Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according the Crunchbase. VCs are committed to servicing existing portfolios. Super angels are individuals or small teams using their own money.

Funding 125

Funding Venture Capital Startup Class 125

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It had an influence on the people who fund our industry in a negative way as many asset managers who fund our industry read this flawed report. Now they are funding & holding. to raise “opportunity funds” to fund the prorata participation of their best early-stage investments.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

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 now observes the fund raising process as a profession. This is the fund raising perspective from both sides of the table. Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple. Why buy me?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Rolf Winkler wrote a piece in the WSJ about A16Z’s returns in which he says they “lag behind Sequoia, Benchmark and Founders Fund.” Scott Kupor of A16Z responded with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in a post that while accurate feels more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in funds.

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Invest Funding Competition 264

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

Yes, long before Yelp or any similar service. And when I say this I don’t mean they funded billion dollar companies – they literally created them. And now, of course, UberSocial, Bill’s latest project. And now, of course, UberSocial, Bill’s latest project. Shopping.com. The Wedding Channel.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2023

If you ask them for a reason, most will insist that they couldn’t get funding, or they ran out of money too early. It’s tempting to believe that one more new platform will win for crowd funding or video games, like Indiegogo and Wii. Or ask PlanetRx, an online service for prescriptions, before the Internet was pervasive.

Entrepreneur 125

Entrepreneur Netflix Social Media Startup 125

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. Incorporating a business entity early through online services. Angel groups, accelerators, and incubators are pervasive. Marty Zwilling

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media News 104

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of the management team, or a sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. While these may be necessary for funding, they may not be sufficient to make your startup the great success embodied in your vision.

Education 151

Education Customer Custom Sales 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. Marty Zwilling.

Platform 118

Platform Snapchat Startup Course 118

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. VCs are committed to servicing existing portfolios. Super Angels sometimes drive up valuations.

Angel 104

Angel Funding Startup Venture Capital 104

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

The basic alignment framework of strategy, customers, people, and processes hasn’t changed, but the pace of technological, competitive, and social change has increased at an amazing rate. Make sure the inspiration that launched your vision isn’t lost in the course of a pivot or market change. Revisit your startup vision and values.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2022

Here are six results that you can achieve by building a prototype, which are really the reasons that investors and partners will give you a whole new level of credibility as they evaluate your startup for potential funding: Something you can touch and feel helps validate opportunity. There is no magic formula for success while inventing.

Outsource Development 110

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

For example, many investors I know tell me they look for business plans that allocate the largest portion of a requested investment to marketing, but most often see the top “ use of funds ” to be further product or service development. Of course, you can’t possibly brand yourself if you don’t know who you really are.

Marketing 133

Marketing Customer Custom Outsource Development 133

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. Incorporating a business entity early through online services. Over 600,000 new businesses were created in the last year, or over one per minute of every day.

Tips 161

Tips Startup Social Media News 161

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

By making it easier to capture value for goods & services that ordinary people provide and by creating a means of storing value today that can be used in the future — currencies have literally changed society and the world. I provided a short reading list in the Appendix if you want to read directly about the history of money.

Course 280

Course Startup Framework Marketing 280

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Berkonomics

AUGUST 9, 2018

These became so predictable that I could accurately label them as occurring about every $3 million in gross profit (or revenue for service companies). A very predictable series of rotating crises seemed to befall most every one of these young companies. Do these crises strike you as familiar? .

Startup 120

Startup Customer Custom Funding 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

If you need investors, it’s important that you understand their filters, and even if you are funding your own efforts, you need to recognize the red flags. These historically have included work-at-home, restaurants, telemarketing and social-service providers. Your startup is in a high-failure-rate business sector.

Invest 98

Invest Sites Technical Review Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2022

He is always open to the ideas of his team, and even if he doesn't agree that an idea will work, he'll say so, but he often supports and funds it anyway. Of course, even the best talent needs communication, training, and support to create the culture you need. Foster collaboration rather than competition.

Product 109

Product Training Customer Custom 109

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2020

If you ask them for a reason, most will insist that they couldn’t get funding, or they ran out of money too early. It’s tempting to believe that one more new platform will win for crowd funding or video games, like Indiegogo and Wii. Or ask PlanetRx, an online service for prescriptions, before the Internet was pervasive.

Startup 124

Startup Netflix Social Media Customer 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

If you need investors, it’s important that you understand their filters, and even if you are funding your own efforts, you need to recognize the red flags. These historically have included work-at-home, restaurants, telemarketing and social-service providers. Your startup is in a high-failure-rate business sector.

Startup 126

Startup Sites Technical Review Social Media 126

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2019

The hypothesis was, companies are in an extremely competitive environment, and it doesn't matter what company or industry they are in, it's been one of the most competitive environments we've seen in a long time. That competitiveness is driving companies to make better decisions. We've had lots of success there.

Startup 113

Startup Culver City Competition Customer 113

Berkonomics

JULY 30, 2011

These became so predictable that I could accurately label them as occurring about every $3 million in gross profit (or revenue for service companies). At about the $6 million mark, revenues have ramped to the extent where the original product standards of quality are challenged, as is the speed and efficiency of customer service.

Startup 222

Startup Customer Custom Funding 222

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

” Much of this will look and feel like a Green New Deal, but sold under a package of infrastructure modernization and service upgrades that the country desperately needs. . “It would present a huge opportunity for a variety of climate tech sectors, ranging from clean electricity to carbon management to vehicle electrification.”

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. Many of us learned about substitute products in undergrad economics courses. Here are some ideas of what I believe matters.

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition. So I asked Ethan to build his product first and then we would fund.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Some objections are real and they end up becoming changes to your product, your service plan or your pricing / bundling. As a founder, when you’ve been dealing with these kinds of objections for a couple of years it becomes natural and you easily handle objections on price, product & competition without much thought.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Yet, in the interest of full disclosure, and an honest intent to save future entrepreneurs some grief and money, I would remind you that starting any business has key dependencies on at least five major elements, including product design and delivery, the right people on the team, adequate funding, a sizable market opportunity, and marketing.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

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. How are you funding the company? Thats why we recently raised a round of funding, to scale our product and support services, to ensure our clients can all receive the technology they need.

Startup 187

Startup Technical Review Technology Competition 187

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

A year ago I blogged about one of my most common mantras that applies to sales, biz dev & fund raising alike: “ Time is the Enemy of all Deals.&#. When times are really good for fund raising many teams delay to maximize their valuation. Only … ONLY … if there’s a sense of competition on the deal.

Help 303

Help Startup Competition Framework 303

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2020

Here are six results that you can achieve by building a prototype, which are really the reasons that investors and partners will give you a whole new level of credibility as they evaluate your startup for potential funding: Something you can touch and feel helps validate opportunity. There is no magic formula for success while inventing.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2020

Of course, it’s smart not to stray too far from your core competency for credibility and risk reduction. By drawing on the current network of drivers and the app technology it already has in place, UberEATS could be a major competitor for food delivery services such as DoorDash. Building a successful business is not a one-time effort.

Customer 143

Customer Custom Examples IBM 143

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2019

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of the management team, or a sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. While these may be necessary for funding, they may not be sufficient to make your startup the great success embodied in your vision.

Startup 97

Startup Education Customer Custom 97

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

VC firm policy or fund analysis. Ability to source information easily to help build a thesis around companies / industries / competition. And we’ve begun relaunching our “platform services” for entrepreneurs. Deal support / analysis / quant / legal for deals a partner is seriously considering. Industry reviews.

Help 365

Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2019

Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. Marty Zwilling.

Snapchat 74

Snapchat Startup Course Yahoo 74

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Content, of course, is the same!]. How could it be when they always have “schlocky” ads or PSAs (public service announcements). Online text book rental service. Offers a private label service that allows campus book retailers to offer an online rental model; serves 1.3mm to-date. Online radio music service.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Of course we have to believe that there is a viable market, a differentiated product offering and a chance to build something defensible but if you do those basics right you still get crushed without an amazingly talented founder. We funded the seed round, the A round, the B round, C round, D round and E round.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247