Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from Gust (formerly 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.” Build a prototype product.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

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 Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124

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 Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse.

Funding 62

Funding Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 62

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

Few investors these days have the time or patience to read a full business plan, so a better way to catch their eye is with a tightly written and well formatted two-page executive summary. Include your sustainable competitive advantage. Professional investors look for the right people more than the right product.

Summary 101

Summary Patents Technical Review Competition 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. No investor wants to wait that long for his payback, or fund the years of waiting. Solution and benefits.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

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.” Build a prototype product.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches?

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. I had intended to talk about how bad the process could become, not to name-and-shame anybody (and The Funded was not yet around). I hadn’t thought about the fact that he would become aware of my link.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. No investor wants to wait that long for his payback, or fund the years of waiting. Solution and benefits.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Solution product & technology. Make sure to communicate the relevance of your product / services to market needs.

Slides 99

Slides Competition Sample Sales 99

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

Venture Capital funds: the different between “closed funds&# (which typically have a 10-year time horizon) and “evergreen funds&# which re-invest profits back into the fund. An investment doesn’t guarantee your product will suddenly be on the investor’s price sheet.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

million in funding on TechCrunch led by Harmony Partners and Upfront Ventures to double its footprint of 3 cities (New York, Chicago & Washington DC) to 6 in 2016. We raised this capital in what has increasingly become a difficult market for fund raising so I’d like to share with you some details on how we get it done.

Startup 150

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. No investor wants to wait that long for his payback, or fund the years of waiting. Solution and benefits.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

As a member of the local angel group Selection Committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Solution product & technology. Make sure to communicate the relevance of your product / services to market needs.

Slides 94

Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded early by one of the 318,000 active Angel investors in the USA alone. Here is my list of top ten action items to best prepare you for success in achieving a funding event with Angels: Incorporate the business now. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.”

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Solution product & technology. Make sure to communicate the relevance of your product / services to market needs.

Slides 93

Slides Competition Sample Sales 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

Thus the top priority of every entrepreneur who wants funding should be to build and highlight their “dream team” of co-founders, executives and advisers, to attract the biggest and best investors. If your team has a depth of expertise in software, that won’t help you get funding for a new hardware solution.

Startup 60

Startup Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review 60

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2013

Speaking of the new investment, CapLinked CEO Eric M. Jackson said, “We’re using the proceeds from our financing round to invest in our technology, build new features, and increase sales and support.”. Jackson added that the firm was proud of its product, and even uses its own software to manage their capital raised from investors.

Draper 68

Draper Google Software Engineering Invest 68

Tech.Co

MAY 22, 2018

Truth be told, your only path to some serious funding is perseverance and diligence in getting meetings and being prepared. I’ve had many startup founders tell me that their startup literally has no competition,” said Frank Gruber, Cofounder of Tech.Co, Startup of the Year , and Established. “In In most cases, that’s not true.

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

Xconomy

AUGUST 16, 2016

A recent Wall Street Journal article that raised the possibility of Biogen as the target of another huge pharma buyout cited the lack of productivity as a major driver of M&A in the pharmaceutical industry. pension funds) with little appetite for experimentation with new managers and more funds.

Product 40

Product Journal Venture Capital Demand 40

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. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Their first fund was a $75 million fund raised in 2006 and they very recently announced a brand new $130 million fund. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. In the intro section of the show we talked a lot about why VC funds are becoming smaller again and where Greycroft fits.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

socalTECH

APRIL 14, 2010

Working with brand partners and viewers, they find that we're providing the content they need in terms of readers and brand partners, such as getting to moms interested in the green movement, moms specifically interested in beauty products, etc--where they can create a more intimate relationship with readers. Lolita Carrico: I think so.

Networking 230

Networking Social Media Startup Search Engine Optimization 230

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

That’s because a company’s value is a composite of all of the quantitative and qualitative factors that comprise a company: revenues, expenses, risks, growth prospects, quality of the management team, competitive advantages, strength of the intellectual property, and so forth. Detail isn’t important; tracking your progress is.

.Net 89

.Net Metrics Competition Template 89

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

The idea actually came to him from the Yellow Pages business. He took out an ad in the Yellow Pages (it was the early 80′s, pre Internet), which cost him $1,000 / month for a half-page ad. So the Yellow Page business was always “pay for placement.&#. If it worked in the Yellow Pages, why not on the Internet?

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

The promised to follow up with: calls, using your product, talking to customers or “noodle on things.&# Will they? Remember that most fund raising takes time. And they have responsibilities for helping to manage their fund. Not to mention what happens in years where they also need to raise a new fund.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Startup Email News 277

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Maybe small amounts of money for what founders reading these pages dream of but life-changing for many. Before this South Korean wonder spread across the globe I had written about a trend in global audiences that exists when the costs of production are nearly zero and the costs of distribution are also nearly free. billion views.

Startup 380

Startup Media Content Platform 380

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 17, 2012

We have a great variety of skills in the team from Media, Marketing, Operations, Retail – all very focus on customer service, highlighting a product or brand in the best way for the least amount of money. Any funding yet? The core product is free to small business and self employed people and always will be.

Advertising 79

Advertising Services Social Network Startup 79

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

This is especially true for companies with expensive and complex products or services that are more consultative in nature, like insurance, financial services, home services, education and travel, etc. At CallWave, Colin was CTO, Jason was CFO and I was in charge of product marketing and customer acquisition. You’re right.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

For the rest of us, we need a business plan, as well as a product plan. Some of you may be convinced that your product specification communicates the product message even better than a business plan, so why be redundant? Professional investors and even customers invest in people, rather than just a product.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 9, 2014

Having a clear focus means it’s easier to communicate what your product is and who it’s for. By trying to appeal to everyone and adding features left, right and centre, you will actually dilute your message and could end up with a complex, bloated product. Here are two examples.

Startup 78

Startup Design Customer Custom 78

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Language Weaver is backed by Palisades Ventures, the Tech Coast Angels, and The Athenaeum Fund. So that continues to be a core area of focus for us, and has grown significantly over the last few years, an in which we've continued to invest. Let's switch over to talking about the company's funding--what's the status there?

Software Review 145

Software Review USC Content Tech Coast Angels 145

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

StartupDemo is an opportunity for early stage startups to showcase their new products and/or services. This Panel is filled with investing super stars who will be going over must have content for all the startups and entrepreneurs out there. Topic discussion: Impact of social media on startups and on funding leads for investors.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

So, we created a site which not just aggregates, but also organizes activities by type, category--land, sea, air--and things like competition, family, culture, adrenaline--to really narrow down the possibilities for what you're looking for. The automated part, is a customer fills out a form and buys the product through their shopping cart.

Activity 164

Activity Startup Sites Web 164

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

My firm GRP Partners recently funded a young LA based company named Ad.Ly Banner or AdSense style ads placed either at the top of the page or down the right hand side (often called a skyscraper) would only net Twitter money for users that log into Twitter.com. If we continue our success we will have strong competition.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

Simply click on the title of the panel you like and you will be taken to their SXSWi panel picker page. Bootstrapping process, product development, Prototyping. . Have you ever had an idea for a great product, but thought any of the following: "I don't have en. Bootstrapping boostrapping, Funding, lean startup. .

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

You need to first create a compelling product. Compelling in the sense that you solve a real problem a target group of potential customers has with a product that is significantly better than the alternatives on that market. You need product / market fit. Product / market fit is everything. ” True. Spend it wisely.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401