SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I recently got together with Aaron Shechet and an early stage startup to discuss the direction the company might want to take. I grew up in Los Angeles and went to undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, graduating in 2003 with Honors in Economics. While at UC Santa Barbara, I started a café which served over 1100 dorm residents.

Startup 150

Startup SEO Pepperdine Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog. Blogging is an important way to build an audience and also drive SEO traffic. Don’t blog about what you think would be “cool.&# I don’t think that most startup blogs should be about how to build a startup. I put much time into it.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches?

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2010

Chartbeat is a relatively young company and product. I’m only writing about the product because I’m passionate about it. Let’s start with what I like most about the product. It’s fun when a story is blowing up to see the right hand side of your screen light up like a pinball machine.

Blogging 287

Blogging Google Screening Mahalo 287

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2013

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on paid search results (appear on the first page of search results, right hand column, despite low SEO rank). This is NOT the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Marty Zwilling.

Paid Search 90

Paid Search PPC Organization SEO 90

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2013

In the past, if your startup had a website presence, the company was credible by definition. Yet most startups I know experience the same shock of disappointment when they first open up their website to offer their “million dollar idea” product, and nobody comes. Set up an award, and show winners.

Search Engine Optimization 105

Search Engine Optimization Startup Advertising SEO 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2013

million new pages added to the Internet every day, the biggest challenge for every entrepreneur is to get found, and get some credibility for a new startup. The biggest excuse most startup founders mention is too much to do building a product, mapping strategy, investors, etc. Your Google ranking will go up dramatically.

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Serial entrepreneur, venture investor and startup accelerator pioneer Brad Feld has notoriously mocked traditional marketing throughout his career. companies should… focus on building amazing products. For a long time, I had a line which was, ‘Whenever I hear the word marketing, it makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth.’”.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

Back to regular writing this week so check back in. 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. (if you get some value out of the notes consider checking out his company or Twitter feed). 1:00 – 3:40).

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

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. In the end it will be up to you to figure out what to do.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

Skyler Lucci is co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based HeyTutor (www.heytutor.com), a startup which has created an online platform which connects and matches students with in-person tutors. The company recently raised a round of funding from Santa Barbara-based ScOps Venture Capital. Connecting people at scale is super-difficult.

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Beverly Hills Acquisition 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2010

Search engine marketing is simply buying advertising for your business from Google or another search engine company. This is NOT the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). All these models start with the advertiser choosing the right search keywords to match user searches. Campaign setup and ad copy writing.

SEM 90

SEM Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization 90

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2010

In the past, if your startup had a website presence, the company was credible by definition. Yet most startups I know experience the same shock of disappointment when they first open up their website to offer their “million dollar idea” product, and nobody comes. Set up an award, and show winners.

Tips 92

Tips Search Engine Optimization Startup Advertising 92

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

With the an estimated 150K new websites and 7M new pages added to the Internet every day, the biggest challenge for every entrepreneur is to get found, and get some credibility for a new startup. The biggest roadblock is that startup founders already have too much to do building a product, mapping strategy, courting investors, etc.

Blogging 93

Blogging Invest Startup Writing 93

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Innovation and Geography I ran across a post in Read/Write Web - Does Location Matter in Web Innovation? Ive personally been involved in the start-up world in Los Angeles for about 15 years, and have had the opportunity to work on many early-stage companies (e.g.,

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

San Diego-based Newsforce (www.newsforce.com) is a startup which is looking to take advantage of the hunger of the newspaper and media business for revenue, and has created a product which takes press releases and commercial content, and inserts them onto news sites in "sponsored content" blocks. Tell us a little bit about Newsforce?

News 124

News Advertising Press Sites 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2012

In the past, if your startup had a website presence, the company was credible by definition. Yet most startups I know experience the same shock of disappointment when they first open up their website to offer their “million dollar idea” product, and nobody comes. Set up an award, and show winners.

Search Engine Optimization 96

Search Engine Optimization Entrepreneur Sites Advertising 96

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Just ask the people who poured money into once “hot&# companies like RazorGator or Friendster. Lead investors and follow investors can both win equally but in each case you know why you personally are writing the check. You’re going up against Dennis Crowley who built Dodgeball before ever founding FourSquare.

Invest 288

Invest Angel Web 2.0 SEO 288

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2018

Even more disappointing are other statistics that show most websites that do exist have a very low “conversion rate,” or ratio of visitors to the site versus ones who meet your goal of buying a product or signing up for a newsletter. No company exists in a vacuum. Make your solution and company symbiotic but better than competitors.

SEO 53

SEO Tips Newsletter Statistics 53

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 6, 2014

To get some up to speed, Rap Genius , as a team and company have upheld a reputation as anomalies in the tech world. More recently, they launched an iPhone app called Genius , which they say will be a cornerstone for the company’s future. When we started, we did the personalities and just had fun with it.

Startup 93

Startup Mobile Entertainment Sites 93

socalTECH

MARCH 21, 2011

In the case of SmartyPants Vitamins (www.wearesmartypants.com), it's at the core of the company. There was a real opportunity for me to arbitrage the last decade and a half of my experience in the Internet, and apply that to a products company, and to get some real competitive advantage.

Web 225

Web Social Media SEO Media 225

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Ive not found that much use for LinkedIn to help my blogging, but Im starting to think about this. I am in the middle of writing up some of my thoughts on this and will post about it and let you know. Im very happy with the time Ive spent building up my LinkedIn network. I definitely check people out using LinkedIn.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

socalTECH

OCTOBER 23, 2013

To hear about how the company decided to expand into the market, we caught up with CEO Loren Bendele to learn more about its new grocery store coupon app, Favado (www.favado.com). We, as a company, have been more focused on online deals and coupons, and haven''t been focused on groceries at all. Explain what Favado is all about?

Mobile 140

Mobile Sales Startup Sites 140

Jason Nazar

AUGUST 15, 2013

“If You Build It…They Will Come”, may work for historical baseball ghosts, but it’s not a strategy you can rely on when starting an internet company.Driving traffic to your website is a formula that can be reverse engineered. Other than paying for traffic with advertising, there are only so many ways to get people to show up at your door.

Web 61

Web Social Media Content Sites 61

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2009

How did the company start? Instead of writing a book, we wanted to develop a platform to bring our methods to life, and scale our knowledge. That became our company Hit the Ground Running, which we launched in 2007 to help a number of Fortune 500 clients with our technology and methodologies. But, it didn't seem scalable.

Geni 100

Geni Web Guide Platform 100

SoCal Delicious

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Heres 5 steps to start exploring: View the "Best Of" list with 50+ essays on viral marketing, gaming, and ads » Get introduced: About this blog, why entrepreneurs and marketers recommend it » Receive updates by email or RSS feed or Twitter. Write me an e-mail and let me know what youre up to! Step 1: Prototypes.

Startup 29

Startup IP Email Report 29

Jason Nazar

JANUARY 14, 2009

“If You Build It…They Will Come” may work for historical baseball ghosts, but it’s not a strategy you can rely on when starting an internet company. Other than paying for traffic with advertising, there are only so many ways to get people to show up at your door. Make a list of 15 similar websites.

Web 62

Web Social Media Content Sites 62

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

No one wakes up and says to themselves, “I need to buy that product I have never heard of before.” Such Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is modern-day snake oil. Affiliates invest the up-front marketing expenses required to attract customers. Unattributed – There is no such thing as organic customers. It does not happen.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

They are not the generalists required for new product startups. As your business starts up, you need marketing programs, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a modern “pull” strategy based on social networks, and lead generation. Writing specialists. Administrative specialists.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Services Search Engine Optimization Startup 106

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding. Nevertheless, if you share too much in your funding process or meet too many VCs expect a certain amount of your ideas to spread around the startup community. We spoke briefly about why.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

They are not the generalists required for new product startups. As your business starts up, you need marketing programs, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a modern “pull” strategy based on social networks, and lead generation. Writing specialists. Administrative specialists.

Entrepreneur 89

Entrepreneur Services Product Search Engine Optimization 89

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Entrepreneurs who run startups have to be generalists to survive. As your business starts up, you need marketing programs, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a modern “pull” strategy based on social networks, and lead generation. Writing specialists. Administrative specialists.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Startup SEM 48

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2021

Let me be clear – a product or consulting startup today without a blog, even with a static website, risks not being competitive in cost and time to reach and hold that critical mass of online customers. You should start blogging about your business before you have a product, to test interest and establish your credibility.

Blogging 135

Blogging Services Search Engine Optimization Web 135

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

Let me be clear – a product or consulting startup today without a blog, even with a static website, risks not being competitive in cost and time to reach and hold that critical mass of online customers. You should start blogging about your business before you have a product, to test interest and establish your credibility.

Blogging 95

Blogging Startup Search Engine Optimization Writing 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2019

Let me be clear – a product or consulting startup today without a blog, even with a static website, risks not being competitive in cost and time to reach and hold that critical mass of online customers. You should start blogging about your business before you have a product, to test interest and establish your credibility.

Blogging 88

Blogging Search Engine Optimization Web Writing 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2017

Let me be clear – a product or consulting startup today without a blog, even with a static website, risks not being competitive in cost and time to reach and hold that critical mass of online customers. You should start blogging about your business before you have a product, to test interest and establish your credibility.

Blogging 69

Blogging Search Engine Optimization Web Writing 69

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2012

Let me be clear – a product or consulting startup today without a blog, even with a static website, risks not being competitive in cost and time to reach and hold that critical mass of online customers. You should start blogging about your business before you have a product, to test interest and establish your credibility.

Blogging 96

Blogging Search Engine Optimization Writing Social Network 96