Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2020

Technology is so key to every business these days that experienced business-smart but non-tech entrepreneurs are feeling deeper and deeper in the hole. Only one component of running a business is managing technology, but it is a critical component, so no entrepreneur can afford to ignore it or totally delegate it.

Competition 174

Competition High Tech Startup Social Media 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2020

Most entrepreneurs spend far too much time thinking negatively about competitors, and can’t resist making derogatory statements to their own team, to investors, and even to customers. As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition.

Competition 125

Competition Entrepreneur Patents Custom 125

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2023

Most entrepreneurs spend far too much time thinking negatively about competitors, and can’t resist making derogatory statements to their own team, to investors, and even to customers. As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition.

Competition 111

Competition Entrepreneur Patents Custom 111

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. She took an operating role helping run Citysearch and Urbanspoon. Leadership is about recognizing your next generation of talent and helping lift them up. I’m only 52!

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow. Social proof can be helpful. AngelList Syndicate leads don’t take any fees on the investment, which should help with returns. They will have to help get the next round done.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

A continuing question I hear from young entrepreneurs is whether a university degree is important to startup success, or just a distraction in achieving their purpose in the world. Every school recognizes the power of “hands-on” work to help you develop your own ideas into a business. Write a business plan and pitch deck for learning.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2021

Yet there is no standardized testing or certification required or available anywhere to help you decide if you are a good fit for entrepreneurship, or founding a business is right for you. It helps to work in a similar company before you start your own. Examine the marketplace and your competition. Take stock of whom you know.

Entrepreneur 169

Entrepreneur Startup Statistics Guide 169

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. 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

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Competitive sportswoman. She was everything I was looking for in an entrepreneur to back. Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. She helps write press releases. So, Mark, enough entrepreneur love.

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Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

Every entrepreneur believes that their product or service is memorable, and that every customer will quickly see the advantage over competitors. Differentiation is still a key requirement for a successful startup rollout, and but it must be sustainable to keep ahead of new competition. Marty Zwilling.

Competition 123

Competition Custom Customer Examples 123

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 7, 2019

Los Angeles-based ECMC Foundation , a foundation that provides funding to both nonprofit and for-profit ventures focused on college success and career readiness, has helped backed two female entrepreneurs, along with investment firm Chloe Capital. Live, where women entrepreneurs pitched live for up to $250,000 in funding.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Los Angeles Invest Competition 113

socalTECH

JUNE 6, 2013

A new, Los Angeles-based startup, iCrumz , said today that it has launched a new, free social bookmarking tool aimed at helping users find their way back to websites and share content with others. The firm said it is in the midst of raising $1M in funding for the venture. READ MORE>>.

Tool 230

Tool Sites Competition Los Angeles 230

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

Many entrepreneurs still believe they need a traditional multi-level organization to handle growth and scaling, so they start hiring career managers to populate it. Freelancers and consultants have to demonstrate results, without training and mentoring, so they can help you more quickly and probably at a lower total cost.

Competition 168

Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

I have no incentive to do so other than to help those reading the WSJ piece better understand how I believe most insiders think. As an entrepreneur I never really knew what to make of VC return data. Here’s what I know: Most entrepreneurs I know would love to work with A16Z. Do they win competitive deals? Absolutely.

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Invest Funding Competition 264

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2013

It’s only 12 minutes long and if you’re a first-time entrepreneur (or second time, frankly) I encourage you to watch it if for nothing else than to get a sense that your struggles are universal. This naive optimism is why I believe younger entrepreneurs are more likely to produce insanely big outcomes. A second act.

Startup 412

Startup Press Course Entrepreneur 412

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. For readers, LaunchpadLA is all about?

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Class Mentor Startup Santa Monica 261

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. His top eight required skill set elements for sales don’t even mention product skills, and match my view of the right skill set for successful entrepreneurs, with only a few priority changes: Creating and sharing a vision. Negotiating and creating win-win deals.

Entrepreneur 134

Entrepreneur Startup Sales Custom 134

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2020

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Yet, for those with more realistic expectations and the right motivation, the entrepreneur lifestyle can be the dream life you envisioned.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Organization Custom Customer 126

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. It takes options off of the table.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition. ” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. Nice sweep!

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire GRP Partners 359

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

You can’t survive as an entrepreneur without resilience, because you are going to fail at least once, maybe multiple times. If you need more evidence that great entrepreneurs survived through resilience, just look into the backgrounds of more recent entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk. Then they get it done.

Entrepreneur 138

Entrepreneur Guide Activity Design 138

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

He can’t help himself: He’s Dave. Many through history became entrepreneurs precisely because they were unemployable. How to help his companies. He had a philosophy that the future competition for startups would be design led and based on data analysis. My pal Dave has blogger Tourette’s. My pal Dave has problems.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

Even though I’m a big proponent of becoming an entrepreneur, it is definitely not for everyone. In my view, entrepreneur roles need to be planned carefully rather than made on the spur of the moment. Adopt the Silicon Valley entrepreneur family model. Test your entrepreneur instincts through crowdfunding.

Sample 126

Sample Entrepreneur Ideas Startup 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2020

Although most people believe that being a successful entrepreneur is all about having the right idea, I’m convinced from my years of experience as a startup advisor and investor that’s it’s more about you as a person. The best entrepreneurs are not just dreamers of the next big thing – they have to be great facilitators and problem solvers.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Blogging Examples Custom 129

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio. I have always worked on early stage products.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2021

Anyone who works with entrepreneurs will tell you that all are different. These are the ultimate chess players in the game of business, always looking to be two or three moves ahead of the competition. The Opportunist is the speculative part of the entrepreneur in all of us. But none have any lock on success. Opportunist.

Entrepreneur 134

Entrepreneur Framework Mentor Web 134

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2022

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Yet, for those with more realistic expectations and the right motivation, the entrepreneur lifestyle can be the dream life you envisioned.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Organization Custom Customer 110

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

It’s human nature to try and be helpful to others. In many instances this help is genuine, well-meaning and productive. Most of us like to help create connections between people for whom an introduction, we believe, would be mutually beneficial. I find over-introducers are often motivated by their own self currency.

Innocal 255

Innocal Conference Help Writing 255

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

And I am often approached by entrepreneurs in cities which don’t have a vibrant VC community. And it is significantly easier to help when you are local. Thus, a desire to invest more locally where I think I have a competitive advantage. It’s a goal to help you understand the life of a VC. Take me for example.

Venture Capital 365

Venture Capital Marketing Santa Barbara Startup 365

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

In their passion and excitement about a new product or service, entrepreneurs tend to continually narrow the scope of potential competitors, and often claim to have no direct competitors. A narrow scope doesn’t help your case either. Prior recognition and visibility in the target market is invaluable from a competitive perspective.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

. ” Sean is somebody widely respected in Silicon Valley (although he now lives in SoCal) for having helped many early-stage companies go through major growth periods by quantitatively testing features with audiences to help diagnose what led to growth. Well, you have to do that, too. I endorse the growth hacking culture on teams.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review SEM SEO Marketing 384

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Our target market is entrepreneurs, creatives, and developers. Our services range from basically any platform service to enable an entrepreneur or developer or creative, to get online with a website, or do things like set up a blog. Simon Anderson: There''s a lot of competition in the market, undoubtedly.

Software Review 238

Software Review Cloud Computing Technical Review Platform 238

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

It seems like everyone wants to be an entrepreneur and get rich these days. Find out if something very similar is already selling, and who your competition would be if you proceed. Be wary of crafty shysters who will flood your mailbox with official-looking mail offering to help for a fee, or demanding fees you forgot to pay.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc. But to help with the explanation I’d like to put down some markers of typical Internet pre-money valuations done in major US markets (San Fran, NY, LA, etc.) That’s fine.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

I think startup communities being simple cheerleaders doesn’t help anyone. I then got my MBA at University of Chicago so I secretly pull for local entrepreneurs as long as they don’t make me visit in the Winter any more. People often say, “Great entrepreneurs will build a community and the capital will follow.”

Company 369

Company Companies Startup Snapchat 369

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

It really is possible for an introvert to succeed as an entrepreneur, even though you can’t expect to start and build a business alone. Every entrepreneur, especially an introvert, can benefit from the perspective of another business person, ideally one who has prior experience in the domain you are about to enter.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104