Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. There is no free lunch. Marty Zwilling.

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Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

(In case it’s not obvious it’s a play on the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.&# ) I believe that being successful as an entrepreneur requires you to get lots of things done. Entrepreneurs make fast decisions and move forward knowing that at best 70% of their decisions are going to be right. This paralyzes most people.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

Every entrepreneur wants to hear “yes” during the fund-raising process but I would argue that being too risk averse and not pushing hard enough and be willing to hear a “no” is what holds back many people from “yes.” Possibly offend and entrepreneur leading to reputation risk amongst other entrepreneurs. Do they have influence?

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Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Adeo Ressi is a serial entrepreneur turned investor and entrepreneur advocate. Adeo Co-Founded the entrepreneur-friendly website The Funded and he is the Founder and CEO of The Founder Institute , whose goal is to create and foster local startup ecosystems across the globe. Breaking Out Of Prison. In Adeo''s words, ".

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Entrepreneur Startup Equity Technical Review 232

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2022

Many of you business leaders I work with, and entrepreneurs I mentor, have a great strategy and an innovative solution , but struggle with building and motivating the team necessary to run your business. Of course, listening alone isn't enough. Spend time coaching and mentoring team members.

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Mentor Social Media Coach Customer 108

Frank Addante

OCTOBER 12, 2021

We build and invest in startups with impact. Our focus is on helping entrepreneurs build businesses that focus on social and environmental challenges. We have a Startup Studio and Early Stage Investment Fund. Over the course of my “retirement” (yes, it is in quotes because I’m not sure it really was one! In a big way!

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Startup Case Study Ideas Invest 105

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2017

In my activities as an angel investor, and my work with new ventures seeking investment, I find the “due diligence” stage to be fraught with the most risk. Usually this stage only really starts after an investor has expressed serious interest, or already informally agreed to invest.

Invest 59

Invest Startup Doc Slides 59

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. Most top tier VCs return about 3x invested capital and outlier funds (the best of a vintage) might return 6-8x. The best VCs don’t try to help entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs. ” Still.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. There is no free lunch. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. I attended events. I hustled.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. I attended events. I hustled.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Frank Addante

OCTOBER 12, 2021

We build and invest in startups with impact. Our focus is on helping entrepreneurs build businesses that focus on social and environmental challenges. We have a Startup Studio and Early Stage Investment Fund. Over the course of my “retirement” (yes, it is in quotes because I’m not sure it really was one! In a big way!

Startup 52

Startup Case Study Ideas Invest 52

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. Of course it is super helpful if a VC can drop you in to important people for business development, recruiting, PR, sales and eventually M&A. I think of VCs as coaches. Fred Wilson wrote perfectly about sticking with struggling investments.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros. Of course not every VC has the fund size or the fee size to build services at this scale yet many provide extremely well-regarded programs that are valuable.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. She joined Mesa Global where she is doing both venture capital and investment banking. So we went for it.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

Of course it makes no sense to have great people management and a crappy product. ” Of course we all go into businesses expecting to be aligned with our co-founders but over time life changes. When they started their company of course they had to pick one to be CEO and the other to have a different title.

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Startup Technical Review Course Press 340

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. There is no free lunch. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 108

Startup Sales Metrics Entrepreneur 108

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

His willingness to add value wherever his coach needed him most, not only helped his teams win three consecutive World Championships, but it also allowed Bert to extend his career by making himself Indispensible. By subsuming multiple responsibilities under one individual, a startup can invest more of its cash into furthering its mission.

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Startup Coach Sales Entrepreneur 222

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2013

It takes much the same preparation to make you the best entrepreneur, or the best job candidate. Of course experience is the best teacher, but you need to get the job to get the experience. Invest in career coaching. entrepreneur startup employment career business' According to Ford R. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 89

Startup Coach Entrepreneur Networking 89

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

But of course all of these things are intertwined. We want to invest in early-stage technology enabled startup businesses – upfront in the funding cycle. In fact, 90% of our investments are either Seed or A-round investments (10% are B-round). We chose the word “upfront” to represent our culture.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and Founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. There is no free lunch. Marty Zwilling.

Sales 96

Sales Metrics Startup Entrepreneur 96

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. Let me not bury the lede. The company was called Red Beacon.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. There is no free lunch. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 56

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2019

As an advisor to entrepreneurs for many years, I strongly disagree, and still see the value of at least combining intuition with logical analysis, as we face customers and markets driven by relationships, emotions, and unpredictable social trends. For example, say “Oh, there’s my inner critic again!”

Examples 81

Examples Tool Statistics Tips 81

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2011

It takes much the same preparation to make you the best entrepreneur, or the best job candidate. Of course experience is the best teacher, but you need to get the job to get the experience. Invest in career coaching. According to Ford R. He and I believe that summer is the perfect time for starting a new career.

Startup 94

Startup Coach Entrepreneur Networking 94

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

So part of playing an effective coach is helping the team to see the answer for themselves. My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. You need to invest in good markets and bad.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable. And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2014

By the way, I also strongly advise that entrepreneurs reference VCs. In this instance my personal style is to have entrepreneurs in whom I’m considering investing to call my good references and those where we have gone through some tough times so in that sense I end up in the 0.05% but I tell entrepreneurs I’m doing this and why.

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Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Report 302

Xconomy

OCTOBER 30, 2016

Plug and Play San Diego, established in 2013 as a satellite of the Sunnyvale, CA-based incubator, has funneled 15 local startups through the Silicon Valley program after providing some coaching and other services in San Diego. As entrepreneurs, “Most of us have a diamond in the rough, and you polish it by talking with others.”.

San Diego 40

San Diego Incubator Avalon Mentor 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

And of course there was the Michael Porter’s “ 5 Forces.&# Frankly, I kind of found all of this stuff to be bullshit (bull shiitake?) I come from a world that if the coach wasn’t yelling at you, it meant he didn’t care. I come from a world that if the coach wasn’t yelling at you, it meant he didn’t care.

Startup 378

Startup Framework Slides Coach 378

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 24, 2011

There has recently been a common theme among the entrepreneurs I have interviewed and the conferences I have attended: despite the relatively weak state of the world economy, now is a great time to create a high-tech startup. As noted in Now Is Never Too Early , successful entrepreneurs are not inclined to wait. Christy was correct.

Company 257

Company Companies Startup Study 257

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

Yet a critical mistake I see many entrepreneurs make is that they hand over too much control to their third-parties. You can certainly get coaching from your VC on how to play the negotiations since they do it more often than you do. I have investment money at stake so I’m a principal in the negotiation, too. Recruiters.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

The basic components are obvious: talented founders, great engineers, angel money, venture capital, access to larger corporates (for business, funding & talent), great education / research (for IP breakthroughs) and a sufficient ecosystem of mentors, advisors, executive coaches and mavens. We have invested $17.3 Venture Capital.

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Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Amazon in turn led to the formation of an earlier stage of venture capital now led by what I call “micro VCs&# who typically invest $250-500k in companies rather than the $5-7 million that VCs used to invest. Some have moved into later stage investments in an effort to “put logos on their websites.&# Funny, that.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2022

One of the attributes that I often recommend to the business professionals and entrepreneurs I mentor is to always be totally accountable for your actions and ideas. Be available for mentoring and coaching to others. It also means investing in relationship and trust building so they support you in a time of your need.

Activity 109

Activity Organization Mentor Training 109

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Of course much of it is conflicting. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC.

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Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366