Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2018

Writers can submit their scripts into these programs, and the dashboards make it convenient to track, and it also allows them to track placement and their scores in these competitions. For those not familiar with the writing process in Hollywood works, fill us in? That's been our focus, on centralizing talent discovery on the platform.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Hollywood Platform Competition 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

They provide peer group organizations, usually called incubators, with free resources, practice environments, and outside mentoring that can help you learn and pivot with minimal cost. Write a business plan and pitch deck for learning. Take advantage of free startup programs and mentors. Learning by doing is the only way to go.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2010

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Startup 91

Startup Funding Sample Writing 91

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets. The whole point of delegating investment decisions to a GP is to empower them to organize their firm to win deals and get stuff done.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

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. In my next post I will write about one of the five companies. Last night I attended the inaugural Open Angel Forum event started by Jason Calacanis , a fellow LA resident.

Angel 254

Angel Startup Tech Coast Angels MyShape 254

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2015

In fact, the process of organizing and documenting these elements is the best way to make sure you understand the answers yourself. If you don’t have the time to write things down, or your writing skills leave something to be desired, don’t be afraid to get some help.

Startup 109

Startup Writing Mentor Sample 109

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

” And even the venerable Fred Wilson weighed in with how people “ leading vs. following ” in funding rounds play different roles and have different skills. If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests. So there you have it. Up to a point.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

In the Los Angeles startup world, there are lots of high profile, buzzy companies which have lots of attention and funding--but which haven''t earned a dime of revenue. We started looking at the landscape, and as I was getting my MBA at the time, ended up writing the business plan for ConsumerTrack. We do that methodically.

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2013

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Sample 92

Sample Writing Startup Summary 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2012

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Sample 96

Sample Writing Summary Startup 96

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. So naturally we’re pushing for him to drop critical information when their paths cross organically. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. It’s not you.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2010

By Mahesh Raj Mohan Writing a business plan can be a difficult process. Even if you know your product/service suite down cold, understand the strengths/weaknesses of the competition, and have built pro forma financials that are sane. you still have to write the plan for a particular audience. Funding is important to me because.”)

Writing 97

Writing Summary Ideas Research 97

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2008

In their case, people write their scripts on a web site, and when they're done, they can submit them to contests with a single click. If you're doing freelance writing, have a story you're trying to sell, there's a whole process of finding out where you're doing well, not doing well, and what responses you have received.

Writing 209

Writing Hollywood Startup Sites 209

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Use a simple accounting tool like QuickBooks, get away from co-mingled funds, and you have the first business process you need. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Funding process. But having no process does not make you more competitive. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Use a simple accounting tool like QuickBooks, get away from co-mingled funds, and you have the first business process you need. Funding process.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2009

FreedomSpeaks is a startup developing a business around connecting people with information about their political representatives, and also enabling organizations and others to do the same. I am someone who likes to interact with my Representatives and Senators, by way of writing letters, emailing, and what not. He is a friend of mine.

Startup 100

Startup Writing Southern California Email 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. The only other ways to get discovered was to have good organic search results or to get covered by a major blog site. That changed very quickly. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Use a simple accounting tool like QuickBooks, get away from co-mingled funds, and you have the first business process you need. Funding process.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

On myfab5, people rank their favorite places instead of giving them star ratings and write bite-sized reviews instead of writing long reviews. When talking to review site users, we found the top two reasons people don’t write reviews is because it takes too long and it is confusing. Any competition?

Software Review 79

Software Review Technical Review Writing Startup 79

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

Using amSTATZ athletes can track workouts and search for trainers and local events and event organizers can use the network for their events publicity and partner with trainers to develop training programs for their registrants. Any competition in LA? We haven’t identified any competition in LA, specifically.

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Use a simple accounting tool like QuickBooks, get away from co-mingled funds, and you have the first business process you need. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Funding process. But having no process does not make you more competitive.

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2010

As of the last four months, we've had about 200,000 plus downloads, a bunch of great write ups, and a lot of mom bloggers who have been reviewing the app and writing stories on it. We've had close to 2 million tasks people have put into there in the last four months, and all this without any PR or advertising, completely organic.

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

If I write back, and tell them to stay at the Marriott in Del Mar, we would detect the Marriott Del Mar in your message, whether that's on Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, in a text message, in an email, or whatever, and convert that into a link to one of our merchants who are part of the Wildfire network. What does that look like?

San Diego 159

San Diego Social Media Commerce Snapchat 159

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

I must admit I discuss this very frequently with portfolio companies but hadn’t thought to write about it. And often these contracts don’t prohibit you from marketing to competitors so you can often start to build your future pipeline while not immediately selling to the competition.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Customer Custom 150

socalTECH

JANUARY 15, 2009

We've used the profits from NeoHire for funding. It's not just that a consumer can get their resume online, and have a url to share with them--for a startup company, and with the economy right now, they don't have funds to pay for recruiting agencies, they don't have funds to pay for Monster, Hotjobs, or Careerbuilder.

Startup 140

Startup Yahoo Sites Oversee.net 140

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Every investor expects to see some traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan.

Tips 88

Tips Startup CTO Hire Press 88

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We want to invest in early-stage technology enabled startup businesses – upfront in the funding cycle. We like to hire people and fund people who are deeply ethical and we try to be long-term in our investment thinking. I wanted to just write. I like writing. They give good news and bad news personally.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. The best thinker I met on the topic is Mark Organ who founded Influitive to solve this. They’re in beta).

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

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. Semick: In the beginning, many of our conversations were about whether we wanted funding from angel investors and eventually VCs. I’ve been there.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115