Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2021

An informal writing style is generally recommended. Your readers will appreciate the option to view the sites you reference, and having links pointing to other sites will further improve your search engine rankings. Don’t be shy, I don’t know many CEOs today that write their own speeches and marketing materials.

Blogging 135

Blogging Services Search Engine Optimization Web 135

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. Be accessible on social media, write a blog or articles for industry publications, and participate in conference panels and speaking engagements. Capture your “secret sauce.” Start with a service you know and love.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Once you have some traction, you can approach venture capital organizations , with funding amounts of $1-10 million for the real rollout, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding. Growth and exit stage.

Startup 122

Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. Be accessible on social media, write a blog or articles for industry publications, and participate in conference panels and speaking engagements. Capture your “secret sauce.” Start with a service you know and love.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2019

Most business mentors tell me that the single biggest problem they have to deal with in small companies is the lack of open, honest, and effective communication, both from the top down and from the bottom up. Communication is not just talking, but also listening, writing, body language, and “actions speak louder than words.”

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Entrepreneur Guide Mentor 94

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. I’ve seen too many companies go off track by a VC hell bent on the team pursuing the VCs strategy which at times is about chasing the next shiny object. Most VCs are book smart. I call them “ VCs Seagulls.”

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

The best candidates quickly figure out that companies that don’t respond, demonstrate chaos during interviews, or keep delaying a decision are not a good opportunity. Your gut-feelings are important, but need to be validated by normal background and reference checks. Failure to include company culture in the hiring criteria.

Organization 104

Organization Satisfaction Entrepreneur Screening 104

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time. It was impressive. And finally it comes down to the good old instinct test.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Once you have some traction, you can approach venture capital organizations , with funding amounts of $1-10 million for the real rollout, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding. Growth and exit stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2012

The result is a host of hiring mistakes that sink many young companies, or take years to fix. Resumes won’t give you the positive conclusion, but they can highlight negatives, like job gaps, bad writing, and minimal experience. “He Based on the glowing terms I heard from my friend, I’ll just skip the reference check.”

Company 94

Company Companies Startup Statistics 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2020

The best candidates quickly figure out that companies that don’t respond, demonstrate chaos during interviews, or keep delaying a decision are not a good opportunity. Your gut-feelings are important, but need to be validated by normal background and reference checks. Failure to include company culture in the hiring criteria.

Organization 135

Organization Satisfaction Entrepreneur Screening 135

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. 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!, They worry too much about missing out on a deal.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Working hard together at a big company just isn’t the same. You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. Who came in the office at 2am when the servers crashed – even on the night of the big company party. You hire people who look good on paper.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2019

An informal writing style is generally recommended. Your readers will appreciate the option to view the sites you reference, and having links pointing to other sites will further improve your search engine rankings. Don’t be shy, I don’t know many CEOs today that write their own speeches and marketing materials.

Blogging 88

Blogging Search Engine Optimization Web Writing 88

InfoChachkie

MARCH 20, 2012

Seth’s comments were particularly intriguing, as he attended UCSB but departed school before graduating in order to start a successful clothing company. He has used this approach to transform contentious arguments into constructive, meaningful conversations, including the particularly angry confrontation he references in his talk.

Tool 272

Tool Startup Writing Santa Barbara 272

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2014

Most business mentors tell me that the single biggest problem they have to deal with in small companies is the lack of open, honest, and effective communication, both from the top down and from the bottom up. Communication is not just talking, but also listening, writing, body language, and “actions speak louder than words.”

Technical Review 104

Technical Review Guide Entrepreneur Mentor 104

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

In our business lives we’re having to deal with decisions that could have lasting impacts on our companies without any compass to guide us in the direction we’re heading . If not, how much must a reduce costs to give our company enough runway to weather this current storm? you name it. But here is where empathy becomes most critical.

Demand 215

Demand Guide Customer Custom 215

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

Those references drive trillions of dollars of commerce. We're really latching onto the growing trend of building products that detect product references in social messaging. We automatically add tracking and point those product references to e-commerce merchants. Who is providing the funding and backing for the company?

San Diego 159

San Diego Social Media Commerce Snapchat 159

InfoChachkie

JULY 22, 2013

Brad is in the midst of writing a series of startup-oriented books. When writing Startup Life , Brad noted that he and Amy''s primary goal was to avoid a YARB (Yet Another Relationship Book). And on the other end of that spectrum, we didn''t want it to be a ''YARB,'' which we refer to as ''Yet Another Relationship Book.''

Startup 248

Startup Writing Santa Barbara RSS 248

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2017

Most business mentors tell me that the single biggest problem they have to deal with in small companies is the lack of open, honest, and effective communication, both from the top down and from the bottom up. Communication is not just talking, but also listening, writing, body language, and “actions speak louder than words.”

Mentor 61

Mentor Technical Review Entrepreneur Guide 61

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know all of this because every VC knows this because we’ve all either funded companies that have marketing technology or we’ve seen a pitch with a company that does this. Your deck should be so good that a VC asks you for permission to show it to his or her portfolio companies. Many of my colleagues do, too.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA. ” In truth many companies had no idea why they actually needed Facebook Likes but there was still a pain point. ” It’s a reason a company would buy. These references make for great discussions with customers.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Berkonomics

MARCH 13, 2014

Companies also need an inciting incident, because, more often than not, you often will depend upon selling your story to someone. What is the inciting incident for your company? For example, while Steve Jobs was abusive, rude, and unappreciative, he had what his colleagues referred to a reality distortion field.

Invest 237

Invest Examples Networking Writing 237

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog. Much of my traffic is through referring websites and/or social media. Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. Some search.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

Sometimes those motives are positive (they really want the chance to work with you, they think you have unique skills) and sometimes they are less positive (their first-tier of “go to” referrals passed on the deal, they don’t want to write another check themselves, etc.). I wrote here about why I avoid party rounds.

Venture Capital 337

Venture Capital Invest Ideas Entrepreneur 337

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

They have a wide set of existing relationships, they have teams of junior staff that cull databases (or increasing pile through LinkedIn), they are skilled in approaching prospective talent and they can “pre sell&# your company to get the recruit to the table in the first place. I’m also reluctant to hand over reference calling.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

InfoChachkie

JULY 22, 2013

Brad is in the midst of writing a series of startup-oriented books. When writing Startup Life , Brad noted that he and Amy''s primary goal was to avoid a YARB (Yet Another Relationship Book). And on the other end of that spectrum, we didn''t want it to be a ''YARB,'' which we refer to as ''Yet Another Relationship Book.''

Startup 210

Startup Writing Santa Barbara Entrepreneur 210

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2013

Most startup mentors tell me that the single biggest problem they have to deal with in small companies is the lack of open, honest, and effective communication, both from the top down and from the bottom up. Communication is not just talking, but also listening, writing, body language, and “actions speak louder than words.”

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Technical Review Guide Mentor 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more. The best way to do this is to reference actual data from a recent similar startup success. You may have heard that venture capitalists in Silicon Valley no longer read business plans.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2020

That means writing down and signing the terms of the agreement, after making sure everyone understands them. Later investors all think you have given away too much of the company too soon. These realities are part of the reason that this first tier of very early investors are often referred to as “friends, family, and fools.”

Funding 123

Funding Startup Equity Venture Capital 123

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 6, 2010

doing a reference call on a prospective employee. We started presenting our company and talking about our views of the industry. I was interviewing the founder of a prominent company of which many of you would have heard. THE REFERENCE CALL: Reference calls are hard. We were selling and not listening.

Startup 311

Startup Invest Course Research 311

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA , which I wrote about previously. Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. The first post covered the topic of “P” or pain.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

We are going to write checks of between $100,000 and $500,000, and we are going to invest in what we are calling first institutional capital. That's the first time organized, institutional, managed capital is coming into a company, right after friends and family. Our investment thesis we refer to as the connected consumer.

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

” In the article I discussed the downside of raising capital at a too high of a price and referred people to a previous article I had written encouraging founders to raise “ At the Top end of Normal ” as opposed to stratospheric prices. First, a down round sends a signal that something is wrong with your company.

Pricing 302

Pricing Seed Funding Invest Venture Capital 302

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2017

An informal writing style is generally recommended. Your readers will appreciate the option to view the sites you reference, and having links pointing to other sites will further improve your search engine rankings. Don’t be shy, I don’t know many CEOs today that write their own speeches and marketing materials.

Blogging 69

Blogging Search Engine Optimization Web Writing 69

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. Be accessible on social media, write a blog or articles for industry publications, and participate in conference panels and speaking engagements. Capture your “secret sauce.” Start with a service you know and love.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2012

Usually it’s on behalf of a portfolio company. And if you send an intro to a company once without asking – no problem. My belief – unless you know the VC really well (you’re a portfolio company of theirs, for example) I’d always ask for permission first. Helping with a Sales Lead. I do this often.

Email 359

Email Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 359