Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

There are dozens of sources to help you construct your business model, and a good example is a classic book by venture capital investor Elizabeth Edwards, simply named “ Startup ,” which is really designed as a handbook for launching a company for less. Investors look for a sustainable competitive advantage, like a patent.

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

I like the summary of the competitive reality in a new book, “ Rethinking Competitive Advantage: New Rules for the Digital Age ,” by Ram Charan, who relates a wealth of current experience from global clients: Customers expect a personalized experience. Find funders who seek long-term returns. Money-making is different in the digital age.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

List key competitors and alternatives, highlighting your sustainable competitive advantages, such as patents and trademarks. There are many good books and Internet articles describing each of these sections, so I won’t cover the details here. That means they invest first in a set of plans. Provide details on the business model.

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2017

Helping the founder create a company and build a much-needed product in an industry I knew very well, I served as chairman for the newly formed company, and along with my several rounds of early investment, led rounds of other angel investors in what I knew as a successful opportunity to fill a need in an industry I understood.

Venture Capital 243

Venture Capital Product Resource Marketing 243

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2023

This point was illustrated well in the classic book, “ The Power of Positive Destruction: How to Turn a Business Idea Into a Revolution ,” by Seth Merrin. Professional investors normally like to invest only in billion dollar opportunities, with double-digit growth rates. Is the opportunity large and growing?

Startup 96

Startup Education Ideas Customer 96

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse. Business plans the size of a small book are a big turnoff to investors, and will only serve to make your business seem more complex and more risky.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Startup Statistics Social Media 109

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

As an example of a good resource, I enjoyed the classic book, “ Idea To Invention ,” by Patricia Nolan-Brown, that does a great job on the key steps. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks. Investors learned this a long time ago, so most will tell you that they invest in people, not ideas.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Registered patents and other intellectual property. Many key insights to success in any business can’t be learned from books or the Internet. Since your product or technology may still be in the early stages of development, the investor in actually investing in you, and your previous achievements, as much as your current startup.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

This point was illustrated well in the classic book, “ The Power of Positive Destruction: How to Turn a Business Idea Into a Revolution ,” by Seth Merrin. Professional investors normally like to invest only in billion dollar opportunities, with double-digit growth rates. Is the opportunity large and growing?

Startup 166

Startup Education Ideas Customer 166

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Their primary intended reader is a “first-time entrepreneur”, but clearly other stakeholders within the startup universe can also benefit from the book’s hands-on advice. Examples – The book is filled with text excerpted from actual funding documents, rather than the generic templates usually found in academic textbooks.

Venture Capital 205

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

An excellent example is the initiative by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors a few years ago to give away their battery patents, to infrastructure and competitive car providers, without transactional agreements. Another partnering model example is the IBM Watson Group $1 billion investment to share cloud-based development and super-computing tools.

Startup 124

Startup IBM IBM Examples 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

List key competitors and alternatives, highlighting your sustainable competitive advantages, such as patents and trademarks. There are many good books and Internet articles describing each of these sections, so I won’t cover the details here. That means they invest first in a set of plans. Provide details on the business model.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

Are funds available to invest in student businesses? Ask: How many patents were filed by students and faculty during each of the past five years? How active (and helpful) is the technology transfer office, as measured by the number of patents licensed by alumni and students annually.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Class Patents 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2013

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. It is not helpful to you for funders to love an idea that does not fit the criteria for their investing capability.

Software Review 106

Software Review Funding Startup Seed Funding 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse. Business plans the size of a small book are a big turnoff to investors, and will only serve to make your business seem more complex and more risky.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

Overall I like the principles in the classic book “ Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival ,” by Robert F. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the key to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. Business risks are not just development risks. Value creation.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 30, 2012

Here are five good reasons for setting the strategy early, as summarized by Mark Thompson and Brian Tracy in their recent book “ Now, Build a Great Business! Although their book is written for businesses of all sizes, I believe the principles apply especially to startups as follows: Increase return on equity invested.

Startup 99

Startup Competition IP Patents 99

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2012

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. It is not helpful to you for funders to love an idea that does not fit the criteria for their investing capability.

Seed Funding 100

Seed Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Funding 100

SoCal Delicious

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

The Startup UCLA Accelerator Is About Entrepreneurship Not Investment Returns. StratoSquare – StratoSquare is the world’s simplest web-based investment analysis platform, consolidating multiple portfolios and providing insight into investment performance, risk and behavior through proprietary investment management tools.

UCLA 47

UCLA Invest Startup Class 47

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Let me be quick to say that a plan doesn’t have be a book, and probably should start as a “pitch deck” of maybe a dozen slides which cover all the right bases. For example, “I just patented a new cell-phone technology that will double battery life for half the cost. Project revenues, costs and investment needs.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2011

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. It is not helpful to you for funders to love an idea that does not fit the criteria for their investing capability.

Software Review 98

Software Review Funding Seed Funding Startup 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2014

With the appearance of do-it-yourself services on the Internet, entrepreneur curriculums at every university, and a wealth of new books on the subject, the need for expensive consultants and business advisors has also been mitigated. The same is true for filing patents, registering trademarks, and filing copyrights.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Commerce 104

InfoChachkie

MARCH 1, 2012

Despite the book’s shortcomings, it contains a number of insightful lessons for budding entrepreneurs. Of the 100 business “lessons” articulated in the book, I highlight a few below that I feel are the most relevant and impactful for entrepreneurs. Some of the examples are patently obvious (e.g., (i) Book Verdict.

Tips 259

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Product 259

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

Here are five good reasons for setting the strategy early, as summarized by Mark Thompson and Brian Tracy in their new book “ Now, Build a Great Business! Although their book is written for businesses of all sizes, I believe the principles apply especially to startups as follows: To increase return on equity invested.

Startup 92

Startup Competition IP Patents 92

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2014

This raises a big red flag with potential investors, who conclude that no competitors means no market, or you haven’t looked, and the new startup is likely not investable. Here are some of the key ones: Patent protection in place as a barrier to entry. Clear product differentiation and a singular focus.

Competition 93

Competition Startup Patents Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

Registered patents and other intellectual property. Many key insights to success in any business can’t be learned from books or the Internet. Since your product or technology may still be in the early stages of development, the investor in actually investing in you, and your previous achievements, as much as your current startup.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Angel Social Media Patents 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

According to the Angel Capital Association , at least 300,000 people have made angel investments in the last two years, totaling $24 billion in the U.S. It takes more than one person, no matter how passionate, to grow an investible business. These are all accredited investors who risk their own money.

Angel 65

Angel Startup Technical Review Social Media 65

Berkonomics

MARCH 30, 2010

The company grew to be well known in this limited niche and was operating at slightly above breakeven, when the Board and CEO decided to seek venture investment from what we hoped would be a first tier VC firm in Silicon Valley. And we were able to secure that investment along with a partner from that firm joining our board.

Venture Capital 212

Venture Capital Product Resource Marketing 212

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2010

Yesterday I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. It is not helpful to you for funders to love an idea that does not fit the criteria for their investing capability.

Software Review 95

Software Review Startup Seed Funding Funding 95

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2015

An excellent example is the initiative by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors to give away all their patents, to infrastructure providers and even competitive car makers, without transactional agreements. Another new partnering model is the IBM Watson Group $1 billion investment to share cloud-based development and super-computing tools.

Startup 100

Startup IBM IBM Examples 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

Even if you have an hour booked, the advice is the same. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. What equity is the company willing to give in return for the investment? What is the timeframe of return on investment? I’ve published these points before, but based on interest, it’s time for an update.

Slides 99

Slides Competition Sample Sales 99

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2018

An excellent example is the initiative by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors a few years ago to give away their battery patents, to infrastructure and competitive car providers, without transactional agreements. Another partnering model example is the IBM Watson Group $1 billion investment to share cloud-based development and super-computing tools.

Competition 60

Competition IBM IBM Startup 60

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2014

An excellent example is the initiative by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors to give away all their patents, to infrastructure providers and even competitive car makers, without transactional agreements. Another new partnering model is the IBM Watson Group $1 billion investment to share cloud-based development and super-computing tools.

IBM 100

IBM IBM Startup Examples 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.” The patents Overture held became known in small circles as Google’s ’361 problem as outlined here.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2015

As an example of a good resource, I enjoyed a recent book, “ Idea To Invention ,” by Patricia Nolan-Brown, that does a great job on the key steps. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks. Investors learned this a long time ago, so most will tell you that they invest in people, not ideas.

Ideas 104

Ideas Mentor Resource Entrepreneur 104

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse. Business plans the size of a small book are a big turnoff to investors, and will only serve to make your business seem more complex and more risky.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Statistics 109

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2017

Amazon offers a multitude of books with free ideas, such as “ Small Business Ideas ,” and “ Business Ideas: 100 Starting Points to Make Money.” Nothing defines innovation, uniqueness, and commitment ability like a patent, trade secret, or a trademark. In addition, we all have friends who harbor a few million-dollar ideas.

Ideas 74

Ideas Social Media Startup Customer 74