Berkonomics

MARCH 30, 2012

You have enough in savings to get started, but how and where do you go to find additional funding sources? When searching for funding, one of your primary tasks should be to start where it is easier, and proceed from there. Fees may seem high at first, but, on a total cost basis, these funding sources can appear more reasonable.

Funding 192

Funding Entrepreneur Startup Invest 192

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 29, 2012

However, certain questions can be tricky for an entrepreneur to answer. Below are five common questions an entrepreneur will encounter when seeking venture funding. Handled appropriately, these questions provide investors a window into an entrepreneurs’ soul, which minimizes the chances of a future misalignment.

Entrepreneur 145

Entrepreneur Google Invest RSS 145

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. Consider the need for multiple rounds of funding.

Funding 119

Funding Startup Platform Examples 119

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2023

In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors. His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs.

Startup 154

Startup Sales Entrepreneur Customer 154

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. One of the most important aims of a fund-raising process is to keep similar firms at the same stage of your process. Why 8–10 and not just 3–4?

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 26, 2020

The Los Angeles startup community is joining the rest of the world in mourning the death of NBA superstar, entrepreneur and investor Kobe Bryant who was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., Bryant launched his venture career with partner and serial entrepreneur Jeff Stibel back in 2013, according to Crunchbase.

Venture Capital 359

Venture Capital Los Angeles Legalzoom Calabasas 359

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 21, 2018

Phoenix communities are celebrating because JPMorgan Chase has made several local charitable investments to support underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses with the goal of creating jobs and spark a growing economy. Supporting underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses helps revitalize communities and creates jobs,” Tripp said.

Invest 70

Invest Entrepreneur News Tips 70

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors. His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Sales Startup Customer 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

As a mentor to many business professionals and owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs, I find a wealth of innovative ideas, but often less insight on what it really takes to transform ideas into an income stream that can excite new customers into long-term business success. Investors expect this step to be proven successful before funding.

Ideas 145

Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2008

San Diego-based RealGifts, a developer of a Facebook application for giving real gifts to friends, is one of the recipients of the $25,000 Facebook fbFund competition. Facebook's fbFund is a $10M fund focused on identifying talent and funding entrepreneurs developing Facebook software applications. READ MORE>>

Funding 100

Funding San Diego Competition Software 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

[Email readers, continue here…] Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally-generated funds. And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Venture Capital 266

Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2016

As an entrepreneur looking for professional investors, one of the quickest ways to lose credibility and get rejected is to start with a ridiculously high pre-money valuation. If you have a proven business model with some sales, it’s credible to apply a multiplier of five to 10 times this number for the first element of valuation.

Startup 71

Startup Patents Invest Blogging 71

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

This is the origin of the “ solution looking for a problem ” and “ if we build it, they will come ” syndromes, which result in surprise and frustration waiting for funding, and waiting for customers that don’t materialize. Tags: strategy entrepreneur startups business. They emphasize that before the “What” should come the “Why?”

Startup 92

Startup Competition IP Patents 92

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Others, like Guy Kawasaki , have irreverently called some of these “entrepreneur lies,” but I prefer to think of them as innocent enhancements or omissions that can kill your deal. Secondly, this projection usually comes with an assertion that everyone on the planet needs this, so less than one percent in five years is still a huge number.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Innocal Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2014

Both have worked.Google reached $1 billion in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $400 billion. Twitter showed no focus on revenue in the first five years, but was able to parlay 500 million users into a $22 billion public company, now growing revenue.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Organization Invest Customer 98

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, technology has served you well. Still though, when founders are seeking funding, “ 75 percent of the venture capital goes to three states: Massachusetts, New York, and California,” said Steve Case in an interview with Recode. Watch our video series at SXSW 2018 with The Case Foundation.

Startup 140

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 140

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

The venture capitalists we look at to fund our deals are certainly tightening down, there's no question about that. What is not happening, is those marginal deals that would have gotten funded a number of years ago, when things were better, are not making it. So you don't see as many people looking for funding now?

Tech Coast Angels 231

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Southern California 231

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of the management team, or a sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. While these may be necessary for funding, they may not be sufficient to make your startup the great success embodied in your vision.

Education 151

Education Customer Custom Sales 151

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

billion company in the brutally competitive beauty industry, especially one with such broad appeal. After all, Glossier’s founder and CEO Emily Weiss is very, very far from the first entrepreneur to profit off of our desire to look good. allocate 98% of their funding to startups helmed by men. And who cares?

Startup 280

Startup Netflix Los Angeles Innocal 280

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2012

You have probably heard plenty of times that being an entrepreneur is a risky business, and investors talk all the time about reducing the risk. Here is my own priority list of key risk drivers that every entrepreneur and every investor should evaluate and minimize in starting a business: Team experience and depth risk.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Examples Social Network Marketing 108

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Too many entrepreneurs develop a new product without regard to market demand, then build an entire strategy based on creating a need, rather than acting on an existing market need. These don’t get funded. Analyze how competition will react. Investors are looking for a big return in five years.

Technology 91

Technology Funding Competition Entrepreneur 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2018

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Competition 51

Competition Patents Resource Entrepreneur 51

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 15, 2010

Jason started the Open Angel Forum in response to his frustration that entrepreneurs were being charged by some angel organizations to present at their events. As a former entrepreneur, I’m a big supporter of Jason’s goals. In my next post I will write about one of the five companies.

Angel 254

Angel Startup Tech Coast Angels MyShape 254

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

As I thought about the characteristics that comprise a great program, I identified five criteria that a prospective entrepreneurial student can use to evaluate the efficacy of a collegiate entrepreneur curriculum. Ask: What percentage of the startup-oriented classes are taught by accomplished entrepreneurs?

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Class Patents 100

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

In today’s highly competitive ad environment, both content and data are kings. DTC entrepreneurs are more focused on immediate impact, because if they’re not selling product, there’s no large brand propping them up. So I always revert back to asking founders: What are five reasons why people want to buy your product?

Commerce 211

Commerce Content Marketing Startup 211

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2011

Note: This is part III of a five part series. Along with Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham and Marcia Brown’s Stone Soup , the seemingly innocuous board game Monopoly has played a pivotal role in the edification of several generations of entrepreneurs. Access the first installment HERE , part II HERE , part IV HERE and part V HERE.

Entrepreneur 216

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Paramount 216

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

Too many entrepreneurs develop a new product without regard to market demand, then build an entire strategy based on creating a need, rather than acting on an existing market need. These don’t get funded. Analyze how competition will react. Investors are looking for a big return in five years. Marty Zwilling.

Funding 88

Funding Entrepreneur Competition Pricing 88

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2018

In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors. His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs.

Startup 98

Startup Sales Entrepreneur Customer 98

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from AngelSoft , only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.” Line up an experienced team.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2019

Portnoy is a serial entrepreneur, having previously founded ThinkNear, a startup which went from the Techstars startup accelerator to an exit in only 14 months. That competitiveness is driving companies to make better decisions. For those not yet familiar with Sense360, what do you do? How are things going with the startup?

Startup 113

Startup Culver City Competition Customer 113

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Many entrepreneurs stumble at this point, losing the deal or most of their ownership, by having no answer, saying “make me an offer,” or quoting an exorbitant number. NewCo is projecting revenues of $25M in five years, even with a 40% discount rate, the NPV or current valuation comes out to about $3M.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Patents Outsource Development 98

socalTECH

DECEMBER 21, 2017

We talked with Richard about NordicEye's $30M fund, its interests in Los Angeles, and why a Nordic venture capital firm has its eyes on Southern California's technology startups. Give us an overview of your fund and what you invest in? We're in the process of raising funds with institutional investors as well.

Southern California 133

Southern California Startup Venture Capital Invest 133

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2012

We caught up with Sam Teller , who is directing efforts at the accelerator, to help fill entrepreneurs in on where the program fits in the world of technology and startup acceleration. It was really just something built for the community to help support entrepreneurs. Forbes ranked us number five in the country.

Class 261

Class Mentor Startup Santa Monica 261