Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2019

The hypothesis was, companies are in an extremely competitive environment, and it doesn't matter what company or industry they are in, it's been one of the most competitive environments we've seen in a long time. That competitiveness is driving companies to make better decisions.

Startup 113

Startup Culver City Competition Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

We’ve had just one market since then and it could confuse one into thinking: every deal finds downstream investors, every company good or bad finds a home, you know anything at all about brazil, india, china or even saas sales, ecommerce or analytics (you know all these in a bull market). The longer I do this the more humbled I become.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

I literally have a Google Sheet for nearly every portfolio company who is in the process of raising a round. If you’re a SaaS company and the firm is a “consumer” firm (or vice versa) then don’t waste your time. The next pass is the “competitive pass”?—?have The second-pass qualification is “industry focus.”

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Funding Startup Venture Capital News 215

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Competitive (Athlete: skier & rowed at Princeton, hates losing at everything she does). Helped merge company with Seedling – on track to do $20 million combined revenue in 2015 – will now become Chairman). Thus began my marketing campaign. Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures).

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Venture Capital Startup Outsource Development CitySearch 408

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2018

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Competition 51

Competition Patents Resource Entrepreneur 51

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

It’s super hard not to want to spend more time with these companies. He’s wise, thoughtful and has made money across so many different industries it’s humbling. Competition is fierce. I always ask when somebody sends me a deal, for example, are you already a shareholder in the company? I’m no fool.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Email 333

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2018

All of these offer the potential for a win-win relationship with a nominal competitor, rather than a win-lose deal, as long as both sides can remain humble and not try to dominate the relationship. The information exchange from day-to-day interactions of engineers and marketers will drive you enhance your own processes to be more competitive.

Startup 59

Startup Outsource Competition Acquisition 59

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors. As well, these companies usually bring real new venture funding opportunities to the startups they sponsor. Assuming 60 companies are accepted in a specific batch, that would mean around 2000 companies applied.

Incubator 87

Incubator Startup Resource Seed Funding 87

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 20, 2011

Joking aside, I wish more VCs would humbly, politely and respectfully tell people when this is the case. His company had raised seed money already. If you’re hot you might be able to push this down to 15-20% depending on the investor and the competition. You might just suck. That happens, too. I try to be constructive.

Pricing 284

Pricing Venture Capital Competition Startup 284

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2016

I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors. As well, these companies usually bring real new venture funding opportunities to the startups they sponsor. Assuming 60 companies are accepted in a specific batch, that would mean around 2000 companies applied.

Incubator 106

Incubator Startup Help Resource 106

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. ” By that we weren’t trying to demean companies building aps, games, photo sharing, etc., Far from it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2014

All of these offer the potential for a win-win relationship with a nominal competitor, rather than a win-lose deal, as long as both sides can remain humble and not try to dominate the relationship. The information exchange from day-to-day interactions of engineers and marketers will drive you enhance your own processes to be more competitive.

Startup 97

Startup Entrepreneur Outsource Competition 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2016

All of these offer the potential for a win-win relationship with a nominal competitor, rather than a win-lose deal, as long as both sides can remain humble and not try to dominate the relationship. The information exchange from day-to-day interactions of engineers and marketers will drive you enhance your own processes to be more competitive.

Startup 55

Startup Outsource Competition Entrepreneur 55

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. They are the lifeblood of many companies yet they are different than the traditional technology startup DNA so the ways that you hire, motivate, compensate and assess performance of these individuals will be different. Sure, you need to be competitive on price.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

He’s also candid, humble and helpful. Current round: $3mm in Series B by betaworks (lead)(largest investor in company), Ron Conway, Danny Rimer, Accelerator Group, Roger Ehrenberg, Howard Lindzon. Discussion: Had a long chat about PicClick , a company founded by Ryan Sit in San Diego. Company still in beta.

Venture Capital 214

Venture Capital Startup Design S3 214

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2013

As I’ve said before, all startups need to realize that every other company still has to see itself naked in the mirror in the morning. I had a friend who was on the front page of the business section of one of the top newspapers in the country while his company was 30 days from running out of cash. We learn from losses.

Startup 412

Startup Press Course Entrepreneur 412

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2013

Henry Ford’s first two companies failed, and Bill Gates'' first company, Traf-O-Data, was a failure. Here are some obvious things that should give you a competitive advantage the next time around: You gain insight into the real market. Overall you become a better person when you have been humbled by failure.

Startup 105

Startup Entrepreneur Class Custom 105

Tech.Co

MAY 22, 2018

I’ve had many startup founders tell me that their startup literally has no competition,” said Frank Gruber, Cofounder of Tech.Co, Startup of the Year , and Established. “In What startup teams don’t realize is that having competition is good. The best advocate for your company is you. In most cases, that’s not true.

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

InfoChachkie

JULY 26, 2010

Entrepreneurs can emulate de la Guerra’s strategy and make their adVenture appear far larger than reality and thus increasing its influence and market reach while discouraging competitive threats by creating an industry alliance. Big Dumb Companies (BDCs) are surprisingly compliant when they are presented with a “Program”.

Entrepreneur 168

Entrepreneur Santa Barbara Startup Conference 168

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

The Dave I know is very humble. How to help his companies. He had a philosophy that the future competition for startups would be design led and based on data analysis. And from what I can tell he now getting the same quality of entrepreneurs and may already have the seeds of a great company within his stable.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors. As well, these companies usually bring real new venture funding opportunities to the startups they sponsor. But don’t expect incubators to magically convert your pre-hatched idea into a successful company.

Incubator 98

Incubator Startup Help Resource 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2012

Henry Ford’s first two companies failed, and Bill Gates' first company, Traf-O-Data, was a failure. Here are some obvious things that should give you a competitive advantage the next time around: You gain insight into the real market. Overall you become a better person when you have been humbled by failure.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Startup Class Custom 103

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2017

Business leaders must convince the team that the decision makers today are customers, the marketplace, competition, feedback, innovation, and breakthroughs. The personal preferences and ego of anyone in the company has little to do long-term business success and satisfaction. Check your own ego before you attempt to engage another.

Satisfaction 55

Satisfaction Coach Mentor Training 55

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 5, 2011

I’m continuously looking for ways to improve all my companies, and I’m always selling. Such selling goes beyond promoting a company’s products and services. ." " Yahoo could have purchased a variety of Internet based video companies when they acquired Mark’s venture. " [Tweet this quote]. Hard Sell. "I

Tips 274

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Ideas 274

socalTECH

MARCH 22, 2012

The company also made quite an impression with its viral video --which you have to watch to appreciate--of CEO Michael Dubin extolling the virtues of the company's products, and panning overpriced, expensive razor brands. We talked with Dubin earlier about the company. What's your background, and how did the company start?

Dollar Shave Club 210

Dollar Shave Club Startup Pricing Sample 210

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2011

Henry Ford’s first two companies failed, and Bill Gates' first company, Traf-O-Data, was a failure. Here are some obvious things that should give you a competitive advantage the next time around: You gain insight into the real market. Overall you become a better person when you have been humbled by failure.

Startup 96

Startup Entrepreneur Class Custom 96

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2011

Prior to Ranker, Clark founded four other successful companies, including eCrush, which he sold to the Hearst Corporation in 2007. Do you see crowd-ranked lists as ultimately competitive or complimentary to traditional and curated search? I have written about people who live by strong social contracts in Humble Pride.

Google 264

Google Organic Search Sites Startup 264

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

This is an updated post from my ongoing series on Startup Advice that I learned from founding two companies. . I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. 15 companies North of $1 billion exit.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

This is an updated post from my ongoing series on Startup Advice that I learned from founding two companies. . I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. 15 companies North of $1 billion exit.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2010

Some will do so in a quiet, unselfish fashion based on Humble Pride , while others will act as A- Players , delivering results while generating negative, unintended consequences. Ripkin represent extreme examples of high and low maintenance sports superstars, the analogy is valid in the business world.

Statistics 212

Statistics Press Product Startup 212

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

As an entrepreneur and startup investor, I have helped create companies which achieved two IPOs which collectively raised over $100 million, as well as two acquisitions which totaled $385 million. Rationale: My company is small, I am super busy and I am not a lawyer. No one has heard of you, your company or your solutions.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

The old media companies were resistant to change. Though competitors have sprung up, Tanz welcomes the competition to help define the market. Targeting images and adding video content is a nice premium alternative to the traditional buys that are extremely competitive. News, Gannett, and Tribune. “We

Advertising 98

Advertising Santa Monica Startup Content 98

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was an angel investor in his company, made a bunch of calls on his behalf and then I personally sent it out on AngelList. I think how hard it is for me to be hands-on with a handful of portfolio companies. I’ve had to do this with 2 companies at the same time. Through this process he raised $2 million. So I thought, WTF?

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

After I sold my last company, Shift, in May of 2015, I took some time off to look for the next thing to do. It seem that now, versus a few years ago, it's a lot more competitive to try to get out and acquire a user profitably for an app. You're known as quite the angel investor here in companies (ie.

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 31, 2010

Henry Ford’s first two companies failed, and Bill Gates' first company, Traf-O-Data, was a failure. Here are some obvious things that should give you a competitive advantage the next time around: You gain insight into the real market. Overall you become a better person when you have been humbled by failure.

Startup 48

Startup Entrepreneur Class Custom 48