Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2020

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup.

Technical Review 174

Technical Review Startup Invest Patents 174

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

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. A partnership was announced a while back with the City of New York, to connect and grow NYC's startup ecosystem.

IBM 131

IBM IBM Startup Examples 131

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup.

Startup 83

Startup Technical Review Invest Patents 83

socalTECH

JULY 26, 2021

A new, Los Angeles-based startup, SPINN, developing a fully automated, mobile- or voice-controlled coffee maker which grinds beans, heats water, and brews coffee for users, said on Monday that it has raised $20M in a funding round. The funding was led by Spark Capital, and also included Amazon's Alexa Fund, Bar 9 Ventures and others.

Patents 113

Patents Los Angeles Mobile Funding 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2023

Thus, based on my experience as an entrepreneur as well as a startup investor, there are indeed situations where a non-disclosure is highly recommended, and others where the potential good far outweighs the risk. Disclosures relative to patents. Product details in the public domain can never be patented. Sharing trade secrets.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Patents Ideas Sample 101

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 22, 2018

Founded by Steve Poizner last year to accelerate the growth of a startup entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southern California, The Alliance is building a network of investors, entrepreneurs and universities to provide ballast in the south to the dominance of the Northern California tech industry.

Southern California 224

Southern California Dollar Shave Club SoCal Develop 224

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2023

According to an MIT study a while back, only about 10% of patents granted in the United States have any meaningful commercial importance and less than one percent are of seminal importance. Find enough venturesome capital. Building a business from a raw start is hard, risky work. Standing still is tantamount to giving up.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Competition 101

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

As a startup advisor and investor, living in an area with several local universities, I’m continually surprised by how little many entrepreneurs know about the resources available from these institutions. Other project and research reports in their library are a rich source of new ideas, if you are still looking for a place to start.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

According to an MIT study a while back, only about 10% of patents granted in the United States have any meaningful commercial importance and less than one percent are of seminal importance. Find enough venturesome capital. Building a business from a raw start is hard, risky work. Standing still is tantamount to giving up.

Startup 171

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Competition 171

Berkonomics

JULY 18, 2019

There is a major trend shaping up that is worldwide, already identified by hundreds of thousands of startup and small business CEO’s. Patents, branding, marketing and more. Using your scarce capital and other resources. A trend for businesses large and small.

Patents 120

Patents Resource Training Advertising 120

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? Lots of thoughts here. What is Stealth?

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? Lots of thoughts here. What is Stealth?

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 6, 2017

What’s your role in the Coachella Valley area startup ecosystem? What makes the Coachella Valley an ideal place to start a company? Hank: The Coachella Valley has been the ideal location to start our business because it has five separate water agencies serving a population of over 300,000.

Startup 119

Startup Technical Review Patents Services 119

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Yes, there were other issues such as a protracted patent rights fight that drained cash, but the largest problem, inefficient use of R&D time burning fixed overhead, led to the demise of the company.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Product Marketing Resource 296

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. It is to out friend. Enjoyed this post? Disruptive. We get it! I Be specific. Tesla is not.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 6, 2017

What’s your role in the Coachella Valley area startup ecosystem? What makes the Coachella Valley an ideal place to start a company? Hank: The Coachella Valley has been the ideal location to start our business because it has five separate water agencies serving a population of over 300,000.

Startup 105

Startup Technical Review Patents Services 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2010

I was on This Week in Venture Capital (TWiVC) again this week with Jason Calacanis. plus a large settlement on patent disputes paid from Google) so Bill did well on it. So when Google started pushing AdSense (ads for affiliate or 3rd party sites) they had a HUGE cost advantage. Overture sold for $1.6 billion to Yahoo!

Venture Capital 271

Venture Capital Capital Google Platform 271

socalTECH

DECEMBER 13, 2018

Venice, California-based startup Vyng , which develops software which turns calls from friends into cute "video ringtones" that show up on your lock screen when a friend calls, has raised $4M in a funding round, the company said on Thursday. Paul Kats is the CEO and co-founder of Vyng. READ MORE>>.

Venice 133

Venice Screening Patents Software 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, living in an area with several local universities, I’m continually surprised by how little many entrepreneurs know about the resources available from these institutions. Other project and research reports in their library are a rich source of new ideas, if you are still looking for a place to start.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

As a startup advisor and investor, living in an area with several local universities, I’m continually surprised by how little many entrepreneurs know about the resources available from these institutions. Other project and research reports in their library are a rich source of new ideas, if you are still looking for a place to start.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

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. A partnership was announced last year with the City of New York, to connect and grow NYC's startup ecosystem.

Startup 100

Startup IBM IBM Examples 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 17, 2019

The program is open to entrepreneurs that are starting companies in areas that are likely to draw venture capital investment. Saturday, June 22, 2019 -- LAVA First Time Entrepreneur Workshop. LAVA is extremely pleased to announce its next First Time Entrepreneur training program. The program is not open to service providers.

LAVA 100

LAVA Entrepreneur Screening Patents 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Even bigger is the desire to stick one’s middle finger up at all of the people who doubted you all along. And not enough capital embracing these moonshots. We checked patents. She has never given up despite setbacks. What about competing patents. It can be one of the strongest motivators. Working on it.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 16, 2017

At the workshop you will learn how to: Determine the value of your company, put together a capitalization table, understand how VCs screen potential investments, understand the differences between trademarks, copyrights and patents and when you need them, work with co-founders, and network at startup events -- the right way.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur LAVA Screening Patents 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

As an angel investor, I see plenty of startups focusing on building an innovative product, but I’m looking for the few who are also leading with an exponential growth strategy, to put them in the category of the next Amazon or Google. These can easily start new trends, or capitalize on existing ones.

Marketing 170

Marketing Startup Examples Custom 170

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

Indio, California-based Helicoid Idustries , a startup developing advanced composite materials for use in the wind turbine, aerospace, sporting goods, auto parts, defense, and industrial market, has raised $2.4M--the first part of what looks like an ongoing $5M investment round. Helicoid is a spinout of the University of California Riverside.

Riverside 124

Riverside SoCalTech Patents Invest 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 30, 2023

It may not be as sexy, but starting a new business which builds on an existing technology or business model is usually less risky than introducing that ultimate new disruptive technology. Many of the major business successes started this way. Many of the major business successes started this way.

Social Media 92

Social Media Study Research Satisfaction 92

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2013

According to a recent MIT study , only about 10% of patents granted in the United States have any meaningful commercial importance and less than one percent are of seminal importance. Find enough venturesome capital. The objective must be to get sufficient capital, with experienced and motivated counsel, to make the venture succeed.

Startup 105

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Competition 105

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2018

It may not be as sexy, but starting a new business which builds on an existing technology or business model is usually less risky than introducing that ultimate new disruptive technology. Many of the major business successes started this way. Many of the major business successes started this way.

Startup 65

Startup Social Media Study Research 65

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2016

As an entrepreneur looking for professional investors, one of the quickest ways to lose credibility and get rejected is to start with a ridiculously high pre-money valuation. Patents filed, even provisional, as well as trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets count as barriers to entry and sustainable competitive advantages.

Startup 71

Startup Patents Invest Blogging 71

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2013

a crowd-powered platform that gives accredited investors access to exclusive deal flow and technology transfer opportunities has launched in beta its crowd-powered portal for startups, JumpStartFund. Members submit ideas and patents, the JumpStartFund community members and the JumpStartFund team vets them. Social capital rewarded.

El Segundo 76

El Segundo Social Network Startup Patents 76

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

This is part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital. My advice with Elephants was that you need to take them head on in your first VC meeting because the VC is already thinking about the issue whether you bring it up or not. Why shouldn’t you tell them up front? I don’t think so.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Examples 311

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2022

In my experience as an angel investor to startups, goodwill disagreements are perhaps the most common reason that you will fail to close interested investors as an entrepreneur. To maximize this value, start now in taking a visible and active role in your industry and community. Proprietary technology with a high barrier to entry.

Technical Review 147

Technical Review Social Media Entrepreneur Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Target market. Sales/Marketing.

Sales 102

Sales Custom Customer Outsource 102