Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2018

The market is changing so fast these days, and if you are not planning a solution today for tomorrow’s customers, you may be setting yourself up for failure and don’t even realize it. I often hear entrepreneurs who seem to rely wholly on their own passion, and the view of a few friends.

Custom 57

Custom Customer Technical Review Software Review 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2010

At VT KnowledgeWorks we screen prospective clients for their Market opportunity, for the Magic that they offer to their prospective customers, and for the Moxie displayed by the start-up team. There is a growing fellowship of special-case start-up programs operated by closely-knit, permanent groups of angel-mentors.

Incubator 80

Incubator Mentor Capital Startup 80

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. There is nothing more inspiring than seeing the results of your mentoring and leadership. Truly satisfied customers are a joy to every business person.

Startup 160

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 160

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2013

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Give and you will receive.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Social Network 108

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

Every startup mentor has his favorite list of basic strategies to avoid pitfalls, and I’m no exception. Reserve the same names on the leading social networks and blogs. In business, “most important” means time to market, customer service, low cost, and beating your competitors. Create intellectual property. Manage your time.

Mentor 100

Mentor Startup Social Network Patents 100

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2016

The reality television show Shark Tank makes for entertaining content but many of its underlying messages are potentially detrimental to tech entrepreneurs. Thus, emerging entrepreneurs should parse fact from fantasy by watching the show with an experienced business pro. According to David S. Shark Tank Distortions.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Entertainment Technical Review Ideas 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person. In addition, creating a business requires leading and interacting with other people, including partners, investors, and customers. You must also learn from your customers.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

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.

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Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2014

Use social networking and blogging to get your message out. Offer to help a couple of customers free, just to get your act together and your presence known. Also, in most geographies, there are organizations springing up, and university workshops, to mentor people out of work and contemplating a startup. Get business cards made.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Startup Social Network Ideas 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Cultivate existing allies.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Social Network 96

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

Although many are entertaining, most fail to provide entrepreneurs with a sufficient return on their time investment. If you are a leader at a startup and you are reading a business book, you are not closing customers, raising capital, improving your product, or spending time with your loved ones. Ask For Mentoring.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2014

In that sense, you should think of an advisor more like your mentor who has done all he can. The advisor helps the entrepreneur fill an experience gap, and a coach helps fill a skill gap. Most entrepreneurs have lots of ideas. Entrepreneurs tend to be driven by the crisis of the moment. You always need the friend.

Mentor 104

Mentor Coach Tips Entrepreneur 104

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2012

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. There is nothing more inspiring than seeing the results of your mentoring and leadership. Truly satisfied customers are a joy to every business person.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Ideas 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

In addition, like an entrepreneur with a new business, you have to factor in all the indirect costs previously covered by employers, including training, health care, and time off for vacations. In fact, thinking like an entrepreneur is a good strategy today for success, even if you are currently in a long-term employment situation.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2015

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Give and you will receive.

Startup 108

Startup Social Network Mentor Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2017

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Give and you will receive.

Startup 75

Startup Social Network Networking Mentor 75

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. There are lots of resources available for the challenge of that activity, including the Internet and mentors like me. Prepare your marketing story for customers and investors.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

I actually like finding entrepreneurs who are more circumspect, less braggadocios and generally more planned about their actions. Where Stealth is Bad – I do meet entrepreneurs who clearly fall on the other side of spectrum and are totally closed. That’s fine if entrepreneurs are your target market.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2012

Every startup mentor has his favorite list of basic strategies to avoid pitfalls, and I’m no exception. Reserve the same names on the leading social networks and blogs. In business, “most important” means time to market, customer service, low cost, and beating your competitors. Create intellectual property. Manage your time.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Social Network Startup Patents 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2019

In my role as a mentor to many business professionals, I still see some who have no idea how to adapt to the new realities. The simple answer is that we all have to start thinking like entrepreneurs, rather than entitled employees. With one of these, the step into the gig economy will be much less painful.

Artificial Inteligence 96

Artificial Inteligence Startup Social Media Training 96

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Cultivate existing allies.

Entrepreneur 58

Entrepreneur Startup Social Network Mentor 58

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. Mentorship.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2017

They flocked to businesses like Apple, when influencer Steve Jobs was at the helm, and anxiously await the next moves from visible entrepreneurs, including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Customers need to believe that you are one of them. Going out of your way to help a customer or help a good cause pays big dividends these days.

Social Media 58

Social Media Custom Customer Entrepreneur 58

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

It's like WordPress, but instead of blogging, it provides an online community, which is self-hosted. We have about 8500 customers there, but only a small percentage have built great communities that took off, and the rest floundered. We have some great mentors now. SocialEngine is a white-label, community platform.

Startup 242

Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

socalTECH

DECEMBER 10, 2010

It's the source for keeping a pulse on the dynamic world of technology, reaching venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs, CEOs, social media. Funding great entrepreneurs. Custom Insurance Programs for Technology Companies. Helping entrepreneurs succeed. to San Diego. experts, developers, and many, many others.

SoCalTech 127

SoCalTech Advertising Rustic Canyon Glendale 127

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2016

You Need to Find Your Mojo A Chip On Your Shoulder A few years ago I wrote a blog post on entrepreneurs with a chip on their shoulders. A chip on one’s shoulder as in, “F**k the system, it’s broken and I want to fix it” is exactly the energy I look for in entrepreneurs. I think it’s an important read.

Startup 150

Startup Press Entrepreneur Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But a couple of people replied with responses of such lack of comprehension that I thought it was worth expanding on for first-time entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs achieve much through their personal leadership traits that inspire others to do great things with them – sure. Not possible. ” Or there was this one.

Startup 363

Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2014

I’m talking about volunteering to be on industry panels for visibility, participating in startup weekends for education, and talking to groups of distributors or potential customers on technology trends. Your presence in a booth to meet customers and vendors, and availability as a sponsor, will often keep you a step ahead of your competitors.

Startup 100

Startup Tips Mentor Conference 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

A few years ago, before the Internet was pervasive, before everyone carried a smartphone and before do-it-yourself software tools were available for free, it was difficult to reach a critical mass of new customers without spending a million dollars on a website, custom software and television advertising. Both are wrong.

Startup 108

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Outsource Development 108

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

The final clip is Fred & I talking about whether “the best product wins” and my assertion that the bias in today’s Silicon Valley dominated tech world there is probably too much emphasis on tech at the expense of how to sell, implement and service customers. Blogging is like Venus Fly Paper. This is classic Fred.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2012

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Give and you will receive.

Startup 97

Startup Tips Social Network Networking 97

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. The best VCs don’t try to help entrepreneurs. And hard for me to imagine the Fred Wilson and Albert Wenger weren’t instrumental mentors to David.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2013

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. There is nothing more inspiring than seeing the results of your mentoring and leadership. Truly satisfied customers are a joy to every business person.

Startup 100

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 100

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

Tech Coast Venture Network

APRIL 22, 2010

This is where all entrepreneurs have to start. With rare exception, you will need to finance personally (or with friends and family to the point of revenue and/or significant customer pre-order or commitment). Groups like Tech Coast Angels and Octane hold pitch sessions to hear entrepreneurs sell their businesses. SBA Programs.

Startup 124

Startup Tech Coast Angels TCVN Incubator 124

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. Neither is very strategic nor in the best interest of either set of customers that VCs have (portfolio companies & LPs). David is also frequently an inspiration for a story on my blog. Mafias matter a lot to me, as well. Back together.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320