Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. Working on it. And being ambitious.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

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. How complex is the capitalization table? Think twice before you jump in. Are any lawsuits and challenges to intellectual property pending?

Startup 83

Startup Technical Review Invest Patents 83

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

Patents held by startups generally have a limited ability to reduce competition. The average time required to obtain a patent is 36-to-40 months, during which there is no guarantee your adVenture will ultimately receive patent protection. Even if you are granted a patent, the scope of your claims may be significantly denuded.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

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. How complex is the capitalization table? due diligence employees investors startup' Think twice before you jump in.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Invest Startup Patents 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2015

Professional investors and advisors, on the other hand, usually refuse to sign these agreements today due to the risk of litigation and administrative workload, and will walk away. If you are approaching a recognized venture capital group, or even an accredited angel investor, a non-disclosure agreement is counter-productive.

Ideas 106

Ideas Technical Review Patents Entrepreneur 106

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2017

They seem shocked to learn that most professional investors and advisors, myself included, routinely decline such requests, due to costly litigation and administrative nightmares. Get an NDA before detailed patent disclosures. Some entrepreneurs avoid the patent process, since patent details become public once a patent is issued.

Technical Review 61

Technical Review Patents Ideas Social Media 61

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

A few months ago we saw a CEO present who had personally made hundreds of millions of dollars in a financial services business and had a plan to capitalize on the current market conditions. We were super excited by their offering – they had patented technology in a field that we believe will continue to grow massively.

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Funding 284

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

This is part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital. They are issues, though, that your VC would certainly find out during due diligence or at a minimum you’d be ethically obliged to tell them. A company has just filed suit against you for product patent infringement (obviously more serious).

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Examples 311

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2011

The $30 billion trade surplus in advanced technology products that America enjoyed just one decade ago has now become a $56 billion deficit. In addition, due to Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulations, accounting costs have gone up an estimated four times for all businesses, and 2008-2009 represented the worst IPO market in forty years.

Help 92

Help Technical Review Patents Startup 92

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Too Techie - Tone down emphasis on the technology underlying your venture; an interested investor will perform tech diligence at the appropriate time. Jeff Carmody, Co-Founder of Agility Capital and a successful institutional investor, provided me with the outline shown below. Patents and Trademarks. Competition.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

In my role as a Professor of Practice within UC Santa Barbara’s entrepreneurial Technology Management Program (TMP), I have worked with approximately 8,000 students over a ten year period. Note: due to the founders’ relative lack of experience, most student enterprises do not qualify for venture capital.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Class Patents 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2013

Convincingly presents a patent, trademark, or other “secret sauce” that can create equity value, not just current cash flow for the owners. Allows sufficient time to find capital, including due diligence time for investors. The technology or product may be at an embryonic stage. Values intellectual property.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Course Patents 109

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2012

Convincingly presents a patent, trademark, or other “secret sauce” that can create equity value, not just current cash flow for the owners. Allows sufficient time to find capital, including due diligence time for investors. The technology or product may be at an embryonic stage. Values intellectual property.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Technical Review Course Patents 117

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

The firm recently raised a $15M series C funding, and we caught up with Kevin to learn more about why its customers, and investors, are interested in its technology. We have created a wireless technology and solution, end-to-end, that allows you to cost effectively connect devices that can be very, very remote.

Technical Review 213

Technical Review Software Review Networking Technology 213

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

The rise of crowd funding saw the first wave of founders gleeful that they could raise capital without having to deal with terrible VCs. Those seldom get reported. I think we’re far enough into this trend to see that having strong board members — including VCs — is a healthy alternative to party-rounds of crowd funding with no oversight.

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 6, 2017

In this article #StartupsEverywhere , I talked with Joe Wallace, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, and Hank McCarrick, CEO and founder of Seco Sys about sustainability, emerging eco tech, and challenges in the ecosystem. Joe Wallace, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer at CVEP.

Startup 107

Startup Technical Review Patents Services 107

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 6, 2017

In this article #StartupsEverywhere , I talked with Joe Wallace, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, and Hank McCarrick, CEO and founder of Seco Sys about sustainability, emerging eco tech, and challenges in the ecosystem. Joe Wallace, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer at CVEP.

Startup 121

Startup Technical Review Patents Services 121

socalTECH

MAY 14, 2010

Clearly, 2009 was not a good year, from the perspective of the technology innovation ecosystem. Technology and innovation has historically been the thing that has pulled the economy out of recessions, and I think that is especially true right now. For OCTANe to be successful, we want to see our technology ecosystem grow.

OCTANE 174

OCTANE Orange County Technical Review Southern California 174

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

I understand this instinct for more capital and I have two very different personal experiences: In my first company we raised an A-round of $16.5 Because investors need to imagine making a minimum of 10x their invested capital and early-stage investors are shooting for even higher multiples. I have this “How much should I raise?”

Startup 292

Startup Software Review Pricing Entrepreneur 292

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Convincingly presents a patent, trademark, or other “secret sauce” that can create equity value, not just current cash flow for the owners. Allows sufficient time to find capital, including due diligence time for investors. The technology or product may be at an embryonic stage. Values intellectual property.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Angel Technical Review Course 96

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. A business needs technical, marketing, financial and many other skills. These are all accredited investors who risk their own money.

Angel 65

Angel Startup Technical Review Social Media 65

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

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. How complex is the capitalization table? Think twice before you jump in. Are any lawsuits and challenges to intellectual property pending?

Startup 57

Startup Technical Review Invest Patents 57

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 4, 2014

It’s almost been a work week since Techzulu and Gadget Review’s REACH | The Connected Future and we’re still reeling with excitement. Sandra Itkoff – Entrepeneur in Residence, UCLA Institute for Innovation and Technology Transfer. Technology Drives Carbon Reduction. Cleantech, a Misnomer.

UCLA 99

UCLA Technical Review Software Review Incubator 99

socalTECH

JUNE 23, 2009

Semiconductor startups seem to be quite rare in today's environment, with few companies being funded or launched, due both to the difficulty of bringing products to market, lack of investment capital, as well as lots of established, large companies in the industry. For starters, let's talk about your technology.

Patents 100

Patents Sample Technical Review Pricing 100

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2010

Earlier this month, Azusa-based CFX Battery , a stealthy battery technology spinout from Caltech, announced it had raised a new round of funding worth $14.2M. This week, the firm announced that it was renaming itself Contour Energy (www.contourenergy.com)--and said it was ready to talk about what its battery technology is all about.

CalTech 168

CalTech Technical Review Azusa Venture Capital 168

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

Within the venture community, the first rule to remember is that opportunities abound these days, due to the increasing pace of technology evolution, and the scope and creativity of the global community. The same hold true for venture capital investors. But patents and other intellectual property only go so far.

Invest 107

Invest Startup Venture Capital Ideas 107

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 3rd Brad Feld wrote a one paragraph blog post titled “ Raising Venture Capital &# in which he linked to my blog. The Original Post (after the jump): Venture Capital, By Mark Suster (December 2nd, 2006). I don’t plan to write the authoritative venture capital blog, just some anecdotes. Thus is venture capital.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2012

While attracting capital may have been important, Rob & Lance believe it is the right capital that will enable the ZunguZ platform to grow into the defacto social payment platform that will disrupt the disconnected closed loop providers. We believe we have a disruptive technology that is the next big thing.

Software Review 92

Software Review Social Network Platform Technical Review 92

InfoChachkie

MAY 9, 2011

BDCs often ask to “private label” or “white label” a smaller company’s technology. This generally involves the BDC selling the startup’s technology under the BDC’s brand. Do not allow your adVenture’s technology to be buried in the bowels of another company’s product, without reasonable attribution. Do Not Give up Branding.

Outsource Development 170

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Press Technical Review 170

InfoChachkie

MAY 9, 2011

BDCs often ask to “private label” or “white label” a smaller company’s technology. This generally involves the BDC selling the startup’s technology under the BDC’s brand. Do not allow your adVenture’s technology to be buried in the bowels of another company’s product, without reasonable attribution. Do Not Give up Branding.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Press Technical Review 124

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? the Rubicon Project (Internet Advertising Technology) Status: Pre-Launch Visit the Rubicon Project Website Startup 5.0: StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

10 Ways To Be Your Own Boss - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , June 18, 2010 The folks at Behance and Cool Hunting asked me to talk at their 99% Conference a couple months ago. Just because a product has a patent, deep complexity and an obvious competitive advantage does not mean that it can fly by itself into the market.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175