TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. A Biden presidency doesn’t need a Green New Deal to make progress on climate change.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Of course much of it is conflicting. And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. I get approached about clean tech or biotech periodically – I don’t focus on these. In ad tech there’s Seth Levine at Foundry Group and both Dana Settle & Ian Sigelow at Greycroft.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

We thought today for our interview, that we'd get an update on the angel investment environment here in Southern California from Scott Sangster , the incoming President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Tech Coast Angels , the biggest angel investment group in Southern California. Of course not.

Tech Coast Angels 182

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Southern California 182

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

The “span of control” for a growing tech startup is probably 6-9 people. You help them prioritize their objectives and review the results. You course correct. If you hire truly talented people you end up definitionally with a lot of competitive peers who will inevitably jockey for resources and control.

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). When you think about the trends of faster-growing startups due to social networking, credit card enable and mobile first consumers – the reality is that many startups are becoming very large financially before needing to go public.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2014

According to a recent Forbes article , UC Santa Barbara''s Technology Management Program offers students a superior startup education over the University of Pennsylvania (home of Wharton), as well Harvard, Northwestern and even its acclaimed southern neighbor, the University of Southern California. Want to be an entrepreneur? Techpreneurs.

Santa Barbara 258

Santa Barbara Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 258

socalTECH

JANUARY 28, 2019

Those airport drone incursions shut down Gatwick over the course of three days, which caused major delays at Heathrow and Newark. However, there is already the technology out therefrom San Luis Obispo-based Whitefox Defense (www.whitefoxdefense.com)  to both detect, and neutralize those drones. Explain how your technology works?

Startup 187

Startup Technical Review Technology Competition 187

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2022

The ready-aim-fire traditional approach works best in more mature markets, where your strategy is to add features and value to competitive products, or address an underserved new segment of the marketplace. This most often happens due to impatience, which is not typically an entrepreneurial virtue.

Marketing 120

Marketing Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 120

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. It’s obvious that we can be too late to these decisions of course. If — and it’s a big if of course — they can do that on the cheap, then why should an LP care at all? Quality tech news from around the web.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

As drivers we look out for them, as pedestrians we might be annoyed if they steer in our way but the riders themselves have developed better norms as happens in all forms of transportation. They also were exclusive to Bird so they gave the company a competitive advantage. They’re not new. They’re not novel. They’re invisible.

Santa Monica 250

Santa Monica Venice Competition Software Review 250

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

In the initial phases of any new market you’re developing a product (hopefully with a minimal set of features), getting feedback from customers, refining your product based on user feedback and then re-launching your product. Markets develop for a complex set of factors that are often beyond all of our control. He was tech.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2011

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. Yet nearly every major tech company or major company hiring tech people have open recs. So I’ve tracked him from the sidelines for 7 years.

Invest 295

Invest Carson Technical Review Education 295

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2016

The show has become my best curator of which books to read (including my favorite of last year, The Accidental Superpower ) and my go to for understanding geopolitics of: Russia, Iran, Pakistan, China, India and of course the US. But they also take on issues in science, technology and management.

Coach 150

Coach Technical Review Framework Google 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2014

If you have a software development background like mine, Im sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe.

Outsource Development 95

Outsource Development Outsource Offshore Software Review 95

InfoChachkie

MAY 19, 2011

In some instances, it will be appropriate to grandfather ongoing payments due regional distributors for their past performance. A more complicated negotiating point involves IP that is created in the course of the parties’ collaboration. Do Not Relinquish Joint Intellectual Property Rights.

Outsource Development 193

Outsource Development IP Technical Review Entrepreneur 193

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 22, 2018

[Update: TechCrunch has confirmed Lime’s plans for the store, and that the deal to build it came through Lime’s investor Fifth Wall Ventures that arranges partnerships between tech companies and real estate developers. The sheer number of Lime scooters in Santa Monica where the store will arise is already staggering.

Santa Monica 221

Santa Monica Startup Technical Review Education 221

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. What startup teams don’t realize is that having competition is good. Know Your Stuff.

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2019

The ready-aim-fire traditional approach works best in more mature markets, where your strategy is to add features and value to competitive products, or address an underserved new segment of the marketplace. This most often happens due to impatience, which is not typically an entrepreneurial virtue.

Startup 93

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Marketing 93

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 24, 2014

Whether due to technological, regulatory, or competitor driven factors, key market dynamics you envisioned when you came up with your idea, did your research and developed your business plan, no longer apply. Below are unmistakable signs, or forks in the road, that should prompt you to substantially rethink your plan.

Startup 98

Startup Competition Examples Customer 98

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2016

It’s a term most of you know as being somebody who is backward or uninterested in learning new technology. You can imagine that if you had spent a lifetime gaining a vocational skill and being a member of a protected industry guild that you wouldn’t be happy with technological change. Actually, the Luddites were worse than this.

Education 150

Education Resource Class Course 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

But if there is nothing wrong with you then please don’t let early rejections alter your course.” I remind founders that the no’s come early because it’s super easy to qualify out a deal that you know is unlikely due to stage, focus, geography, competitive deal you’ve done or even just the fact that you’re too busy right now.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2016

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe.

Outsource Development 53

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 53

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can’t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us. And of course the funding problem coincided with the stock market correction that took away most exit options for years to come.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 2, 2011

The ambitiously competitive teams were as follows: The Brownies, with Epic Tunes, an app aimed at live concert goers, to provide information, show reviews, and access to ticket purchases. Tech Nerds, with Tab Attack, a game-based learning system to help teenagers play drums & guitar with the use of tablatures. Find a hero.

Technical Review 82

Technical Review Entrepreneur Software Review USC 82

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

You need to build business relationships with partners, team members, investors, and of course customers. Develop and practice your business vision and story. These and other strengths may actually give you a competitive edge over your more extroverted constituents. Surround yourself with allies who have complementary skills.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2010

It’s an important film and the most important topic of our generation if we as a country want to remain competitive in a world that has globalized. It profiles one little girl who finished her course work at a private Christian school in her neighborhood but was unable to attend graduation because her mom got behind on payments.

Class 340

Class Education Technical Review Writing 340

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. They are the lifeblood of many companies yet they are different than the traditional technology startup DNA so the ways that you hire, motivate, compensate and assess performance of these individuals will be different. Of course that’s not true.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

To say that the tech elite were cynical of Hulu’s launch would be an understatement , but by the time it launched just a few months later it was getting great reviews. Because they are anti-competitive most countries ban cartels. I have personally always felt a sort of cognitive dissonance regarding Hulu.

Hulu 292

Hulu Technical Review Content Advertising 292

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. I had worked as a tutor for Princeton Review, and Jake for Kaplan. We thought, we could put out a better product than Kaplan or Princeton Review, which would be more compelling, and also would tie in a strong social mission.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2015

I often tell people I learned more about how to become an entrepreneur by being president of my fraternity than any college course I ever took or any paid job I ever had. There wasn’t any such thing as skipping the line or raising money to start a tech company. Of course it was infinitely more challenging. I hated losing.

Startup 150

Startup Course Technical Review Competition 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. If you spent the 3 years perfecting some hugely differentiated technology IP that may also be different. of course there are MUCH more sophisticated financial tools than either of these, but PEG is a short-hand many people use].

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 6, 2011

Pull Quote: “If you are smart, competitive, hard working and passionate about what you do you will have the best experience of your life. We are now harnessing the ‘social’ aspect of the system where businesses and consumers begin to contribute to the data by adding or updating products listings as well as rate and review products.”.

Entrepreneur 232

Entrepreneur Competition Software Review Course 232

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

We have a built a technology platform that enables a network of 50,000 on every corner of the globe and in over 150 countries, to do work mostly video work, TV ads, ads for YouTube, mostly video-based content work for some of the biggest organizations and brands in the world,” says James De Julio, President and Co-Founder of Tongal.

Ideas 80

Ideas Technical Review Startup Statistics 80

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

Patents held by startups generally have a limited ability to reduce competition. One is obvious, without protection, such IP might prove to be of little worth, as other companies can mimic the technology without recourse. In addition, a BDC may have developed derivative IP that on a standalone basis infringes on the startup’s IP.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2013

The ready-aim-fire traditional approach works best in more mature markets, where your strategy is to add features and value to competitive products, or address an underserved new segment of the marketplace. This most often happens due to impatience, which is not typically an entrepreneurial virtue.

Startup 100

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Marketing 100

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I've previously addressed the role of a CTO in early-stages in my post Startup CTO or Developer. for a Lead Developer: How much will it cost to build what we need to build? for a Lead Developer: How much will it cost to build what we need to build? How can I control costs but effectively get stuff developed?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231