Tech Coast Venture Network

MARCH 9, 2011

Investors and entrepreneurs who won at the fundraising game during and after the Great Recession offer advice on landing equity money. After years of cloudy skies in Startupland, the sun is peeking out, and investors are tipping their toes back into the wading pool. Meet angels via the entrepreneurs they’ve funded.

Tips 100

Tips Capital Tech Coast Angels Screening 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2021

Some aspiring entrepreneurs are so desperate for funding, or naïve, that they ignore the obvious signs of scams and rip-offs on the Internet, praying for a windfall. No real investor or venture capital firm asks for money from the company they are intending to invest in. Off-shore unsolicited investor offers. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 148

Technical Review Tips Funding Startup 148

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

Most entrepreneurs I meet are reluctant to disclose anything about their idea to investors before getting a signed confidential disclosure agreement (CDA). Yet I can assure you that people who are paranoid, or want to avoid all risks, won’t be happy as entrepreneurs, so it’s all about balancing the risk-reward scale.

Ideas 159

Ideas Tips Technical Review Patents 159

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2016

Some people even believe that entrepreneurs must be born with the right genes, and no element of education is relevant. In my view, the most effective entrepreneurs are those with a background of an array of real-life experiences, both positive and negative, as well as good academic and coaching activities.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Tips Writing Coach 98

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2022

During my many years of mentoring professionals and entrepreneurs in business, I more often see people focusing on how to get their ideas heard , than how to promote themselves. Capitalize on your strengths, and focus on a niche. Your first priority should always be to sell yourself. You have to respect others to get respect.

Tips 121

Tips Social Media Mentor Technical Review 121

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2020

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. This early in the game, any coverage and peer review is better than just being another unknown entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs who wait to be found are destined to spend a lot of time alone. Capitalize on yourself early.

Ideas 124

Ideas Tips Marketing Social Media 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

There are about 80 million of them, and nearly two-thirds of them are already in the work place as entrepreneurs or with jobs. Resources abound on the web to help Gen-Y business owners learn from others and become long-lasting entrepreneurs. Don’t let the lack of experience bring you down. Lighten your load with technology.

Tips 93

Tips Entrepreneur Startup Tool 93

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps. In reality, the financing valley of death tests the commitment, determination, and problem solving ability of every entrepreneur. Are you ready to start? Marty Zwilling.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2020

The military has long recognized that machine guns are force multipliers for rifles, but businesses have been slow to capitalize on this concept. Of course, it can also be a negative force multiplier, if you are not paying attention as an entrepreneur, or choose to challenge your customer’s view of reality.

Tips 124

Tips Social Media Software Review Course 124

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 23, 2012

Ignorance is not bliss in business, but it does allow entrepreneurs to face the unknown with a measure of confidence. No 19-year old understands business at the level of a seasoned, serial entrepreneur. However, it is important for young entrepreneurs to be adequately self-aware to know what they do not know.

Startup 268

Startup Tips CTO Coach Technical Review 268

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 30, 2012

For many entrepreneurs, college has little appeal. Academia's arbitrary, bureaucratic structure, combined with its predominant focus on theoretical issues, causes many entrepreneurs to depart college early. Curiosity is a common trait among serial entrepreneurs. Honesty is a core competency of most successful entrepreneurs.

Tips 247

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 247

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 21, 2010

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 -- Attracting Angel Capital: Tips from Frontline Experts. In the current economic and venture capital climate, angel investment is one of the most critical sources of start-up capital. Angel networks such are the source of the majority of this funding. See [link] (more).

Capital 100

Capital Angel Startup Tips 100

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.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2019

As a partially-retired baby-boomer in business, I’ve spent much of the last few years mentoring aspiring millennial entrepreneurs, and I’m always looking for more insights into how to help them. Build more determination by capitalizing on values.

Tips 127

Tips Mentor Coach Guide 127

InfoChachkie

MAY 6, 2013

The nasty and brutish deaths of the unfortunate turtles are disquieting , but the process ensures that the survivors are (on average) strong, healthy and able to capitalize on the ecosystem''s resources. There is a similar Darwinian aspect to venture capital investing.

Entrepreneur 246

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Capital 246

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She hasn’t raised any venture capital. She actually IS the prototypical entrepreneur. But Tracy did what entrepreneurs do. Tracy studied SEOMoz and several other online sources of SEO tips. Sam is the managing director of Launchpad LA and we were about to pick our 2012 class of entrepreneurs.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 31, 2011

Richard’s Startup Tips. Virgin executives describe the company as a “branded venture capital company.” Even more striking is that this super-salesman is a self-taught, high school dropout. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. free weekly Infochachkie articles! Tweet this quote].

Tips 264

Tips Startup Guide Media 264

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

I became quite good friends with a journalist at the Financial Times and eventually helped her as she wrote a book on the venture capital industry. If any journalists read this please feel free to add extra tips or disagree with anything I’ve said. It started socially.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 4, 2009

Many entrepreneurs who start technology companies are product people, technologists or savvy business people who worked previously for a larger company. Most start-up entrepreneurs have little or no sales experience. This is the easiest one for most entrepreneurs. But most good entrepreneurs do this naturally.

Sales 319

Sales Startup Platform Tips 319

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 28, 2019

In this presentation, Benjamin Kuo, Founder and Editor of socaltech.com, Southern California's leading online resource for information on startups, venture capital, and the technology industry all across Southern California, talks about some hints and tips on pitching to investors. What works? What doesn't? See [link] (more)

Ventura 100

Ventura Southern California Startup Tips 100

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 21, 2018

Phoenix communities are celebrating because JPMorgan Chase has made several local charitable investments to support underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses with the goal of creating jobs and spark a growing economy. Supporting underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses helps revitalize communities and creates jobs,” Tripp said.

Invest 70

Invest Entrepreneur News Tips 70

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2012

Are you an entrepreneur looking for funding or to help get your business started? Santa Monica-based Docstoc has a new iPhone app for you, focused entirely on how to raise venture capital and get a business started. The new app features videos, culled from Docstoc's website, of experts giving hints and tips on the process.

Santa Monica 183

Santa Monica Venture Capital Tips Guide 183

Jason Nazar

APRIL 2, 2016

The following checklist is my comprehensive criteria for how to grade entrepreneurs. I, like many entrepreneurs, never followed directions that well. At least 20% of their time goes towards recruiting top talent (tip: some say 50% via Vinod Khosla ). Fundraising / Capital. Are honest and ethical in all their dealings.

Entrepreneur 46

Entrepreneur Tips Organization Sales 46

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2018

Knowing all too well how hard it is to start a single new business, I’ve always wondered how several well-known entrepreneurs, including Richard Branson and Elon Musk , have managed to successfully lead dozens of startups to success, and thrive on the process. Serial entrepreneurs embrace the risk, gather the relevant facts, and move forward.

Tips 54

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Mentor 54

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2012

The average entrepreneur is not the one who dumped a promising career, sketched his idea on the back of a napkin, and accepted millions from an investor to make billions of his own. Born to be an entrepreneur may not be enough today. Dropping out of school is not recommended. First-timers usually fund their own venture.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Tips Education Ideas 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2019

Most people agree that leadership is primarily a set of behaviors that capitalize on relationships and a current market and customer understanding in a complex world. It’s not about a title, raw intelligence, or domination.

Tips 97

Tips Mentor Coach Metrics 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2019

The reality is that the business world is becoming more a global space, so all of us have to learn to understand and capitalize on people of different generations, cultures, points of view, and priorities. Never try to change people – capitalize on their strengths. One of these without the other is a recipe for disaster.

Tips 97

Tips Technical Review Examples Coach 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2017

Entrepreneurs are now measured against the “triple bottom line” (TBL or 3BL) of people, planet, and profit. How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Many young entrepreneurs seem to think that capitalism and making profit are dirty words.

Tips 55

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Examples 55

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Shawn Kent Hayashi, in her recent book “ Conversations That Get Results and Inspire Collaboration ” makes my point very well as she outlines the top twelve types of conversations that relate to working together in business, and provides tips on how to make each of them more effective for all concerned: Conversation for connection.

Capital 101

Capital Startup Tips Guide 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Social media is so pervasive in today’s world that every entrepreneur believes instinctively that they know how to use it for their startup. Startups are in an ideal position to capitalize on the fundamental shift in power to the customer, who now has real control over your brand message. Marty Zwilling.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Startup Tips 108

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2013

That’s why Angel investors are so sought after by entrepreneurs. Here are some tips and rules of thumb to improve your odds and help you understand when a bank loan or line of credit is possible, and how to get it: Write a good business plan first. entrepreneur startup investor funding bank loan business' Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Sites 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. I’ve been to similar events with First Round Capital and True Ventures. Entrepreneurs always walk away with new relationships, knowledge, deal discussions and enthusiasm.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2023

That’s why angel and equity investors are so sought after by entrepreneurs. Here are some tips and rules of thumb to improve your odds and help you understand when a bank loan or line of credit is possible, and how to get it: Write a good business plan first. Marty Zwilling<

Startup 117

Startup Equity Sites Funding 117

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2011

One of the biggest myths I still see in the community of new entrepreneurs is the assumption that “All I need is a good idea, and some investor will give me the big money I need to build the business.” Starting your business with a very low investment is called “bootstrapping,” and these entrepreneurs usually have the most fun.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Examples Equity 93

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2011

For true entrepreneurs, risk is viewed as a positive, with its implied challenge to overcome the unknown and hitting the big return. One way to learn is to understand better how successful entrepreneurs approach risk, and look at actual strategies they use for success. Exploit your competitor’s weakness and make it your strength.

Tips 89

Tips Entrepreneur Advertising Social Media 89

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2023

I found some excellent guidance on picking the right people, and fixing yourself, in a new book, “ Burn the Boats ,” by serial entrepreneur Matt Higgins. Matt is a recurring guest shark on TV’s Shark Tank for entrepreneurs, as well as a lecturer at the Harvard Business School.

Tips 89

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Course 89

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2010

In reality, he is also a serial entrepreneur, inventor, and international speaker. Marty: Tell us a little bit about your entrée into the world of entrepreneurs and some of your companies. Lon: Being an entrepreneur is my real passion. I have always been an entrepreneur. But I love being an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur 83

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Patents 83