Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2013

I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your offering, 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. Cultivate early customers.

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

<== Our conclusion was that this isn’t a temporary blip that will swiftly trend-back up in a V-shaped recovery of valuations but rather represented a new normal on how the market will price these companies somewhat permanently. First in late-stage tech companies and then it will filter back to Growth and then A and ultimately Seed Rounds.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

I plan to write about it early next year when we’re all through. He shut down his company gracefully and even thought it must have felt like a crap sandwich doing so I’ll bet his reputation is still solid with his backers. Early on in my first company I had an employee ask if it was a good time to buy a home.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

When I first started writing this blog several years ago I had less followers than you have right now. But the realist in me knew I couldn’t write daily nor could I convince you to think to check out my blog with regularity. .” In Gabe’s post he explained why TechMeme was having editors write headlines.

Writing 326

Writing Buzzfeed Social Media Blogging 326

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Let’s set up a framework.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

InfoChachkie

MARCH 8, 2011

I write a bit more about how entrepreneurs can protect their ideas here: Spilling The Beans. Analogy – As readers of this blog know, I enjoy drawing connections between seemingly disparate people, historical events and pop culture minutia because it is entertaining and can facilitate learning. Timing and luck also play a role.

Writing 150

Writing Social Network Ideas Entrepreneur 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” I wrote about this in a blog post last year titled “ It’s Morning in VC ” but I never made the full deck available until now.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your offering, even before you have it, is a most cost effective approach in time and money. So finding time is hard, and good writing is simply not what most people do. More and more, employees work for people they respect, rather than companies.

Blogging 93

Blogging Invest Startup Writing 93

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. But succinctly this press places a marker in the ground for your company.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

socalTECH

DECEMBER 1, 2014

The company--led by UCLA Anderson grad Sunil Rajaraman--had originally raised funding from such local LA investors as Jody Mulkey (Shopzilla), Paige Craig, Keith Richman, and actor/director/writer Edward Burns. The company is now in San Francisco. scripted scripped writing marketplace content writers venture capital funding ucla'

UCLA 124

UCLA Claremont Redpoint USC 124

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

The company will award a $1500, $1000, and $500 scholarship to students who are in high school, undergraduate school and graduate school, and are open to students of all majors and academic disciplines. Wpromote is led by CEO Mike Mothner. READ MORE>>.

Marketing 100

Marketing Blogging Writing Los Angeles 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent. But some CEOs then try to have more junior people in the company take the interview. That’s why keeping a personal blog is so great.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2013

On my most important ones I spend as much time figuring out what to cut out as I do putting into the writing of it. Many people write email without a “call to action” or reason they’re writing the email. Write to one person at a time. This is critical and was the reason I sat down to write this post.

Email 415

Email Writing Software Review Startup 415

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 26, 2020

500 Startups is scrapping its cohort model for accelerating companies and moving to a rolling admissions process, the accelerator said during its latest demo day. One of the progenitors of the accelerator model in the US along with Techstars and Y Combinator , 500 has been a cornerstone of the early-stage company building platform.

Startup 177

Startup Los Angeles Invest Platform 177

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2013

What I love about writing is that you inadvertently say what many others are thinking and just knowing that somebody else is thinking something similar can be reassuring. Example: Fred Wilson writing his end of 2012 post wrote. “I’ve wanted to write a year end post for days. And your favorite bloggers stop writing.

Writing 313

Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. Be accessible on social media, write a blog or articles for industry publications, and participate in conference panels and speaking engagements. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 22, 2007 Discussion Creation Among Bloggers - LinkedIn, Blogging and Discussion Groups Ive been participating in a Yahoo Group that are users of LinkedIn and who are Bloggers: [link] Its an interesting group of folks from diverse backgrounds. See Five Things Meme as an example.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

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

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

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

MARCH 2, 2011

It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. If I check Twitter it’s usually because I’m waiting for a meeting to start and I never write posts during the day. By having 5 or 6 blog posts with different points of view they could draw more inferences.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2022

Most business advisors I know will say that writing a business plan is the first step to starting your own business, but I believe that a better first step is to do a self-analysis of your real drivers, strengths, and assumptions before committing to this lifestyle. You can’t really succeed in life if you are not happy.

Social Media 105

Social Media Writing Ideas Resource 105

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. Be accessible on social media, write a blog or articles for industry publications, and participate in conference panels and speaking engagements. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 10, 2012

On his first day of work my wife was kind enough to write down words of wisdom from her years on the job. I don’t write about Tania very often – mostly at her request. She’s worked for L’Oreal, Accenture, Virgin Mobile & BSkyB (one of the leading media companies in the UK). Hope you enjoy. **.

Writing 414

Writing Mentor Blogging Tips 414

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). In a startup this is a mistake.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2012

I’ll write up some thoughts in a blog post format soon. I’ve been spending time looking at marketing conversion metrics at portfolio companies lately. I recently spoke at the Blue Glass conference on the topic of marketing.

Conference 297

Conference Marketing Metrics Writing 297

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 11, 2010

I haven’t written a blog post in a week. And for the last few evenings I decided to get through email rather than blog. It was interesting for me to read Fred Wilson’s email bankruptcy blog post this morning. And when I have time I try to write back. But what has really killed me is email.

Email 265

Email Startup Writing Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

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. I started by writing 3-4 times / week. Building a blog & name recognition is only one small, small part of my job. And let’s be honest.

Startup 391

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Writing 391

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 11, 2011

I recently had the pleasure of spending an hour with Jon Steinberg, president of Buzzfeed , a company who focuses on helping media companies make their content go viral. I’ll write a post on how to give feedback to employees and then I’ll get emails from people telling me they forwarded it to their whole team.

Buzzfeed 354

Buzzfeed Content Tips Blogging 354

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2023

If you can’t write it down, you probably don’t understand it. Writing, audios, and videos are all great ways to do this, since these all facilitate the one-to-many multiplier. Some people learn best from conferences, while other learn best from blogs and other information online. Provide a unique point of view.

Social Media 94

Social Media Media Ideas Writing 94

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

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

I don’t run one of the world’s largest companies but I can tell you for free that even I get some crazy physical mails because knowing one’s corporate address is quite easy. I know it may feel this way since I’m writing this tongue in cheek. By the way, I don’t spell check my blog posts either. I’m not an elitist a **e.

Email 250

Email Writing Conference Mobile 250

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

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. She put all of her savings into her company. So Tracy began keeping a blog about … (what else?)

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363