Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

It is simply the most important way to proactively control your career development and how the market perceives you. This started as a post in which I was going to write out tips to personal branding and became in stead an essay of my own branding journey. That was fine with me – the market is the market.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2013

CreatorUp is the online web series school teaching the next generation of web series creators how to make and market their own new video projects on the web. And our network of filmmaker and entertainment industry colleagues allow us to recruit top teachers who are leaders in the web world. What inspired you?

Web 93

Web USC Course Guide 93

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 15, 2012

It is stunning to think about the blind spots that market leaders can develop. For years Palm had such a significant lead in the PDA market it seemed inconceivable that they would be replaced. I was jealous watching all my friends surf the web on their iPhones. I used it to browse the web. But it’s hard to go back.

Email 386

Email Startup Marketing Competition 386

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

In addition, the discipline of producing it, like writing a business plan, will help you immensely in understanding the key elements that drive you and your business. I often hear the excuse that writing a book takes precious time away from building and running your business, which you cannot afford.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2021

It pays only if a customer clicks through AND takes a further action (conversion), such as buying a product or filling out a web form. Campaign setup and ad copy writing. Another alternative was added a couple of years ago to mitigate the problem of people clicking just to get paid (click fraud).

PPC 154

PPC SEO Paid Search Search Engine Optimization 154

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. Anyone who has worked in a large company further knows that timing a product launch or a new marketing strategy has more to do with internal politics than reading market forces. When should you start a company?

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

The reason for this is that the executives who founded the company have so much tacit knowledge of how to position their product relative to the competition that they can easily win campaigns when they’re involved. So I often work with teams to get them to codify the key things they do well that the competition does not.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Custom 336

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2010

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Search engine marketing is simply buying advertising for your business from Google or another search engine company. Campaign setup and ad copy writing.

SEM 90

SEM Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization 90

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We spoke with one of those companies-- El Segundo-based ConsumerTrack (www.consumertrack.com)--which is a $30M, bootstrapped an online marketing company which is driving millions of customers to big name, financial customers. Brett Rossman: ConsumerTrack is a performance-based, online marketing company. What is ConsumerTrack all about?

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

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. Back then there was no “cloud” so we had to plow money into hardware, software licenses and web hosting. So even after raising a $16 million A-round I still paid myself a paltry salary. Angel Yourself.

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

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. On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2008

Writers can log into our site, upload their project, and select from over 4,000 markets, and send their work out to the world physically with a single click. 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.

Writing 209

Writing Hollywood Startup Sites 209

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2020

The other nice thing about that, is as things are happening on the same computer, there is no server code to write. It's really simple to write an application, compared to the complexity of an application that is multi-user. Usually, investors like to invest in people who are taking an existing platform and extending it into a market.

Platform 168

Platform Startup Examples Web 168

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

We talked with Noah about how the company grew out of a business plan competition at the University of Southern California, his recent funding from the Maverick Angels, as well as how the firm hopes to stand out among a crowded list of comparison shopping sites. Noah Auerhahn: We just had too much free time at USC.

USC 207

USC CPC Sites Startup 207

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2012

Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary.

Summary 97

Summary Writing Competition Sample 97

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Are you cynical about their chances in the market just because they seem to be hot in the press and that bugs you? Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures wrote a great post the other day that reminded me I’ve been meaning to write about this topic. It’s just a fad propped up by the Silicon Valley elite marketing machine.”

Startup 313

Startup Press Writing News 313

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2009

Twitter, by contrast, started as an open platform where people let anybody see what they were writing. People write their thoughts knowing that anybody else can see them. Are people giving you feature requests, complaining about your service or comparing you to the competition? So why is this important for businesses?

Social Network 235

Social Network Writing Tool Startup 235

socalTECH

MARCH 21, 2011

Gordon Gould , the co-founder of SmartPants, talks about the company and how it's applying what he learned founding ThisNext and from a long experience in the social media market to the consumer products goods area--what he describes as Brands 2.0. If you want read about SEO, there are probably 30 million pages on the web about that.

Web 225

Web Social Media SEO Media 225

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 23, 2012

Once you’ve decided on an idea to move forward with, you’re ready to start deciphering the data you’ve compiled on the existing competition and choosing what to do with your own app. If you forget everything else I write about creating an app, remember this: every app needs a hook. What makes them stand out from the competition?

Marketing 84

Marketing Software Review Tips Competition 84

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. On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

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 insanely competitive to get into our industry so most have degrees from institutions like Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and University of Chicago (blatant plug ;-). Think of web vs. mobile. Most VCs are book smart.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary.

Summary 90

Summary Writing Competition Sample 90

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2009

I am someone who likes to interact with my Representatives and Senators, by way of writing letters, emailing, and what not. When I was listening, I made a point to try to do that, but when I did, I found I had to go to twenty sites to find the information I needed--whether that was to write a letter, send an email, or whatever.

Startup 100

Startup Writing Southern California Email 100

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

Rationale: My idea is so mind-blowingly fantastic that I must immediately spend a small fortune to protect it before I perform any market validation. Once you prove that a substantial, addressible market segment is willing to pay a price for your solution that exceeds your costs, you can consider a licensing strategy.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. He’s thoughtful about markets, investors, products and is always very well reasoned in his arguments. Chris runs a popular web interview series on TechCrunch so is used to being the guy asking the questions. West Coast”).

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

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. On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business.

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. People who believe the former believe that you should see the market demand before too many people know you’re “in market.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

For those who still don’t know the origins, the Harlem Shake started as a small skit from a YouTuber named Filthy Frank (10 million views as of this writing) on January 30, 2013. As of this writing nearly 50,000 versions have been created and uploaded and watched by some 200,000,000 people. I repeat – free marketing.

Startup 380

Startup Media Content Platform 380

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

Perform China Syndrome Market Analysis. In order to reasonably assess the size of your addressable market, you must perform a bottoms-up analysis which is based on a number of elemental assumptions. Thus, you have negotiating leverage as long as a legitimate, competitive threat exists. Fallacy: Yes.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2010

My partner is a documentarian and reports for the New York Times, Time, and Newsweek, and was given a story to write about for the New York Times, about the sounds that fish make , for their Science section. We got lots of traction on the web, and the story was picked up in many places. Our go-to-market strategy is closer to Facebook.

Journal 187

Journal USC News Startup 187

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

so compelling (other than the fact that the CEO Sean Rad is a great young technology leader and his advisers – Brian Norgard , Dan Gould and Evan Rifkin - are some of the guys I respect most in the LA tech market.). was the “static&# web. Traditional media companies published their stories on the web.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

They have seen one side of a market where many of us have seen the ebb and flow multiple times. Still, market amnesia by ordinarily rational actors always surprises me. I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. I believe a bubble occurs when a market is willing to pay greater than intrinsic value for an asset class.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Building a standout destination site for video gamers takes moxie in the highly competitive and lucrative on-line game industry. Although the first draft of this post began when Kluge was a proud member of NextSpace; as of this writing we have moved to a bigger office to accommodate our expanding team.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2010

Let me be clear – a product or consulting startup today without a blog, even with a static website, risks not being competitive in cost and time to reach and hold that critical mass of online customers. Every business wants their web site to appear on the first page of search engine results from a relevant search (Search Engine Optimization).

Blogging 48

Blogging Search Engine Optimization Startup Writing 48

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 10, 2012

Divshot's Founders conceived of their innovative web development solution, which automatically generates professional-grade code during the wire framing process, during a Startup Weekend event in Kansas City. If we hadn’t done well on Hacker News we would have needed to have some serious product/market fit discussions.".

News 198

News Sites Startup RSS 198

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary.

Summary 55

Summary Writing Competition Metrics 55

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2017

In this age of information overload, success is all about building a brand that stands out above the competition. That means that you need to overtly market yourself, rather than wait and hope that the right people or customers will find you. Start a blog and write for industry forums and newsletters.

Startup 55

Startup Organization Newsletter Content 55