Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

Finally I realized that Venture Capital and Angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. From an investor perspective, understanding and acting early to establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and barrier to entry, is the best assurance of a financial return. Expert in your chosen domain.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Angel Social Media Patents 107

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. From an investor perspective, understanding and acting early to establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and barrier to entry, is the best assurance of a financial return. Expert in your chosen domain.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

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. Project your cash burn rate to keep at least 18 months between venture capital or angel investments. It’s amazing how fasts costs escalate as you grow.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2022

In fact, most employee training courses recommend the distance if the work relationship crosses management levels, and most management policies strictly forbid fraternizing with the team. Can be a competitive advantage. Competition over salary, promotions, and position. Yet the 2019 Office Romance Survey by Vault, Inc.

Startup 119

Startup Course Competition Social Media 119

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

BlackTech Week was created in 2014, and in four short years, they’ve gained over 2700 participants, 150 speakers, and 3 pitch competitions. BlackTech Week was created by the leadership team from Code Fever to accelerate and support the innovation of black communities through training, networks and funding. “

Startup 141

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 141

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

The scion of Los Angeles’ famous first family of the deli business — the owners of the eponymous Canters restaurant — Canter has been in the food business longer than many seasoned restauranteurs twice his age. After rolling out in Canters, the company reached out to other mom and pop restaurants in the Los Angeles area.

Services 165

Services Los Angeles Startup Capital 165

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Others schedule exhaustive training sessions for everyone on the team, including showcase customers, to make sure that everyone paints a consistent picture. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity. Traction in the marketplace.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2018

Anna Barber , the Managing Director of Techstars LA (www.techstars.com), one of the startup accelerators run by Techstars in the Los Angeles area. And a host of interesting companies in last mile have cropped up to give the Amazon ecosystem some competition, like two companies from the last Techstars LA class - Shipsi and PRZM.

Startup 124

Startup Press Commerce Southern California 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Others stage elaborate “training” sessions, to “assure” that everyone tells the same story. The right answer is somewhere in between.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 152

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. From an investor perspective, understanding and acting early to establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and barrier to entry, is the best assurance of a financial return. Expert in your chosen domain.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Due to this, seed rounds have become more competitive, with more expensive valuations and more oversubscribed rounds. has been raised by VC funds and at least $35B has been invested in LA startups from outside the city (Amplify, The Los Angeles Tech and Venture Scene 2019). At the same time, more capital continues to be raised in LA.

Capital 100

Capital Technical Review Truecar Venture Capital 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

If you don’t have a destination, don’t waste your money trying to get there, and don’t expect anyone to support you along the way 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.

Startup 147

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 147

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2017

The startup is backed by the Tech Coast Angels and Dolby Ventures. The first thing you are trained on, is to qualify customers and figure out if they need upright or inverted microscopes. We got first place in that competition, and they followed up with a $2M investment in the form of a convertible note. After that, we had a $7.5

Tech Coast Angels 124

Tech Coast Angels Startup Sales Slides 124

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. There is no such thing as a super angel, only “micro VCs&# - Ron Conway said what I had been preparing to say, “there’s no such thing as a super angel.&# Either you’re an angel or you manage professional funds. Answer: Not much.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

The fitness professional network develops business tools that make it easier for fitness professionals to run their businesses and keep their clients engaged between training sessions. We knew there’s a better personal training experience to be had, so we set out to create one. Any competition in LA? Who is on your team?

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Los Angeles-based Enrou (www.enrou.co) thinks it has a way--by connecting people with products that also help support international development and causes, via its own online marketplace. They help train and employ the local community where they are working, with women who create beautiful backpacks and clothing and other different items.

Commerce 140

Commerce Help UCLA Organization 140

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2017

The startup is backed by the Tech Coast Angels and Dolby Ventures. The first thing you are trained on, is to qualify customers and figure out if they need upright or inverted microscopes. We got first place in that competition, and they followed up with a $2M investment in the form of a convertible note. After that, we had a $7.5

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Startup Sales Slides 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2019

In fact, most employee training courses recommend the distance if the work relationship crosses management levels, and most management policies strictly forbid fraternizing with the team. Can be a competitive advantage. Competition over salary, promotions, and position. Yet the 2019 Office Romance Survey by Vault, Inc.

Startup 94

Startup Course Competition Social Media 94

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2015

As an angel investor, I hear many entrepreneurs making negative comments about competitors or asserting they don’t have any competitors. They don’t realize that knocking competitors is assessed as a weakness and denying that you have any competition suggests there is no market for your solution.

Capital 63

Capital Competition Case Study Patents 63

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

Yet I soon found that knowledge is power, and a little training and determination goes a long way toward removing the qualms. These and other strengths may actually give you a competitive edge over your more extroverted constituents. It doesn’t work in business. Many introverts are afraid to take the lead, knowing they have weaknesses.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104

socalTECH

JULY 28, 2014

In an intensely competitive area, how do you differentiate yourself and grow a company? With around a hundred employees in Los Angeles, and $40M in revenues, Fonality (www.fonality.com) --a developer of voice-over-IP phone software and systems--has managed to rise above the crowd of commodity voice-over-IP and PBX service providers.

IP 138

IP Culver City Customer Custom 138

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

I’ve written about the topic of convertible debt at length before specifically about how angels & entrepreneurs should think about pricing. angel, seed) you’re taking the most risk. Entrepreneurs are increasingly trained to think convertible debt is better (when it’s not always the case).

Equity 319

Equity Pricing Venture Capital Entrepreneur 319

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Unless you are bootstrapping everything, you need to have a clear plan on what networking and documents are required to get to friends and family, Angel investors, and institutional investors. At this stage, you should start recruiting, hiring, paying, and training others to help you run your business. Manage human resources.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2018

Selecting and nurturing people who are likely to help you in this regard is an even more elusive capability, and one that every angel investor, like myself, wishes he could get a lock on. They just need the inspiration, time, and training to capitalize on these tools, and the new devices that arrive every day.

Training 57

Training Ideas Startup Tool 57

socalTECH

JUNE 9, 2014

And, even more, how to do you manage the jump on the viral video train again, and keep those viral hits coming? Is there a lot of competition for the rights to all of that content? Lee Essner: That''s one of the competitive edges we have. In some cases there is competition, and there are other people trying to acquire a video.

Media 235

Media Content Startup IP 235

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2016

As an active angel investor and startup advisor, I’ve seen many of the same stumbling blocks repeated all too many times. If the market is new and competition is minimal, then the time and costs of educating potential customers probably exceeds your survival time and budget. Confidently believe that you have no real competitors.

Startup 59

Startup Training Entrepreneur Customer 59

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2017

As an angel investor and business advisor on new ventures, I expect to see five-year financial projections from every entrepreneur. Does this entrepreneur understand the basics of business costs in the selected business domain, growth dynamics, and the competitive environment? It’s amazing how fast costs escalate as you grow.

Pricing 57

Pricing Startup Entrepreneur Invest 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2017

I hear it all the time as an angel investor, but I also see that same naïve or cavalier attitude come back to haunt entrepreneurs once they really get out in the marketplace. Are you prepared to hire and train team members required? Do you have a contingency plan to mitigate risk?

Metrics 58

Metrics Resource Startup Training 58

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. while acknowledging that San Fran deals are often higher valuations due to increased competition amongst investors. It’s hard to stop a train. They are pretty illiquid.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2015

In fact, most employee training courses recommend the distance if the work relationship crosses management levels, and most management policies strictly forbid fraternizing with the team. Can be a competitive advantage. Competition over salary, promotions, and position. Yet the 2015 Office Romance Survey by Vault, Inc.

Startup 96

Startup Course Competition Social Media 96

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

We’ve had an explosion of alternate sources of financing from crowd-sourcing, angels, accelerators, incubators, corporates, corporate incubators. Did they do a major training program? An impressive number of new VCs have been created – most of them with new seed funds. And importantly we’ve had revenue.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Unless you are bootstrapping everything, you need to have a clear plan on what networking and documents are required to get to friends and family, Angel investors, and institutional investors. At this stage, you should start recruiting, hiring, paying, and training others to help you run your business. Manage human resources.

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

. “President Biden is calling on Congress to make smart investments in research and development, manufacturing and regional economic development, and in workforce development to give our workers and companies the tools and training they need to compete on the global stage.” Sick of your ISP?

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2016

Here is my list, based on my own experience as a startup advisor, talking to other angel investors, and derived from the lean startup principles of venture advisor and entrepreneur Eric Ries : Strip the solution down to a focus on a key feature. Existing users are trained by use, and rarely move for usability alone.

Entrepreneur 57

Entrepreneur Pricing Course Competition 57

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 7, 2014

The difference here, is the quick injection of capital and guidance to create bullet train-like growth. One would think the application, interview, and highly competitive acceptance are the most intense parts of building a startup in an accelerator. Build, fail, learn, and improve FAST.

Startup 74

Startup Case Study Study Screening 74

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2017

In fact, most employee training courses recommend the distance if the work relationship crosses management levels, and most management policies strictly forbid fraternizing with the team. Can be a competitive advantage. Competition over salary, promotions, and position. Yet the 2017 Office Romance Survey by Vault, Inc.

Startup 53

Startup Course Competition Social Media 53

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

Messenger : Paige Craig, CEO BetterWorks, Angel Investor, former Marine. And we hired folks who had previous leadership positions and proof points of being competitive. In real-world training scenarios (over two weeks), on the phone selling, we cut 75% of them. I implore you to listen to the interview below.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246