SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Why Lawyers Don’t Run Startups - Steve Blank , May 27, 2010 Startups need to have a great lawyer, accountant, patent attorney, etc. SlideShare: VC signaling in seed rounds.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Registered patents and other intellectual property. As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

Most universities have a file of patents from project work that they are willing to license to any entrepreneur for business commercialization, with little or no cost up front. These often lead to angel investors and venture capital investments later, or connections to local company venture funds for selected focus and technology areas.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. When I first met Meredith Perry she was 24.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

Fantastic post by Christian Gammill - Startup Delta Force… From a competitive perspective (e.g. Now, given our current economic crisis and VC ‘challenges’, the barriers to funding have gone up significantly as well.

Startup 150

Startup SEM IP SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Registered patents and other intellectual property. As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Most universities have a file of patents from project work that they are willing to license to any entrepreneur for business commercialization, with little or no cost up front. These often lead to angel investors and venture capital investments later, or connections to local company venture funds for selected focus and technology areas.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

Finally I realized that Venture Capital and Angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Registered patents and other intellectual property. As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Angel Social Media Patents 107

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

The capital risk is higher, and the payoff comes over the longer term. However, if you''re successful, the payout is quite large, and there''s a little bit less competition in the space. In the venture capital world, there was certainly interest out there, but it''s a bit more challenging for a hardware company for venture capital.

Technical Review 213

Technical Review Software Review Networking Technology 213

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

If your solution and brand are really new and innovative, you need to protect them with a patent, trademark or trade secret. These are required to show that you have a defensible competitive advantage or at least a barrier to entry. Create and highlight your intellectual property portfolio.

Angel 65

Angel Startup Technical Review Social Media 65

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2016

Patents filed, even provisional, as well as trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets count as barriers to entry and sustainable competitive advantages. This factor is more relevant to venture capital investors who come in at a later stage and expect more traction to qualify. Registered intellectual property adds value.

Startup 71

Startup Patents Invest Blogging 71

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

All of that are in this week’s episode of This Week in VC. We talked about patents. I brought up the fact that I find many larger companies abusing the patent system to slow down smaller competitors which is actually anti competitive. To say he has had an impact on the web would be an understatement.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product Ideas 350

socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

Whether that''s for competitive analysis or market analysis, our product is basically able to monitor--on a very large scale--things that are important to your particular company. We talked to venture capitalists, but being here in Orange County, there''s not that much venture capital here right now.

Orange County 245

Orange County Startup News IBM 245

socalTECH

DECEMBER 3, 2008

One problem with other avatar technology, is that in most competitive cases what people are doing is using a standard head model and trying to apply a face to that model. Unlike most web media firms, we've got a real, protectable IP, based on serious computer science, three patents, and five more pending.

Entertainment 100

Entertainment Clearstone Venture Capital Media 100

Frank Addante

OCTOBER 19, 2006

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. ► July (1) ► June (3) ► May (5) the Rubicon Project The Journey Startup 6.0: Zondigo, Inc.

Startup 40

Startup Ideas Venture Capital Competition 40

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

10 Ways To Be Your Own Boss - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , June 18, 2010 The folks at Behance and Cool Hunting asked me to talk at their 99% Conference a couple months ago. Just because a product has a patent, deep complexity and an obvious competitive advantage does not mean that it can fly by itself into the market.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2021

Here are six key reasons, from a business perspective: Direct competition is huge. It’s hard to invent and patent more “scientific” methods on how to match people. However, because 99 out of 100 fail, and because some have an unsavory reputation, you won’t find many angel or VC investors who are interested.

Sites 134

Sites Social Network Networking Competition 134

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Ali Khoshgozaran: Before we started the company, me and my partner had participated in the USC Viterbi startup competition. About 100 teams participated in that competition, and 10 teams were selected to be part of USC''s Viterbi Startup Garage program. As you probably know, Viterbi is the engineering school at USC.

USC 236

USC Southern California Organization UCLA 236

SoCal Delicious

MARCH 1, 2010

Sand Hill Road has so many venture capital firms and they are so large, and they have been around for so long and they are very closely coupled and tied with Stanford [University]. Because its just not that hyper-competitive, Im-hiring-all-your-staff, because-Im-Google environment. And what happened in L.A.

Los Angeles 50

Los Angeles Company Companies Angel 50

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 13, 2015

While it is impossible to know what the future holds, startup business owners can bank on the fact that potential future buyers will be evaluating their financial statements in addition to the value of their corporate team, working partnerships, marketing efforts, patents, and reputation.

Startup 40

Startup Acquisition Outsource Development Outsource 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2011

Here are six key reasons, from a business perspective: Direct competition is huge. It’s hard to invent and patent more “scientific” methods on how to match people. However, because 99 out of 100 fail, and because some have an unsavory reputation, you won’t find many Angel or VC investors who are interested.

Sites 91

Sites Social Network Competition Patents 91

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2013

Here are six key reasons, from a business perspective: Direct competition is huge. It’s hard to invent and patent more “scientific” methods on how to match people. However, because 99 out of 100 fail, and because some have an unsavory reputation, you won’t find many Angel or VC investors who are interested.

Sites 86

Sites Social Network Networking Patents 86

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2010

Here are a few of the reasons, from a business perspective: Direct competition is huge. It’s hard to invent and patent more “scientific” methods on how to match people. What I am suggesting is that you won’t find many angel or VC investors who are interested. Some say that’s a billion dollar “recession proof” opportunity.

Sites 49

Sites Social Network Statistics Patents 49

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. . Venture Capital Funding 7. I'm 30, now will you take me seriously? Zondigo, Inc. Relaxing 2.

Startup 40

Startup Email Venture Capital CTO Hire 40

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

We brought together Peter Cowen of Groundwork Equity , Mark Suster of GRP Partners , Rick Smith of Crosscut Ventures , and Richard Yen of Saban Ventures -- all of who will be on the judging panel for the Tech Coast Angel's Fast Pitch on February 24th, to give us a their hints and tips about pitching to venture capitalists.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Ideas Entrepreneur Invest 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2013

That’s probably the soft way of saying, we don’t have a patent or any “secret sauce” for a competitive advantage. I recently watched a promising startup I know wither and die for lack of funds because the founder refused to consider stepping aside as CEO in favor of a more experienced candidate, as a condition of a $1M VC investment.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Startup Social Network IBM 111

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2012

That’s probably the soft way of saying, we don’t have a patent or any “secret sauce” for a competitive advantage. I recently watched a promising startup I know wither and die for lack of funds because the founder refused to consider stepping aside as CEO in favor of a more experienced candidate, as a condition of a $1M VC investment.

Startup 95

Startup Social Network IBM IBM 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2011

That’s probably the soft way of saying, we don’t have a patent or any “secret sauce” for a competitive advantage. I recently watched a promising startup I know wither and die for lack of funds because the founder refused to consider stepping aside as CEO in favor of a more experienced candidate, as a condition of a $1M VC investment.

Startup 98

Startup Social Network IBM IBM 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2010

That’s probably the soft way of saying, we don’t have a patent or any “secret sauce” for a competitive advantage. I recently watched a promising startup I know wither and die for lack of funds because the founder refused to consider stepping aside as CEO in favor of a more experienced candidate, as a condition of a $1M VC investment.

Startup 52

Startup Social Network IBM IBM 52

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. Patent Lawsuit 6. I'm 30, now will you take me seriously? Inventing Stuff, Obviously Impossible?

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Technical Review Chief Technology Officer 40