Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2019

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. Conscious Capitalism , a popular business movement which includes a large focus on culture and ethics, claims returns 10 times higher than the S&P 500. Marty Zwilling.

Software Review 77

Software Review Summary Examples Offshore 77

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 18, 2022

The alternative protein space is hot, hot, hot as evidenced by both the number of companies developing products and the venture capital going into the space. The latest company to attract venture capital is Nowadays , a company founded in San Francisco in 2020 as a Public Benefit Corporation by Max Elder and Dominik Grabinski.

Software Review 187

Software Review Metrics Startup Technical Review 187

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

Are there any technology innovations, gadgets, devices, software, that you found most interesting in 2018? I continue to be intensely interested in the growing integration of AI across multiple products and industries, from simple applications on up to highly sophisticated software and services.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

help you integrate your product with other systems making it harder for your product to be replaced by competitors. deliver profitable revenue that while on gross margins of 50% vs. software at 85-95% it is still profits to help you cover fixed costs. Only Work on Projects That Support Your Core Product Effort.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software Services Company 321

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Companies that have leveraged technology to make the procurement and delivery of food more accessible to more people have been seeing a big surge of business this year, as millions of consumers are encouraged (or outright mandated, due to Covid-19) to socially distance or want to avoid the crowds of physical shopping and eating excursions.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

Fast forward to almost exactly one year later, and a lot has changed for the payments and software startup. With the new capital, SpotOn has raised $628 million since its inception. But the company says its offering extends beyond traditional payment processing and point-of-sale software.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Software Review Invest Acquisition 296

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. From these meetings you can really tell the leaders that care deeply about their customers and those the look down on them. We were talking about raising money from LPs.

Customer 341

Customer Custom Venture Capital Software Review 341

InfoChachkie

JUNE 30, 2014

Entrepreneur and noted investor Brad Feld unwittingly echoed Franks approach to marketing when, during a discussion with me , he declared, " …companies should… focus on building amazing products. If you have amazing products, the marketing of those products is trivial. Don’t tell me what you are, just be it and show me.”.

Marketing 193

Marketing Software Review Product Social Media 193

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2022

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. Conscious Capitalism , a popular business movement with a focus on culture and ethics, claimed a few years ago returns 10 times higher than the S&P 500. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 116

Entrepreneur Software Review Summary Examples 116

TechCrunch LA

MAY 20, 2021

Stella Wu, who formerly worked as a growth product manager at Wish, got firsthand experience of the pain points related to the process when she bought her own house in 2017. “I As more people spent time at home last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup saw its contract revenue spike by 5x, Wu says. trillion-dollar industry.

Technical Review 185

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Software Review 185

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2017

Just over a year ago I wrote about how MakeSpace had raised $17.5 million in capital to build out its operations in 4 cities: New York City , Los Angeles , Chicago and Washington D.C. years of software development. If you have a storage need in one of these cities please consider checking out MakeSpace.

Technical Review 268

Technical Review Funding Software Review Artificial Inteligence 268

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2013

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. Conscious Capitalism , a new business movement which includes a large focus on culture and ethics, claims 3.2 Unethical behavior in business is just due to a few ‘bad apples.’

Software Review 100

Software Review Summary Examples Offshore 100

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 29, 2020

Kleiner Perkins , one of the most storied franchises in venture capital, has already invested much of the $600 million it raised last year and is now going back out to the market to raise its 19th fund, according to multiple sources. Mamoon Hamid is heading from Social Capital to Kleiner Perkins. Kleiner Perkins partner Ilya Fushman.

IBM 164

IBM IBM Venture Capital Invest 164

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. As a simple example, the Wal-Mart website now shows shoppers more products that they may like, based on previous purchases.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 29, 2011

This concentration is partly due to natural causes – successful startups spawn other successful startups. I guess no one told him about the medical startups that were purchased by Medtronic, Linvatec, Storz, Mentor, etc., However, a review of historical data confirms that this trend remains consistent, even in boom times.

Venture Capital 233

Venture Capital Capital Funding Technical Review 233

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2021

Many aspiring entrepreneurs are looking to the Internet as an opportunity to get rich quick, instead of a place where you can start a business you love, for very little capital and minimal technical expertise. See what other people are offering, and think about a niche where you could be unique, and have some fun at the same time.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Case Study Software Review Startup 124

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

For today's interview, we sat down and talked with Mike Whitmire , the CEO and Co-founder of Los Angeles-based FloQast (www.floqast.com), a developer of financial close management software for enterprise accounting. Mike tells us about the company, who uses its software, as well as how he was initially turned away from the Amplify.LA

Startup 124

Startup Cornerstone OnDemand Software Review Woodland Hills 124

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. What is TrackStreet? It allows us to start peeling the onion.

Artificial Inteligence 140

Artificial Inteligence Startup Commerce Sales 140

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 I was always fond of saying about fund raising, “When the hor d’oeuvres tray is passed take two and put one in your pocket for later. I have this “How much should I raise?”

Startup 292

Startup Software Review Pricing Entrepreneur 292

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2013

It’s a great one about entrepreneurship, friendship and the collaborative economy that is helping families in need across the world. I had known about DogVacay since its inception. ” I wrote about this movement in the link to the left and also published this widely read presentation on the topic. That’s a fact.

Venture Capital 344

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review San Diego 344

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Southern California's technology community--despite all of the recent excitement around Silicon Beach--continues to be underserved in terms of capital, with a lack of venture capital funds (with money), and other private technology investors. Jeb Spencer: We consider ourselves a private equity firm.

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Danielle goes through some commentary from Bill Gurley, Fred Wilson and Marc Andreessen about burn rate and then goes on to discuss her own burn rate and others publicly weigh in. There are many times when being overly capitalized before you’re ready is a negative. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company?

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

We caught up with Ken Button , the co-founder and CEO of the company, to learn more about why the startup already has signed up such customers as California Pizza Kitchen, Obvious Ventures, Fandango, Greenspire, and others to the service. We have been around software for a long time. We've been really happy with the product itself.

Doc 100

Doc Software Review Help Startup 100

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. People mistook extra doses of Ajax for a successful product. Many of these businesses were what First Round Capital called FNACs (features, not companies – this acronym has always stuck with me).

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

But for the group of people who are always talking about doing it but never do, this sole act of being willing to jump ship separates “wantrepreneurs” from entrepreneurs. They are driven more by the journey than they are about the destination. They have a can-do attitude that is infectious. I’d love even 0.5%

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 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. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I’ve written a few posts about boards recently as part of a series on the subject. I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. Reviewing financial & operational performance.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2013

We caught up with CEO Simon Anderson to learn more about the big debt funding round and how it came about, the complexities of providing founder liquidity in a bootstrapped company--and how the company is looking to use those funds to take the company to the next level. We''ve also managed to grow quite nicely.

Software Review 238

Software Review Cloud Computing Technical Review Platform 238

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

An alternate outcome that I also unfortunately observe in some cases are companies who had extreme early success with an initial product adoption but failed in key areas that limited the growth and therefore the ultimate financial outcomes. How profitable is my product or service? As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. This overview (executive summary) needs to include: Product and Business What is the product? How does the product solve a pain?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. This overview (executive summary) needs to include: Product and Business What is the product? How does the product solve a pain?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. A deep dive into the Foundry Group investment philosophy including an interesting discussion of their investing Themes. “… our lens is: Internet Software Companies anywhere in the U.S. was starting.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

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. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

Maxwell Wessel, in a classic article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5 Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. The list goes on and on.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

We caught up with Ryan (who calls himself an "anti-VC") to hear more about his investment firm, which has invested in such companies as Heal , Elite Daily , Saucey , and FragMob. We want to have startups we can get productive or generating revenue pretty quickly. It's all about leverage. I'm a bit of an anti-VC, as you know.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2018

com) recently , announced a new healthcare focused venture capital fund, worth $25M. We caught up with one of the co-founders, Jay Goss, about what the new investment fund is looking for in a startup, and the types of investments it makes. First, tell us about the fund and what you are looking to invest in?

Startup 113

Startup Technical Review Software Review Artificial Inteligence 113

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