Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2023

Successful entrepreneurs often start with a “random” idea, but they quickly focus their efforts and follow a “system” to organize their startup and maximize the clout of their activities. If you can’t write it down, you probably don’t understand it. Today you need to talk with, not at, your customers and constituents to get ideas.

Social Media 94

Social Media Media Ideas Writing 94

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

My firm GRP Partners recently funded a young LA based company named Ad.Ly that is an “in-stream advertising&# company currently focused on monetizing Twitter. Traditional media companies published their stories on the web. Then came blogs. Advertising has driven the majority of Internet innovation. So did the media.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2020

Successful entrepreneurs often start with a “random” idea, but they quickly focus their efforts and follow a “system” to organize their startup and maximize the clout of their activities. If you can’t write it down, you probably don’t understand it. Today you need to talk with, not at, your customers and constituents to get ideas.

Social Media 126

Social Media Media Ideas Writing 126

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2014

This blog started from a series of conversations I found myself having over and over again with founders and eventually decided I should just start writing them.It I see founders who think they can be at every conference, advise multiple companies, do side investments in angel deals, leave the office at 6pm and have a balance life.

Competition 394

Competition Startup Writing Marketing 394

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

But they weren’t there in 2009 when you were up late nights shitting yourself whether you really were smart for pursuing this idea. I was thinking about all of this as I looked at the logs from my WordPress blog this evening. I started blogging 2 years ago. I started by writing 3-4 times / week.

Startup 391

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Writing 391

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? I am a VC.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2014

I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your brand value, even before you have it, is a most cost effective approach in time and money. For blogging to work, you need to do it consistently and frequently, at least once a week, or the value evaporates. Populate your team.

Startup 101

Startup Blogging Writing Google 101

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

The truth is – there isn’t a “right&# answer so for your company. In the early days you don’t really want 3 extra teams hearing your ideas and gearing up to compete before you feel you’ve got a solid head start. But once a VC has heard your idea he can’t “un-think&# it.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

John Lusk, along with his Co-Author Kyle Harrison, leveraged their humble company''s newsletter into The MouseDriver Chronicles , a New York Times bestselling book. The company''s newsletter was initially created to share their entrepreneurial journey with their family and friends. blogging, in a sense. in September of 1999.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

I CERTAINLY opened myself up to attack by writing my original blog post about job hoppers with some incendiary language and tone. But the comments on my own blog were so much more balanced with people taking both sides of the debate. For anyone who attacked me on my blog but used their actual names I left their comments.

News 258

News Tips Blogging Writing 258

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” To be fair to TigerText they build a company focused on the healthcare industry and HIPAA compliance.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Today Upfront Ventures is announcing that we’ve backed Rebecca Kantar ’s startup Imbellus , a company designed to assess human potential and ultimately change the way we teach children. How does one come up with the right idea to start a company? We led a $4 million investment along with Thrive Capital, GLG and Sound Ventures.

Design 150

Design Ideas Startup Writing 150

Eric Greenspan

APRIL 11, 2019

TED happened because the need to share great ideas and stories about achievement, wonder, and change, happened. Sharing those ideas was the goal, but the achievements came first” It starts with the idea, or the accomplishment, whether it’s the NHL or TED. Mine is writing this blog post, indirectly.

Writing 179

Writing Ideas Startup Coach 179

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

But trust me when I say that my observations across many startups (and other companies, frankly) is that not enough time goes into thinking. If you’re not taking this zone-out down time I’ll bet you’re not having enough strategic reflection on your job, your company, your strategy. go on, click it ).

Venture Capital 400

Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

And she didn’t start her company in Northern California. Tracy built her company, Recycled Media , out of necessity. She drove her company to profitability before paying herself a modest salary. The idea came from having been recently married herself and seeing how expensive it can be to buy a new wedding dress.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

Sometimes those motives are positive (they really want the chance to work with you, they think you have unique skills) and sometimes they are less positive (their first-tier of “go to” referrals passed on the deal, they don’t want to write another check themselves, etc.). I never thought of it that way.”

Venture Capital 337

Venture Capital Invest Ideas Entrepreneur 337

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

In his words, [in some instances] “because lots of capital is available, the company takes on the capital and that ends up resulting in no constraints on decision making and so the company decides to do five things in stead of just one.” You are defined by how you serve the companies that are struggling. Again, Fred.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2021

People cite sources like this Inc.com article “ 5 Reasons Why You Don't Need a Business Plan ,” or my own blog discussion on this subject, “ Situations Where A Business Plan Does Not Add Value.” Pitch your company, not your product. Written business plan. Make yourself unforgettable, in a good way.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Tips Funding Startup 156

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. And if you are – what on earth are you reading such a boring blog as this?!?

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

John Lusk, along with his Co-Author Kyle Harrison, leveraged their humble company''s newsletter into The MouseDriver Chronicles , a New York Times bestselling book. The company''s newsletter was initially created to share their entrepreneurial journey with their family and friends. blogging, in a sense. in September of 1999.

Newsletter 133

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 133

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

companies should… focus on building amazing products. I recently spoke with Brad about his approach to guerilla marketing and how he instills eclectic marketing tactics in Foundry Group’s portfolio companies. Chris is the CEO of Gnip , a Foundry Group portfolio company. If you have $hitty products, the marketing is impossible.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2014

” I have been weighing in slowly on the topic over the past few weeks on Twitter but have avoided writing a blog post about it until now. What if I believed my company was acting illegally or my boss was embezzling money and I wanted to find a group to ask what to do? But more to the point.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Blogging Examples Startup 329

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2021

Getting lots of input on important issues is always a good idea. Every person and every company needs a set of core values. It may be time for you to start your own blog, write a book, or volunteer as a speaker at public events in your domain. Then make the decision your own, before you use it to lead the team.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Course Satisfaction Guide 132

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

In our business lives we’re having to deal with decisions that could have lasting impacts on our companies without any compass to guide us in the direction we’re heading . often with other people sharing our homes who have their own ideas of how to use our collective space and time. What do we eat? Where do we shop? What is safe?

Demand 215

Demand Guide Customer Custom 215

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Brad is also the Co-Founder of TechStars , an acclaimed startup boot camp which has spawned a number of promising companies. Of the 80 companies that have completed the program since its 2007 inception, 49 have received funding, 8 have been acquired and 8 have ceased operations. Writing a book is very different from writing a blog.

Venture Capital 224

Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur Blogging 224

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

When I sit down to write every week I never really imagine what is going to end up resonating the most with people but it seems I’ve most often been defined by my post that I Invest in Lines, not Dots. I became aware of Sam several years ago as I started noticing his name repeated in the comments section of my blog. Clever MoFo.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

socalTECH

APRIL 14, 2011

He was also the founder of Wallstrip, which he sold to CBS back in 2007, is an investor in a significant number of web and social media companies. First of all, what's the idea behind StockTwits, for people who haven't used the service? Through Howards investment in betaworks, he also owns early shares in Twitter. It's fun, I guess.

Ideas 248

Ideas Web Startup Content 248

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2016

I’ve been online for nearly 30 years (yes, there was CompuServe and Prodigy before the www), blogging for 10 and using social media tools since the earliest days. As somebody who invested his time heavily in writing and wanting to share his thoughts through a blog I learned that I had to Tweet a post 3 times to get it read: 5am, 8am and 10pm.

Social Media 240

Social Media Snapchat Media Blogging 240

socalTECH

OCTOBER 31, 2011

One of Urbandig's co-founders, Mike Macadaan -- the former VP of User Experience at MySpace, and creator of the technology conference Twiistup--sat down to talk to us about the company. What's the idea behind Urbandig? When I had this idea in 2004, there was no iPhone, and smart phones didn't play well. That's really empowering.

Guide 203

Guide Software Review Twiistup Technical Review 203

Jason Nazar

MARCH 22, 2011

I recently hosted a panel at the Twiistup Conference about LA tech companies. I have some pretty specific thoughts on the differences between companies in the two cities, as I wrote about in my previous post A Tale of Two Tech Cities. Challenge #1 – Tech Companies are Not Typically Started by Technologists.

Company 111

Company Companies Startup Twiistup 111

SoCal CTO

MARCH 18, 2010

I started out as screenwriter, went into local television, ran ad sales in the west for AOL and joined Facebook in the companies very early days. I also serve as CEO of a small media companies that profile “Tomorrow’s Most Exciting People Today”. I help internet companies make money. I usually.just focus on revenue.

Startup 225

Startup Los Angeles Social Network Twiistup 225

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

Let’s say you have built a SaaS company where a large part of the early revenue comes from a few big customers or a large part of the revenue is services based vs. software based. The investor is a customer and they have money to spend but only for a limited number of companies. Let me give you an example.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 14, 2009

Of course, when I started thinking about Visible Networking , I immediately went to Cliff to check in to see how he's doing and to get his feedback, thoughts and ideas on the concept. I moved into writing software to analyze audience data, and wrote a lot of computer graphics software. Cliff, remind me about your background?

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Networking Marketing Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. Obviously the situation is very different in companies where the company isn’t “killing it.”

Entrepreneur 310

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Writing Invest 310

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. Working at a big company is honorable and I don’t believe the narrative that all of this tech disruption is to kill off big companies. ” **.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2015

I used to love blogging. What I loved about it was that my thoughts were instantly in the ether, I would get quick feedback from readers and I would know where my ideas stood in the world of ideas. Somewhere along the way blogging changed. Or I could just write about life. For me it was always a creative outlet.

Blogging 150

Blogging Writing Startup Ideas 150