SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I received a great question via LinkedIn: I'm the founding engineer and working hard to launch my startup. What can I do to best equip myself to step up when the need to officially fill this role arises? I've previously addressed the role of a CTO in early-stages in my post Startup CTO or Developer.

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entrée for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. Yet you may not be so sure where to start, and how to put it all together. Emeril Lagasse is always ready to “kick it up a notch!”

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

Change is about the only thing constant in the world of startups. The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness. Increase change agility. Expedite change reaction.

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. Startups which display real innovation, such as alternative energy sources and new medical treatments, are still rare. Business risks are not just development risks. Failure is the best teacher.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Do you need a board when you first start you company? If you haven’t raised any money or if you raised a small round from angels or friends & family I would suggest you avoid setting up a formal board unless the people who would join your board are deeply experienced at sitting on startup boards.

Startup 236

Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Even the strongest relationships are often tested and broken by the stresses of a new startup.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Custom 131

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

In my view, starting a new business has never been easier, and according to reports from the Kauffman Foundation , the numbers are here to show it. 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.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media News 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2015

To confirm the value of checking yourself, I find more and more investment organizations and startup incubators, including StartupAmerica and CoFoundersLab , already use a formal process, such as StrengthsFinder , as part of their screening process. The Builder excels at constructing a business from the ground up. Opportunist.

Startup 106

Startup Incubator Entrepreneur Metrics 106

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2019

Almost any startup can start with Excel, and move to open-source data analysis tools, including Python or RStudio. For a hands-on guide in developing data-driven people strategies, I found some practical techniques in the classic book, “ The Data Driven Leader ,” by Jenny Dearborn and David Swanson.

Metrics 98

Metrics Tool Statistics Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. This is the first business process that every startup needs, that I wouldn’t expect to find for a hobby. Solution development and delivery. Managing to specific goals, priorities, and a plan.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entree for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. Yet you may not be so sure where to start, and how to put it all together. Emeril Lagasse is always ready to “kick it up a notch!”

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

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. Innovate In the early years of a startup there is a lot of kinetic energy of enthusiastic innovators looking to launch a product that changes how an industry works.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. Startups which display real innovation, such as alternative energy sources and new medical treatments, are still rare. Business risks are not just development risks. Failure is the best teacher.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

I will outline here his six required activities of every successful business to get you started down the right path for you: Wonder: identify the value and need for change. I recommend that you start online to find data sources. In my experience, competition is the biggest challenge here.

Activity 108

Activity Satisfaction Metrics Startup 108

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

As an investor in startups, I most often see entrepreneurs who are technologists, or at least have a real passion for a specific product. Here is my list of key drivers that I find critical to thriving in big businesses, as well as startups: Networking to build and maintain key relationships.

Startup 113

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. This is the first business process that every startup needs, that I wouldn’t expect to find for a hobby. Solution development and delivery. Managing to specific goals, priorities, and a plan.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

In my experience, the Silicon Valley startup model, focused on disrupting established industries, has treated the USA well and created some great global businesses. It has played almost no role in the emergence of current non-US bred startups, including Alibaba in China, Waze from Israel, Paytm in India, and many more.

Capital 138

Capital Marketing Ideas Venture Capital 138

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

Within the startup realm, there is a big difference between having an innovative product versus an innovative business. Some startups have a new technology, but stick to a tried-and-true business model. The most competitive startups do both, all the time and every time. Creativity is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Competition 135

Competition Netflix Ideas Metrics 135

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Since Arrested Development is back I thought I’d resurrect Gob Bluth’s answer when he was told he needed a “business model” – he quickly figured out that he was missing one so he asked Starla, the Bluth company secretary, if she would be his business model. LEAN STARTUP MOVEMENT.

Startup 401

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 401

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

Created in 2014 and acquired by Dentsu in 2019, MuteSix was recommended to TechCrunch by Rhoda Ullmann, VP Consumer at Sense, a Boston-based startup building a home energy monitor. They also have a very smart and efficient approach to creative development that was critical to helping us scale,” she wrote. (If The key takeaway?

Commerce 211

Commerce Content Marketing Startup 211

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

They decide to wake up early to read the materials. In town board members also only scan it because they, too, have morning meetings before the board meeting starts. The meeting starts. It probably starts late. If you put up 5 slides on “what should we order for lunch today” the board will spend 30 minutes debating that.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

TechEmpower

JUNE 6, 2018

Not just in measured results per second (several metric crap tonne), but in number of tests measured (~1830), number of framework permutations tested (~464), number of languages included (26), and total execution time of the test suite (67 hours, or 241 billion microseconds to make that sound properly enormous). More on that later.

Framework 377

Framework TechEmpower Platform Metrics 377

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

At our mid-year offsite our partnership at Upfront Ventures was discussing what the future of venture capital and the startup ecosystem looked like. When you look at how much median valuations were driven up in the past 5 years alone it’s bananas. Please follow him & welcome him to Upfront!! <== And reset they must.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. It is to out friend. Enjoyed this post? Disruptive. We get it! I Be specific.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. When should you start a company? What company should you start? Most startups die. Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets. When should a VC invest? Most VCs don’t make money.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

Originally created in the mid 1990’s to help with the imprecise problem of how to value early stage companies, especially those in technology, I developed what soon became known as “The Berkus Method” when published in the popular book, “Winning Angels” by Harvard’s Amis and Stevenson with my permission in 2001.

Startup 120

Startup Examples Metrics Marketing 120

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. What makes up revenue?

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have enough resources to bootstrap our own startups, so we are completely dependent on investors to help turn great ideas into great businesses. Develop a personal story as a visionary and learner. In reality, that’s only half the story. He didn’t have any big technical shoe innovations.

Ideas 140

Ideas Entrepreneur Equity Resource 140

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

As a tech startup grows it needs to develop more process & management if it is to scale. Some objections are real and they end up becoming changes to your product, your service plan or your pricing / bundling. All-in-one solutions may initially seem appealing but you end up getting inferior innovation.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

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. But today I want to give you advice on how to decrease your odds of failure in a startup.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. Startups which display real innovation, such as alternative energy sources and new medical treatments, are still rare. Business risks are not just development risks. Failure is the best teacher I know.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2020

In my experience, the Silicon Valley startup model, focused on disrupting established industries, has treated the USA well and created some great global businesses. It has played almost no role in the emergence of current non-US bred startups, including Alibaba in China, Waze from Israel, Paytm in India, and many more.

Ideas 124

Ideas Venture Capital Software Review Technical Review 124

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2023

Measure progress through metrics on sales, revenue, and penetration. These start with your brand image, search visibility and process, and extend to the actual sales transaction. Develop a mindset of improvement versus defense. Seek customer feedback on ways to improve value and satisfaction.

Custom 91

Custom Customer Marketing Startup 91

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Some great content around the intersection of startups and being a Startup CTO in June this year. This continues my series of posts: Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March The following are the top items based on social signals.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

In my view, starting a new business has never been easier, and according to reports from the Kaufmann Foundation , the numbers are finally here to show it. The number of startups rose in 2015 for the first time in five years, with the largest year-over-year increase in two decades. Establishing your brand with interactive social media.

Startup 61

Startup Social Media News Tool 61

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. Today you have funders focused exclusively on “Day 0” startups or ones that aren’t even created yet. By definition?—?I’m two founders in a garage?—?(HP

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2023

In my experience advising businesses, large and small, I have often been surprised by the level of complacency and general malaise I find in the ranks, with a resultant direct loss of productivity and competitiveness. Put away permanently your “suck it up” voice. Develop metrics to monitor work intensity.

Satisfaction 108

Satisfaction Metrics Competition Examples 108