Competition Design Funding Patents 
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 29, 2023
The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep. Capture your “secret sauce.”
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 3, 2020
The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep. Capture your “secret sauce.”
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Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 2, 2022
I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. Competition. Investors look for a sustainable competitive advantage, like a patent. What is the need you fill or problem you solve?
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 30, 2014
As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 2, 2020
His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. I have tried to convince him the general idea alone does not make a business. Yes, there are a lot of bridges to cross.
Startup Professionals Musings
MAY 23, 2021
These are the ultimate chess players in the game of business, always looking to be two or three moves ahead of the competition. Picture the graphic designer, the IT expert, or the independent accountant or attorney. The Builder loves building a business from the ground up. Some might say that Elon Musk epitomizes this category.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 7, 2016
Before that, I was at a multimedia design academy in high school. I've always been a mobile enthusiast, in technology and design and user experience. Eli Aizenstat: I entered into the Design Accelerator, which is an accelerator run in conjunction with the Art Center College of Design and Caltech, in the summer of 2014.
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