Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. Link has a summary of his argument plus a great video). Look at Viddy & SocialCast.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2015

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. That might start with the CEO giving the investor pitch to the whole organization, and distributing the current business plan document to everyone.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2013

I hear many ideas that sound more like dreams, rather than products. It’s not hard to come up with the idea that a cure for cancer would make a great business, but some things are harder than they look. Draft a business plan summary. Start your search for key resources. Prepare 5-year financial projections.

Ideas 106

Ideas Startup Summary CalTech 106

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 10, 2013

You start out your board meeting and a well-meaning board member who read your deck noticed a detail she didn’t understand on page 18, “Bob, I noticed that your margins in Canada declined from 48% to 46% while your margin in Mexico is up by 4%. Can I Just Show You One Thing That Doesn’t Work in Your Product?

Startup 312

Startup Course Summary Product 312

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Even though the Initial Public Offering (IPO) alternative for a successful startup seems to be coming back, it is relatively rare. IPOs in 2008, the market was up to a still trivial 128 in 2012 (compared to 675 in 1996). After a record low of 39 U.S. Expensive new IT systems, consultants, and investment bankers are usually required.

Startup 89

Startup Entrepreneur Report Summary 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2012

An "elevator pitch" is a concise, well-practiced description of your startup and your plan, delivered with conviction and enthusiasm, that your mother should be able to understand in the time it would take to ride up an elevator. How do you expect them to get excited, if your startup sounds like a dull subject to you?

Startup 113

Startup Patents Template Competition 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

If you’re funding the same stuff as everybody else and if you started your activities when the clues were obvious you’re much less likely to drive enormous returns. This was certainly the case when I invested in a small YouTube video production company called Maker Studios that recently sold to Disney for just shy of $1 billion.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. TWIVC Summary – Richard de Silva. Richard De Silva started off as a journalist with the Washington Post after growing up in D.C. Startup after Iron Planet? (6:00 1:00 – 3:40).

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2011

Even though the Initial Public Offering (IPO) alternative for a successful startup seems to be coming back into vogue, it is still extremely rare. companies made the IPO transition in 2009, out of thousands of startups. Only about a dozen U.S. Expensive new IT systems, consultants, and investment bankers are usually required.

Startup 94

Startup Entrepreneur Report Summary 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you. Executive summary glossy.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 20, 2013

Many of them have their iPhones and laptops ready to command their attention the moment that you start sucking. Stories have starts, middles and ends. They bring your product to life. Establish the persona of the person who would be using your products. I They all start to blend together. why does this matter?

Slides 399

Slides Startup Conference Writing 399

InfoChachkie

JUNE 23, 2011

Messenger : Jason Lehmbeck , Co-Founder and CEO of DataPop , former VP of Emerging Ad Products at Overture Services and Yahoo! What follows is a summary which paraphrases Jason’s responses. We started the company to make ads that people love to click on and we’re doing it at scale with millions of ads per day.”.

Yahoo 210

Yahoo Startup Advertising Summary 210

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

An "elevator pitch" is a concise, well-practiced description of your startup and your plan, delivered with conviction and enthusiasm, that your mother should be able to understand in the time it would take to ride up an elevator. How do you expect them to get excited, if your startup sounds like a dull subject to you?

Startup 93

Startup Competition Summary Patents 93

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded early by one of the 318,000 active Angel investors in the USA alone. Over the past 10 years, I have had the opportunity to see how the process works, several times from the startup side, and more recently from the Angel perspective (as a member of an Angel group screening committee).

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

This is part of my series on Startup Advice. I love working with Aussies because their outlook on life seems very similar to what I grew up with in California. Let’s assume you run a Customer Support software company. After that you need to begin discussing your company. Pretty laid back and non-hierarchic.

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Custom 314

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

There’s a line of thinking in Silicon Valley that you should build product businesses rather than services businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. And stop effing around trying to create a product company.&#. You’re a small fish. You’re a small fish.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

These range from companies pitching me to portfolio companies presenting at board meetings. Almost always the CEO plus members of his or her management team including tech, marketing, sales and/or product. Otherwise they end up looking ineffective or insignificant and this is especially troublesome if you’re raising money.

Venture Capital 377

Venture Capital Slides Course Summary 377

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog. Since it’s already written (and since I promised not to republish on my blog other than a summary) if you’re interested please have a read over there. Summary notes and then I’ll extend: Should you blog? The new stuff: How do I get started?

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

The promised to follow up with: calls, using your product, talking to customers or “noodle on things.&# Will they? Despite best intentions they probably won’t follow up on their actions. Why don’t VC’s follow up? They have probably seen 4-5 new companies this week minimum.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Startup Email News 277

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Summary Version. It means the “ torso TV ” consumption patterns will be more important than the head or the long tail for the next era of media companies. I have started thinking about what the future might look like and I’ve started imagining what I call, “MMOV” or massive multiplayer online video.

Startup 380

Startup Media Content Platform 380

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Even though the Initial Public Offering (IPO) alternative for a successful startup seems to be coming back into vogue, it is relatively rare. IPOs in 2008, the market was up to a still trivial 159 in 2011. Even in most of these cases, the original startup founders were pushed out, or heavily supplemented, with “experienced” executives.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Startup Report Summary 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

As a business advisor, I have to recommend even to established companies that they review and revamp their competitive strategy now, even if it appears to be working today. As a simple example, the Wal-Mart website now shows shoppers more products that they may like, based on previous purchases.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Custom 142

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

Understand Personality Types – One of the benefits of working for a big company (Accenture) was that we had lots of speakers come in and train us in topics like leadership, creativity, presentations, strategy, etc. We had a training session from somebody who put up the four-quadrant graph you see above. Most of them sucked.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from Gust (formerly AngelSoft), only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. Line up an experienced team. Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 30, 2011

They first started in 1994 and are therefore almost as old as the Web itself. CTR meaning for every 1,000 ads that are served up only 2 people click on them. So I’ve spent the last few years checking out companies that are trying to solve for this problem. Banner Ads. I guess from there we had nowhere to go but down.

Advertising 352

Advertising Media Social Media Screening 352

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2012

I hear many ideas that sound more like dreams, rather than products. It’s not hard to come up with the idea that a cure for cancer would make a great business, but some things are harder than they look. Draft a business plan summary. Start your search for key resources. Prepare 5-year financial projections.

Ideas 97

Ideas Summary Startup CalTech 97

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

Paige is a gifted communicator and my summary does not do him justice. He offers a number of worthwhile tips and tricks that I was not able to capture in the textual summary, so the 14-minute audio file is well worth your time. What follows is a summary which paraphrases Paige’s responses. Click here to listen to the Audio File.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 9, 2014

No clear vision or purpose This should be the starting point for any startup founder, but it’s often overlooked. The money will end up following you.” Tony Hsieh Without a clear purpose, a startup can meander along without much momentum. Chase the vision not the money. Here are two examples. By focusing on the ‘why?’

Startup 78

Startup Design Custom Customer 78

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2011

I hear many ideas that sound more like dreams, rather than products. It’s not hard to come up with the idea that a cure for cancer would make a great business, but some things are harder than they look. Draft a business plan summary. Start your search for key resources. Prepare 5-year financial projections.

Ideas 104

Ideas Entrepreneur Summary Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from AngelSoft , only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. Line up an experienced team. Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

It seems like everyone has an Internet startup these days. So what are the key strategies that can improve the success odds for your online startup? In the online world, you need a solid connection between your domain name and your product, brand, or business. Mashable claims there are 150,000 new web sites created per day.

Social Media 93

Social Media Content Startup Web 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2012

As Guy Kawasaki says in his book “ The Art of the Start ,” if you can’t describe your business model in ten words or less, you don’t have a business model. Try something like, “the product costs $X, and we sell it for $Y.” Here is a summary of a half-dozen of the most common models: Facebook model. eCommerce model.

Startup 95

Startup Custom Customer Summary 95

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

As Guy Kawasaki says in his book “ The Art of the Start ,” if you can’t describe your business model in ten words or less, you don’t have a business model. Try something like, “the product costs $X, and we sell it for $Y.” Here is a summary of a half-dozen of the most common models: Facebook model. eCommerce model.

Ideas 92

Ideas Startup Custom Customer 92

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I’m an investor at [Big Name, Large Fund VC] and recently came across [Your Company]. It looks as though you’ve built a very interesting business, and I’d love to spend some time getting a better understanding of your future plans for the company and if there is an opportunity to partner with [My Firm].

Venture Capital 294

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2010

You can watch this week’s TWiVC episode by clicking on the link and my summary notes are below. {if It was the first company to do “paid search&# back when Larry & Sergey were saying they would never do it. (plus a large settlement on patent disputes paid from Google) so Bill did well on it. Finally, I HATE the name.

Venture Capital 271

Venture Capital Capital Google Platform 271

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 18, 2011

What follows is a summary which paraphrases Mark’s responses. 5) Mark, why does the startup world need SteelHouse? . 3) How has your role as the senior Tech Leader at the Rubicon Project and eHarmony influenced SteelHouse’s product roadmap and go-to-market strategy? You can watch the video below or on YouTube here: [link].

eHarmony 204

eHarmony Media Oracle Commerce 204