Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give. I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors.

Resource 159

Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Crowdfunding, on the other hand, opens the investment door online to almost anyone who is willing to bet on a new product or service with an investment, typically for a chance to be first in line for the offering, and willing to forgo any equity or management position in the company. Business-to-business products need professional investors.

Funding 119

Funding Startup Platform Examples 119

InfoChachkie

JULY 11, 2011

The nature of the company’s business model requires it to fund certain costs before it is paid by its customers. By combining our equity investment with a tranche of venture debt, the company has avoided a larger equity round, which would have significantly diluted the Founders’ ownership share. Enter venture debt.

Equity 235

Equity Startup Invest Funding 235

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

The research from Wasserman and others outlines the following top ten dilemmas that every founder needs to deal with sooner or later in their career as an entrepreneur: The make money or serve humanity dilemma. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity. Recognize that the best people don’t work for free.

Startup 97

Startup USC Entrepreneur Statistics 97

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Innocal Offshore Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Competition and sustainable advantage.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Access to intellectual property and current research. Other project and research reports in their library are a rich source of new ideas, if you are still looking for a place to start. Other project and research reports in their library are a rich source of new ideas, if you are still looking for a place to start.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give. I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors.

Incubator 87

Incubator Startup Resource Seed Funding 87

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2016

A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give. I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors.

Incubator 106

Incubator Startup Help Resource 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Competition and sustainable advantage.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Innocal Offshore Entrepreneur 63

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

Death By Competitive Analysis - Steve Blank , March 1, 2010 Trading emails with a startup CEO building an iPhone app, I asked him why potential customers would buy his product. In response he sent me a competitive analysis. It looked like every competitive analysis I had done for 20 years, (ok maybe better.)

Startup 150

Startup Software Review Competition SoCal 150

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

There’s plenty of capital out there, but there’s also a lot of competition for startup funding. This can be a great way to test your product and get customer feedback. Expect to be diluted by 20-25% with each equity round. Customer financing can minimize your risk, providing more cushion to meet your milestones.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

The research from Wasserman and others outlines the following top ten dilemmas that every Founder needs to deal with sooner or later in their career as an entrepreneur: The make money or serve humanity dilemma. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity. Recognize that the best people don’t work for free.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Statistics Equity Satisfaction 107

socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

We''re rolling it out to finance and Wall Street, monitoring thousands of sources of continuously changing information, such as news, social media, internal email systems, and analyzing specific, material conditions that our customers are looking for. To give you an overview, there are something like 6,000 equities in the U.S.

Orange County 245

Orange County Startup News IBM 245

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2017

The research from Wasserman and others outlines the following top ten dilemmas that every founder needs to deal with sooner or later in their career as an entrepreneur: The make money or serve humanity dilemma. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity. Recognize that the best people don’t work for free.

Entrepreneur 57

Entrepreneur USC Statistics Equity 57

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give. I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors.

Incubator 98

Incubator Startup Help Resource 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2012

Market research is more meaningful if there is already a market and real customers. Even banks, as well as equity investors, look more favorably on a proven business model than a new and unproven one. Of course, you still have to do your homework and market research. Learn from competitors and early adopters.

Patents 84

Patents Startup Statistics Course 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

The research from Wasserman and others outlines the following top ten dilemmas that every Founder needs to deal with sooner or later in their career as an entrepreneur: The make money or serve humanity dilemma. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity. Recognize that the best people don’t work for free.

Startup 98

Startup Entrepreneur Statistics Equity 98

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

The corporate entity lends itself best to the concept of “sharing” equity required by investors, and unincorporated entities don’t get funding. Having a defensible competitive advantage or “barrier to entry” is another critical step to funding, and another common stumbling block during all phases of the funding process.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2011

Market research is more meaningful if there is already a market and real customers. Even banks, as well as equity investors, look more favorably on a proven business model than a new and unproven one. Of course, you still have to do your homework and market research. Learn from competitors and early adopters.

Startup 91

Startup Patents Statistics Course 91

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

Michael is a very accomplished corporate executive in his own right having run Sega Gameworks and helped IPO EuroDisney as well as having been on the founding team of DreamWorks SKG (where he helped them raise their first $900 million in equity). Allows customers to select potential inventory through Be the Buyer program. TechCrunch.

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Mission Ventures Capital Help 242

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Competition and sustainable advantage.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

The corporate entity lends itself best to the concept of “sharing” equity required by investors, and unincorporated entities don’t get funding. Having a defensible competitive advantage or “barrier to entry” is another critical step to funding, and another common stumbling block during all phases of the funding process.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The A’s are the firms you’re going to work hardest to research, hardest to find high-quality introductions to and make the most effort to engage with. As a VC I of course want you to come see only me because that means I have no competition and have time to properly get to know you. If in high school you got a 3.6 Same with VC.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2013

We''ve got a grid of 500 nodes, handling a billion and a half clicks and call impressions, which we drive for our customers. Yelp has great consumer research, but it''s been a challenge for them to reach advertisers. We also know we''re not a startup, and don''t have equity to offer. When did the split with AT&T happen?

Technical Review 223

Technical Review Glendale Advertising Google 223

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

The corporate entity lends itself best to the concept of “sharing” equity required by investors, and unincorporated entities don’t get funding. Having a defensible competitive advantage or “barrier to entry” is another critical step to funding, and another common stumbling block during all phases of the funding process.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2013

We''ve got a grid of 500 nodes, handling a billion and a half clicks and call impressions, which we drive for our customers. Yelp has great consumer research, but it''s been a challenge for them to reach advertisers. We also know we''re not a startup, and don''t have equity to offer. When did the split with AT&T happen?

Technical Review 211

Technical Review Glendale Advertising Google 211

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2020

You need to be stimulated by easy access to many sources of learning and leadership, including universities, research, and other businesses. Apple has since capitalized on the top technical talent in Silicon Valley to stay ahead of the competition. Financial capital – revenue, equity, debt, funding.

Resource 131

Resource Startup Capital Mentor 131

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

After reviewing her day-by-day recommendations to improve productivity in a single week, I have extrapolated her guidance to ten productivity tips specifically for entrepreneurs to regain that competitive edge: Focus on managing yourself rather than managing others. The key problem you need to solve is managing your distractions.

Tips 100

Tips Activity Startup Product 100

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

Stop Listening to Your Customers. A common assumption among startup entrepreneurs is that listening to potential customers is the best. Entrepreneurism / Monetization Customers, research, startups. . The most underrated asset of any business is its enthusiasts- those customers and clients who buy th.

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Competing To Win Deals - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , November 7, 2010 The venture capital business is highly competitive. But I don’t think so.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

That, plus I love the space of high-customer-service, focused eCommerce for moms worried about what their kids eat & wear.&#. She did a bunch of research on it and finally found a small number of safe brands. AngelList has introduced new competition and competition in any industry is always good.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292