Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

But it will be patiently deployed, waiting for a cohort of founders who aren’t artificially clinging to 2021 valuation metrics. We could talk with customers, meet the entire management team, review financial plans, review customer purchasing cohorts, evaluate the competition, etc. By 2021 we had to write a $3.5m

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

Based on my own experience as a mentor and angel investor, I find that as many as ninety percent of startups fail in the first five years, despite their best efforts. These are necessary to attract customers, investors, and give you a line of defense with competitors. Test your plan to get feedback from real customers.

Social Media 98

Social Media Metrics Media Tool 98

socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2009

Los Angeles-based Image Metrics (www.image-metrics.com) recently landed a $6.5M, Series B funding round for the firm's facial animation products. I was introduced to Image Metrics a year before I joined, and was helping them along. Editor's note: you can see Image Metrics "Emily" demo on their web site ).

Metrics 100

Metrics Startup Sales Newsletter 100

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Ultimately 1,000 customers signed up, and The Kelp Burger is now the “hero product,” Boyd Myers said. Boyd Myers explained that there are sales and repeat customers, but it was too early to discuss growth metrics. Vibrant Ventures is a new plant-based fund out of Los Angeles that launched in July.

Startup 191

Startup Los Angeles Sample Funding 191

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Excellent detailed resources are everywhere, including a classic book, “ The Startup Checklist ,” by serial entrepreneur and founder of the New York Angels, David S. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Angel groups, accelerators, and incubators are pervasive. The cost of social media done well is low.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media News 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Customer support is more than handling exceptions.

Sales 165

Sales Custom Customer Social Media 165

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. It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. Create company measures for success that go beyond financial metrics.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

Every entrepreneur’s first priority should be the alignment of interests across the range of constituents required for success – partners, investors, customers, vendors, and employees. If you have had to pivot from the consumer market to enterprise customers, that requires new pricing models and new sales channels.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2023

For these reasons, I always look for an overt exit strategy in every startup I might consider for an angel investment. New startup founders keep all the operating metrics they need in their head. Mature your business processes and customer base. Anticipate customer and valued-supplier reaction to any change.

Startup 99

Startup Entrepreneur Metrics Acquisition 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Even with advantages that independent startups can never hope to match, including brand recognition, customers, financial capital, and distribution, I don’t often see the entrepreneurial passion for innovation, agility, and team perseverance exhibited by new startups. A documented business plan for the new venture is critical here.

Incubator 143

Incubator Seed Funding Metrics Custom 143

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2015

Los Angeles-based valet parking app developer CurbStand said this morning that it has acquired another, parking app developer, Curby , and will integrate Curby''s technology platform into its software. Curby develops software for valet parking operators, including reporting, metrics, and other enterprise features. READ MORE>>.

Metrics 100

Metrics Acquisition Mobile Los Angeles 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2021

As an angel investor in new startups, I’ve long believed that investors invest in people, not ideas. Focus on customers and people over profits and ego. Especially in these modern times, both your customers and your team are looking for personal relationships to incent their engagement and loyalty. billion buyout.

Custom 157

Custom Customer Metrics Ideas 157

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Excellent detailed resources are everywhere, including a classic book, “ The Startup Checklist ,” by serial entrepreneur and founder of the New York Angels, David S. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Angel groups, accelerators, and incubators are pervasive. The cost of social media done well is low.

Tips 161

Tips Startup Social Media News 161

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 Finding Good Developers in Los Angeles? Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles CTO Hire CTO Coach Develop 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 23, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Friday, February 23, 2007 Events and Networking in Los Angeles One of the issues I discussed in Innovation and Geography was that the geography and traffic in Los Angeles generally makes it more difficult for networking. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Networking CTO Coach Angel 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2021

For these reasons, I always look for an overt exit strategy in every startup I might consider for an angel investment. New startup founders keep all the operating metrics they need in their head. Mature your business processes and customer base. Anticipate customer and valued-supplier reaction to any change.

Startup 173

Startup Entrepreneur Metrics Acquisition 173

Steve Reich

JUNE 11, 2012

This is not an article about the high moral purpose and the nobility of listening to your customers. It is an article about how to make your company worth a fortune by listening to your customers. It gives the best customer experience of any phone. Listen to your customers and grow rich. Why does Google dominate search?

Custom 97

Custom Customer Software Review SaaS 97

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

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

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. The solution here is to never stop the fundraising cycle, moving quickly from friends and family, to angels, to venture capitalists.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Custom 131

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2022

How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? As an angel investor, I see too many business proposals that are heavy on sustainability, but light on financial realities. 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

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2011

This site aggregates and filters content from thought leaders who talk about topics such as Marketing , Sales , Design , Revenue , Hiring , Social Media , Business Models , Metrics , PR , Venture Capital , Angel Investors , Bootstrapping , Incubators , Agile and many others.

Content 175

Content Startup Social Media IP 175

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 20, 2020

I realized it was consistent with my own view as a former angel investor, that investors invest in you, more than your solution. For example, if you as an entrepreneur come across as arrogant or too casual, many people you need to deal with in business, including investors, suppliers, and customers, will run the other way.

Entrepreneur 168

Entrepreneur Mentor Metrics Custom 168

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. You may be comfortable driving your future based on vision and emotion, or have long been a stickler for details and metrics.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2020

As an angel investor in startups, I’m a believer that smart investors invest more in you as the entrepreneur than the next billion dollar solution you are pitching. These days, customers expect to hear and see social and environmental value from a new business, rather than just a new technology or profit.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Examples Metrics 124

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 Custom Customer 286

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Los Angeles-based Signal Sciences (www.signalsciences.com), which develops web application firewall software, just inked a big, $35M series C funding round a few weeks ago, and now has plans to dramatically expand its hiring in Los Angeles. Thats so important to get success and expand our customers.

Startup 113

Startup Funding Technical Review Software Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2019

Yet, as an angel investor, I still see too many new business owners who are convinced that their biggest challenge is to get money to start, and once launched with some initial success, they can relax. Change is the only constant in a successful business, to keep up with new competitors and new customer demands.

Startup 88

Startup Demand Training Custom 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2018

As a member of an angel investment group, I have to admit this is probably the most common rejection we issue. The intent is to indicate that founder passion is not a substitute for real customers buying the product. Pivoting early, based on real customer feedback, is always cheaper than later.

Custom 59

Custom Customer Pricing Startup 59

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. You need quantified value for customers to see, feel, and pay for. What metrics should you use to measure success?

Metrics 58

Metrics Resource Startup Training 58

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We can’t wait for customers to use the product for 12–18 months and do customer interviews or look at purchase cohorts. At Upfront we have always done 40% of our investing in Greater Los Angeles and it’s precisely for this reason. It’s just now that we’re Seed Investors. We aren’t going to win every great deal in LA?—?there

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2015

Every entrepreneur is quick to tell friends and potential investors about his or her vision of changing the world, about all the customers who have expressed an interest, and about all the other investors who are lining up to get a piece of the action. Is your customer-acquisition rate accelerating? Margins should be increasing.

Acquisition 100

Acquisition Entrepreneur Custom Customer 100

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 26, 2013

Customized content. Done so by allowing them the ability to build and customize modules, embed them throughout their web properties, and identify quality user generated video content to publish through the Squabbler platform. The publishers using Squabbler are able to create, customize and deploy vidoes in less than 5 minutes.

Metrics 79

Metrics Platform Content Web 79

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2019

That's where Los Angeles-based Rolebot (www.rolebot.net) comes in. Shane Bernstein: We look at actionable data points and data metrics which are quantifiable across the web, and we qualify them and normalize that data, and sort them based on what they've done. We have several local customers using it now, quite successfully.

Sites 240

Sites Startup Tool CTO Hire 240

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2015

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Customer support is more than handling exceptions.

Startup 107

Startup Sales Custom Customer 107

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

We have customers from so many different industries like software, financial services, healthcare, and media. Semick: In the beginning, many of our conversations were about whether we wanted funding from angel investors and eventually VCs. We could also spend time talking with customers rather than updating investors.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2008

Los Angeles-based magnify360, a provider of web page optimization tools, has lauched a new product for optimizing Google AdWords advertising, the firm announced today. Los Angeles-based magnify360, a provider of web page optimization tools, has lauched a new product for optimizing Google AdWords advertising, the firm announced today.

Advertising 100

Advertising Tool Yahoo Google 100