Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Sometimes that’s venture capital generally (like last year’s conversation with Reid Hoffman ) and sometimes it’s in a space where I’ve invested (like mobility and city innovation with Bird’s Travis VanderZanden , one of our portfolio founders.) And so it is with video. Quibi = “quick bites”).

Content 244

Content Netflix Platform Mobile 244

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an angel investor. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Startup Statistics Social Media 109

socalTECH

OCTOBER 19, 2011

Fullerton-based Hipgeo , the developers of iPhone apps for tracking and logging your travels, said today that it has launched a new version of its product which is specifically aimed at travelers. READ MORE>>.

eHarmony 154

eHarmony Yahoo San Diego Blogging 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an angel investor. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Over the past 10 years, I have had the opportunity to see how the process works, several times from the startup side, and more recently from the angel perspective (as a member of an angel group selection committee). Build a prototype product.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2014

Sponsored by VISA Business If you have a unique product or service, and you are not selling it around the world on the Internet, now is the time to start. Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, lawyers, venture capitalists, or Angels. The cost of entry has never been lower.

Startup 100

Startup Commerce Sites Blogging 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

As a business consultant and angel investor, I often ask for your own assessment of marketing ROI , or customer acquisition cost (CAC). Are you making the proper investment, and is it paying off? What if someone sees an ad, visits a web page, watches a video, downloads a brochure, responds to an e-mail, and finally buys a product?

Customer 100

Customer Custom Acquisition Technical Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

When the early teams: angels, lowercase capital & first round capital funded Uber they had no idea it would be one of the most revolutionary ideas of our time. This was certainly the case when I invested in a small YouTube video production company called Maker Studios that recently sold to Disney for just shy of $1 billion.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

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. magnify360 provides software which automatically adapts web pages to individual visitors, to tailor and personalize the web content those users see.

Advertising 100

Advertising Tool Yahoo Google 100

socalTECH

AUGUST 10, 2012

A digital marketing tag is typically also referred to as a page code, which customers put on their websites when they want to deploy certain digital marketing solutions. As an example, if you're deploying Google Analytics, the way you deploy it is copying and pasting a page code on your website, also referred to as a tag.

Startup 171

Startup Marketing Customer Custom 171

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

I told her that I believed America’s best asset – driven initially from software innovation mindset in the San Francisco Bay Area and media innovation driven from Los Angeles – was our willingness to accept failure. It was really gratifying to read Larry Page’s interview in the FT this past week. Time will tell.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

The size of the document should be based on your style, but 10-20 pages or slides are usually more than adequate to outline even a complex business. Most VCs and Angel investors don’t read unsolicited proposals, unless they have met you first, or have a glowing recommendation from another investor or acquaintance.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. Investors invest in people - not just ideas. Solution and benefits. Skip the technical jargon and hyperbole.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2011

The firm is backed by a notable list of angel investors, and based in Los Angeles. Scott Saunders: I spent nearly my entire career on the investment side, and in 2005 switched over to the entrepreneurial side of the world. There are three main components of the product. That will take you to a brand page.

Startup 197

Startup Ideas Southern California Social Network 197

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

Few investors these days have the time or patience to read a full business plan, so a better way to catch their eye is with a tightly written and well formatted two-page executive summary. Professional investors look for the right people more than the right product. Project revenues, costs and investment expectations.

Summary 101

Summary Patents Technical Review Competition 101

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or Angels. Here are the key steps for a personal home-based business website selling a few products (as an alternative to Ebay): Go online to reserve a website domain name. Personalize a simple web site.

Commerce 99

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 99

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

The new hot topic for entrepreneurs the last couple of years is crowd funding, which is anticipated to at least supplement, if not replace, the slow and mysterious process of current Angel and venture capital investors. Example sites include StartSomeGood and the Facebook Cause page. There is no concept of ROI other than product.

Funding 99

Funding Satisfaction Sites Outsource Development 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 10, 2013

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or Angels. Here are the key steps for a personal home-based business website selling a few products (as an alternative to Ebay): Go online to reserve a website domain name. Personalize a simple web site.

Sites 78

Sites Commerce Startup Tool 78

SoCal Delicious

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

The Startup UCLA Accelerator Is About Entrepreneurship Not Investment Returns. The rest of the audience for this afternoon’s pitch fest will be an invitation-only group of angel investors, VC’s, experienced entrepreneurs, and local government officials assembled largely from Jadon’s rolodex. Follow PandoDaily: Search. Post navigation.

UCLA 47

UCLA Invest Startup Class 47

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an angel investor. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Statistics 109

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an Angel investor. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse.

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2011

Well, Los Angeles based Near Networks (www.nearnetworks.com) is looking to both reach customers online, and avoid the tacky, lousy production of typical small business ads, with a new service. Sam Rogoway: Near Networks is a national production studio that creates online videos for local businesses across the country.

Networking 150

Networking Search Engine Optimization Product Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2012

The new hot topic for entrepreneurs these days is crowd funding, which is anticipated to at least supplement, if not replace, the slow and mysterious process of current Angel and venture capital investors. This new model will allow large numbers of “regular” people to invest small amounts each online to fund early startups.

Funding 96

Funding Satisfaction Sites Outsource Development 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2018

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an angel investor. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse.

Funding 62

Funding Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 62

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2011

from a group of VCs and angels. The angels included in the round included Matt Coffin and Stephen Kim. It's based on Likes on a page, or installs of an application. What we really need, is more people to help sell, continue to improve our product, and manage campaigns. Which VCs were those? What's the next step now?

Advertising 198

Advertising Startup Santa Monica Social Network 198

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or angels. Here are the key steps for a personal home-based business website selling a few products (as an alternative to Ebay): Go online to reserve a website domain name. Personalize a simple web site.

Commerce 88

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 88

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

So it’s really hard to draw too many conclusions about whether the investment really makes sense because often you learn stuff in the fund raising about the future strategy of the company that might make you much more excited than somebody on the outside might be. entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit).

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

socalTECH

JULY 20, 2011

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based HitFix (www.hitfix.com) an online news site focused on entertainment, announced it had raised $2M in a funding round. There was an opportunity to capture htose advertiser dollars, and do it by serving up a product that was compelling to both advertisers and consumers. Jennifer Sargent: It's funny.

News 173

News Entertainment Startup Bertelsmann 173

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Bockerstette, Main Street Venture Fund As I outlined last week, trophy angel investors are always looking for trophy entrepreneurs. The result is that the Main Street Venture Fund consistently has more money available than good opportunities for investment. There is no product idea good enough to overcome bad partners.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2010

Google monetized this with AdWords (ads on their home page). I won’t belabor this – I have an investment in this space ( ad.ly ) so I’m biased. Golden rule of branding for me: 1) name your company or product your URL and 2) don’t paint yourself into a corner. &# Tweet&# = corner. uh, hello!

Venture Capital 271

Venture Capital Capital Google Platform 271

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2013

It's a huge development task to develop your own mobile application, connect into Facebook, and create an online ordering system--unless you use the software from ChowNow (www.chownow.com), one of the newest startups to get funding here in Los Angeles. The platform can be divided into three products. Are people using the product now?

Mobile 197

Mobile Startup Platform GRP Partners 197

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. They were originally founded inside of Times Mirror and had a huge string of major investment success before spinning out as a fully independent fund. So my gut says this will be a youth-oriented product.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Mobile 270

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Solution product & technology. Make sure to communicate the relevance of your product / services to market needs.

Slides 99

Slides Competition Sample Sales 99

socalTECH

APRIL 22, 2016

How that works, is when you download Giftagram, you can peruse through gifts in different categories that we have set up, and see what products we have. They are changing all the time, and we constantly have new products and partners, as our inventory churns and things are no longer available, or if they are seasonal in nature.

Mobile 100

Mobile Platform Commerce Class 100

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2013

Speaking of the new investment, CapLinked CEO Eric M. Jackson said, “We’re using the proceeds from our financing round to invest in our technology, build new features, and increase sales and support.”. Jackson added that the firm was proud of its product, and even uses its own software to manage their capital raised from investors.

Draper 68

Draper Google Software Engineering Invest 68

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Jim Semick: I’ve been launching and managing software products for 15 years now, going back to when you and I worked together at Expertcity before it was acquired by Citrix. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

There is a common belief in the angel and venture capital community that you put your money on the best team, rather than the best idea. In my angel investor mode, I often find myself flipping to the “management” section of a business plan, even before I read the solution description and opportunity. Focus on prior results, not titles.

Startup 60

Startup Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review 60