Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have enough resources to bootstrap our own startups, so we are completely dependent on investors to help turn great ideas into great businesses. Investors love entrepreneurs who come across as constantly on the lookout for new ideas, and able to grasp the larger implications for market change.

Ideas 140

Ideas Entrepreneur Equity Resource 140

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

A major chunk of this activity is provided by the newer class of “super angels,” who often look more like micro-VCs, except that they are investing their own money. Individual angel investors and crowdfunding have been adding to the momentum, some say exceeding VCs in total amount invested.

Guide 136

Guide Venture Capital Funding Class 136

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2021

The ultimate compliment that any entrepreneur can get is that they can “see around corners.” Great entrepreneurs seem to all exhibit a common set of attributes which go well beyond the basic skills required to be an entrepreneur: “Larger than life” personality and presence. Believe there is no such thing as a crazy idea.

Marketing 157

Marketing Design Entrepreneur Ideas 157

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

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). They call first investments at this stage the “A-round,” and often follow with a B-round through G-round.

Funding 125

Funding Startup Ideas Equity 125

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2013

Despite a growing technology industry here in Southern California, local investors and entrepreneurs tell us there''s still a shortage of local, venture capital. Explain what kinds of investments TenOneTen makes or hopes to make? David Waxman: We''ve been making investments since the beginning of the year.

Invest 159

Invest Technology Startup Venture Capital 159

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. This is serious stuff.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. This is serious stuff.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

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. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 25, 2021

The partners at MaC Venture Capital , the Los Angeles-based investment firm that has just closed on $103 million for its inaugural fund, have spent the bulk of their careers breaking barriers. “Our LPs invested in us… for lots of different reasons but at the top of the list was that we are a diverse team in so many ways.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Capital Los Angeles Invest 225

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

Such ideas require little-to-no capital, usually last for a relatively short duration and are of nominal size. You may remember from 8th grade science class that Brownian motion describes the random movement of atomic matter, caused by collisions with molecules of the surrounding medium. Last I checked, this was a business school.”

Ideas 153

Ideas Startup Pricing Entrepreneur 153

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2013

In school, you''re taught to stretch weak ideas to reach your document page limit. The challenge is to communicate your idea in one page, and close the deal quickly without a big slide presentation. Throughout a career lifetime, just think of the return on that investment. Business Writing for Email. Touch-Typing for Dummies.

Class 93

Class Course Writing Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2014

The cost of entry for an aspiring entrepreneur has never been lower, and the total wealth of opportunities has never been larger. A while back, I focused on the e-Commerce side, so this time I wanted to highlight how a shortage of something, like natural resources, should be seen by an aspiring entrepreneur as a wealth of new startup ideas.

Resource 96

Resource Ideas Startup Commerce 96

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. That’s why investors say they invest in people (bet on the jockey, not the horse), rather than the idea.

Technical Advisors 123

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 123

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. It’s the first EIR that we’ve had in the years that I’ve been with the firm and I hope will be the start of our investment in this program.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

It’s still popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. The common reason given is that this prevents any competitor from stealing their idea and beating them to market. Get competitors to surface early.

Marketing 105

Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization Ideas 105

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing. Too many angel deals just means more to watch and invest in for the ones that do succeed (if the VCs can get in at reasonable prices).

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Led by Fika Ventures, with additional investments from MetaProp VC, Global Founders Capital, CrossCut Ventures, TenOneTen, IGSB, 1984 Ventures, L2 Ventures, GroundUp, NBA all-star Metta World Peace, Oberndorf Enterprises, Wolfson Group, and scouts from Sequoia Capital, the new financing will be used to support the company’s continued growth.

Los Angeles 129

Los Angeles Software Angel Outsource Development 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2021

As I have said many times, the cost of entry for an aspiring entrepreneur has never been lower, and the total wealth of opportunities has never been larger. Entrepreneurs have huge opportunities to deliver higher-performance materials at lower cost, like carbon fiber for steel. These will be your customers, and your competitors.

Startup 162

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Social Media 162

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2020

It’s still popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. The common reason given is that this prevents any competitor from stealing their idea and beating them to market. Get competitors to surface early.

Search Engine Optimization 174

Search Engine Optimization Ideas Startup Customer 174

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). They call first investments at this stage the “A-round,” and often follow with a B-round through G-round.

Startup 148

Startup Ideas Equity Invest 148

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She actually IS the prototypical entrepreneur. The idea came from having been recently married herself and seeing how expensive it can be to buy a new wedding dress. But Tracy did what entrepreneurs do. Sam is the managing director of Launchpad LA and we were about to pick our 2012 class of entrepreneurs.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

As an advisor to new hardware entrepreneurs, I often hear the myth that a business plan is no longer required to find an investor, if your idea is good enough. What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

A few months ago I wrote a post called “ Invest in Lines, Not Dots.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are. Let me explain.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

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. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

Berkonomics

APRIL 13, 2017

Some great ideas just can’t make money and ultimately die for lack of profit potential. Do you have a world-class management team? Can you translate an idea into a compelling product? Some great ideas just cannot be made into a product at a reasonable enough price to attract customers. Are margins high enough?

Patents 291

Patents Pricing Ideas Marketing 291

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

A major chunk of this activity is provided by the newer class of “super angels,” who often look more like micro-VCs, except that they are investing their own money. Individual angel investors and crowdfunding have been adding to the momentum, some say exceeding VCs in total amount invested.

Funding 125

Funding Venture Capital Startup Class 125

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 5, 2022

But across the country in Atlanta, a fast-growing tech hub , a cohort of Black creators reimagined that idea. A few minutes away from downtown Atlanta, Collab Studio ATL describes itself as “a tech-based one-stop shop for content creators, HBCU students and young entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals.”

Platform 210

Platform Social Media Netflix Content 210

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2013

The ultimate compliment that any entrepreneur can get is that they can “see around corners.” Great entrepreneurs seem to all exhibit a common set of attributes which go well beyond the basic skills required to be an entrepreneur: “Larger than life” personality and presence. Believe there is no such thing as a crazy idea.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Marketing Startup Design 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2012

The ultimate compliment that any entrepreneur can get is that they can “see around corners.” Great entrepreneurs seem to all exhibit a common set of attributes which go well beyond the basic skills required to be an entrepreneur: “Larger than life” personality and presence. Believe there is no such thing as a crazy idea.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Design Ideas Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2017

Every aspiring entrepreneur would love to be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos, but most have no idea what really sets these guys apart from all the rest. In reality, most great entrepreneurs find these necessary, but not sufficient for the big win. Think twice before investing with friends and family.

Entrepreneur 56

Entrepreneur Mentor Satisfaction Class 56

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. That’s why investors say they invest in people (bet on the jockey, not the horse), rather than the idea.

Technical Advisors 123

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 123

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2015

By most definitions of the term, an entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business, incorporating innovative changes to existing products, services, business models, and creating new markets. One way of identifying the right characteristics and approaches is to take a hard look at entrepreneurs who have done it. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Resource Social Network SpaceX 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2014

By most definitions of the term, an entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business, incorporating innovative changes to existing products, services, business models, and creating new markets. One way of identifying the right characteristics and approaches is to take a hard look at entrepreneurs who have done it. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 114

Entrepreneur Resource Social Network SpaceX 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service. All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market. Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration.

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

socalTECH

DECEMBER 26, 2019

Every year, at the end of the year, we share some reflections on the past year from our readers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, sponsors, and others in the local technology community. Growing our practice from 3 original partners who would meet at coffee shops into a full institutional investing platform is a constant evolution.

Southern California 100

Southern California News Platform Class 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service. All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market. Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

As I thought about the characteristics that comprise a great program, I identified five criteria that a prospective entrepreneurial student can use to evaluate the efficacy of a collegiate entrepreneur curriculum. Practitioners, Not Professors – classes should be taught by people who have fought hand-to-hand combat in the startup trenches.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Class Patents 100