TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. The vast majority of those are nowhere up to modern codes.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

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. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. If electricity could be transferred like WiFi but as safe as a soundwave we use on pregnant women’s bellies and at a price-point that was attractive this is a multi-billion market.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

I recently wrote a blog post in which I pointed out that many investors & advisors discourage enterprise startups from having a professional services (PS) business and I think this is a big mistake. I think it’s important for enterprise startups to layer in professional services into your revenue stream. rollout support.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software Services Company 321

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 23, 2021

Gates’ call is being met by startups and public companies hailing from everywhere from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv, London to Los Angeles, and Berkeley to… um… Chicago. Meatable has a long road ahead of it, because, as Gates acknowledged in his interview with MIT Technology Review (ed.

Chief Technology Officer 261

Chief Technology Officer Technical Review Software Review Product 261

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. Starting with a positive. I had dinner this week with a top new customer at one of our enterprise software investments. ” I can’t make this stuff up.

Customer 341

Customer Custom Venture Capital Software Review 341

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. So if you’re able to raise easily no problem.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. Trying outrageous new things or even trying mundane things but in new ways but with extreme quality & innovation is what fuels the tech startup industry. But today I want to give you advice on how to decrease your odds of failure in a startup.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

It is also a result of pent-up demand. So we loaded up on flat screen TVs, multiple generations of iPods and trips to Hawaii. When the market run started in March people were relieved that “the world wasn’t ending” so they started spending again. In the following post I argue that this increased pace may be temporary.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

socalTECH

MARCH 13, 2014

Brighter.com , the online marketplace for dentists which is looking to bring upfront pricing to the dental market, said Thursday that it has expanded beyond Los Angeles and into Orange County. Brighter''s tools include dentist reviews; upfront cost estimates; and scheduling and appointment handling software for the dentists themselves.

Orange County 138

Orange County Software Review Los Angeles Pricing 138

InfoChachkie

MAY 18, 2015

When joining a startup, there are seven important questions you should ask in order to answer the question: “What the heck are my stock options worth?”. You just received a job offer from a startup which includes 50,000 stock options. 2. What is the company’s total capitalization? That is wonderful…or is it?

Startup 100

Startup Software Review Pricing Capital 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

We caught up with Bong to hear more about his new startup. From the ground up, we're focused on both social and fun, and our brand attributes are aspirational, cultured, and fun. We want to create the right mix of the types of activities, price points, and make sure we have high quality content and high quality activities.

Startup 271

Startup CTO Coach Activity Software Review 271

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

There is much talk these days that startup valuations have decreased and may continue to do so and that the amount of time it takes to fund raise may take longer. The earlier the round, the less capital you need and the more reasonable your valuation the less time that is needed generally to raise capital.

Startup 150

Startup Capital Funding Invest 150

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

For today's interview, we spoke with Dat Do , the founder and CEO of Derivitas (www.derivatas.com), a new startup in Los Angeles looking to address some of the financial issues that CFOs of privately held firms have to deal with. Why did you decide to start your own company? Who would be purchasing the software? How to price it.

Software Review 193

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Software 193

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

One is the “denominator problem&# which says that if an LP invests X% (the denominator) into “alternative investments&# such as venture capital and if their total amount available to invest (the numerator) goes down by 30% then the amount they allocate to VC will by definition need to go down by 30% to stay the same percentage.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

As a business advisor, I have to recommend even to established companies that they review and revamp their competitive strategy now, even if it appears to be working today. Features, availability, and brand are just the price of entry. Thus it’s more important than ever that you keep up with the latest trends and rules.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Startup 123

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Startup 53

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 53

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Article first published as Why Selling To The Government Can Downgrade Your Startup on Technorati. Now, more than ever, government agencies in the US and abroad are lousy startup customers. Some startups opt to partner with larger companies which have pre-established relationships with government customers.

Startup 207

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 207

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

The process for retailers and brands to liquidate excess inventory hasn’t changed very much, if at all, and while some retailers were able to build operational infrastructure to service the off-price channels, it continues to be a constant pain point. Naturally, they started in apparel but are also seeing opportunity in beauty and home goods.

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

Our interview today is with Andrew Schydlowsky , the CEO and founder of Santa Barbara-based TrackStreet (www.trackstreet.com), a startup which is backed by Okapi Capital, The Cove Fund, Early Light Ventures, SaaS Venture Capital, and Stage Venture Partners. It allows us to start peeling the onion. What is TrackStreet?

Artificial Inteligence 140

Artificial Inteligence Startup Commerce Sales 140

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. How did Revolution Prep start? We started in 2000. I had worked as a tutor for Princeton Review, and Jake for Kaplan. We started that in 2002, and it's actually our eight year anniversary, on the 20th of September.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

People get too worked up over the word. But that doesn’t mean that people are paying rational prices as investors based on intrinsic value. Rational people can disagree and some may argue that today’s prices are rational and under-pinned by economic drivers. If you are interested the Vimeo is here. That’s fine.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series of posts and I need to file this one under both Raising Venture Capital and Startup Advice. Many of these businesses were what First Round Capital called FNACs (features, not companies – this acronym has always stuck with me). That died with waterfall software development.

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

What is it about the content delivery network market which has enabled Santa Monica-based EdgeCast to go from startup to over $100M in revenues in only a few, short years? We caught up with James Segil , the firm's President, to hear the story behind that big growth at the company. We've grown really fast. company.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. Good idea & plan: You must start with a good idea and a PowerPoint deck (my outline is here , scroll down mid way).

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

The startup, led by co-founder and CEO Gabriel Halimi , is backed by Crosslink Capital, Anthemis Group, an affiliate of USAA, and such angels as Jamie Siminoff (of Ring fame) and Jason Nazar (who founded Docstoc). We caught up with Gabriel to learn more about the company. How did you start the company?

Technical Review 113

Technical Review Technology Startup Artificial Inteligence 113

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 9, 2014

Perhaps it’s time to raise a round of Venture Capital funding and want a pitch presentation a bit more composed than the dusty Keynote you put together last year for your friends and family round. Due Diligence. Raj was the business guy, but my background was in tech and startups. Marketing & Branding.

Outsource Development 105

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review Outsource 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2018

Most of you new venture founders I meet as an angel investor seem convinced that starting the business is the hardest part. I’m sure you can all think of several examples of businesses that popped up quickly, with great business models, but then faded just as quickly. Examples would include Pets.com, Webvan, and Blockbuster.

Examples 67

Examples Customer Custom Software Review 67