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. You need both to survive.

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Product Summary Startup Examples 169

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2018

The Thiel Foundation , the nonprofit formed by maverick technology investor Peter Thiel, named a new class of twenty entrepreneurs as part of its 2018 Thiel Fellows program--including one Los Angeles entrepreneur, Gemma Busoni. Peter Thiel recently moved from Silicon Valley to Los Angeles. READ MORE>>.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2021

In my many years of experience in business, and recent work as a mentor to entrepreneurs, I have seen the business world change, and can relate well to his five success practices paraphrased here: Build the team from people with a shared obsession.

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InfoChachkie

MARCH 4, 2019

In addition to creating a franchise chain which exceeded 500 locations at its peak, Martha Harper was also one of the world’s first social entrepreneurs, helping thousands of middle-class women create their own businesses and control their destinies. Social Entrepreneuring (Before It Was Cool). Controlling Destinies.

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Entrepreneur Class Template Patents 100

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. Like many product managers, my background is fairly eclectic. That's where I learned I enjoyed interacting with customers and working with development teams to build and launch products. Tell me a bit about your background.

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Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

and international cities like London, Mexico City, Seoul and Vilnius are building professional social networks for black professionals and blue collar workers, fashion labels, educational tools in augmented reality, kids entertainment, and an interactive entertainment production company. The new batch of startups coming from across the U.S.

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Berkonomics

JUNE 22, 2023

If your vision is for a product or service that fills a need in a mature industry, you may be flying against the prevailing winds as a market shrinks over time, taking your business with it. Do you have a world-class management team? Can you translate an idea into a compelling product? Where in industry life cycle?

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InfoChachkie

MARCH 2, 2015

Despite the fact that I teach entrepreneurship at UC Santa Barbara , I do not believe that entrepreneurs are created in classrooms. Instead of trying to teach students to be an entrepreneur, I expose my entrepreneurial students to tools that will help them solve real-world problems. Challenging. My courses are rigorous and demanding.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

Venice-based Snap announced the third class of its Yellow startup accelerator class on Wednesday, naming ten companies to participate in its annual 14-week program in Los Angeles.

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Class Venice Los Angeles Equity 127

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

I’m often asked the question about why there aren’t more women who are entrepreneurs. My inspiration to become an entrepreneur came from my mom, not my dad. She was the dominant figure in my family and was both an entrepreneur and a community leader. million in costs over 18 months to launch our products.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2021

Most business managers preach that the key to success is holding employees accountable for actions, but I have found that successful entrepreneurs are all about holding themselves accountable. Usually the real culprit is procrastination, lack of focus, or low productivity and lack of metrics. Wait and hope for a miracle.

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socalTECH

AUGUST 5, 2014

All six startups presented details on their products at a "Demo Day" hosted at Warner Bros. Most of the companies included a strong element of technology, and many of the startup entrepreneurs in attendance had a strong engineering--rather than content--background. Studios in Burbank on Monday evening.

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Media Class Hollywood Incubator 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2021

These resources are definitely not limited to students, since every university seeks out and needs the real world exposure and experience of entrepreneurs who already are active in the real world marketplace. Product research and prototype development. Business plan assistance.

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Berkonomics

APRIL 1, 2021

We are not always smart about the market or the product. Well, the good news is that great teams are not bound by their original product or marketing plan. My favorite example of a world class pivot comes from the CEO and board of one of my most successful investments. My story of a great pivot.

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Resource Research Class News 156

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 18, 2013

A traffic jam of expensive cars lined up to pull into the packed parking lot of MuckerLab for its second graduating class demo day. Tech Coast Angel investor Dale Okuno came out because he believes that MuckerLab attracts better talent because they keep their class size small and focused. And build great business they have.

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Class Startup Tech Coast Angels CTO Coach 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2015

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. This early stage is often called basic research , well before any specific commercially viable products might be envisioned. Commercial product prototypes. Product verification and clinical trials.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. This early stage is often called basic research , well before any specific commercially viable products might be envisioned. Commercial product prototypes. Product verification and clinical trials.

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Resource Ideas Funding Research 102

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. Upgrade, reuse, or recycle every product.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2015

Entrepreneurship is all about leading – leading customers to a new product or service, leading a startup team to peak performance, and leading a new business to the market opportunity, while providing maximum return to stakeholders. Authentic entrepreneurs lead through the power of personal influence, rather than coercion.

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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. We can all point to the casualties from that approach.

Marketing 157

Marketing Design Entrepreneur Ideas 157

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2014

Whether you are an entrepreneur managing a startup, or a corporate executive with thousands of employees, it’s hard to ignore the evidence of big value from happy employees. The challenge is to find the best way to keep everyone on your team happy and productive. In a similar vein, don’t confuse people presence with productivity.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

“Hi [entrepreneur], I hope all is well. I know the firm well and I know the entrepreneur & his business well. But if that’s all that they’re after then entrepreneurs should definitely be wary of taking these calls. So I have to imagine many other entrepreneurs felt the same. They’re flattered.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. You imagined him as the kid in your class at school at the front of the room raising his hand at every question and saying, “Oooh, me. It is election season.

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Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She actually IS the prototypical entrepreneur. 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. In the first 5 minutes you’ll realize that she’s a classic entrepreneur. More on that later. That may soon change.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

.&# 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. I felt the exact same way when I was an entrepreneur. Lines vs. Dots is all about people.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2018

Many experts will tell you that you can’t succeed as a part-time entrepreneur, as any good startup will require a 100 percent commitment of your time and energy. Thus I often recommend that entrepreneurs keep their day job until the startup is producing revenue. But the entrepreneur lifestyle is still more fun, even part-time.

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Ideas Entrepreneur Tips Startup 102

TechCrunch LA

MAY 12, 2020

With its third class of startups, Yellow, Snap’s in-house startup accelerator that launched in 2018, brought investors and founders together in private slack channels after a live-streamed presentation. Mogul Millennial : a media startup sharing professional resources for Black entrepreneurs. Yellow investment SketchAR.

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Invest Startup Artificial Inteligence Class 237

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Certainly, bootstrapping is a preferred method of funding growth if it does not hold back the speed of growth or hobble the quality of product or service to the extent that better-funded competitors can overtake the business. There is a lot to say about retaining control. Dave’s book and ebook on raising money available on Amazon.com.

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Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. He or she will assume your comment means there is no market for your product or service, or you haven’t looked. Highlight your world-class team as the secret sauce.

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Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2016

Most business managers preach that the key to success is holding employees accountable for actions, but I have found that successful entrepreneurs are all about holding themselves accountable. Usually the real culprit is procrastination, lack of focus, or low productivity and lack of metrics. Wait and hope for a miracle.

Entrepreneur 59

Entrepreneur Startup Class Coach 59

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2021

In my view, the gig economy is a key driver to the current boom in entrepreneurship – every professional and consultant is actually a solo entrepreneur. One question I often hear from solo entrepreneurs, and she addresses directly, is “How do I set the right price for my services?” Quantify value to the client as price boundaries.

Pricing 149

Pricing Mentor Entrepreneur News 149

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2013

New entrepreneurs who want to survive, and optimize the growth of their startups, need to think globally, and act locally, from day one. What all this doesn’t mean is that you should roll out your product in every country at the same time. Just the middle class in India is equal in size to the entire population of the United States.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2017

Every business needs repeatable processes to grow and thrive, but modern business processes need the right people to make them efficient and productive. The right people make productive processes, not the other way around. On the other hand, I see teams with almost no process that are tremendously productive.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2022

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. He or she will assume your comment means there is no market for your product or service, or you haven’t looked. Highlight your world-class team as the secret sauce.

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Competition Patents Resource Invest 133

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Yet as a business advisor I am convinced that making the jump from a startup to a the next unicorn takes a different mindset, and actions most entrepreneurs are reluctant to face. Bring in an experienced Board and world-class leaders. Switch your focus from product development to sales.

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Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 25, 2021

Will the marketplace accept your product? Is there a market for your class of product at all? Market risk is constant and should be of greatest concern to any executive or entrepreneur. Second is product risk. Here are five basic kinds of internal risks that a business faces over time. First, there is market risk.

Competition 156

Competition Marketing Class Product 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. This early stage is often called basic research , well before any specific commercially viable products might be envisioned. Commercial product prototypes. Product verification and clinical trials.

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Help Research Startup Funding 165