Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Lessons. I started my first company in 1999 in London at the height of the dot com craze. We went through the euphoria of massive exposure at the time of our launch due to an article that ran in the Financial Times. We had one of the largest US software companies talk about buying us.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

I recently wrote a post talking about how some VCs meddle in operating company decisions or some executive teams are too reliant on VCs to jump in and make hard calls for them. It’s harmful and hurtful to the startup and those that lead it. When companies start the founder & CEO is often the only mouthpiece for the business.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

Berkonomics

APRIL 20, 2023

Starting a company is HARD – in so many ways. Let’s start with a restaurant -not our thing. But… I read several years ago that the average startup restaurant lasts only about a year. Restaurant startups would not top my list. And this includes all businesses, not just startups. And risky too. And the U.S.

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Statistics Startup Study Invest 156

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

This weekend I was reading the NY Times online and I came across this excellent piece about ADHD written by Richard Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry. ” The author talks about one of his patients who was bored and unsatisfied in his job and found his tasks too routine. Often doing many things at once.

Startup 416

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Help 416

TechCrunch LA

MAY 25, 2019

Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a newsletter published every Saturday that dives into the week’s most noteworthy venture deals, fundraises, M&A transactions and trends. Let’s take a quick moment to catch up. Haus, like any good consumer startup in 2019, is shipped directly to your door. Fundraising.

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Startup Venture Capital Newsletter Tips 223

Tech.Co

JUNE 29, 2021

You know what a startup is, right? Or at least you have an idea of what a startup is like to work in? Long hours in co-working offices with CEOs fresh from university with big ideas and a lot of vague, nebulous chat about platforms. Or, as can happen, when the money dries up and the business goes under.

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Startup Course Coach Demand 175

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I’m not saying that lawyers were my screening process – simply that they knew about deals early on and they had voted with their time and pocketbooks so I knew I had a degree of filtering. no, I''m not talking about SVB, Comerica, Square1 and the like. start-ups are overvalued. Big difference.]. ” Meh.

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Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 7, 2021

An edtech startup called Entity Academy — which provides women with training, in areas like data science and software development; mentoring; and ultimately job coaching — has raised $100 million on the heels of strong growth of its business, and an ambition to improve that ratio.

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Mentor Training Startup Course 297

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. Most of these are non-profits, set up by a university to commercialize new technologies, or a municipality to foster business development for the local economy.

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Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

SoCal CTO

APRIL 25, 2017

Here is the most recent version of an all too common email inquiry from a startup founder. I'm working on a start up idea in the XXX market with my partner and we are currently looking for full stack developer to join us as a technical co-founder. I've written before about having an Initial Conversation with a Potential CTO.

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Email Startup Develop Development 150

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

If you need to know how to do something, just look it up online. For example, there are a dozen articles like this one for every area of expertise. My message today is to avoid the consultant stigma by signing up to do the job, not just talk about it. Share the everyday life of the startup team you are working with.

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Startup Slides Email Customer 150

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

Change is about the only thing constant in the world of startups. Chris Musselwhite and Tammie Plouffe, in a classic HBR article on change readiness for large companies, define it as “the ability to continuously initiate and respond to change in ways that create advantage, minimize risk, and sustain performance.”

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Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2022

How many times have investors heard startups start their pitch by touting that their technology is “disruptive?” Unfortunately this “quickly” may be too slowly to save initial startups in the space. We sign up for the new app, or buy one of the new devices after we see our cool friends using it. We don't quite get it.

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Startup Technical Review Technology Social Media 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2022

Wouldn’t you like to be one of the lucky people who joined Google and Facebook when these were startups, and now be a multi-millionaire or better? So people ask me “How many shares should I ask for or expect when I join a startup today?” 3% If you are not on this list, just worry about getting whatever your peers are getting.

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Startup Equity Pricing Marketing 137

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

I made every textbook mistake at my first startup, which is why I believe I was much more effective at my second one. The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. It means avoiding drinking too much at cocktail parties with other tech people and bragging about your plans.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2021

John Bradberry, in his classic book “ 6 Secrets to Startup Success ,” identifies five key biases that sabotage many passionate entrepreneurs in their startup decision making. I challenge any entrepreneur to honestly tell me they have never fallen victim to any of these in making startup decisions: Confirmation bias.

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Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Press 149

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. But first you need to know about Reg D filings. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic.

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Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. So can you successfully build a YouTube network? ” YouTube takes 45%.

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Networking Media Content Customer 366

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2019

How many times have investors heard startups start their pitch by touting that their technology is “disruptive?” Unfortunately this “quickly” may be too slowly to save initial startups in the space. We sign up for the new app, or buy one of the new devices after we see our cool friends using it. We don't quite get it.

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Technology Startup Social Media 87

SoCal CTO

MAY 17, 2011

I was just talking with someone who's new to Los Angeles and wanting to connect into the Los Angeles Startup Community. I told them that I had recently seen several posts/articles talking about how vibrant the community has become. I will do my best to keep this up to date.

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Los Angeles Southern California Startup Angel 196

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

In our Insights and Opinions section of the site, we feature editorials, informational articles, and other content that is relevant to the high tech community in Southern California. To address what has changed and how it might affect startups, Victor Lin of Innovation Law Group , contributed this article. Continued.).

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Patents Southern California Startup High Tech 150

SoCal CTO

MAY 17, 2011

I was just talking with someone who's new to Los Angeles and wanting to connect into the Los Angeles Startup Community. I told them that I had recently seen several posts/articles talking about how vibrant the community has become. I will do my best to keep this up to date.

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Los Angeles Southern California Startup Angel 188

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

I think I’ve read Paul Graham’s post on “ Startup = Growth ” three or four times now. Viewing the article through the lens of a venture capitalist there’s much to agree with under the mantra of “growth!” Eventually a successful startup will grow into a big company. Growth, again.

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Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

I’m sure you’ve heard the meme that “email is dead” – if fact if you Google it you’ll find a long list of articles that will mislead you. Of course that website isn’t completely up to date but it’s a great resource for seeing the overall picture. But let me start with some data.

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Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Monday, March 12, 2007 MyShape Article - Analyst Misses the Point The NY Times did a piece today on MyShape, a start-up in Pasadena - Log in Your Measurements, and the Clothes May Fit. Having help narrowing choices is what its going to be about going forward.

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MyShape CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

A version of this article previously appeared in the Wall Street Journal. I consistently remind my UC Santa Barbara startup students that for most people, money is not a sustaining motivator. They might start a venture with the money as a primary goal, but money alone generally isn''t an adequate catalyst. Poet Slamming.

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Startup Santa Barbara Journal Entrepreneur 200

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Don Charlton’s heroic journey began with him growing up on government assistance and culminated in his founding The Resumator , one of America''s fastest growing startups. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles!

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Startup Entrepreneur Design Santa Barbara 250

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2022

I’ve always thought that I might be overly sensitive, until I saw an article about bad bosses a few years ago by The Business Journals , which claims that many employees spend 10 hours a month complaining or listening to others complain, and 75 percent say their boss is the most stressful part of their job. If not, don’t say it.”

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Startup Journal Customer Custom 141

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

As of today, I will have published an article here for entrepreneurs and startups every day for the last 1001 days, since I started Startup Professionals Musings near the close of 2008. Finding funding for startups is a tough process. Don’t plan to get rich from your startup.

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Entrepreneur Startup Blogging Social Media 96

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2013

TechCrunch interviewed me and asked me to talk about failure. So I spoke for 12 minutes about my own failures. As I’ve said before, all startups need to realize that every other company still has to see itself naked in the mirror in the morning. We all know that people who truly are crushing it rarely talk about it.

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Startup Press Course Entrepreneur 412

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

We did know about Snapchat as early as anybody. But that narrative was fresh in my head when I first had the discussion about Snapchat. I don’t feel badly about that — Jeremy is smart, successful and a friend and there’s no reason to sit around and be jealous about his success — I’m genuinely happy for him.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

socalTECH

OCTOBER 27, 2016

Dinesh Ravishanker was the founder of Callfire, and tells us some of the lessons he learned after he left the startup he founded, and how it impacted him, personally. Think deeply about what it was about starting a business that made it special or interesting to you. An exit can happen at anytime. READ MORE>>.

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Startup Help Invest Company 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. The Basics The starting point — the 101 — is knowing the difference between gross burn and net burn. Profits Yesterday I wrote about the trade-off between growth and profits.

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Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2019

Managing Your Startup Board?—?A Hearing views from Bill Gates on how the world deals with issues like climate change, Jack Dorsey talk about the role of social platforms and government and discussions with Kevin Systrom (Instagram), Todd McKinnon (Okta), etc were fascinating. What Should We Talk About at Board Meetings?

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Startup Slides Venture Capital Course 234

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 16, 2021

Founders almost always cite lack of money as the reason for failure, but if you look deeper, I believe the reason is more often about dysfunctional people and leadership. A few years ago I was intimately involved with a promising startup that taught me about this issue. It’s not a disease, but it can kill your startup.

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Startup Ideas Organization Report 114

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

A version of this article previously appeared on Inc. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Upon graduation from Wharton, John and Kyle launched a startup based upon a simple, pedestrian product: a computer mouse shaped like the head of a golf driver. From 35 To 500 Readers.

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Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw a while back, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons.

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Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141