Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2010

Blogging has come a long way in the past few years, from a social release for narcissists, to today’s required vehicle for promoting your business and gaining valuable online exposure, ultimately bringing in more customers. Here are some tips I’ve gleaned from experience: Make your blog your website. Anchor blog in your domain name.

Blogging 48

Blogging Search Engine Optimization Startup Writing 48

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

Sometimes there is no other option – I get that. But less as a complaint and more as advice to younger networkers, the more you invest in relationships the more you will get when you need. Brunson’s short and to-the-point blog post, “ It’s Called Networking, Not Using.” ” Be authentic.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Tech.Co

OCTOBER 28, 2020

The new team-up has a lot of moving parts: Shopify even termed it a “first-of-its-kind” partnership in its announcement blog post. They'll also need to invest time and money into iterating their campaign approach until they figure out what works. But the first step is making sure that Shopify is your best option.

Help 149

Help Platform Startup Social Media 149

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2012

Investors tell me that they invest in people, more than the idea. Keep everyone focused on one key objective and three measurable key results, so “business as usual” is not an option. 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

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. on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price. This is wrong.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Many (Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, True Ventures, GRP Partners, Mike Hirshland at Polaris Ventures) do it the right way – we treat it as a normal investment and we don’t have a “options&# strategy with our investment.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

Seth Levine of Foundry Group addresses this important topic this morning on his blog with a post, “ Has Convertible Debt Won ?&# Every investment so far in this YC batch (and there have been a lot) has been done on a convertible note.&#. Clearly this is is a trend and a topic that is interesting entrepreneurs.

Equity 319

Equity Pricing Venture Capital Entrepreneur 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. I know many super experienced entrepreneurs who don’t understand the basics of how fund size and age can affect them so I thought it was worth establishing a baseline.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2009

Yesterday I wrote a blog post ( here ) in which I urged people to not have too many founders. I have even invested in companies like this. They agreed to let the VC’s decide once an investment comes in. But I still think it’s right for many a founder / entrepreneur. That’s great. They each own 33%.

Startup 251

Startup Equity Venture Capital Entrepreneur 251

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 ). Forget to get around to setting up that Employee Stock Option Plan and want to be able to give the early guys their options at a low strike price?

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2018

As a long-time advisor to aspiring entrepreneurs, and a technology fan myself, I still meet dozens of techies with great solutions who assume they don’t need marketing to change the world. Every entrepreneur needs to realize that marketing is now key to success on every new venture, no matter how compelling the technology.

Marketing 97

Marketing Startup Examples Technology 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2010

With approximately $60 billion in startup funding coming from friends and family, entrepreneurs must consider this as an option as they seek to launch new businesses. Just because you are requesting investment from your mom or a group of your college buddies doesn’t give you an excuse to be unprofessional. Have a game plan.

Funding 90

Funding Startup Blogging Invest 90

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

Since I answer this all the time anyway I thought it might make an interesting blog post. I get paid (well) for interesting people to come in and tell me how they want to change the world – Being an entrepreneur is like having blinders on. At least for the best entrepreneurs. That’s true. Here’s why: 1.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

I personally had three separate data points from entrepreneurs who took money from the firm that said “never again.&# I really try to stay out of the middle of these things so I softly said to the team, “maybe you should contact these companies and see how their experience went? But what about once you have a term sheet?

Venture Capital 298

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Capital Help 298

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

I grew to appreciate this approach much more when I interviewed a popular serial entrepreneur, Rich Christiansen a while back, who has done almost 30 businesses wholly by bootstrapping. All you need is a blog, Twitter, email, some business card stock, and a little creativity. Don’t think about the exit. Marty Zwilling.

Organization 111

Organization Startup Summary Entrepreneur 111

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

It’s a new age for aspiring entrepreneurs, where anyone with a dream or a hobby should be turning it into a business. Too many entrepreneurs still think plans are for investors, and investors are required to build a startup. All costs are month to month, with scaling options to match the size of your business. Both are wrong.

Startup 108

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Outsource Development 108

Tech Coast Venture Network

APRIL 22, 2010

Virgina Lorimor There are several options for financing a start-up business that tend to follow a natural course in a business’ development: Personal Investment. This is where all entrepreneurs have to start. Groups like Tech Coast Angels and Octane hold pitch sessions to hear entrepreneurs sell their businesses.

Startup 124

Startup Tech Coast Angels TCVN Incubator 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2015

They advocate investing in their new framework, where the Z.E.R.O. This includes your website, blog, and presence on social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, and many more. Accountability is not optional, as it’s still important to have something to show for your efforts quickly.

Marketing 100

Marketing Social Media Framework Media 100

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. He’d wasted a year of his life and had a pile of stock options that weren’t very interesting. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. friend of mine asked me to chat with a startup he’d invested in.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2014

Investors tell me that they invest in people more than the idea. Keep everyone focused on one key objective and three measurable key results, so “business as usual” is not an option. 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 98

Startup Tips Customer Custom 98

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2010

An entrepreneur recently sent me an @ reply message on Twitter asking for some help with a decision coming up in his business. But many well intentioned entrepreneurs are sloppy about how they ask so I’d like to give you some guidelines to help. Links are fine but make them option. I don’t mind.

Help 332

Help Email Mentor Blogging 332

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2013

They advocate investing in their new framework, where the Z.E.R.O. This includes your website, blog, and presence on social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, and many more. Accountability is not optional, as it’s still important to have something to show for your efforts quickly.

Media 101

Media Marketing Startup Framework 101

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. It takes options off of the table.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2019

The best entrepreneurs and business owners have experienced failure multiple times before bouncing back to a level of achievement they only dreamed of. According to the well-known motivational speaker and writer Steve Harvey , Warren Buffett said that he would not invest in any business where the owner hasn’t failed at least twice.

Guide 70

Guide Examples Ideas Blogging 70

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2013

Investors tell me that they invest in people, more than the idea. Keep everyone focused on one key objective and three measurable key results, so “business as usual” is not an option. 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

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2012

You're a dog owner, and when you travel you have two options. That's option one. Option two, is you can ask friends or family members to pet sit. Dog owners can browse through the site, and find the best options for their pet. We want them to have multiple options and choices.

Technical Review 164

Technical Review Startup Sites Malibu 164

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

I like to say to first-time entrepreneurs, picking a VC is more permanent than marriage. Keeping a blog has been great because so many entrepreneurs have written me with questions about their companies and I’ve gotten to know many of you personally through the process. I guarantee this is a bad VC. Let me explain.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 297

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

They describe the company as the eHarmony of careers, clothes, jobs, college, tutoring services, doctors, service companies, investments, etc. That said, I will admit that there have been a few ingenious entrepreneurs who had a matching algorithm that had mystery and no data yet appeared to be fairly valid and valuable.

eHarmony 196

eHarmony Startup Research Ideas 196

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2012

You're a dog owner, and when you travel you have two options. That's option one. Option two, is you can ask friends or family members to pet sit. Dog owners can browse through the site, and find the best options for their pet. We want them to have multiple options and choices.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Startup Sites Malibu 160

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. otherwise I prefer to invest less and risk less). In a world where the economy only heads in one direction (read: 2009-2014) most investors & entrepreneurs forget to pay attention to gross burn. Profitability.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

In most cases if you can’t get a prototype done you’re probably not an entrepreneur. Market validation – This one is optional but important. Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

My mom was an entrepreneur – she was kind of my inspiration for entrepreneurship. And no one could see me as anything but a startup guy, so I started a second company and called myself a serial entrepreneur. Then everyone just started calling me a serial entrepreneur. So it’s something to be mindful of, how lucky we are.

Startup 337

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Venture Capital 337

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2013

A few years ago I interviewed a serial entrepreneur, Rich Christiansen , who has done almost 30 businesses wholly by bootstrapping. All you need is a blog, Twitter, email, some business card stock, and a little creativity. Isn’t this contrary to why you signed up to be an entrepreneur in the first place? Marty Zwilling.

Equity 96

Equity Startup Summary Tips 96

socalTECH

MARCH 29, 2012

Matt MacNaughton: We hadn't decided if we wanted to raise a Series A, but we were approached by Sara Weinheimer of Golden Seeds, who was really interested in what we were doing, and talked to us about her group, Golden Seeds is focused on companies where there is a female co-founding entrepreneur. What plans do you have for that new funding?

Social Media 217

Social Media Startup Platform Media 217

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Last year I interviewed a serial entrepreneur, Rich Christiansen , who has done almost 30 businesses wholly by bootstrapping. All you need is a blog, Twitter, email, some business card stock, and a little creativity. Isn’t this contrary to why you signed up to be an entrepreneur in the first place? Don’t think about the exit.

Tips 96

Tips Startup Summary Entrepreneur 96

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 28, 2007

My only minor complaint is that it doesnt have a menu option to disconnect the phone from the data connection. Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller SEO for Startups Startup Version 1.0 It includes traffic! This is something that Ive wanted on my wifes GPS for a while. If you havent checked it out, its pretty amazing.

Google 150

Google Mobile CTO Coach Southern California 150

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 9, 2012

Upstart approaches risk capital differently, investing in youth as they wait to fuel the next generation of entrepreneurs our economy so desperately needs with their future earnings as security not the project or idea or firm as they chase their dream career in whichever field they want. Upstart received a $ 1.75

Startup 61

Startup Google Mentor Capital 61