Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2013

Many entrepreneurs I know don’t realize that the language they learned in the corporate world, or even their recent MBA class, won’t get them ahead in the startup world today. As a reality check, try this quick test of your entrepreneur savvy. As a reality check, try this quick test of your entrepreneur savvy. Super-angels.

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Startup Web Equity 109

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

The best entrepreneurs in our industry focus on it year-round as opposed to just once every 18 months. 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. Let me give you an example.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2013

If you are in this category, first know that you are not alone, but then you need to take a look at the advice given by Patricia Sigmon in her book “ Six Steps to Creating Profit: A Guide for Small and Mid-Sized Service-Based Businesses.” Reward employees who make an extra effort to represent the company inside and outside of work.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Sales 93

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. I was thinking back to a few previous “insider baseball&# blog debates that raged for several weeks: AngelGate (aka Bin38 secret cabal), convertible debt vs. equity, bubble vs. not, and now the AngelList discussion.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2012

Most entrepreneurs I know admit to a poor first media interaction, and many are still waiting for the instant replay. He provides 101 two-page lessons divided into eight learning categories as follows: Learn the ground rules for traditional media. People judge you and your company in the first few seconds.

Training 93

Training Media Entrepreneur Social Media 93

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 23, 2019

However, the adjective “electric” was eventually dropped when all the devices in a product category utilized the technology. Even Salesforce abandoned it’s silly “No Software” tagline, after the company had to explain in 2015 that it meant, “No legacy software, just cloud software.”. ASP To SaaS To Software.

SaaS 113

SaaS Software Artificial Inteligence ASP 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2012

Customers buy from people, not from a company, at least at the startup stages. Then do the same to brand your company. Dominate the category (even if you have to create a new one). Being a brand entrepreneur, both for you personally as well as your business, requires learning, and is an ever-changing art without easy formulas.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Startup Customer Custom 98

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

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?!? To put things into perspective, the company has 7.7 More on that later.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2020

This week, Los Angeles-based Crosscut Ventures announced a brand new effort to provide health and wellness to the founders of companies it invests in, helping those founders with well being, mental health, stress management, coaching, and leadership development. It's a comprehensive bucket. That's the framework we've build with Evolution.

Invest 113

Invest Framework Coach Startup 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). I hustled.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Brad on blogging. How did you start blogging? “My My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. was starting.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

*. If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. Jeff and his peer group have done an excellent job at creating a new category of seed-stage VC. It is, of course, a very recent phenomenon.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Invest Cloud Computing 150

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

First it was street-style photography, then came the launch of her popular fashion blog WeWoreWhat. A company like Moe will help legitimize the industry,” Bernstein tells TechCrunch. “I Founders and investors circling the space suspect a wave of Silicon Valley interest is coming, however, and that it will alter the category entirely.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). I hustled.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. It’s why opt-in marketing databases can be so incredibly valuable for companies like Gilt Groupe, One King’s Lane and AdoreMe. Much more data in the full post. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

Many firms do it in a way that can be more detrimental to entrepreneurs. If you don’t understand the concept of “signaling&# please read the blog post I wrote on Understanding VC signaling. I’ve done 4 seed investments in the past year and they are 100% referenceable. million is “follow on&# seed investment.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

So I ask you – if you’re being reactive to somebody else’s emails are you really being as productive in your company as you could be? You’re writing a freaking blog post! I do what I wish all entrepreneurs would do. I try to bucket my tasks into major categories and spend some time doing each of them.

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. We are experiencing a frenetic time. My general advice is to do less.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2015

Entrepreneurs and startups often ask if they should select only social media for marketing, or stick with digital media, or just count on traditional media. According to a recent article in Entrepreneur , 94% of small and medium businesses (SMBs) now use social media as a marketing tool, and 81% use it to drive growth.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Marketing Resource 108

socalTECH

JANUARY 9, 2014

The company recently raised a $750,000 seed round of funding. We spoke to CEO Brian Nickerson --an Internet veteran with time at Yahoo and Internet Brands--about the company and its goals. All of them offer the same kind of coupon information for a store or category, but many of those sites that show up have very poor results.

Internet Brands 257

Internet Brands Content Startup Sites 257

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.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2014

Customers buy from people, not from a company, at least at early startup stages. Next, do the same to brand your company. Dominate the category (even if you have to create a new one). An entrepreneur these days can’t afford to hide behind an impersonal website or hole up in the corner office.

Startup 98

Startup Tips Customer Custom 98

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

where entrepreneurs share their stories. 63 Los Angeles Entrepreneurs To Be Proud Of By mario on May 2, 2012 in Features , grid. Free Corporations For First-Time Entrepreneurs. Right now they’re setting up 500 free corporations for first time entrepreneurs. Here are 62 63 Los Angeles entrepreneurs we can be proud of.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. I explain in the video what happened in my first company (e.g. Minutes 11-16 in the video. <<

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2013

Entrepreneurs and startups often ask if they should use social media for marketing, digital media, or traditional media. The place to start today is if your company only uses traditional media for marketing, or no marketing. The place to start today is if your company only uses traditional media for marketing, or no marketing.

Social Media 103

Social Media Media Marketing Startup 103

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2013

Companies like DogVacay solve a real need in the market. I told her the story of Aaron, the company, the reviews, etc. It’s true that I’m not an investor in DogVacay but I am a huge fan of the CEO, Aaron Hirshhorn and of the company and concept. I said, “This category is going to be huge.

Venture Capital 344

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review San Diego 344

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

I know that would be surprising to many readers since keeping a blog somehow convinces people that I’m a time management or productivity ninja. I wrote out 3 pages of bullet point notes on paper and delivered a 20-minute speech to a crowd of entrepreneurs (which included the Minister of Technology for China). I’m not.

Slides 374

Slides Email Entrepreneur Startup 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2013

Customers buy from people, not from a company, at least at the startup stages. Then do the same to brand your company. Dominate the category (even if you have to create a new one). Being a brand entrepreneur, both for you personally as well as your business, requires learning, and is an ever-changing art without easy formulas.

Startup 109

Startup Customer Custom Ideas 109

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. In many of them I get asked similar questions, including the inevitable “what makes a great entrepreneur?” You could just outspend. You Can’t Sign This Deal.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2010

Matt Edelman: The last company I ran and co-founded PeopleJam, which was a social media business for people interested in self improvement. Matt Edelman: Before I started, the company had acquired a company called StyleHive, which also owns MyStyleDiary. Those, ultimately, still drive the creation of content across the category.

Newsletter 165

Newsletter Sites Content Advertising 165

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Most entrepreneurs I know admit to a poor first media interaction, and many are still waiting for the instant replay. He provides 101 two-page lessons divided into eight learning categories that I like as follows: Learn the ground rules for traditional media. People judge you and your company in the first few seconds.

Press 105

Press Social Media Startup Training 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2017

Most entrepreneurs I know admit to a poor first media interaction, and many are still waiting for the instant replay. He provides 101 two-page lessons divided into eight learning categories that I like as follows: Learn the ground rules for traditional media. People judge you and your company in the first few seconds.

Media 55

Media Social Media Startup Training 55

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

This is the fourth article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). But consider periods of time where the average time a company exists before acquisition or IPO is 7-10 years. Easier to start companies, yes. Companies ultimately go through multiple rounds.

Invest 283

Invest Angel Startup Marketing 283

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). Many people start companies arse backwards. This is one of the biggest source of future problems for the company. the link is here.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2017

Entrepreneurs and startups often ask if they should select only social media for marketing, or stick with digital media, or just count on traditional media. Don’t try to tackle all 20 major categories of digital social media at once. None should be considered competitive mutually exclusive to any other.

Media 59

Media Marketing Social Media Resource 59

Tech Coast Venture Network

AUGUST 11, 2015

The teen, we will call him Billy for this blog, often raided the oyster beds South of Oakland. The difference between a successful lifestyle business (small business) and category killer is size. True entrepreneurs will crawl naked over broken glass to launch their dream. Crash and burn is a way of life for true entrepreneurs.

Startup 100

Startup Blogging Activity Entrepreneur 100

Tech Coast Venture Network

AUGUST 11, 2015

The teen, we will call him Billy for this blog, often raided the oyster beds South of Oakland. The difference between a successful lifestyle business (small business) and category killer is size. True entrepreneurs will crawl naked over broken glass to launch their dream. Crash and burn is a way of life for true entrepreneurs.

Startup 100

Startup Blogging Activity Entrepreneur 100