Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Don’t dumb it down for social media.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

Even a million users on your social media site won’t pay the bills until you sell some advertising or a premium service. Although his focus is naturally on bigger companies, I contend that his recommended strategies apply equally well to entrepreneurs and startups: Demand a mindset of deep thinking for the long term.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. Periodically we do portfolio reviews to evaluate whether we have enough diversified risk across the fund. Far from it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2022

Internal corporate processes thwart innovation due to inherent inefficiencies of scale, high overhead, and the risk of impact on the corporate bottom line. Existing technologies have been “commoditized” globally. Competitive advantages are rapidly vaporizing on these. New emerging manufacturing technologies (e.g.,

Startup 126

Startup Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Offshore 126

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2016

While the epicenter of tech innovation is undeniably Silicon Valley, a tide of new hubs emerging across the globe are gaining recognition. We are very close to the University of Waterloo, and many talented undergraduates have taken internships and permanent positions with tech startups like HiMama. PanTrek connects U.S.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Startup Incubator Media 40

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Don’t dumb it down for social media.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

Once this new service became popular then the media companies could control the rules of distribution & advertising. 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.

Hulu 292

Hulu Technical Review Content Advertising 292

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 22, 2016

Costs for advertising on Facebook are increasing, due to high demand, and their profits continue to soar. The way to get ahead of the competition is to look at what they’re doing right and do it better. Native Facebook videos are competing with YouTube videos and becoming the best way to get your message across on social media.

Marketing 40

Marketing Social Media Social Network Technical Review 40

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2017

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Don’t dumb it down for social media.

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs and business owners, I rarely find someone who doesn’t proclaim that the business world is changing rapidly, with new technology, new customer expectations, and new cultures. It takes a well-rounded and motivated team to run a competitive business today. Once gone, customers won’t be back.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Customer Custom Startup 84

Southern California Edison Blog

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

Dark fiber allows large enterprises, educational institutions, media companies, and government agencies to leverage the high bandwidth capabilities. These tailored services allow a variety of industries to exceed business requirements and goals as well as stay competitive in their respective spaces. So what is dark fiber?

Networking 49

Networking Education Technical Review Organization 49

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. While many tech startups do this intuitively (say, SnapChat thinking it would be much better if our photos out partying disappeared) it still happens. So they’ll have to look for other competitive advantages for distribution.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

While this reaction to such a valuation is understandable, to anybody who has seen the meteoric rise in consumer demand and actual revenue the valuation is much less surprising and may turn out to be quite conservative. You can expect some strong competition, but it’s unlikely that there will be 5 great scooter companies. Not really.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

Internal corporate processes thwart innovation due to inherent inefficiencies of scale, high overhead, and the risk of impact on the corporate bottom line. Existing technologies have been “commoditized” globally. Competitive advantages are rapidly vaporizing on these. New emerging manufacturing technologies (e.g.,

Entrepreneur 87

Entrepreneur Offshore Technical Review Outsource 87

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. 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

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. Announcing that you are a consultant, and hoping demand will set your focus, is not a good strategy.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

Value is created through diligent hard work. Once you prove that a substantial number of people are willing to pay more for your solution than it costs you to provide it, you can then consider licensing your underlying technology. Thus, you have negotiating leverage as long as a legitimate, competitive threat exists.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 10, 2013

However due to much controversy and competition, the same hasn’t played true while at large events (*cough* SXSW ). Today that changes as two major brands Callaway and Uber, partner to offer on-demand rides at one of the largest events in sports. This marks the beginning of what could be the next wave in event transportation.

Software Review 104

Software Review Technical Review Social Media Course 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2013

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I just saw today, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons.

Startup 103

Startup Marketing Social Media Technical Review 103

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

A C-corporation is more complex and expensive, and is recommended only if you expect to pitch to professional investors who demand preferred stock, or to more than 100 potential shareholders. If your strength is technology, find a co-founder who has a comparable strength in business, finance or marketing.

Entrepreneur 59

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Ideas 59

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

Internal corporate processes thwart innovation due to inherent inefficiencies of scale, high overhead, and the risk of impact on the corporate bottom line. Existing technologies have been “commoditized” globally. Competitive advantages are rapidly vaporizing on these. New emerging manufacturing technologies (e.g.,

Startup 102

Startup Entrepreneur Offshore Technical Review 102

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Stewart Roberts , President of Orange County of Tech Coast Angels. Topic discussion: Impact of social media on startups and on funding leads for investors. Investment trends in startups that are about or related to social media. How startup can leverage social media to get investors attention. Mark Suster , GRP Partners.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

We would like give a huge thank you to Social Media Week and the supportive startup community here in Los Angeles. Stewart Roberts , President of Orange County of Tech Coast Angels. Topic discussion: Impact of social media on startups and on funding leads for investors. Mark Suster , GRP Partners. Moderator: Giang Biscan , PhD.,

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2013

Internal corporate processes thwart innovation due to inherent inefficiencies of scale, high overhead, and the risk of impact on the corporate bottom line. Existing technologies have been “commoditized” globally. Competitive advantages are rapidly vaporizing on these. New emerging manufacturing technologies (e.g.,

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Offshore Startup Technical Review 105

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Internal corporate processes thwart innovation due to inherent inefficiencies of scale, high overhead, and the risk of impact on the corporate bottom line. Existing technologies have been “commoditized” globally. Competitive advantages are rapidly vaporizing on these. New emerging manufacturing technologies (e.g.,

Offshore 55

Offshore Technical Review Entrepreneur Outsource 55

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. Trying outrageous new things or even trying mundane things but in new ways but with extreme quality & innovation is what fuels the tech startup industry. The perfect competitors are the ones where they unable to respond due to The Innovator’s Dilemma.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 17, 2012

At the moment, Conolly heads the startups social media team in Egypt while Turdubaev looks after Russian countries and translation of the site. Sponsorship on the website – we have business owners asking to advertise on our site – this was never our intention – but due to demand, looking at building this into the platform.

Advertising 79

Advertising Services Social Network Startup 79

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

Fallacy: AdVentures tend to evolve once you begin speaking with pesky customers and demanding partners. Value is created through diligent hard work. Fallacy: The sad reality is that PR Firms value their relationships with media and industry gatekeepers more than the value their relationship with any single client.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

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

JANUARY 16, 2012

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. GroupOn, Living Social, AdMeld, Gilt Group, Demand Media, ShoeDazzle, Tumblr, FourSquare, etc. Right for my stage?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

10 Ways To Be Your Own Boss - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , June 18, 2010 The folks at Behance and Cool Hunting asked me to talk at their 99% Conference a couple months ago. Creating Incremental Strategic Value - Ask the Angels , June 17, 2010 We can easily overlook the level of demand pull when we are assessing strategic value.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175