Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

Silicon Valley is focused on disrupting established industries, but in many parts of the world, innovators must create new sectors, such as education, health care, financial services, and energy. Competition is not always a bad thing, and the real purpose is often to make the world a better place.

Capital 138

Capital Marketing Ideas Venture Capital 138

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

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. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2013

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. Train and coach continuously.

Customer 92

Customer Custom Startup Services 92

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2020

For starters Uber itself has had to lay off 27% of its workforce due to the pandemic and has been severely impacted financially from the crisis with no immediate respite in sight. Even more likely is eventual technology disruption where drones deliver foods and make it hard for existing car delivery services to compete.

SaaS 242

SaaS Customer Custom Technical Review 242

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. What excites me about this space is that there’s so much low-hanging fruit.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

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

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. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

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

socalTECH

JANUARY 28, 2019

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. We spoke with founder and CEO Luke Fox to learn more about the company, and its technology. Explain how your technology works?

Startup 187

Startup Technical Review Technology Competition 187

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2010

A group of businesses and local organizations in Goleta, California, north of Santa Barbara, are looking to rally more businesses to join in their effort to spur new, direct flight support to San Jose, California, after a loss of the service in February.

Santa Barbara 202

Santa Barbara SoCalTech Technical Review Commerce 202

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2020

Silicon Valley is focused on disrupting established industries, but in many parts of the world, innovators must create new sectors, such as education, health care, financial services, and energy. Competition is not always a bad thing, and the real purpose is often to make the world a better place.

Ideas 124

Ideas Venture Capital Software Review Technical Review 124

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. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2015

Santa Barbara-based Ice Energy (www.ice-energy.com) has quietly been working away at developing energy storage systems to help smooth out the demand for energy on the nation's power grid. Can you talk about your technology? The reason they do that, is we solve the peak demand problem they have on the grid. megawatts of energy.

Southern California 100

Southern California Technical Review Demand Outsource Development 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. How profitable is my product or service? What sized team can I afford in order to sell, market & provide service to these customers?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. Product is simply about defining a physical good or service that would be valued by consumers of the product more than existing alternatives based on functionality, quality and/or price. It’s worth a quick read. My argument is pretty simple.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Southern California Edison Blog

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

These tailored services allow a variety of industries to exceed business requirements and goals as well as stay competitive in their respective spaces. Due to the sensitive nature of communications transferred over a government network on a daily basis, security is equally as important as the reliability of a network solution.

Networking 49

Networking Education Technical Review Organization 49

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 17, 2012

It is a platform that allows anyone who offers a service to advertise it for free – we promote this profile on the most popular social networks such as Twitter , Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, Stumbleupon and many more. The service provider – create a profile, multiple adverts. What is ProfileTree? What inspired you?

Advertising 79

Advertising Services Social Network Startup 79

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. Why the limitation?

Hulu 292

Hulu Technical Review Content Advertising 292

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2019

For those of you who don’t have time to read the whole book, here is a sampling of a few key points that should get you thinking in the right direction, and maybe just keep you a step or two ahead of your big competitors: Add a platform that provides self-service growth. Experiment, fail, rinse, and repeat. Do what Amazon is doing.

Commerce 89

Commerce Artificial Inteligence Cloud Computing Platform 89

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

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. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

According to many observers , we can thank or blame technology for these higher expectations, providing information at the speed of light, leading everyone to expect more. The days of pushing new and marginal performers into customer service are gone. Every job on your team drives your customer experience.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Startup Coach 55

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

Most of the guidance you see for entrepreneurs is aimed at those who are selling a product (Apple, Tesla, Xiaomi), or selling a service (Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat). The challenges for making money and survival in these professional services worlds are different, maybe even tougher. They expect reviews and testimonials from other clients.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

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. How can your company best benefit from social networking ads in 2016?

Marketing 40

Marketing Social Media Social Network Technical Review 40

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

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

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Just days after launching its credit card payment service, Groupon acquired Savored a leading provider of reservations with more than 1000 top restaurants across the United States using it. This is set to complement Groupon’s efforts in yield management due to its 40 percent discounts for each table. Simplest and Lowest Cost Option.

Software Review 64

Software Review Email Competition Acquisition 64

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

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. Yet I can’t help thinking there are many predictable failures that come from a lack of basic planning.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

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 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

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

StartupDemo is an opportunity for early stage startups to showcase their new products and/or services. Stewart Roberts , President of Orange County of Tech Coast Angels. Demand Media is a leading online media company that informs, entertains and connects millions of people every day. Be sure to tune in at 5:30pm PT.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Stewart Roberts , President of Orange County of Tech Coast Angels. Demand Media is a leading online media company that informs, entertains and connects millions of people every day. Founded in 2006, Demand Media is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA with offices in Bellevue, WA, Austin, TX, New York, NY and London, UK.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60

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. I am differentiating here between outsourced services that execute rote, routine tasks and consultants hired to performed ad hoc, mission critical engagements.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242