Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2021

In my experience, many entrepreneurs rely too much on the perspective of a trusted advisor, or try to emulate a competitor who is getting attention. The challenge is how to develop that self-leadership in every aspiring entrepreneur and business professional role. Celebrate every small success to build team confidence.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Course Satisfaction Guide 132

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

Modern-society is also littered with over-networkers and over-introducers and professional conference attendees. I try to steer entrepreneurs away from over-introducers and I often find myself wanting to be careful about them becoming an investor in companies I back. Focus is almost always the right answer.

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Innocal Conference Help Study 255

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. We were based in London.

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Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. Successful businesses require the best people to deliver your vision and services one step better than the competition.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

For starters some funds are small and thus while they put $750k into your company to own 10% of your company they might not be able to write another $2 million if you then raise a $20 million round (10%). Much of this historically didn’t matter to entrepreneurs. Why prorata rights are becoming a bigger deal to angels.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

I had a chance to discuss AngelList Syndicates with Naval at Michael Kim’s Cendana LP/VC conference on a panel with Naval, Roger Ehrenberg (IA Ventures) and Mike Brown, Jr. It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow. Bowery Capital).

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

In addition, like an entrepreneur with a new business, you have to factor in all the indirect costs previously covered by employers, including training, health care, and time off for vacations. In fact, thinking like an entrepreneur is a good strategy today for success, even if you are currently in a long-term employment situation.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. ” An angle can be, Starbucks is piloting this product in 500 stores; or.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Startup Grind was a truly awesome conference and Derek the consumate host. In many ways I think general purpose writing & thinking skills are as valuable as math skills. We talked about how business school historically hasn’t positioned entrepreneurs well for success. Internationalization of Technology.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

He has it on stage, too, at conferences. I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. Many through history became entrepreneurs precisely because they were unemployable. My pal Dave has blogger Tourette’s. He can’t help himself: He’s Dave.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get paid (well) for interesting people to come in and tell me how they want to change the world – Being an entrepreneur is like having blinders on. At least for the best entrepreneurs. Some people do the conference circuit too much, get involved in lots of side projects and attend every entrepreneur dinner.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

One of the most frequent questions entrepreneurs ask about when they raise a little bit of money or are getting close to launching their first product is whether they should hire a PR firm. You need somebody who is thinking laterally about how to creatively get extra attention at conferences or trade-shows. Some final thoughts on PR.

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Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? Do I have data or facts to present so the story has legs? I am a VC.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). Just 3 years ago there was talk of institutional investors “not being able to write small enough checks.” Facebook went mainstream after the F8 conference and its big push beyond college campuses. Why is this?

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep.

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

In fact, I said as much in September 09 at a Twitter conference in LA on a panel that Guy Kawasaki was moderating. It also means that the publisher (person writing the status update) can share in the monetization. So how does this all relate to the upcoming Twitter Chirp conference next week?

Acquisition 287

Acquisition Develop Development Conference 287

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us. Paul Graham on trends for the future - Business of Software Blog , August 25, 2010 Paul Graham spoke at last year's Business of Software conference. We had to write a CRM to keep track of them all. twenty in your wallet?

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Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2020

The other nice thing about that, is as things are happening on the same computer, there is no server code to write. It's really simple to write an application, compared to the complexity of an application that is multi-user. Are Android and iOS then your competition? It's all on the client side.

Platform 168

Platform Startup Examples Web 168

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you’re raising a round where a new lead investor would invest $5 million the VC fund must have no less than $100 million and if you’re looking for them to write $15–20 million as the lead their fund realistically should be at least $400 million. Remember, I was an entrepreneur for 10 years before a VC).

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. My partner, Brian McLoughlin , attends almost all Financial Services conference, makes a number of investments in the space and has relationships across the sector.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. It became a huge kerfuffle with many VC partners writing to thank me for the post, which exposed those that gave their industry a bad name. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

. - Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - Given a choice of your marketing person or talking to you (the founder) there’s no competition.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

We also want to create more capital for women entrepreneurs to increase the chances of being funded and connected to a bigger network. Entrepreneurs are everywhere and capital isn’t. What has been exciting is the ripple effect of putting 10 angels-in-training and 10 women social entrepreneurs together in the same room.

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Mentor Invest Entrepreneur Startup 84

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

So by offering convertible debt you can avoid a price discussion in the same way that angel investors sometimes do in order to win competitive early-stage deals. They might put the kibosh on company travel and not attend some key meetings or conferences. So my view is that VCs and entrepreneurs need to make tougher choices.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2010

They taught us to write down questions when they came up and batch them together in point sheets. I try not to let this happen but after a 2-day conference or after a vacation I really, really struggle. This product seems to be dead-ended the way that Microsoft products become when they have no competition. Any and all welcome.

Product 280

Product Startup Email Technical Review 280

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2017

In this age of information overload, success is all about building a brand that stands out above the competition. Start a blog and write for industry forums and newsletters. Reporters are always looking for content, so they rarely turn away professionals they meet at conferences or events.

Startup 55

Startup Organization Newsletter Content 55

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We try to hire people who we believe will be upfront and respectful of entrepreneurs and know that it’s far easier to judge ones decisions on the outside than it actually is to have to make the tough decisions inside of a startup every day. Empowerment is hard for most startup entrepreneurs. I wanted to just write.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 21, 2012

One thing I noticed from our previous interview is that Heather is one smart entrepreneur. For a first-time entrepreneur, she is not only getting it right and getting “base hits”, but she is slugging balls out of the park! Entrepreneur Nuggets. Apply to conference Startup Alley’s and competitions.

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Education Web 2.0 Course Platform 63

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 6, 2012

“Competition for the future is about what you are doing today,” Vijay Govindarajan preaches passionately from the stage at the front of the Metro Toronto Convention center on June 5th, 2012 at the Art of Leadership Conference. In the boxes he writes: 1. Manage the present. Selectively forget the past.

Pricing 80

Pricing Statistics Examples Design 80

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. But I didn’t write it for you; I wrote it for myself. have focused this as advice to entrepreneurs building enterprise software ventures today.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 25, 2014

But considering the huge number of collaborative efforts, contacts, and great run-ins we experienced at this year’s little black sheep of a tech conference, in Austin, TX; we couldn’t possibly leave all the laundry out to dry. Tons of great conversations about new startups, hardware, and the entrepreneurs building them.

Entertainment 99

Entertainment Google Entrepreneur Course 99

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

DataSift = platform for companies to develop cost-effective applications using this Twitter data to gain advantage relative to their competition. Twitter is not replacement for Facebook (or vice versa) and while it is competitive it is mostly competing for: user time, brand dollars and 3rd-party development resources.

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307