Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Whether the partner is a supplier looking to gain a lock on your business as it grows or a customer looking to create a competitive barrier through use of your product, such an investment typically carries fewer restrictions than from a professional investor and less oversight. It’s an option, even though an expensive one.

Venture Capital 266

Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2019

In an age of ever increasing marketing spend to attract customers, how do you make sure you aren't spending more acquiring a company than they are worth? Los Angeles-based Retina is using machine learning and artificial intelligence to figure out customer lifetime value (CLV) for such businesses as Dollar Shave Club. What is Retina Go?

Dollar Shave Club 113

Dollar Shave Club Artificial Inteligence Customer Custom 113

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2021

They are always overlapping, so in essence, we have a freshman and senior class, so teams can collaborate, and get the benefit of the peers before them. Dave Eastman: For one thing, although we're not completely unique in this, is we don't take equity. What we do, is regional customer discovery for teams, typically academic.

Marina Del Rey 150

Marina Del Rey Startup USC Incubator 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Of course, that means a mindset willing to give up much more equity, and taking on a whole new level of risk. Bring in an experienced Board and world-class leaders. Of course, customer relationships, and penetration into new market segments are also critical elements. Isolate marketing from sales for maximum customer focus.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

If this is your first foray into the entrepreneurial arena, with no track record in business or technology, your best and perhaps only supporters will be that class of investors known in the trade as friends, family and fools (FFF). The technology is now embodied in a solution that can be replicated to reliably solve a real customer problem.

Resource 102

Resource Ideas Funding Research 102

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

As you may have seen on the Shark Tank TV show, offering a tiny equity amount for a large investment will not endear you to investors. They need to believe your valuation, based on current revenue and intellectual property, and feel the equity offered gives them a real return for the risk.

Ideas 140

Ideas Entrepreneur Equity Resource 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested.

Startup 148

Startup Ideas Equity Invest 148

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

If this is your first foray into the entrepreneurial arena, with no track record in business or technology, your best and perhaps only supporters will be that class of investors known in the trade as friends, family and fools (FFF). The technology is now embodied in a solution that can be replicated to reliably solve a real customer problem.

Help 165

Help Research Startup Funding 165

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 18, 2022

Crypto lending protocol Celsius isn’t fire burning, but it did freeze all customer withdrawals this past weekend , citing concerns about its own liquidity amid “extreme market conditions.” I don’t even think digital assets [are] an asset class. I think it’s a technology that is now wrapping all asset classes,” Dorman said.

Newsletter 278

Newsletter Platform Capital Marketing 278

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Every investor in your startup, even friends and family, normally expects a share of your company (equity), which means your return for all your effort goes down quickly. This is at least double the time required for most equity investments, and may be a delay you can’t afford in keeping up with the market and your competitors.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

socalTECH

JULY 5, 2017

I moved down here to work as a large, $10 billion private equity fund with Ron Burkle, at Yucaipa Companies. The last piece, was we figured that we could disintermediate a broken, retail channel, by creating a customized, sophisticated, Web 2.0 As an investor, what made you decide to go from private equity to an operational role?

Web 2.0 100

Web 2.0 Equity Legalzoom Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

How do you get access to customers? 15:00 Hire somebody who will punch above their weight class. brains vs. relationship? how can you evaluate a good sales person? how do you know one when you see them? How much to compensate them? how to structure the comp plan. getting past the assistant. when to call. how to handle intros.

Software Review 300

Software Review Sales Tips Help 300

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Online or evening entrepreneurship classes for anyone. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

InfoChachkie

APRIL 24, 2012

Kim Kovaks, Founder and CEO OptionEase , recently spoke to a class of emerging entrepreneurs at UC Santa Barbara. With over 700 customers, OptionEase has become the leading enterprise class SaaS solution for stock option and equity compensation tracking and compliance.

Startup 258

Startup Santa Barbara Entrepreneur Class 258

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested.

Startup 73

Startup Ideas Equity Invest 73

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

Many of the growth equity firms have had outbound dialing programs for years. Growth equity firms typically target profitable businesses that are often not technical in nature. Perhaps outbound dialing / emailing programs worked well for growth equity firms in their core business. These kind of companies were seldom startups.

Venture Capital 294

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Sales people aren’t always motivated only by cash – especially in early-stage business you need to focus on equity because cash won’t be plentiful. I wrote separately about that here – regarding “hiring people who punch above their weight class.” As you grow you need process-driven people.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 20, 2009

But I’m also sending this to a couple of class-action lawyers. Trilegiant Corporation , (who is owned by Avis Budget Group (yes, that Avis & Budget), in turn owned by the private equity group Apollo Management ) does business as PrivacyGuard and has engaged in the most unethical of business practices I have come across in years.

Marketing 263

Marketing Startup Education Class 263

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts. Ask for short conference calls.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested.

Startup 67

Startup Ideas Equity Invest 67

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

Whether the partner is a supplier looking to gain a lock on your business as it grows or a customer looking to create a competitive barrier through use of your product, such an investment typically carries fewer restrictions than from a professional investor and less oversight.

Venture Capital 174

Venture Capital Invest Class Entrepreneur 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested.

Startup 93

Startup Funding Venture Capital Ideas 93

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Craig Harris, Co-Founder and CEO of HG Data , knows first-hand that it is possible to recruit top talent, without the benefit of a lot of cash or equity. They realized that HP’s employees and customers would both benefit from an organization in which responsibility was delegated as close to the customer as possible.

Startup 233

Startup Organization Education Equity 233

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2015

If this is your first foray into the entrepreneurial arena, with no track record in business or technology, your best and perhaps only supporters will be that class of investors known in the trade as friends, family and fools (FFF). The technology is now embodied in a solution that can be replicated to reliably solve a real customer problem.

Develop 102

Develop Development Product Funding 102

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Use voicemail, a world-class website, and personal customer service, with small expenses, to beat your big competitors. Act big, behave small. Do it yourself.

Organization 111

Organization Startup Summary Entrepreneur 111

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2016

An LLC will work just fine for this, but if you know enough to anticipate more than 100 investors or special classes of stock, I recommend incorporating as a Delaware or Nevada C-Corp or S-Corp. Co-founder and equity negotiations work best if you own all the equity. Founder’s stock may be taxed at time of incorporation.

Company 61

Company Companies Startup Equity 61

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2013

Many entrepreneurs I know don’t realize that the language they learned in the corporate world, or even their recent MBA class, won’t get them ahead in the startup world today. See how many you have personally experienced already, or are currently mentioned in your business plan: Crowd-sourcing equity. Startup pivot.

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Startup Web Equity 109

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 22, 2013

The partnership will deliver high class military-grade security options for firms dealing in sensitive business and financial transactions in the cloud. CapLinked’s enterprise customers will also have the option to leverage Quipa’s innovative data-in-transit security technology for transferring files in and out of the cloud.

Yammer 72

Yammer Journal Networking Software 72

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

The best MBA class I took was an investment strategy class. Despite my cynicism of MBA’s , this class was very valuable to me. This came in part due to the huge influx of money into VC but also because hedge funds and private equity shops with no VC experience wanted part of the action. The deal was done in late 2007.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Solution and benefits. Focus is the keyword here.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Solution and benefits. Focus is the keyword here.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Tech.Co

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Jennifer: I am a corporate attorney who has spent that past 13 years working with entrepreneurs, venture firms, private equity firms, and high-growth, privately held companies to make acquisitions, grow their businesses and complete successful exits. We have a top-tier engineering school and many other feeder universities.

Startup 70

Startup Platform CIO Entrepreneur 70

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I believe a bubble occurs when a market is willing to pay greater than intrinsic value for an asset class. That asset class need not represent the broader market. They are often bound by geographies and asset classes. customers who paid for services often get burned. And well they should be. And so on down then line.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

SoCal Delicious

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Participating companies get between $4,000 and $8,000 in addition to mentorship and office space while participating in the 12 week program, and have to give up zero equity in exchange. Being in its inaugural class, Startup UCLA is still sorting through its own identity and business model issues. George Thiruvathukal.

UCLA 47

UCLA Invest Startup Class 47

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Use voicemail, a world-class website, and personal customer service, with small expenses, to beat your big competitors. Act big, behave small. Do it yourself.

Tips 96

Tips Startup Summary Entrepreneur 96

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Solution and benefits. Focus is the keyword here.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

socalTECH

APRIL 20, 2010

If you about it, their customers have begun opening up their purses, which have been kind of tied up in the last 18-24 months, they haven't been investing in new technology or products, and equities are getting more expensive. The founders ran them, with the founder's ideas, but we supported them and took them to customers.

Clearstone 140

Clearstone Idealab Incubator Invest 140