Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

During the Q&A I was asked about how I make investment decisions in early-stage businesses. I know that sounds trite but it’s the best way I can describe my early-stage investments. If I don’t do both then it’s highly unlikely I will invest. I answered in the same way I always do so I thought I’d just write it publicly. “I

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Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. We have no competition.”. That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. When asked (as we always do,) the response is “This is new. Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur come out with that one.

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2019

San Diego-based Radicle Growth , a startup investor which invests in innovative agtech and food tech startups, says it has awarded $250,000 to WeedOUT , an Israeli startup focused on the resistance of weeds to existing chemical herbicides.

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SoCal Tech Calendar

APRIL 22, 2019

Wednesday, April 24, 2019 -- Start-up World Cup - Los Angeles Regional Pitch Competition. Last year, Leuko Labs was the $1,000,000 USD winner from the U.S.

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Startup Los Angeles Competition Angel 100

socalTECH

APRIL 3, 2015

San Diego-based Qualcomm said Thursday that it is doubling the size of its QPrize annual investment funding competition, and will now award $250,000 in convertible note financing to regional winners, with an additional $250,000 to grand prize winners. This will be the fifth year of the competition. READ MORE>>.

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Competition San Diego Venture Capital Invest 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROI). One of these experts, David T. Cold calling.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. Huge investments are also required to ramp up manufacturing, build a distribution network, and provide the support infrastructure. If you have deep pockets, these ultimately can be very lucrative.

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L.A. Business Journal

JULY 24, 2018

Westwood-based Immortals, an e-sports competition league with worldwide reach, announced today an investment from Meg Whitman, who also joined the company’s board of directors.

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socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2013

San Diego-based Qualcomm has named the winner of its annual, Qualcomm Ventures QPrize Venture Investment Competition, the company said this morning. iOnRoad had previously won $100,000 from Qualcomm for winning the Israeli region competition of Qualcomm's QPrize competition. READ MORE>>.

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Berkonomics

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Many CEOs have asked me if I felt an investment banker adds value if the buyer has already been identified. Investment bankers sometimes slow the process by requiring a “deal book” to be prepared containing considerable information about a company to help a buyer. Deal books are expensive to create. Then there is the question of fees.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. I had been thinking a lot about this recently because I’m often asked the question of “what I look for in an entrepreneur when I want to invest?” I had invested in myself for years.

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Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

San Diego-based Qualcomm said Tuesday that it is launching its second annual venture investment competition, the Qualcomm Ventures QPrize competition. According to the firm, this year's competition will provide up to $750,000 in seed funding to entrepreneurs working on mobile ventures. READ MORE>>.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Just this past September was a year with Amazon, when I left, and we started investing in September under the new name, ScOp Venture Capital.

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Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

Berkonomics

APRIL 19, 2012

Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.” That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a totally new device or service that could take the world by storm.

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Competition Slides Sales Ideas 189

Berkonomics

MARCH 25, 2012

For those of us who’ve invested in early stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem. There are many ways to project the value of a company for purposes of pricing an investment, but all rely upon the revenue and profit projections of the entrepreneur as a starting point.

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Invest Startup Email Competition 321

socalTECH

AUGUST 31, 2012

Qualcomm said it awarded the venture financing to MightyText as the top prize in the North American Regional Semi-Finals of its 2012 QPrize venture investment competition. MightyText now goes on to compete with Qualcomm's other regional winners for $1M in funding. READ MORE>>.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

Competitiveness - One attribute that I believe most VCs look for in entrepreneurs is competitiveness. If you stumble on to a really good idea believe me it will get competitive really quickly. I know that people who aren’t competitive always find competitive people slightly distasteful. I had to say it.

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Competition Entrepreneur Startup GRP Partners 296

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Most associates need some entrepreneurial experience before actually making investments. Ability to source information easily to help build a thesis around companies / industries / competition. And effective immediately Jordan will have the authority to make investments. I think there are two reasons for this: 1.

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Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

SoCal CTO

MAY 19, 2010

Can you raise $750K - $1M with no future investments planned? I’m a regular reader/listener of the Frank Peters Show that talks about Angel Investing. In his recent post, Top 10 Ways to Win a Business Plan Competition , he says: #4 I wanted to push this further down the list, but I just bristle at this: the revenue forecast.

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Invest Angel Tech Coast Angels Pasadena Angels 205

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Among the participants that applied for the online competitions, only a progressed into the semi-finals. Tech.Co: What was the road like leading up to your initial pitch for the competition? Celebrate Conference in October. Climbing the ranks for our Western Region, Picking Duck was one of two semi-final winners.

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Competition Startup Ideas Conference 103

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2019

Two people associated with Southern California's high tech investment and startup industry have been named as part of the far reaching investigation into a college admissions scandal , which named Hollywood actresses, CEOs, coaches at USC, UCLA, and UCSD, as well as many others. According to a complaint filed by the U.S. READ MORE>>.

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USC UCLA Southern California Invest 113

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

From apps to hardware, to KickStarter successes and international startups, we’re inching closer to finding out who will take home the title of Startup of the Year competition at our annual Celebrate Conference in October. Among the dozens of participants that applied for the online competitions, only a few progressed into the semifinals.

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Competition Mobile Startup Technical Review 123

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2014

This raises a big red flag with potential investors, who conclude that no competitors means no market, or you haven’t looked, and the new startup is likely not investable. Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos. Investors check connections.

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Competition Startup Patents Slides 93

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

According to Beta Boom, The List--founded by Constance Curtis--is part of a group of startups which is near completion of a six month program, the Beta Boom 2020 Women's Startup Academy--which culminates with a competition for $10K in funding judged by investors and others from Elevate Capital, Salesforce Ventures and Hustle Fund, among others.

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El Segundo Startup Invest Training 100

socalTECH

MAY 19, 2010

This time, Frank gives the Top 10 Ways to Win a Business Plan Competition. I'm a judge in a local university's business plan competition. Over the past few years I've been involved in different ways in the UC Irvine, Paul Merage School of Business, Business Plan Competition. They came in 2nd place. 1 Be kind to the judges.

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Competition Mentor Software Review Invest 153

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2018

The only “sustainable competitive advantage” in business is self-awareness. The leaders I admire most have invested a great deal of time understanding their own psychology and learning from their past patterns and difficulties. It’s a recipe for disaster. Understand the sources of your own negative tendencies.

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Competition Startup Examples Coach 81

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Unlike a lot of grants on this list, the competition is open to all US small businesses, as long as they have fewer than 99 employees, have been operating for at least six months, and have a FedEx business account that's been open before September 1, 2023. It's competitive though – last year 18,000 applicants competed for only 12 slots.

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Technical Review Software Review Startup Competition 194

Tech.Co

JUNE 1, 2017

The cannabis industry has been filled with innovation and investment in recent years. Do you play it safe and invest in industries with less baggage? Take a look at our interview below and decide whether or not you want to invest in cannabis. So as an investor, what do you do? The Ground Floor. The Unique Risks. The Legality.

Invest 75

Invest Competition Training Media 75

Xconomy

APRIL 11, 2019

Financial firms are facing competition from legacy players and disruptive fintech startups as technology continues to reshape the heavily regulated industry. Two financial firms are betting on a nonprofit incubator program in San Diego in hopes of identifying top talent and potential targets for investment or acquisition.

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Incubator Invest San Diego Competition 81

socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2017

Wallach on investments out of a new fund, Inevitable Ventures. How did you end up here in Los Angeles doing investments? Coincidentally, that was the exact same time in 2009 when I moved out, when Ashton Kutcher started first investing. Ron chose me to manage those investments. We brought in a third partner, Guy Oseary.

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Invest Startup Hollywood Echo Park 157

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds. Better yet, the valuation of your enterprise is often higher than if the same investment were taken from a professional investor. It is most often a win-win for both you and the strategic partner.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2014

Last year at this time I spoke at VidCon and gave this presentation in which I said YouTube was “the Walmart of Online Video” but I also commented that I felt YouTube was vulnerable to competition because their rev share to MCNs wasn’t high enough to allow MCNs to build a profitable business inside of YouTube.

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Invest Content Media Networking 291

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Either of these qualms can ultimately sidetrack your startup as not worthy of investment, so it pays to do your homework on what you say and how to communicate effectively. This is also the place to first mention patents and any other differentiators that put you ahead of competition. Investors invest in people more than the idea.

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Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and The core of the investing job of course is investing dollars into startup companies and helping as a mentor, advisor and board member on the companies in which you’ve invested. She had all of the skills and traits we sought?—?leadership,

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Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

socalTECH

JUNE 6, 2012

Barnett said the contest comes since the firm is not quite able to crowdfund investments for companies yet, but wants to help LA startups get the attention to meet angels and venture capitalist, along with other investors, through its platform.

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Competition Startup Sites Platform 200

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2013

Some people feel that organic growth is “better” because it requires real innovation and sustained effort to create long-term competitive advantage through differentiation and efficiency. These relationships need not require cash investments; often they are done with exchanges of equity or assets. Economies of scale.

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Organization Competition Startup Acquisition 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2012

One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential startup investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition.

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Competition Patents Startup Social Network 97