Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person. His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price. Only a great team, and listening to customers, will allow you to adjust as you learn more, or the market changes.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!,

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. It turns out it actually takes time to build a high-growth business with differentiated intellectual property and roll out large, enterprise-class marketing solutions. 5 years ago. 5 years ago. The monkey on my back.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. Yet, most good business people I know agree, but don’t know where to start.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

Some people even believe that entrepreneurs must be born with the right genes, and no element of education is relevant. In my view, the most effective entrepreneurs are those with a background of an array of real-life experiences, both positive and negative, as well as good academic and coaching activities.

Writing 111

Writing Coach Incubator Entrepreneur 111

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2013

Executives in an enterprise usually don’t write their own memos, contracts, and certainly don’t schedule their own meetings. The result is a startup with an exorbitant burn rate, and a very unhappy entrepreneur. So if you really want to be an entrepreneur, there is no time like the present. There is a difference. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Startup Training Course 95

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. SEO marketing vs. social marketing. I think of VCs as coaches. Most VCs are book smart. I call them “ VCs Seagulls.”

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

It’s what life was like as an entrepreneur. According to the SEC we’re not allowed to market the fact that we’re fund raising, so I won’t. I plan to write about it early next year when we’re all through. But this is nothing like the stress of being an entrepreneur. And so it goes again.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Main Street Venture Fund LLC, an angel fund of about 25 private investors, was formed by Ruffolo Benson LLC in northeast Indiana with the intention of bringing together area entrepreneurs and private investors to create economic value for the region. For an angel investor, it’s a buyer’s market. Business wisdom.

Entrepreneur 83

Entrepreneur Mentor Invest Angel 83

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2010

I hear many executives and professionals in large corporations talking about their dream of jumping ship, and becoming an entrepreneur. Executives in an enterprise usually don’t write their own memos, contracts, and certainly don’t schedule their own meetings. Tags: entrepreneur startup bad habits big company business.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Company Companies Training 92

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. In the original version of his post, Andy writes. It’s a market, after all. The best VCs don’t try to help entrepreneurs. It is changing.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about: A fund-raising deck that articulates your company strategy, plans, team, market, competitors and so forth. Most entrepreneurs (and VCs raising from LPs) think this means progress. Entrepreneur : “Sure. It doesn’t. No problem.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

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. Fred has of course been a public mentor to us all with his market-defining terminology that he popularized including “freemium” and “mobile first.” You need to invest in good markets and bad.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. They are likely taking losses on their first project with the entrepreneur so they select carefully.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

As a courtesy if you enjoyed his write-up please check out his startup company, ChannelStack. The Exchange Fund – This allows the entrepreneurs to diversify their founders stock into other portfolio companies stock. These speakers help coach CEO’s on important executive decisions. Then 500 of those get a one hour meeting.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

"The best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. Mark noted that even if an entrepreneur does not become a master developer, by simply understanding the software development process, they will be a more effective startup leader.

Tips 275

Tips Startup IP Santa Barbara 275

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

My very first investment as a professional angel was in a small startup where the entrepreneur’s vision fueled my imagination in the audio market niche where I had run a business in an earlier life. As the company grew and became profitable, it became more visible to others in the market niche.

Resource 149

Resource Startup Invest Entrepreneur 149

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. They are likely taking losses on their first project with the entrepreneur so they select carefully.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. By the time of my second company MySQL was a much more robust solution and worked well when you had to read a lot of information but was less performant on “write&# activities.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We try to hire people who we believe will be upfront and respectful of entrepreneurs and know that it’s far easier to judge ones decisions on the outside than it actually is to have to make the tough decisions inside of a startup every day. We could all do better – I’m sure. Conviction. Winning paves over any flaws.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

socalTECH

JUNE 13, 2011

Jonathan Lehmann: I was awarded the Larry Wolfen Entrepreneurial Spirit Award at UCLA, after getting amazing coaching from Matt Ridenour in our business plan development class. UCLA Anderson really seems to be a hotbed of entrepreneurs nowadays - did you know going into the MBA program you'd be starting your own company?

UCLA 256

UCLA Startup Ideas Help 256

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2012

Executives in an enterprise usually don’t write their own memos, contracts, and certainly don’t schedule their own meetings. The result is a startup with an exorbitant burn rate, and a very unhappy entrepreneur. So if you really want to be an entrepreneur, there is no time like the present. There is a difference.

Startup 93

Startup Company Companies Training 93

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

To what extent have you been able to leverage your experiences as a brand marketer to effectively address the differing concerns of these constituents, without utterly confusing your message? Do you have any advice for emerging entrepreneurs regarding how they can be frugal without compromising their company’s value prop?

Startup 233

Startup Design Mobile Social Network 233

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2011

Executives in an enterprise usually don’t write their own memos, contracts, and certainly don’t schedule their own meetings. The result is a startup with an exorbitant burn rate, and a very unhappy entrepreneur. So if you really want to be an entrepreneur, there is no time like the present. There is a difference.

Startup 103

Startup Training Course Examples 103

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. It is never as rewarding when you’re the coach (but coaching has many other benefits. This company is back on the market raising money again.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. It is never as rewarding when you’re the coach (but coaching has many other benefits. This company is back on the market raising money again.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

For extroverted people I recommend that entrepreneurs have an “executive summary&# slide up front that cuts to the chase. I usually say something like, “I know this market reasonably well so feel free to pick up the pace and drop from 50k feet to 5k feet. OK, I understand your market is big. Most entrepreneurs are.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

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.

Startup 302

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Report 302

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I feel too many people are discouraging, and as a result, too many entrepreneurs are discouraged and give up. You are writing about the essentials of business. I am planning right not to write a post about how startups often get SEO wrong. Many entrepreneurs have an idea but don’t know how to monetize it. That's great.

Startup 150

Startup SEO Pepperdine Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

I finally got around to writing it having read Fred Wilson’s post about what a CEO does. Some entrepreneurs make the mistake of never devolving power. Due to the language and culture issues in Europe we opted for a country structure with an MD in each country and local sales, marketing & customers support staff.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Sales Customer 319

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Jon Sperry – a highly respected dialect coach who has worked with Harvey Keitel, Sofia Vergara, and Russell Crowe – taught a Stage 32 class that was attended by members from over 40 different countries. But most do it because they want to give back. There’s a community feel even to our education. Classes with a wide geographic appeal.

Education 82

Education Entertainment Class Manhattan Beach 82

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

The challenge is when and how to make the switch to the entrepreneur lifestyle. As a mentor to young aspiring entrepreneurs , I often get asked for tips on a strategy to get started. Check out local sources for coaching and assistance. Remember that investors tend to fund entrepreneurs, not ideas.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2009

Instead of writing a book, we wanted to develop a platform to bring our methods to life, and scale our knowledge. One of our hopes, aside from creating a way to package knowledge, is to essentially allow entrepreneurs to create their own publishing company. Milo Sindell: There are three broad markets.

Geni 100

Geni Web Guide Platform 100

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. They know what is “market&# for your recruits in terms of base, bonus & stock options. You can certainly get coaching from your VC on how to play the negotiations since they do it more often than you do.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 4, 2010

Bruce Sallan (@BruceSallan) - I'm a former showbiz guy who writes a dad's column. Cash Warren (@cash_warren) - producer, entrepreneur, president of Verso Entertainment. Cash Warren (@cash_warren) - producer, entrepreneur, president of Verso Entertainment. Cathy Brooks (@CathyBrooks) - Strategic Communications Coach.

Social Media 40

Social Media Journal Media Education 40

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

Each has a process in place to accept applications or recommendations for investment into new companies, and to review these and make decisions based upon their exploration, previous experience in the field, knowledge of the company or industry, or about individual entrepreneurs. Some can supply more when syndicating with other such groups.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

.&# Surprisinly, this strategy works well with many entrepreneurs. It’s as though we forgot the management mantra of the 90′s about “core competencies&# or the most common VC advice to entrepreneurs: Focus. This will continue while we’re in a tech bull market and I predict will wane when we’re not.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296