TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

The idea was that Boulevard could build a pretty large business catering to the needs of a niche industry that hadn’t traditionally been exposed to a purpose-built toolkit for its vertical. According to data provided by the company, Boulevard is definitely giving businesses a boost. billion transaction by Vista Equity Partners.

Software 323

Software Beverly Hills Los Angeles Equity 323

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

If you aren’t willing to take some risk as an entrepreneur, then don’t expect any gain. Nevertheless, we can all benefit by understanding a collective view from investors on the high-risk elements that every new business has faced historically based on the team, as well as in the marketplace. Huge ramp-up time and money required.

Invest 98

Invest Sites Technical Review Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2015

Many entrepreneurs still don’t understand that building a business culture today of doing good, like helping people (society) and planet (sustainability), is also a key to maximizing profit. Every company needs this focus to attract the best minds and loyalty in both categories. Hire the right team.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Organization Startup Pricing 117

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2023

Every business organization, large or small, has a variety of individual and team member types that factor into your ability to innovate and change the business to meet evolving customer needs and competition. He brings over 25 years of experience with Silicon Valley leadership companies in highlighting winners and losers.

Coach 96

Coach Ideas Mentor Organization 96

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2020

The challenge is to transform and hardwire your entire team to think in these terms, rather than the default focus on distinct towers of product quality, closing the sale, or fixing a complaint. Michelli, with inspiring stories on how one well-known company, Mercedes-Benz, made the transition and is profiting as a result.

Customer 168

Customer Custom Services Startup 168

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I don’t think it takes book smart people to build great companies – sometimes it’s a hindrance. Two quick stories from just yesterday.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2019

Many entrepreneurs still don’t understand that building a business culture today of doing good, like helping people (society) and planet (sustainability), is also a key to maximizing profit. Every company needs this focus to attract the best minds and loyalty in both categories. Hire the right team.

Organization 128

Organization Startup Pricing Customer 128

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

If you aren’t willing to take some risk as an entrepreneur, then don’t expect any gain. Nevertheless, we can all benefit by understanding a collective view from investors on the high-risk elements that every new business has faced historically based on the team, as well as in the marketplace. Huge ramp-up time and money required.

Startup 126

Startup Sites Technical Review Social Media 126

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2017

Ahead of the Recurring Revenue Conference ([link] which we are helping to sponsor next week, we are chatting with a few companies in the recurring revenue area space. We are also launching beverages and coffee, two new categories, next month. The problem is that there's no access. There's no access, for two reasons.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Services Sales Customer 124

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

When the early teams: angels, lowercase capital & first round capital funded Uber they had no idea it would be one of the most revolutionary ideas of our time. As is often said if you don’t get at least a few fellow VCs (and entrepreneurs) scratching their heads you may not be funding ideas with enough upside. 6SensorLabs.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). BuildOnline (the company I founded) has just announcement plans to be more aggressive in growing in the US. Let me not bury the lede.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I often talk about what I’m looking for when I meet with an entrepreneur. Above all else I’m looking for a genuine passion for what the entrepreneur is doing. You need a great concept in which you will build something that is truly unique and that will be valued by your customers.

Venture Capital 373

Venture Capital Startup Course Entrepreneur 373

socalTECH

JULY 16, 2014

For the last few years, startup accelerator MuckerLab has been helping very early stage companies define and grow their businesses, using the accelerator model and small investments to get companies to the next stage. What made you decide you needed to put more money into companies here?

Startup 206

Startup Capital Incubator Invest 206

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. The mistake entrepreneurs make is either writing a lengthy email (everybody has too much email so it will get skimmed / not digested) or not having a deck which means the VC can’t quickly determine his or her fit as a potential investor. The key is WHAT you send.

Venture Capital 261

Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2012

You have probably heard plenty of times that being an entrepreneur is a risky business, and investors talk all the time about reducing the risk. Here is my own priority list of key risk drivers that every entrepreneur and every investor should evaluate and minimize in starting a business: Team experience and depth risk.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Examples Social Network Marketing 108

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Topics we covered: B2B Companies You haven’t seen the full extent to how the correction is going to affect you. I pointed out that throughout history building companies has always taken time and we as a market have put an urgency to rush growth rates. A seed company hasn’t ramped up its cost base. That may happen.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

In the Los Angeles startup world, there are lots of high profile, buzzy companies which have lots of attention and funding--but which haven''t earned a dime of revenue. However, this town is also full of very profitable, growing, and revenue generating companies-- which have for the most part been below the radar.

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2020

How did the company start? Scott Grimes: Ultimately, we are a text messaging platform build on top of Twilio. We curate the best products within each category of finance. Scott Grimes: I previously started a company, Uproxx Media, which I sold to Time Warner Music. We see a lot of this is based on text messaging?

Content 124

Content Social Media Startup Artificial Inteligence 124

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2020

This week, Los Angeles-based Crosscut Ventures announced a brand new effort to provide health and wellness to the founders of companies it invests in, helping those founders with well being, mental health, stress management, coaching, and leadership development. That's the framework we've build with Evolution.

Invest 113

Invest Framework Coach Startup 113

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. We're trying to save companies money, and increase the productivity of employees. How did the company start?

El Segundo 169

El Segundo Southern California Startup CTO Hire 169

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

Many firms do it in a way that can be more detrimental to entrepreneurs. There are positive benefits to the right VCs being involved early – especially if your company or the economy hits bumps in the road. How this works: I try to set a price that feels like a fair balance between GRP and the company.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

socalTECH

JULY 21, 2014

We spoke with Scott Painter , CEO and founder of the company--and already a successful serial entrepreneurs--about the journey from startup to public company, lessons learned, and his advice to CEOS who might be thinking about an IPO for their own company. Congratulations on the IPO. Scott Painter: It''s interesting.

Truecar 209

Truecar Entrepreneur Southern California .Net 209

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. I quietly watched their success from the sidelines and kept spending time with and telling the CEO, Scott Lahman, that I wanted to invest in his next company.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2012

Many entrepreneurs I know feel guilty about not quitting their day job when initiating their startup, worrying about not giving their all to an employer, juggling the multiple roles, or even a legal conflict of interest. If your hypothesis is, “we can build a better web-based chat client”, that’s something you could test quickly.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Funding 95

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). I hustled.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2011

We know the mantra: Team matters. Team is the only thing that matters. Your ability to keep up is dependent on having a great team of differing skills. Individuals don’t build great companies, teams do. The company with the best team on the field will win. Is this philosophy exaggerated?

Startup 399

Startup Class Blogging Company 399

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). I hustled.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2016

If you aren’t willing to take some risk as an entrepreneur, then don’t expect any gain. Nevertheless, we can all benefit by understanding a collective view from investors on the high-risk elements that every new business has faced historically based on the team, as well as in the marketplace. Huge ramp-up time and money required.

Startup 104

Startup Entrepreneur Sites Technical Review 104

socalTECH

MAY 17, 2019

Loo--who was the very first employee at ServiceNow--explains what that means, and why companies use the startup's software. The company is all about data solutions which combine meaningful application frameworks together. I have been in IT service management for over 30 years, at companies even before ServiceNow.

SaaS 113

SaaS Startup Customer Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2018

If you aren’t willing to take some risk as an entrepreneur, then don’t expect any gain. Nevertheless, we can all benefit by understanding a collective view from investors on the high-risk elements that every new business has faced historically based on the team, as well as in the marketplace. Huge ramp-up time and money required.

Sites 81

Sites Technical Review Social Media Entrepreneur 81

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. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know. Thank you. (if 1:00 – 3:40).

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

A theme I often hear from the entrepreneurs and startups I advise is that once they see that first surge of traction from customers, they can relax and enjoy life for a change. Even companies with long-established and well-respected brands, such as Apple and Amazon, can’t afford to rest on their laurels.

Ideas 77

Ideas Customer Custom Competition 77

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

The company was founded by Bong Koh, a former EIR at Prism VentureWorks and venture capitalist at Advanced Technology Ventures; he also co-founded ibeatyou. We break it down by a number of vertical categories, including Indulgent--all about food, wine, and alcohol; Active--outdoor athletic endeavors; and Creative, which is arts and crafts.

Startup 271

Startup CTO Coach Activity Software Review 271

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 31, 2014

With the help of co-hosts and partners, including Bruin Entrepreneurs , Start-up UCLA , USC E-Club , Incubatrix, and more, Wowfand was able to put together the first startup rivalry to decide the dominant startup school in Los Angeles. Votes came from both the teams’ network as well as natural visitors to the website.

Startup 101

Startup USC UCLA Southern California 101

socalTECH

JANUARY 9, 2014

The company recently raised a $750,000 seed round of funding. We spoke to CEO Brian Nickerson --an Internet veteran with time at Yahoo and Internet Brands--about the company and its goals. One, is most of our team has worked together in this business for several years. What''s the background of your team?

Internet Brands 257

Internet Brands Content Startup Sites 257

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2014

Many entrepreneurs still don’t understand that building a business culture today of doing good, like helping people (society) and planet (sustainability), is also a key to maximizing profit. Every company needs this focus to attract the best minds and loyalty in both categories. Hire the right team.

Startup 91

Startup Organization Pricing Customer 91