Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2020

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe. Factor in all the cost elements.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 122

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

Josh Kaplan and Dee Murthy, both founder and co-CEO of the Los Angeles–based company, started Ghost in 2021 after previously working together at Four Five Group, a men’s apparel business. Ghost is not alone in developing technology focused on inventory. Last week, Syrup Tech raised $6.3 Syrup Tech bags $6.3M

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

There were startups and a software industry but barely. I started my first company in 1999 and was admittedly swept up in all of this: Magazine covers, fancy conferences, artificial valuations and easy money. Between 2006–2008 I sold both companies that I had started and became a VC. There was no money train. It was 1991.

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Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

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. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. ” **.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Conversely if you’re burning $600,000 per month (yes, some companies do) then you only have 5 months of cash left. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. Fables of the reconstruction.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

TechZulu caught up with co-founder Calvin Schemanski chat about their upcoming launch, their product and why Long reviews suck. myfab5 is a platform that reinvents the restaurant review. Unlike typical review sites, our platform does not use star ratings or long reviews. What is myfab5?

Software Review 79

Software Review Technical Review Writing Startup 79

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. What are related products/companies? What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any? What Is This? Send brief bios.

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. What are related products/companies? What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any? What Is This? Send brief bios.

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

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

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

However, to a Big Dumb Company (BDC), a startup’s IP is a thing of beauty. As such, they are hesitant to acquire a company which has not sought formal protection of their IP for two reasons. One is obvious, without protection, such IP might prove to be of little worth, as other companies can mimic the technology without recourse.

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IP Patents Company Companies 256

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. And do I fit as a Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO ? These “startups” are almost always mostly-non-technical founders offering 1-2% premoney for a “lead developer” position. It can be done, but it’s hard.

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. I commented briefly on his blog and made a mental note to write a blog post. At the time he granted me permission to write about his story. So he decided to start his company in Canada.

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Startup High Tech Software Review 282

socalTECH

JULY 22, 2016

Rufus Labs is one of a number of hardware startups which have started to proliferate in the community, due to low cost hardware, 3D printing, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Gabe Grifoni: At Rufus Labs, we are focused heavily on building wearables and technology in a wearable platform for the enterprise.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Startup Software Review CTO Hire 100

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

This latest round valued the company in excess of a billion dollars, entering them into the overly-hyped Unicorn Club. In contrast, low-volume, high-conviction investors like Rincon only invests in a handful new companies each year, making it much more costly (in dollars and effort expended) to invest in a loser.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2014

If you have a software development background like mine, Im sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe. Factor in all the cost elements.

Outsource Development 95

Outsource Development Outsource Offshore Software Review 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2016

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe. Factor in all the cost elements.

Outsource Development 53

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 53

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory. As I naturally get asked all the time why we invested in Company A or Company B, I thought I’d just put forth my thesis in writing. What does it do?

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. Brad on blogging.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

socalTECH

OCTOBER 31, 2011

One of Urbandig's co-founders, Mike Macadaan -- the former VP of User Experience at MySpace, and creator of the technology conference Twiistup--sat down to talk to us about the company. There are lots of knowledgeable people that we find to write these guides--people who grew up there, and who are experts in the area.

Guide 203

Guide Software Review Twiistup Technical Review 203

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2012

Tech Reporters: These individuals will write and edit informative and practical articles on a range of topics including Startups/Entrepreneurs, Gadgets, Mobile Tech, Tech in Entertainment, Gaming, Apps & Software, productivity, and cover breaking tech news. Take a look below and give us a shout.

Technical Review 71

Technical Review Software Review Writing News 71

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. To hear about the company, we spoke with Ramit Varma , co-founder of the company. I had worked as a tutor for Princeton Review, and Jake for Kaplan. We wanted to be able to invest in our software and our learning tools.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

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. . Last year I lost a deal in a company that I wanted to invest in and that I thought I should have won. I wanted to be sure that they knew how much all of our partners loved what they were doing with their company.

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. . Last year I lost a deal in a company that I wanted to invest in and that I thought I should have won. I wanted to be sure that they knew how much all of our partners loved what they were doing with their company.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2010

Bill Gates once famously said that people tend to overestimate the impact of technology in the 1-year timeframe and underestimate its impact in the 10-year timeframe. I tend not to go into heat when I hear the latest buzz on the tech blogs about the latest gadgets. Here are 4 areas / companies that I’m excited about: 1.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

Investor in Twitter, Foursquare, DISQUS, and (by Naval’s own admission) “a lot of other companies you have never heard of”. I recommend you first review Dharmesh’s article and then listen to Naval’s thoughts. “As These days, thanks to code and community, we can productize almost any process done by humans.

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Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Richard Wolpert is a well known investor in the Los Angeles technology community, through his own fund, Chance Technologies; as a Venture Partner at Amplify.LA and Venture Advisor at Accel Partners; and has a long history in the tech community, having been Chief Strategy Officer at RealNetworks and President of Disney Online.

Startup 147

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Software Review 147

InfoChachkie

JUNE 11, 2012

Mark Zuckerberg – “The dynamic of managing people and being CEO in a company is a lot different than being college roommates with someone.”. Although it may be comfortable to start a company with your friends, it is a mistake, unless your friend(s) happens to be ideally suited to their role in your venture.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Education Entrepreneur 279

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

I plan to write a whole separate blog post about this quote because it’s always stuck with me. In my blog post about how I hate losing I told the story about how when I was running my first company in the UK I competed and won a major contract with the largest water company, Thames Water. That is, until I lost.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

It is code word for “I’m not ready to invest for whatever reason … I need more proof.&#. Now there are some firms that have strict rules about not funding pre-revenue companies – that’s different. They get positive product reviews on TechCrunch, GigaOm or Paidcontent.org. They hire key staff.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

socalTECH

OCTOBER 30, 2008

We're always interested in how technology is influencing the business of Hollywood, and recently ran across Los Angeles-based Scripped. to the business of script writing, and is looking to combine a free online tool for writing scripts with matching those scripts with content producers. What's Scripped?

Content 138

Content Writing Software Review Hollywood 138

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2011

We spoke with CEO and co-founder Jimmy Hendricks about where Deal Current fits into the industry, and how the company grew out of a need of a client. It's the biggest portion of our revenues at our company, and our clients include the Buffalo News, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, JDate, Spark network, and many entrepreneurs.

Platform 263

Platform Training Software Review Advertising 263

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

The company--which is in the business of operating a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web graphics, multimedia, applications, and more to end users-- recently disclosed it more than doubled its revenues in 2012, and has grown to over 230 employees--all due to a huge amount of demand for CDN services by its customers.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 28, 2012

He kicked off the fest with his opening keynote, saying LA is a unique city of mash-ups, where tech, startups and entertainment – plus creativity, cultures, and passion – mix with successful results. RT @OEInnovation #SBF why I live in #LA: intersection of #beach #tech #entrepreneur #entertainment. & Women 2.0:

Hollywood 67

Hollywood Technical Review Startup Rustic Canyon 67

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series on Start-up Lessons that I learned from founding two companies. In the 2003/04 timefame I was living in the UK and running my first company. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. We helped the write out their requirements for a system.

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Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

socalTECH

APRIL 29, 2014

We spoke with Mike Outmesguine , CEO and Alan DeRossett , CTO of the company, and how their roots in do-it-yourself, "Maker" projects is key to their entry into the prize competition. The company actually was working on a different project which had dried up at that point, and it was just natural to step into this at that point.

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Startup Competition Software Review UCLA 262