Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2020

Angel investors, like me, have long figured out that asking to see the prototype is a quick way to separate the ‘wannabes’ from serious players. With a realistic prototype, you can get more accurate feedback from customers on their real need and what they might pay, before you invest millions on the final product.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2020

Yet if that leaves you with no documented business plan or unclear strategy, most investors and even customers will walk away. Don’t forget the wealth of “gig” experts for outsourcing at a low cost. In my experience as an angel investor, it was an accepted axiom that we invested in people, even more than the product.

Product 123

Product Startup Tips Entrepreneur 123

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 12, 2014

New and innovative designers are popping up everywhere, thanks to new technology like 3D printing. SYNCFAB , (Synchronized Fabrication) is a platform to bring hybrid 3D printing and connect inventors and designers with manufacturers and material specialists to bring back local manufacturing.

Design 84

Design Platform Patents Outsource Development 84

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2014

One Los Angeles company-- OneStop Internet (www.onestop.com) has created a growing business handling exactly that. We provide a turnkey, back end, managed service offering for brands and retailers on an outsourced basis. Who are your ideal customers and market? John Tomich: I think it''s the business model.

Commerce 203

Commerce Venture Capital Internet Brands Startup 203

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

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. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Conflicting visions won’t work.

Software Review 88

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2012

Many writers have outlined the critical success factors for product companies, like sell every unit at a profit, patent the design, and continuous product improvement. Obviously we can find many critical success factors, like finding and retaining high-value customers, which apply to companies that are product centric or services centric.

Satisfaction 91

Satisfaction Patents Outsource Development Services 91

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2015

Angel investors, like me, have long figured out that asking to see the prototype is a quick way to separate the ‘wannabes’ from serious players. With a realistic prototype, you can get more accurate feedback from customers on their real need and what they might pay, before you invest millions on the final product.

Ideas 107

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Tool 107

socalTECH

MARCH 26, 2014

Most of the solutions in our market are for lots of doctors, and are on-premise solutions, and are really designed for bigger physician groups and hospitals. We use a recurring revenue model, where a customer pays us a few hundred dollars on average. I actually remember talking with Travis, prior to Uber, when he was an angel investor.

Startup 160

Startup El Segundo CTO Hire Outsource Development 160

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Many writers have outlined the critical success factors for product companies, like sell every unit at a profit, patent the design, and continuous product improvement. Obviously we can find many critical success factors, like finding and retaining high-value customers, which apply to companies that are product centric or services centric.

Product 91

Product Services Satisfaction Patents 91

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

This means selling at least 5-10 customers in advance, before it is even built. Offer the customers a discount for buying in advance. Try to identify developers that are flexible in their design. cleverua.com – outsourced web & mobile app development based in the Ukraine, Ask for Pavlo.

CTO Hire 81

CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop Development 81

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2014

Angel investors, like me, have long figured out that asking to see the prototype is a quick way to separate the ‘wannabes’ from serious players. With a realistic prototype, you can get more accurate feedback from customers on their real need and what they might pay, before you invest millions on the final product.

Outsource Development 105

Outsource Development Startup Ideas Tool 105

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

63 Los Angeles Entrepreneurs To Be Proud Of By mario on May 2, 2012 in Features , grid. Features like this, as well as our daily interviews wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support of our sponsor eMinutes – a law firm here in Los Angeles that focuses on helping entrepreneurs structure their companies. Subscribe to RSS.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 13, 2013

Your chores can be outsourced through Porter. What we are spending money and time on is onboarding customers on one end and on the other end onboarding providers. That’s the only thing that is outsourced. One guy was a designer, two guys were Ruby engineers, and I included – not an engineer. TechZulu: What is Porter?

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Mobile Startup Los Angeles 87

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2018

Angel investors, like me, have long figured out that asking to see the prototype is a quick way to separate the ‘wannabes’ from serious players. With a realistic prototype, you can get more accurate feedback from customers on their real need and what they might pay, before you invest millions on the final product.

Ideas 53

Ideas Outsource Development Tool Outsource 53

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

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. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Conflicting visions won’t work.

Software Review 56

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important. 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. Customer service and support. Funding process.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important. 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. Customer service and support. Funding process.

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important. 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. Customer service and support. Funding process.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important. 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. Customer service and support. Funding process.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

Jason Nazar

MAY 2, 2016

Design a logo ( 99designs ). Find sources of capital— friends & family, business bank loans , angel investment , venture capital or even crowdfunding ( Crowdfunder , Fundable ). Choose an email system to connect with customers ( Constant Contact , MailChimp , Sendgrid ). Open your company bank account. Recommended.

Outsource Development 40

Outsource Development Startup Google Mentor 40

Frank Addante

MARCH 12, 2007

Outsourcing ► April (1) GoogleClick - Who owns your cash register? Ive built development teams in Chicago, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and India. Los Angeles was a bit more difficult to find engineers; they were the most creative but more expensive than Chicago. FounderBlog’s 1 Year Anniversary! A BIG THANK YOU.

Outsource Development 40

Outsource Development Startup .Net Venture Capital 40

SoCal Delicious

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

It is generally a soft touch at the beginning of the development process, perhaps identifying 1-2 early alpha/beta customers to help flesh out use cases to be built upon over time. While I know I can add value, I also know when and how I can add value. While I know I can add value, I also know when and how I can add value.

CTO Coach 28

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Mentor 28

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

How to Enchant Your Customer - How to Change the World , November 23, 2010 I love to do business with small businesses—in-store, online, for myself, for others, for pleasure, for work—it doesn’t matter to me. No Business Plan Survives First Contact With A Customer – The 5.2 Your First Iteration of an Idea Will Be Wrong. So what gives?

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

Given likely market changes, how will we design and build so that the systems can respond to marketplace changes? What do we build in-house or outsource? What other kinds of capabilities such as graphic design, user interaction, product manager, QA will we need? Get in front of customers as often as you can.

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Frank Addante

MAY 24, 2007

Outsourcing ► April (1) GoogleClick - Who owns your cash register? I met with my old team from L90, the team that built adMonitor (the advertising platform that delivered billions of ads per month for over 3,000 blue-chip customers, where we had a successful $112 million IPO and then DoubleClick acquired it). A BIG THANK YOU.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Venture Capital Outsource Development 40

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

Outsourcing ► April (1) GoogleClick - Who owns your cash register? We provide turnkey digital messaging appliances for enterprises, service providers and software developers to send marketing, e-commerce, CRM and customer service email. FounderBlog’s 1 Year Anniversary! A BIG THANK YOU. ► March (2) 4.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

The expanding pool of angel, seed, and super seed funds is another. Even so, it’s difficult (and perhaps impossible) to operate a small business or startup and not negotiate agreements with employees, vendors, customers, and others. If you are an entrepreneur or active in the angel/seed sector, you should read it. We declined.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

Outsourcing ► April (1) GoogleClick - Who owns your cash register? We had over 3,000 customers, delivered over 8 billion e-mails and online advertisements per month and reached over 65% of the Internet population through our technology (adMonitor). We had customers and revenue. FounderBlog’s 1 Year Anniversary!

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. - First Principles.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

You attend five customer meetings together over a two-week period and after each meeting you replay the results in the office about what it meant. The conversations bleed into the sales messages the next time, they wend their way into software designs and form the plan of attach against competition. What about outsourcing?

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335