so that means more competition, and the market and technology are changing faster than ever before. Yet, as an angel investor myself, I can attest that many potential entrepreneurs try to take shortcuts, or ignore the realities of business. Ideas are not enough to gauge business potential.

Funding 73

Funding Social Media Slides Platform 73

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

Here’s the problem: Let’s say you have 5 VCs (plus angels but let’s ignore that for now) and each one owns 5% so you took 25% dilution to get the round done. So why else would they invest if not as an option to re-up in the next round? These are all dumb reason to invest – of course. But it happens.

Venture Capital 314

Venture Capital Startup Invest Pricing 314

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was an angel investor in his company, made a bunch of calls on his behalf and then I personally sent it out on AngelList. When I described to people why I initially invested my calls went something like this, “He’s taken kicks to the face for nearly 2 years and is still standing. Through this process he raised $2 million.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Was there consumer demand? Meredith Perry came up with the idea for uBeam while still in college at University of Pennsylvania and like many great inventors won her school’s business plan competition. Note: Company headquarters is in Los Angeles with major R&D also happening in Northern Virginia. No brainer.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. Local Angel Community / Recycled Capital. Imagine Apple without Steve Jobs.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 30, 2015

As an active Angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Then you walk the delicate balance between burn rates, revenue flows versus expenses, investment in marketing, and employees. Look at marketing as an investment, not an expense. Operational.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Startup Marketing Customer 103