socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Last week, the University of Southern California 's Viterbi School of Engineering announced that it had established a new, business plan competition, the Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition ([link] specifically aimed at students in the engineering school. Why a business plan competition, and why in engineering school?

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 -- Social Enterprise Venture Competition. The program provides training and mentoring programs for mission-based nonprofits seeking to create an earned income stream through a social venture. Where are the Social Capital Markets by Fran Seegull. Keynote: Social Enterprise 2.0-

Competition 100

Competition Coach Mentor Training 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. How entrepreneurs respond to these will become a larger and larger determinant of startup growth, competitive position, and success.

Resource 112

Resource Ideas Competition Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2018

The only “sustainable competitive advantage” in business is self-awareness. Most successful business leaders, including Richard Branson and Bill Gates, regularly called on their mentors, Freddie Laker and Warren Buffett, to test their perception of the right questions to ask, and the right issues to tackle. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Competition 81

Competition Startup Examples Coach 81

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2023

Many business leaders I meet in my consulting practice are frustrated by the challenge of getting their teams working together, increasing engagement, and tackling market change requirements. Facilitate coaching and mentoring, inside and outside. The result is high engagement, and reduced loss of talent to competition.

Coach 117

Coach Mentor Study Activity 117

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2023

Based on my experience as an investor and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, one of the quickest ways to kill your credibility and your startup is to offer a poorly written business plan, or none at all. An entrepreneur who can’t manage a plan, probably won’t be able to manage the new business.

Startup 102

Startup Writing Mentor Sample 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2023

These days, building a new business is all about visibility and marketing, no matter how great or innovative a solution you bring to the table. In fact, having one marketing guru on the team alone won’t get you very far. The most senior leaders then become coaches and mentors, rather than the source of all decisions.

Startup 95

Startup Coach Mentor Social Media 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Fight the urge do more things, to attract more customers in a broader market. In reality, too many choices actually dilutes customer interest in your existing market, and makes your job of production, marketing, and support much more complex. The company has since gone public, and is still a market leader.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Custom 160

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most have the technical challenges well understood, but many are a bit short on some basic street smarts , or basic business realities. Intellectual property is required for a competitive edge. Even the best solutions require marketing to survive.

Entrepreneur 173

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Technical Review 173

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics. What happened? People were building.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup LAMP Marketing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. There is nothing more inspiring than seeing the results of your mentoring and leadership. Your solution fills a real market need.

Startup 160

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 160

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2016

These days, building a new business is all about visibility and marketing, no matter how great or innovative a solution you bring to the table. In fact, having one marketing guru on the team alone won’t get you very far. The most senior leaders then become coaches and mentors, rather than the source of all decisions.

Marketing 89

Marketing Coach Mentor Social Media 89

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

Thus, in my mentoring of potential technical entrepreneurs who have a real passion for their technology, I often recommend that they find a co-founder who can manage the marketing and execution elements of the new venture. If tracking the market and reality checking are not your thing, you may need a partner who can fill that gap.

Mentor 133

Mentor Startup Custom Customer 133

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

” Most VCs view it as their responsibility to mentor, debate, cajole and generally assist with investments they make. Thus, a desire to invest more locally where I think I have a competitive advantage. Plus, they know the local market better and therefore don’t have the uninformed biases of those that don’t.

Venture Capital 365

Venture Capital Marketing Santa Barbara Startup 365

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2022

I call this linear thinking , and it’s a sure way to be ultimately overrun by your competition. For example, BlackBerry was really the first in the smart mobile phone market, but they never thought beyond their tiny physical keyboard as they added new features. Always practice thinking outside the box.

Competition 139

Competition Examples Custom Customer 139

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

As a long-time mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’ve been convinced for some time that good entrepreneurs have the right mindset, and the right attributes, to be good at anything they want. Action leads to evidence, in your job or in the market, which is the best fodder for new thinking. Stop letting life decisions happen to you.

Entrepreneur 127

Entrepreneur Mentor Competition Customer 127

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,

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

They rarely highlight their marketing and relationship skills , even though, in my experience, these are more often the key to success in business than product skills. In addition to listening, they spent much of their time communicating their vision and marketing themselves to everyone they encountered.

Startup 113

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2021

As a mentor, I’m regularly frustrated by people who try to cover their lack of confidence with ego and arrogance , rather than working on the base issue. Some of us are proud to be technologists, while others love marketing or team building. Show that others are an inspiration, not competition.

Mentor 174

Mentor Satisfaction Competition Marketing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2010

At VT KnowledgeWorks we screen prospective clients for their Market opportunity, for the Magic that they offer to their prospective customers, and for the Moxie displayed by the start-up team. There is a growing fellowship of special-case start-up programs operated by closely-knit, permanent groups of angel-mentors.

Incubator 80

Incubator Mentor Capital Startup 80

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

Similarly, it will be very satisfying to see the productivity increases from your leadership and mentoring. Watch that patent provide a real barrier to competitive entry. Even with the perfect product, your customers won’t even know you exist without marketing. Celebrate the ability to pay yourself a salary.

Startup 118

Startup Satisfaction Customer Custom 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2022

One of the things I’ve learned over my years as a business mentor and investor is that life isn’t fair when it comes to succeeding in business. These authors speak from their own wealth of experience in creating and growing technology startups, marketing, and fundraising. Use friends and mentors with extensive experience to gauge both.

Help 130

Help Mentor Paramount Technical Review 130

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2022

In my role as a business mentor and advisor, I now always look for a culture and recommend team roles that nurture collaboration rather than contention, communities rather than silos , and transparent communication at all levels. Discourage internal team competition and silos. Horizontal teams are more effective as well as satisfying.

Organization 105

Organization Mentor Startup Training 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2021

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. How entrepreneurs respond to these will become a larger and larger determinant of startup growth, competitive position, and success.

Startup 164

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Competition 164

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2023

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. This fallacy, often called historical myopia, essentially involves extrapolating only from recent positive events, and ignoring the reality that markets saturate or evaporate. Failing to adapt to tectonic shifts in the market.

Entrepreneur 125

Entrepreneur Netflix Social Media Startup 125

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

Based on my experience as an investor and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, one of the quickest ways to kill your credibility and your startup is to offer a poorly written business plan, or none at all. An entrepreneur who can’t manage a plan, probably won’t be able to manage the new business.

Sample 137

Sample Writing Mentor Content 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. That’s a deadly waste you can’t afford. Underutilizing people skills.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2022

In my years of mentoring and working with startups, I’ve seen and read about some amazing disruptions, as well as recoveries, and I’m sure each of you could add your own. A new market opportunity emerges which you can’t ignore. This can happen through no fault of your own, or rapid market erosion you didn’t foresee.

Startup 98

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Mentor 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2021

Career survival today requires thinking and acting like an entrepreneur starting a business, staying nimble and resilient, willing to pivot, and supersensitive to the market realities of supply and demand. Regularly assess and refine your competitive advantage. Plan to pivot as you learn.

Startup 143

Startup Entrepreneur Demand Competition 143

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2021

Others are really marketers out to make money fast, and believe that they can entice customers to any offering. These are the ultimate chess players in the game of business, always looking to be two or three moves ahead of the competition. Ultimately, most get the best help from business advisors and mentors. Opportunist.

Entrepreneur 134

Entrepreneur Framework Mentor Web 134

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2020

Similarly, it will be very satisfying to see the productivity increases from your leadership and mentoring. Watch that patent provide a real barrier to competitive entry. Even with the perfect product, your customers won’t even know you exist without marketing. Celebrate the ability to pay yourself a salary.

Satisfaction 174

Satisfaction Custom Customer Outsource 174

socalTECH

OCTOBER 7, 2010

The University of Southern California and wealthy engineer Fariborz Maseeh , now a hedge fund manager in Newport Beach, is announcing this week a $1M endowment, which will fund an annual, $50,000 prize for a business plan competition for the school's engineering students. affiliated event focused on spreading innovative ideas. READ MORE>>.

USC 214

USC Southern California SoCalTech Competition 214

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. Be a dreamer first, but a realist on marketplace risk.

Ideas 145

Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

As a mentor to young aspiring entrepreneurs , I often get asked for tips on a strategy to get started. Don’t be shy about networking for advisors with business experience for coaching and mentoring. The challenge is when and how to make the switch to the entrepreneur lifestyle. The ability to pivot quickly is a key to success.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2021

As a long-time business advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs, I consistently find that the most thriving businesses are people-centric, and those team members create the best processes, rather than the other way around. People-centric leaders realize that the right motivated and accountable people are their real competitive advantage.

Satisfaction 154

Satisfaction Demand Resource Competition 154

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure. If the customer need is obvious and large, the calculated risk is in the quality of your solution, your team, and marketing. In reality, all risks are not the same.

Resource 121

Resource Metrics Entrepreneur Technical Review 121

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2022

Today’s pace of change in the market and in technology is unprecedented. Priority is placed on employee mentoring and coaching. Mentoring and coaching tend to improve commitment, motivation, decision making, and creative talents, which are required for a competitive business and career.

Coach 128

Coach Mentor Organization Startup 128