InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

The following guest post is from some of my former UC Santa Barbara students. These courses all proved to be serious influences on turning the dream of starting their own company into a reality. I thought this post might be of interest to some of my readers, as it offers a glimpse into my approach to teaching entrepreneurship.

Class 231

Class Startup Santa Barbara RSS 231

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 15, 2018

A Santa Barbara based company, Milo Sensors, is tackling this problem via a wearable that constantly alerts your smartphone of your blood alcohol level. Many of the companies that are spawned at the University emerge from the Technology Management Program , but Milo is an exception. What was the company’s genesis?

Santa Barbara 169

Santa Barbara Technology Research Organization 169

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. Internally at Upfront Ventures we talk about “high consensus” vs. controversial deals with “high conviction.”

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

I have been watching ProductPlan for several years, as the founders are both friends and pillars of the Santa Barbara Startup Community. Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 3, 2012

Seth Epstein, Founder and CEO SocialStay , former Founder and CEO of FUEL (acquired by Razorfish) and Emmy Award winner for his work on the X-Games, recently spoke at UC Santa Barbara as part of the Technology Management Program’s Distinguished Lecture Series. Find problems in the area you are passionate about.

Ideas 266

Ideas Guide Startup Santa Barbara 266

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2014

At Expertcity and Computer Motion, despite the fact that both companies were comprised of about 50 – 200 employees at the time, we routinely recruited 30 - 50 interns each summer. Competition – Make it clear that only the best interns will be granted offers for full-time positions. We always paid our interns and you should too.

Startup 257

Startup Santa Barbara Competition Class 257

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2014

Just like starting a company as a sole founder, it is possible to excel without a partner, it''s just a lot harder. Competitive Rivalry - Constructive internal competition that does not derail a startup from achieving its strategic goals will enhance your teams overall performance.

Startup 257

Startup Santa Barbara Competition Journal 257

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

In case you didn’t know, many VCs target a 3-year investment horizon for a fund and after that the fund mostly does only follow-on investments in companies in that portfolio. Geographically our strategy is to fund about 50% of our deals in Southern California (from San Diego to Santa Barbara) and 50% of our deals on a national basis.

Venture Capital 396

Venture Capital Funding Technical Review Startup 396

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

You can build a meaningful company just about wherever these days. They also view it as a responsibility of the money they manage on behalf of others to provide oversight of these companies. This afternoon (Saturday) I have a coffee meeting with a portfolio company founder. Take me for example. Local knowledge runs deep.

Venture Capital 365

Venture Capital Marketing Santa Barbara Startup 365

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 24, 2014

A number of my UC Santa Barbara entrepreneurial students have asked my opinion of Robert Greene''s The 48 Laws Of Power , prompting me to check it out. Mr. Greene''s book might be applicable to Hollywood''s super-competitive, mean-spirited culture. A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Image : Wikipedia.

Hollywood 227

Hollywood Santa Barbara Entrepreneur Customer 227

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

Glazier--who is was most recently CEO of Eventful, but has a long history in San Diego's tech industry--sat down with us to talk about the new startup. When you look at social messaging, and talk about social messaging, we're talking about social media, text messaging, email, and chat applications. How does this work?

San Diego 159

San Diego Social Media Commerce Snapchat 159

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

We caught up with Jeff Overall , the founder of PolarPro, to better understand the company--plus the popularity of accessories specifically for GoPro cameras. What''s the story behind the company? Jeff Overall: It all started back in 2011, when I was going to the University of Santa Barbara.

Startup 196

Startup Van Nuys Patents Santa Barbara 196

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 4, 2014

In fact, for the past 27-years, he has specialized in bringing exotic travel destinations to those of us who are healthy and active but whose competitive sporting days are long behind us. Ever fantasized about climbing Mt. How about hiking in Patagonia without carrying a 60-pound backpack and eating freeze dried food?

Entrepreneur 187

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Resource 187

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 10, 2011

He is a great example of…building an enchanting company.”. He overheard me talking about Steve Jobs in conjunction with the entrepreneurship class that I teach at UC Santa Barbara. He proceeded to tell me several interesting and entertaining stories about Steve (all flattering), dating back to the early-1980’s.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Santa Barbara Entrepreneur 279

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 30, 2012

I generally encourage my UC Santa Barbara students to complete their formal education before joining or creating a startup. "Our business is about technology, yes. But it's also about operations and customer relationships." " [Tweet this quote]. Innovations Are More Than Technological Features. "Our

Tips 247

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 247

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

And for many companies a good deal of their business is still closed over the phone–through their call centers. This is especially true for companies with expensive and complex products or services that are more consultative in nature, like insurance, financial services, home services, education and travel, etc. You’re right.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

InfoChachkie

MARCH 24, 2016

Greathouse: You and Brent are currently third and fourth year Computer Science majors at UC Santa Barbara. We, on the other hand, operate as a fantasy sports company, similar to DraftKings and FanDuel. As I alluded to earlier, we are legally a “fantasy sports company.” How has the entrepreneurial program impacted you?

Startup 100

Startup Sites Research Santa Barbara 100

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 8, 2018

Seth Epstein, former Founder and CEO of FUEL (acquired by Razorfish) and Emmy Award winner for his work on the X-Games, graciously spoke at UC Santa Barbara’s Innovator Stories Series. His talk was especially intriguing, as he attended UCSB, but dropped out to start a clothing design company. How much money can I make?

Ideas 69

Ideas Startup Technical Review Santa Barbara 69

socalTECH

APRIL 27, 2009

We sat down with Managing Director Scott Lenet last week, ahead of the announcement, to chat about the new fund and what the firm is investing in now. Scott Lenet: We're really excited about the new fund. We've opened an office in Los Angeles, and continue to maintain one in Santa Barbara. Congrats on the new fund.

Santa Barbara 124

Santa Barbara Entrepreneur Funding Invest 124

socalTECH

JULY 13, 2009

Mark has also been quite active mentoring entrepreneurs, We caught up with Mark to hear about what kinds of investments GRP is looking at nowadays, his view on the software-as-a-service market, and how best to approach him with a pitch. The new fund is focused entirely on technology companies. That was quite a prominent exit for us.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Southern California Santa Barbara Rustic Canyon 157

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

This all got me thinking about a post on how to best work with lawyers. When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. the link is here.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

InfoChachkie

MARCH 9, 2019

As a Professor at UC Santa Barbara , I constantly battle Hollywood’s stereotype of the rapacious, maniacal businessperson, by teaching my students that Honesty is a competitive advantage. Measure What Matters – The McDonald brothers were dogmatic about tracking metrics. Laurie Anderson, American Musician.

Startup 100

Startup Netflix Entrepreneur Metrics 100

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

VC's love to talk about their successes. This latest round valued the company in excess of a billion dollars, entering them into the overly-hyped Unicorn Club. For us, it’s OK if we miss a great deal once in a while, so long as the companies we DO invest in generate outstanding returns. billion) and ISS (sold to IBM $1.3

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2010

To better understand what they're trying to do, we spoke with both Richard and John about the group. We're looking for inventors interested in commercializing and spinning out their technology into a company. Universities have a bunch of companies on either side that have done that. Thanks for the time today.

Networking 215

Networking Research Startup USC 215

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

Having time to think about “leadership” at most startups feels like a luxury. It feels like something you could turn your attention to once you have tens of millions of dollars and a large staff to run operations and you could step back from it all and think about how to lead. The reality of most startups is about survival.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

InfoChachkie

JUNE 20, 2011

Despite the fact that both companies were comprised of about 100 – 150 employees at the time, we routinely recruited 30 to 50 Interns each summer. Competition – Make it clear that only the best Interns will be granted offers for full-time positions. This explicit competitive element will cause the high-achievers to excel. .

Startup 244

Startup Software Review Technical Review Class 244

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2015

Santa Barbara-based Ice Energy (www.ice-energy.com) has quietly been working away at developing energy storage systems to help smooth out the demand for energy on the nation's power grid. Can you talk about your technology? Can you talk about that? megawatts of energy. megawatts of energy.

Southern California 100

Southern California Technical Review Demand Outsource Development 100

InfoChachkie

APRIL 6, 2015

The world’s largest skateboard company, Skate One produces many of industry’s best-selling brands, including Powell•Peralta Skateboards , BONES Wheels and Mini•Logo Skateboards. George spent the first ten years of his career, gaining experience in the aerospace industry, before founding his skateboard company in 1976 at the age of 33.

Mentor 100

Mentor Pacific Palisades Startup Class 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

I recently wrote about the three rules of sales. The first of question is about qualifying your potential customers aka leads. You can read more about this if you click the link above. Assume competition and assume within the buying organization you have enemies. Why Buy Anything ? Why Buy Me? Why Buy Now? “Listen.

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150