Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2019

A large portion of your competitive advantage and your potential value to investors is the size of your intellectual property portfolio. When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most entrepreneurs think only of patents. In reality, patents are only one of at least eight items that should be in your IP portfolio. Copyrights.

IP

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

A business plan is the outward facing definition of the business you hope to drive with your hardware solution, with a hardware overview in the intro to highlight customer value and competitiveness. For example, “We just patented a new battery technology that will cut your smartphone charge time and cost in half.” and trademarks.

Product

socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

Whether that''s for competitive analysis or market analysis, our product is basically able to monitor--on a very large scale--things that are important to your particular company. All of our documents were done for raising money, and it was a very simple transaction. We''re looking for lighting bolts in time which are important.

Orange County

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

We've also had great advances in engaging the trust of the commercial community, with patented advances like automatic scoring of our algorithms, which predicts the quality of translations based on a one-through-five scale. The problem them was, we've got ten documents, how do we get through those.

Software Review

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2017

A large portion of your competitive advantage and your potential value to investors is the size of your intellectual property portfolio. When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most entrepreneurs think only of patents. In reality, patents are only one of at least eight items that should be in your IP portfolio. Copyrights.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

Since this document is outward facing, it is important to keep the terminology and tone consistent with that of your customer set, investors, and business partners. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. Now let’s talk about the basic components of a business plan. Provide details on the business model.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.”

Technical Review

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

The approach I recommend is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text-based business plan document. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Competition and sustainable advantage. Opportunity sizing.

Slides

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.”

Entrepreneur

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.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2020

On the other hand, if you have a new technology, with patent applied for, maybe you more time to get it right. Potential conflict of interest issues with a current employer should be explored openly, and resulting agreement documented, to preclude the possibility that you might lose everything later as your startup succeeds.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

An alternative approach, which I prefer, is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text-based business plan document. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Competition and sustainable advantage. Opportunity sizing.

Slides

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

The approach I recommend is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text-based business plan document. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Competition and sustainable advantage. Opportunity sizing.

Slides

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Since this document is outward facing, it is important to keep the terminology and tone consistent with that of your customer set, investors, and business partners. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. Now let’s talk about the basic components of a business plan. Provide details on the business model.

Product

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

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.

Services

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2015

For example, “I have patented a new LCD with double the intensity at half the cost, already proven locally, and I just need resources to scale for this market.” Your second sentence should acknowledge competition, but highlight your added value. Your second sentence should acknowledge competition, but highlight your added value.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.”

Technical Review

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.”

Technical Review

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2014

Since this document is outward facing, it is important to keep the terminology and tone consistent with that of your customer set, investors, and business partners. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. Now let’s talk about the basic components of a business plan. Provide details on the business model.

Product

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2023

On the other hand, if you have a new technology, with patent applied for, maybe you more time to get it right. Potential conflict of interest issues with a current employer should be explored openly, and resulting agreement documented, to preclude the possibility that you might lose everything later as your startup succeeds.

Startup

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 3, 2015

Whether it’s something as extensive as filing patents, more simple trademark registrations, and or putting appropriate documentation in place, don’t ignore this and don’t rely on boilerplate online templates. And relying on NDAs is not the answer.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Since this document is outward facing, it is important to keep the terminology and tone consistent with that of your customer set, investors, and business partners. For example, “I just patented a new cell-phone technology that will double battery life for half the cost. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2014

On the other hand, if you have a new technology, with patent applied for, maybe you more time to get it right. Potential conflict of interest issues with a current employer should be explored openly, and resulting agreement documented, to preclude the possibility that you might lose everything later as your startup succeeds.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2018

On the other hand, if you have a new technology, with patent applied for, maybe you more time to get it right. Potential conflict of interest issues with a current employer should be explored openly, and resulting agreement documented, to preclude the possibility that you might lose everything later as your startup succeeds.

Ideas

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2016

On the other hand, if you have a new technology, with patent applied for, maybe you more time to get it right. Potential conflict of interest issues with a current employer should be explored openly, and resulting agreement documented, to preclude the possibility that you might lose everything later as your startup succeeds.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

I’m not suggesting that formal legal documents are always required, but agreements without some paper or email trail are easily forgotten or misconstrued. Filing a provisional patent costs very little if you do it yourself, and it holds your place in line for a year. Reveal “secret sauce” before filing intellectual property.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

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.

Services

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Here are some tips which will signal traction and fundability to investors, as well as to your team: Document your business plan. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.”

Funding

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Here are some tips which will signal traction and fundability to investors, as well as to your team: Document your business plan. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.”

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Here are some tips which will signal traction and fundability to investors, as well as to your team: Document your business plan. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.”

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

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.

Services

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2018

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.”

Funding

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2017

A strong work ethic is great, but patents and intellectual property are critical. What works is a documented change request process, as well as quantification of resources and incremental return. Is your business plan complete and documented? You need quantified value for customers to see, feel, and pay for.

Metrics

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Here are some tips which will signal traction to investors, as well as your team: Document your business plan. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.”

Tips

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2016

Since this document is outward facing, it is important to keep the terminology and tone consistent with that of your customer set, investors, and business partners. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. Now let’s talk about the basic components of a business plan. Provide details on the business model.

Product

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2016

If the market is new and competition is minimal, then the time and costs of educating potential customers probably exceeds your survival time and budget. You need patents and trademarks as a barrier to entry. Be prepared to pivot at least once before you get it right, even with this input.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Well … I have had many late nights and I really didn’t contemplate writing many blog postings this month because I spent November in this interesting venture capital / fund raising dance involving lots of late night sessions reviewing legal documents, rewriting business plans and preparing for pitches. Page 3: Competition.

Venture Capital