socalTECH

AUGUST 12, 2019

The Vinetta Project (www.vinettaproject.com), a group which is focused on helping to accelerate the growth of female-led startups, announced a few weeks ago that it is working with P&G Ventures, the internal "startup studio" of Procter and Gamble on an effort to help female-led companies in Los Angeles. What is The Vinetta Project?

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Metrics Los Angeles Help 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2021

Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. Although many won’t admit it, true entrepreneurs can’t wait to exit their current startup, and build a new and better one with their next great idea. For these reasons, I always look for an overt exit strategy in every startup I might consider for an angel investment.

Startup 173

Startup Entrepreneur Metrics Acquisition 173

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Greathouse: Your collective experiences have clearly made bootstrapping a viable option for you, more so than might be the case for a typical, younger entrepreneur who needs more direction, doesn’t have cash discipline, etc. Semick: We’re a very metrics driven company, and we have been from the beginning. It was a viable option for us.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Cashflow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cashflow personally every day.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2022

Entrepreneurs are now measured against the “triple bottom line” (TBL or 3BL) of people, planet, and profit. How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Many young entrepreneurs seem to think that capitalism and making profit are dirty words.

Startup 110

Startup Entrepreneur Capital Examples 110

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2019, from 280 out of 100,000 to 310 out of 100,000 of the adult population. Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever.

Tips 161

Tips Startup Social Media News 161

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

On a regular basis, I am approached by entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. They cite sources like a recent BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this NY Times article. Major platforms are available online to find Angel groups or VCs, including Gust and AngelList.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2013

Entrepreneurs are now measured against the “triple bottom line” (TBL or 3BL) of people, planet, and profit. How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Many young entrepreneurs seem to think that capitalism and making profit are dirty words.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Startup Examples Satisfaction 98

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment. Most entrepreneurs recognize the need to pivot on a regular basis, but many forget that pivoting usually requires a realignment effort to get all the players back in sync. Change out team members as required.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

In the aftermath of the recent pandemic, which caused many businesses to close, a new raft of business workers and entrepreneurs are deciding to pursue their own dreams of being a new business owner, and controlling your own destiny. Define key metrics to measure progress and success.

Social Media 98

Social Media Metrics Media Tool 98

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. I find that good entrepreneurs always find ways to keep their project moving forward, in good times and in bad.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Social Media Examples Metrics 162

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. On the one hand, an entrepreneur should not be overly paranoid and should know the ropes that VCs and other professional investors generally will not sign NDAs to see the concept or a prototype--and even if they did, it would not provide much protection.

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Make sure everyone comes with an entrepreneur mindset for real innovation. In my experience, team members with an entrepreneur mindset are rare in mature companies, due to a growing focus on low risk fixed processes, narrow job roles with specialized expertise, and long-term tenure. Entrepreneurs crave more ownership.

Incubator 143

Incubator Seed Funding Metrics Customer 143

Steve Reich

AUGUST 15, 2015

How many Angels do you want in your cap table? Mark Suster wrote a great piece in July giving his answer: “If all else fails, angel-load away! If you can’t raise from a few strong angels, from seed funds or from a VC then raising from a ton (let’s say 20+) angels is a perfectly acceptable strategy. The bad news?

Angel 40

Angel News Pasadena Angels Seed Funding 40

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

As a business advisor, I meet many business professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs who are anxious to be their own boss , or have an innovative idea to start or acquire a new business. 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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

At an accelerator … Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. Your A round?

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Capital Pricing Doc 417

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

To prove that point, tonight I had the privilege of hearing him speak at Lean LA , a Los Angeles group that helps high tech start-ups build great companies on a budget. Being that the theme of the night was community, it was perfect that the event was held at CoLoft , a workspace in Santa Monica that focuses on start up entrepreneurs.

Metrics 87

Metrics Email Startup Technical Review 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2012

These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment. Most entrepreneurs recognize the need to pivot on a regular basis, but many forget that pivoting usually requires a realignment effort to get all the players back in sync. Change out team members as required.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Framework 93

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. They now have a cool new way to get intros to these angels: StartupList.

Pricing 150

Pricing Acquisition Customer Custom 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day.

Search Engine Optimization 103

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 103

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

So what should an entrepreneur do to convince themselves, as well as potential investors, that they have a viable business model before it is totally proven? Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales.

Customer 109

Customer Custom Satisfaction Sales 109

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 Finding Good Developers in Los Angeles? ► January (5) Los Angeles Web Developer Startup CTO or Developer When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Goo. Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller SEO for Startups Startup Version 1.0

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

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. Create company measures for success that go beyond financial metrics. You manage what you measure so be careful about having too narrowly defined of performance metrics.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And there is so much money around being thrown at so many entrepreneurs that many firms don’t even care about board seats, governance rights or heaven forbid doing work with the company because that would eat into the VCs time needed to chase 5 more deals. And the truth is that several entrepreneurs prefer it this way.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2013

Fans of Los Angeles subscription razor firm Dollar Shave Club might have noticed a lot of the firm recently on television. The reason why, is the firm has been running ads since January to help get the word out about its service and products.

Dollar Shave Club 171

Dollar Shave Club Advertising Media Design 171

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

So what should an entrepreneur do to convince themselves, as well as potential investors, that they have a viable business model before it is totally proven? Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales.

Sales 165

Sales Customer Custom Social Media 165

socalTECH

JUNE 15, 2017

The company recently raised $8M in a funding from Evolution Media, Aspect Ventures, Upfront Ventures, as well as a long list of angels. I come from the agency business, where we're all about making deals, and the metrics that matter are revenue. However, in starting a company, there are so many other qualitative metrics that matter.

Startup 140

Startup Content Metrics Platform 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2019

Entrepreneurs are now measured against the “triple bottom line” (TBL or 3BL) of people, planet, and profit. How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Many young entrepreneurs seem to think that capitalism and making profit are dirty words.

Startup 93

Startup Entrepreneur Capital Examples 93

Jason Nazar

NOVEMBER 23, 2008

Is there a difference between tech startups in Silicon Valley vs. Los Angeles? At parties in the Bay people talk about Twitter, Friend Feed, what’s being written on Valleywag and Techcrunch, and kickball games between VC’s and entrepreneurs. Michael Jones – most intuitively curious and overall talented web entrepreneur in LA.

Los Angeles 107

Los Angeles Angel Web 2.0 Web 107

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. In a funding round with 1 or 2 VCs and 15-20 angels or 4-6 seed funds if you gave every investor you financial information and performance metrics your proprietary information would increase in its probability of leaking out.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day.

Search Engine Optimization 124

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2021

As an angel investor in new startups, I’ve long believed that investors invest in people, not ideas. But the magic that makes one entrepreneur stand out over others is hard to quantify – yet we all recognize it when we see it. Define and use real metrics to measure progress. Don’t play the blame game.

Customer 157

Customer Custom Metrics Ideas 157

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2020

As a frequent advisor to new entrepreneurs and startups, I often hear your frustration with being treated differently from other startups by investors, on expectations for valuation , traction, and market size. Valuations here are always low, and funding generally depends on friends and family, or a few forward-thinking angels.

Marketing 174

Marketing Startup Artificial Inteligence Technical Review 174

socalTECH

AUGUST 28, 2017

She told us about why so many Los Angeles investors are supporting the company and gave us an overview of what PartySlate is all about. How is it you have so many Los Angeles investors? The last thing, is you really need to understand what your business metrics are, and make sure you are looking at the most important metrics.

Technical Advisors 100

Technical Advisors Technical Review Metrics Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2014

Entrepreneurs are now measured against the “triple bottom line” (TBL or 3BL) of people, planet, and profit. How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Many young entrepreneurs seem to think that capitalism and making profit are dirty words.

Startup 104

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Satisfaction 104