Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2013

Here is a summary, with some of the pros and cons or special considerations for each: Product or service is free, revenue from ads. This doesn’t work well with “nice to have” offerings, like social networks, but does work for new drugs and medical devices that solve critical health problems. Subscription model. Feature pricing.

Pricing 116

Pricing Product Customer Custom 116

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. Having a defensible competitive advantage or “barrier to entry” is another critical step to funding, and another common stumbling block during all phases of the funding process. Build an investor presentation and summary. Define some intellectual property.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

It always amazes me how an entrepreneur can define his market opportunity so broadly, and then assess his competition so narrowly in the next breath. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Competition and sustainable advantage.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

This means build a plan that hits all the hot buttons; problem/solution, executive team, competition, business model, reasonable financial projections, and what’s in it for the investor. Follow with a killer executive summary, investor presentation, and financial model. Line up a winning team.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 101

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

As an experienced business advisor, here is my current summary, with some of the pros and cons or special considerations for each: Product is free, revenue is from advertisers. This doesn’t work well with “nice to have” offerings, like social networks, but does work for new drugs and medical devices that solve critical health problems.

Pricing 66

Pricing Customer Custom Advertising 66

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

It always amazes me how an entrepreneur can define his market opportunity so broadly, and then assess his competition so narrowly in the next breath. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Competition and sustainable advantage.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2011

These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events. Crowd-sourcing tools, usually Internet applications, use the social media to poll for interest, feedback, and ultimately some funding for the startup. Marty Zwilling.

Funding 92

Funding Startup Social Media Sample 92

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Summary Version. TV will enter the era of “participation” which is a much more important trend than “social video” even if it seems less sexy or less fundable. Filmaka is the creation of Deepak Nayar who is the producer of films such as Buena Vista Social Club and Bend it Like Beckham. 200 million views.

Startup 380

Startup Media Content Platform 380

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2011

This means build a plan that hits all the hot buttons; problem/solution, executive team, competition, business model, reasonable financial projections, and what’s in it for the investor. Be ready with a killer executive summary , investor presentation , and financial model. Line up a winning team.

Venture Capital 93

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 93

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

As should Eric Sikola and ExpenseBay who won the “Showoff&# judges competition ( Photos featured here taken by (cc) Kenneth Yeung – [link] ). Anyway, to close my Twiistup 6 Summary post I will borrow from the wisdom of my forefathers, “next year in … Santa Monica.”

Twiistup 228

Twiistup SoCal Southern California Yammer 228

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

It always amazes me how an entrepreneur can define his market opportunity so broadly, and then assess his competition so narrowly in the next breath. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it requires at least 100M users and $50M investment. Competition and sustainable advantage.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2010

These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events. Crowd-sourcing tools, usually Internet applications, use the social media to poll for interest, feedback, and ultimately some funding for the startup. Marty Zwilling.

Funding 59

Funding Startup Social Media Sample 59

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2011

While Google stopped Facebook in their tracks when they built a social networking company. And Facebook stomped out Twitter from building an open social network. Expect big competition in the group messaging market. from winning the Internet portal wars. in turn killed Google when it came to search. And on and on.

Google 325

Google Press Marketing Content 325

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Executive Summary. If you want to watch the video version summary of my advice on fund raising it’s here. He’s focused on that sector (not exclusively but predominantly) and therefore has an amazing network at large financial services firms to help you with business development. Fund raising is bloody hard.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2010

Get introduced via one of the social networks, or a professional organization, before you approach a VC with a business proposal. This means build a plan that hits all the hot buttons; problem/solution, executive team, competition, business model, reasonable financial projections, and what’s in it for the investor.

Venture Capital 49

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 49

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2010

Here is a summary of observations from this and other studies: Leadership style. Distinguishing traits of male leaders are autonomy, independence, and competition, while those of women are relations, interdependence, and cooperation. Men network for the sake of utility. Business relationship style. Emotional style.

Entrepreneur 49

Entrepreneur Study Competition Summary 49

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization. Social networking finally came of age connected the planet and leading to enormous wealth creation for Facebook employees and investors. In Summary. Even Sequoia.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 22, 2011

If you’re a startup and you haven’t read my summary of Clay Christensen’s seminal work please do. In the simplest form, new startups have a product that is INFERIOR to that offered by the competition but at a dramatically lower price with the seller opting for a very thin margin on their product. Why Deflationary Business Win.

Startup 386

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 386

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

The 30-minute interview of Jonah Peretti is here but my summary in the notes below. Around 2001 Jonah was studying at MIT Media Lab and began running experiments in viral stories in an era before smart phones (2007) and before social networks took off (2004–2007) and before YouTube (2005). Back then there were “email forwards.”

Buzzfeed 210

Buzzfeed Media Content News 210