socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

He eventually founded and sold consumer health firm ViSalus to a public company and is now back making investments, in technology companies, as a venture capitalist here at Los Angeles-based HashtagOne (www.hashtagone.com). After we sold it to that public company, I founded HashtagOne. It's all about leverage.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. The best entrepreneurs focus on details.

Entrepreneur 286

Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire Sales 286

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2023

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a cofounder or two. So, the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? The value in a startup is all about tangible results, so I see no equity value in the idea alone.

Equity 99

Equity Patents CTO Hire Startup 99

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2014

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One ”. The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done.

Software Review 107

Software Review Entrepreneur CTO Hire Outsource Development 107

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. Here I make the case that entrepreneurs must stay focused on the prize, not the doubters. Entrepreneurs. ” **.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Working hard together at a big company just isn’t the same. The truth is you really don’t know how your teammates or your bosses will perform in good times and bad. You hire people who look good on paper. Who came in the office at 2am when the servers crashed – even on the night of the big company party.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? The value in a startup is all about tangible results, so I see no equity value in the idea alone.

Startup 174

Startup Equity Patents CTO Hire 174

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2013

Every entrepreneur tries to maximize his startup growth by building and selling more product and services for the widest geographic area that he can support. Many entrepreneurs are paranoid about the partnership approach, and think that M&A is only an alternative for large companies who are flush with cash.

Acquisition 88

Acquisition CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 88

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2018

We spoke with Dave Fink , CEO and co-founder of Posite, and Jonathan Neddenriep , co-founder and CTO of the company, to learn more. If you seen the entrepreneurs that disrupt big categories, they came at it from a very different approach, which is not iterative, but is transformative. So, where's the company now?

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Marketing 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2011

Only then can I even care about product, market or their nebulous “fit.&#. It’s my belief that through exceptional leadership you attract great teams that do more than the sum of the parts. I made an investment in a company with deep domain knowledge. “What I care about first and foremost is a great leader.

CTO Hire 363

CTO Hire Technical Review Startup Demand 363

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

Every entrepreneur tries to maximize his startup growth by building and selling more product and services for the widest geographic area that he can support. Many entrepreneurs are paranoid about the partnership approach, and think that M&A is only an alternative for large companies who are flush with cash.

CTO Hire 91

CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development Resource 91

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 Finding Good Developers in Los Angeles? Im part of a CTO group that meets once a month to discuss various topics. About 18 months ago, the entire group began to mention that they were having more difficulty finding good developers.

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Los Angeles CTO Hire CTO Coach Develop 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Eventually a successful startup will grow into a big company. Growth will slow, partly due to internal limits and partly because the company is starting to bump up against the limits of the markets it serves.” I spend a lot of time encouraging startups with whom I work to take measurement more seriously.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

A good early-stage CEO needs to be accessible, to be accountable for producing results and should be establishing the cultural norms of the company through direct leadership at all levels. But issues do arise as your company grows. I see two common mistakes in companies (not just in startups, in fact).

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

I recently wrote a post about why I didn’t think early-stage startups should have COOs. To be clear, I said that most companies I see pitching have COOs & I don’t have a rule against it. I’ve had several COOs at companies in which I’ve invested. I expected it to be controversial and it was.

Startup 292

Startup CTO Hire Sales Email 292

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

You attend five customer meetings together over a two-week period and after each meeting you replay the results in the office about what it meant. We spend hours of seemingly “wasted&# time just in these informal chats simply shooting the shit. CEO, VP Products and CTO must all be in the physical location.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2019

Anyone who hires anyone, or has ever looked for a jobs knows how important a resume is. We spoke with founder and CEO, Shane Bernstein , on why he thinks the company's system is far superior to using a resume to find technical talent. What's the problem you are solving here for companies? How did you end up starting the company?

Sites 240

Sites Startup Tool CTO Hire 240

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2013

In what is a fairly unusual move, last week, Tradesparq (www.tradesparq.com), a Chinese startup in the area of B2B trade information, said it was planning on setting up its operations here in Southern California, as part of an expansion and scaling of the company. How long has company been around? Tell us about your backers?

Southern California 170

Southern California Startup SoCal CTO Hire 170

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 1, 2007 Entreprenuer Network Great post by Ben Kuo - The Importance of the “Network&# to Entrepreneurs - the informal connections between people in the technology industry here who have a vested interest in helping entrepreneurs take their companies to the next level.

Networking 150

Networking CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Before I started my first company in 1999 I worked for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Suddenly it was star treatment and all sorts of promises about the future. I’ll talk in a separate post about dealing with B or C players, the rest of this post focuses on your star performers. One example was Ryan Lissack.

CTO Hire 322

CTO Hire Startup Resource Entrepreneur 322

socalTECH

MARCH 8, 2013

DatAllegro was one of the first companies in what is now the "big data" industry, and helped to pioneer the entire segment. Now, Frost has set up shop buildling out a whole series of companies in the industry, and we caught up with him to learn more about the companies (Predixion Software, Cirro, Lineage, Kumo, etc.)

Incubator 208

Incubator Startup CTO Hire Ideas 208

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Sunday, February 25, 2007 Interesting Model for University President Saw a post by Paul Kedrosky pointing us to Graeme Thickins on How Stanford Does It. Its interesting to think about how universities might want to have their staff better aligned with moving ideas from the lab to start-ups.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Startup 150

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2014

To shortcut what has been an antiquated way of connecting consumers with attorneys, Los Angeles startup LawKick (www.lawkick.com) has created an online, easy way to match up clients with lawyers, through a set of simple questions and answers about different kinds of legal problems. What''s LawKick about?

Help 240

Help Startup CTO Hire Pricing 240

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2016

Phil Hui-Bon-Hoa , the CEO of El Segundo-based Kaleo (www.kaleo.com), is a serial entrepreneur who has previously built and sold four companies, including one acquired by IFILM, and another by Sun Microsystems. That ends up being a waste of time, especially in larger enterprises. How did the company start?

El Segundo 169

El Segundo Southern California Startup CTO Hire 169

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Innovation and Geography I ran across a post in Read/Write Web - Does Location Matter in Web Innovation? that talked about a recent NY Times article When It Comes to Innovation, Geography Is Destiny. eHarmongy) as an acting CTO.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

You’ll learn a lot more about the sector/industry. You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. What we are talking about is a spectrum of how you restrict early communications around your business: Who you will talk to including the public / press / etc. You’ll get suggestions for improvements.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Kevin Federline Search Engine Just saw a post - Sleep with a pop star, get your own branded search engine. talking about Prodeges Search with Kevin Site - [link]. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. I actually think this is a pretty innovative model.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

In the real world, the "idea" is a very small part of the overall equation. A startup is all about "execution" - meaning the equity should be allocated based on the value that each partner brings to the table in each of these dominant variables: Experience running a startup business. Sacrifice and time commitment.

Startup 101

Startup Entrepreneur Equity CTO Hire 101

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

You’ll learn a lot more about the sector/industry. You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. What we are talking about is a spectrum of how you restrict early communications around your business: Who you will talk to including the public / press / etc. You’ll get suggestions for improvements.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Guide CTO Coach Southern California 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 27, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 27, 2007 Stanford Podcasts - eHarmony - Greg Waldorf I was just pointed to a set of great podcasts done by Stanford B-School and particularly, I just listed to the podcast by eHarmonys Greg Waldorf. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO.

eHarmony 150

eHarmony CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. On the other hand, I meet plenty of people who complain bitterly about corporate politics—sometimes even in the companies they run.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 A Different Kind of Incubator - The Hive I recently met with The Hive a new incubator in Orange County. This company was started by Victoria Duff (who many of us know from back in the late 90s), Phillis Lane (who I have known for quite a few years) and Jon Bukosky.

Incubator 150

Incubator CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Sunday, February 25, 2007 Challenge of Predicting Winners I just read a bit on the payout to YouTube from the Google Acquisition ( Internet News , CNN ). He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

socalTECH

JUNE 9, 2014

We caught up with Lee Essner , the President of Jukin Media, to learn more about how the company thinks it has figured out how to make a business round viral videos. Can you talk about those businesses? The nice thing about those two businesses, is they feed each other nicely. It''s much more about quality, than quantity.

Media 235

Media Content Startup IP 235

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. Chris Dixon , September 12, 2010 My most useful career experience was about eight years ago when I was trying to break into the world of VC-backed startups. I got rejected from every single one. Kanye West.

Startup 191

Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 28, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Wednesday, February 28, 2007 Google Maps Mobile I recently downloaded Google Maps Mobile for my Treo. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony.

Google 150

Google Mobile CTO Coach Southern California 150