Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2011

I often hear the qualms of business-smart but non-technical entrepreneurs, wondering if they really have a chance in this high-technology marketplace. I tell them that if their idea or solution is technology intensive, they clearly need technology strength on the team. Interview former employers, more than the candidate.

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Entrepreneur Outsource Development Outsource 94

socalTECH

MARCH 17, 2016

There has been a lot of worry recently in the high tech industry and from venture investors about "headwinds" in the technology market, particularly with valuations of "unicorn" companies dropping, investors shying away from investing in rounds, and even employees looking for safer jobs. billion. >.

Southern California 100

Southern California Cornerstone OnDemand Technical Review SoCal 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Seed funds now represent 67% of all funds being created now, which is up 100% from 6 years ago. 2007 was the watershed year.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about “ the politics of startups ” in which I asserted that all companies have politics, which in its purest sense is just about understanding human psychology. I think as a tech industry we have bred a culture that places more emphasis on product excellence than managing human behavior.

Startup 340

Startup Technical Review Course Press 340

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Industry reviews. Associates often shadow partners at board meetings so that they can help follow up with the company on important initiatives between board meetings. So the “VC associate” is largely a launching pad job for exceedingly bright and hard-working young tech professionals. Portfolio community building.

Help 365

Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

Just like the sky scraping investment banks of Wall Street, the technology industry tends to be a sausage party. A Silicon Valley conference is a room full of suits, with the occasional skirt suite. able to sign up online and rent the car, with only $50,000 invested in the company, which went towards the website, database and beta car.

Conference 77

Conference Startup Technical Review Software Review 77

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2013

I met up with Sam in NYC last year to talk about “what he was up to.” I was in NYC and I lined up my usual 20 meetings on my trip. His message was that he realized he needed to move his girlfriend’s stuff into a storage facility due to apartment flooding. ” Then competitors started to launch.

UCSD 340

UCSD Startup Ideas Course 340

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2022

These authors speak from their own wealth of experience in creating and growing technology startups, marketing, and fundraising. Book smarts represent your current depth of understanding of technology and business concepts. I recommend that you get more visible at industry conferences and on social media.

Help 130

Help Mentor Paramount Technical Review 130

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. would you want to give up the right to invest in subsequent rounds? Do investors always take up their prorata rights in later rounds? ” Some do, some don’t.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I always start my answer to this question with, “you’d have to be a pretty big baby to complain about being a VC.&# Some people do the conference circuit too much, get involved in lots of side projects and attend every entrepreneur dinner. Then I spent many years as a startup CEO. That’s true.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

The event is a 2-day training in.Net, HTML5, Windows 8, Asp.NET MVC and other Microsoft technologies. In addition, world renowned speakers are invited to discuss the latest trends in technology. It’s OK, You Can Create Kick-Ass Web AppsAre you tired of getting verbally beat up about developing web and HTML5 apps?

Training 65

Training Technical Review Technology Software Review 65

socalTECH

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Jason Calacanis , the CEO of Mahalo, is planning some direct competition to Michael Arrington's technology blog empire, TechCrunch , according to a report today from the Guardian. startups, and Calacanis has increasingly directed Mahalo along the path of editorial content. AOL was the buyer of TechCrunch.

Mahalo 124

Mahalo Web 2.0 Blogging Technical Review 124

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 11, 2011

The best part about being a writer who covers startups is seeing revolutionary ideas take shape from their infancy. To examine disruptive technology and prognosticate on the effects on society as a whole is fascinating. But it is really the secondary social layer that makes this new technology incredibly exciting.

Conference 96

Conference Orange County Technical Review Software Review 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

Angel investors are still the lifeblood of early-stage startups, despite the surge of activity in crowdfunding and an increasing early interest from venture capitalists. A business needs technical, marketing, financial and many other skills. In today’s world, if your startup is not visible on the Internet, you haven’t started yet.

Angel 65

Angel Startup Technical Review Social Media 65

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2010

I scan it for the most important messages to be sure nothing urgent has popped up. It made me laugh because the technical world has this exact phrase to talk in computing sense about the need to block out interruptions in order to complete a task. About six months ago I signed up for a service called PhoneTag run by Jamie Siminoff.

Product 280

Product Startup Email Technical Review 280

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. This blog post ended up on Valleywag (which had much bigger presence back then). Anyway, the starting point for this blog entry is a cartoon I remember reading in the New Yorker.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series of posts and I need to file this one under both Raising Venture Capital and Startup Advice. I remember going to an Under the Radar conference in 2006 in the heat of the Web 2.0 Unfortunately this was reinforced by the many conferences that rushed to espouse the benefits of Web 2.0 portfolios.

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. And even this can’t stop their employees from fleeing after two years of vesting to move on to the next hot startup. Easier said than done.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

Tech Coast Venture Network

AUGUST 11, 2015

While the culture that works for one company might not work for another , you can learn a lot from companies who are doing it right, and get started on company culture hacks of your own. It starts with a cultural fit interview, which carries half the weight of whether the candidate is hired. What does that culture look like?

Examples 100

Examples Company Companies Google 100

Tech Coast Venture Network

AUGUST 11, 2015

While the culture that works for one company might not work for another , you can learn a lot from companies who are doing it right, and get started on company culture hacks of your own. It starts with a cultural fit interview, which carries half the weight of whether the candidate is hired. What does that culture look like?

Examples 100

Examples Company Companies Google 100

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

TechZulu met with Hale Boggs, from Manatt Digital Media, and discussed Manatt Digital Media and the future of LA’s startup scene. TechZulu: Let’s start with an easy question. How is the LA startup scene? With the ability to get companies up and going with lesser capital needs means you can grow quickly.

Los Angeles 84

Los Angeles Media Invest Startup 84

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

so compelling (other than the fact that the CEO Sean Rad is a great young technology leader and his advisers – Brian Norgard , Dan Gould and Evan Rifkin - are some of the guys I respect most in the LA tech market.). Wordpress), video (YouTube), pictures (Flickr), review sites (Yelp) and collaborative content (Wikipedia).

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? These are probably the two sites where I've posted the most reviews.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Based on my own years of experience in this space, I would like to highlight a critical subset of his key ingredients for success, to save you from the frustrations and setbacks we both have felt: Implement real competitive differentiation. They expect reviews and testimonials from other clients. Don’t forget seminars and events.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Natalia not only wants to increase the number of women in investment, but bring more people in total to help startups and other businesses get the capital they need. The selection process is entirely based on Pipeline Fellowship members, by reviewing the application and choosing 8-10 applicants to speak at our Pitch Summit.

Mentor 84

Mentor Invest Entrepreneur Startup 84

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

In my opinion no amount of clever marketing or chest beating at conferences can create a market if you don’t have an amazing product to begin with. Shallow and superficial and racing from segment to segment in search of some take up has never been a strong strategic plan for me. LEAN STARTUP MOVEMENT.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

In my experience as a business advisor, one of the best ways to get all of these, is to publish a book on the technology, the journey, or some relevant lessons learned. Yet, most good business people I know agree, but don’t know where to start. Having a book gives you instant credibility with clients.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Xconomy

DECEMBER 28, 2017

Due to Rapid City’s off-the-beaten-path location and small size — it’s tucked among the Great Plains, about 25 miles from Mount Rushmore, with a population of approximately 74,000 — the destination doesn’t typically enter the conversation for ICPC, which draws about 1,400 attendees. “The The last couple of years, it was in Warsaw, St.

Coach 75

Coach Technical Review Carson Networking 75

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m inspired by the enthusiasm of the young, emerging startup ecosystem that is here. Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. As I gear up to give a keynote at the annual Seattle 2.0 As I gear up to give a keynote at the annual Seattle 2.0 I will start recruiting soon.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

Some great content around the intersection of startups and being a Startup CTO in June this year. This continues my series of posts: Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March There was some really great content in June. It shows a lack of interest.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

Other times the partner wants to test whether there is support before sinking in tons of due diligence time. Either way, don’t assume that the entire room is up to speed on your company. I would normally recommend you address the issue early in the meeting with the group to set expectations. Does that sound ok?&#.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. Oh, and Demo charges the startups $18,000. Too many startup execs place too much emphasis on the big stage launch. But more broadly it got me thinking to one of the biggest mistakes tech executives get into in the first place. It started socially.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2011

But Ryan’s vision is much broader, which is what perked up my ears. I’ve talked before about problems I see with the US education system in both my post about Peter Thiel’s 20-under-20 initiative and also my review of Waiting for Superman. Ryan wants to reinvent education. Again, not for everybody.

Invest 295

Invest Carson Technical Review Education 295

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

My long-time friend Jason Lemkin is on the verge of launching a spectacular SaaS conference called SaaStr this week. And as I’ve written about before – building a personal brand is extremely important in today’s competitive job market. Jason has also done startups for a long time. Here’s how he did it.

SaaS 150

SaaS Venture Capital Conference Technical Review 150