Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

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. The Gust Deal Funnel from the last 12 months indicates is that 70% of the interested companies never make it past the initial screening process. Build a prototype product.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2019

More and more customers these days are doing their own marketing research, scanning internet reviews and feedback from friends, rather than trusting messages that you push out through advertising. Customers are pulled to companies that are role models for saving the environment, fostering social change, and giving back to the less advantaged.

Marketing 94

Marketing Social Media Technical Review Customer 94

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2015

Great technology leads to innovative solutions that are possible, but not necessarily great businesses. For example, hydrogen-fueled engines were invented over a century ago, with a continuing promise of breathing air and exhaling pure water vapor and having over 200 companies active in the hydrogen sector today.

Technical Review 54

Technical Review Product Activity Technology 54

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2016

Investors have also learned not to invest in ideas but only in entrepreneurs and teams who can deliver solutions. Companies that do this best become market leaders. , AltaVista, InfoSeek and others), but according to Investopedia , Google was the first to really monetize search. billion in 2015. But Google is not unique.

Ideas 59

Ideas Technical Review Google Startup 59

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

In short the board is there to represent the interest of all shareholders (big & small) of the company and all other stakeholders (debt, creditors, employees, etc.). The board’s job is to review the company’s financial performance and strategy and help provide counsel to the executive team.

Tips 212

Tips Slides Startup Technical Review 212

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. But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

With public interest in artificial intelligence technologies on the rise, five of the world’s largest corporations—vying against each other in so many spheres—are banding together to support research on the ethical and societal issues raised by machines with increasingly human-like capabilities.

Artificial Inteligence 40

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Technical Advisors Research 40

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

One of the things I discuss the most with the portfolio companies I’m involved with is that “you manage what you measure.”. Make them widely available inside the company and share your most important goals with your board. My experience has proven that even some well known companies are under-whelming in this department.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup SEO Customer 346

Tech.Co

MAY 22, 2018

Truth be told, your only path to some serious funding is perseverance and diligence in getting meetings and being prepared. To help you crush your next investor meeting, we asked top VCs and tech leaders to share their best pitch advice. Founders are understandably very passionate about their product and startup.

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

We will be announcing the StartupDemo companies very soon. We give a huge Thank You to the following sponsors: Demand Media is a leading online media company that informs, entertains and connects millions of people every day. TCA is a not-for-profit organization. Coloft will also be giving away $1000 worth of co-working space!

Technical Review 58

Technical Review Software Review Santa Monica Tech Coast Angels 58

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. Many of our job postings for Engineering positions describe the company as a place “where the word ‘millions’ is used frequently and in many contexts&#.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

Few investors these days have the time or patience to read a full business plan, so a better way to catch their eye is with a tightly written and well formatted two-page executive summary. Skip the fuzzy marketing terms, such as "easier to use," "lower cost" and "disruptive technology."

Summary 101

Summary Patents Technical Review Competition 101

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. My blog was wiped out. Thus begins the venture capital dance.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I had a picture in the office of my first company with the logo above and the capital letters JFDI. (In I spent nearly a decade building software for large companies and then advising companies on the same. The technology team disagrees on direction and wants resolutions. This is part of my Startup Advice series.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2009

Ability to Pivot – I don’t like to invest in people that I’ve never met before who come through my office wanting to have a term sheet within 30 days. Yes, there is the mythical company you all heard about that walked into Sequoia and had a term sheet 24 hours later. I then covered Street Smarts.

Entrepreneur 291

Entrepreneur Startup Google Yammer 291

SoCal Delicious

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Ten Tech Entrepreneurs Who Are Putting LA on the Map. ” Residents of Northern California (everyone north of Bakersfield) don’t understand how we do it, constantly touting Palo Alto’s tech scene. Founder and CEO since starting the company back in 1999, Miller has led Cornerstone through 11 years of consecutive growth.

Technical Review 75

Technical Review Entrepreneur Riot Games Southern California 75

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

Of course there are scenarios where a written business plan is not critical, but I haven’t seen one yet where a well-written 15-page document, or at least a 10-slide pitch, is a negative. A business plan may be a small investment to get a shot at that opportunity. With bootstrapping, no business plan is expected by anyone.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

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

DECEMBER 5, 2010

Brands didn’t advertise their web pages they advertised “AOL Keywords.&# If you were a newly minted, venture-backed consumer Internet company you had to have a deal with AOL to reach your customers. By the mid-nineties we had the World Wide Web, which gave us a standard way to publish web pages using HTML.

Social Network 297

Social Network Networking Web 2.0 Web 297

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Yet according to the latest data from AngelSoft , only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. The AngelSoft Deal Funnel from the last 12 months indicates is that 70% of the interested companies never make it past the initial screening process. are eliminated during due diligence.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Xconomy

AUGUST 12, 2016

government’s Precision Medicine Initiative is an ambitious effort to collect the genomic data of 1 million Americans, and tech giant Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG ) is deeply involved. Alex Lash examined the company’s role, via its biotech subsidiary Verily Life Sciences, in the massive project. —The U.S. —David H.

Google 40

Google Technical Review News Research 40

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

The result is that the Main Street Venture Fund consistently has more money available than good opportunities for investment. After considering about 200 investment opportunities over the past two years, we have established a decision making process to identify trophy entrepreneurs and startups. Participation.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

My firm GRP Partners recently funded a young LA based company named Ad.Ly that is an “in-stream advertising&# company currently focused on monetizing Twitter. Traditional media companies published their stories on the web. Advertising has driven the majority of Internet innovation. was the “static&# web.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

Fortunately I was mostly a technology consultant, which meant that I coded computers, designed databases and planned system integration projects. But all of the data projections were so different so I decided to call some of the research companies and ask how they derived their data. It was originally COBOL and DB2 – so what?

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

It’s always fun debating companies with Dana because she’s always so knowledgeable on deals – particularly those in the digital media, ad-tech and eCommerce spaces. But having different funds available for different stages of one’s company is actually a really good thing. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. OTHER DEALS: 1.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 19, 2011

TechZulu is heading out to CES and we have tons of products/gadgets/games/companies to review and interview. Learn how to attract funding, planning an exit strategy, and where they are investing. For double points Like Us on Facebook and leave a comment on our page on the product you want to see covered.

Social Media 84

Social Media Newsletter Mobile Startup 84

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

We will be bringing you some of the hottest startups around to give you a quick rundown about their companies and get to know the entrepreneur behind those companies. StartupDemo is an opportunity for early stage startups to showcase their new products and/or services. Be sure to tune in at 5:30pm PT. Adrenaline Fueled Angel.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2011

We thought it would be interesting to hear about why KidZui is investing in original content, so we spoke with Cliff Boro , KidZui's CEO. The passion of the company has remained consistent, although the manner in how we do that has evolved. Our biggest task in starting the company, was creating a way to find the best content.

Content 165

Content Startup Web Technical Review 165

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2015

In the last few years, Southern California has been a key market in launching mobile applications and services, due to a huge, mobile-savvy consumer population. As eBay, we have the ability to really focus on a more, family friendly experience, and put more customer service behind our product.

San Diego 100

San Diego Mobile Marketing Sites 100

InfoChachkie

APRIL 9, 2012

It generally takes an oppressively long time to work your way to the front of The Herd, just as it takes many years to rise to the top of most Big Dumb Companies (BDCs). In a 2010 TechCrunch article , Ron Conway discusses the success and failure rates of the ~ 500 companies he had invested in during the prior 12-years.

Startup 243

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Statistics 243

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

It's been awhile since we last caught up with Los Angeles-based Language Weaver (www.languageweaver.com), a venture-backed firm which develops language translation software, so we sat down the other day with Mark Tapling , the President and CEO of the firm, to hear more about where the company is nowadays--plus its strategy for growth and an exit.

Software Review 145

Software Review USC Content Tech Coast Angels 145

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 17, 2012

We wanted the name to also reflect what the company is about – Profile – was an important word for us – as people create profiles on the site – then it was finding possible domain names that would work. We have many people on the team who have been with us from day one – at all levels in the company.

Advertising 79

Advertising Services Social Network Startup 79

SoCal Delicious

OCTOBER 8, 2012

Loading… Tech. COMPANY FB COMPANY|FB. COMPANY GOOG COMPANY|GOOG. COMPANY YHOO COMPANY|YHOO. COMPANY MSFT COMPANY|MSFT. COMPANY TSLA COMPANY|TSLA. Financial News. Professor Journal. SmartMoney. Student Journal. Virtual Stock Exchange. WSJ Classifieds. WSJ Classroom.

Los Angeles 44

Los Angeles Software Review Technical Review Journal 44

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Facebook just hit 1 billion active users globally and that was great but a new social payment application is set to make Facebook users across the world get more from their connections and even allowing companies to sell or receive payments from their pages. As we know, developers always give their product a code name.

Software Review 92

Software Review Social Network Platform Technical Review 92

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

We've basically taken advantage of all the new technology out there--especially, the web-based service model. For parents, if you're interested in how your kids are doing, you can find out what their schedule is like, what homework is due when, what their grades are, and how they are progressing, plus you can communicate with their teachers.

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 20, 2010

On CBS MoneyWatch: Why Debit Cards Are Dangerous BNET Business Network: BNET TechRepublic ZDNet ZDNet Members login Newsletters Site Assistance RSS Feeds Home News & Blogs Videos White Papers Downloads Reviews Popular Enterprise Web 2.0 Dion Hinchcliffe Get Enterprise Web 2.0 Dion Hinchcliffe Get Enterprise Web 2.0

Web 29

Web Technical Review Web 2.0 Social Media 29

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Matthew Graczyk is founder of angel-backed Zubican (www.zubican.com)--saw a problem, which was the difficulty of finding suppliers for products for businesses--and decided to solve the problem, with a site specifically targeted at helping B2B buyers and sellers connect. What's your background, and how did you decide to start the company?

SEO 100

SEO Advertising Gogii Tech Coast Angels 100