Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

I think as a tech industry we have bred a culture that places more emphasis on product excellence than managing human behavior. But I would posit that in order to sustainably build great products in an intensely competitive industry with skills shortages – people management is one of the most critical soft skills organizations need.

Startup 340

Startup Technical Review Course Press 340

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

If I’m interested I get to spend more time with them, if I’m not I don’t have to – A few companies per month come in that have fascinating business ideas that warrant my spending more time trying to understand their people, company, technology and market. Tags: Tech Market Analysis VC Industry.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

We spent time out in the marketplace talking with customers, looking at their solutions, comparing ourselves with our competition and then squirreling ourselves away in our offices designing our next set of features. some came from our customer service, some were to improve performance / scalability from tech ops, some were bug fixes, etc.)

Organization 280

Organization Custom Customer Tips 280

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. While many tech startups do this intuitively (say, SnapChat thinking it would be much better if our photos out partying disappeared) it still happens. So they’ll have to look for other competitive advantages for distribution.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can’t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us. From this we have seen a commensurate boom in the number of startup companies. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin! Mobility really changes everything.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2020

For starters Uber itself has had to lay off 27% of its workforce due to the pandemic and has been severely impacted financially from the crisis with no immediate respite in sight. Even more likely is eventual technology disruption where drones deliver foods and make it hard for existing car delivery services to compete.

SaaS 242

SaaS Custom Customer Technical Review 242

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

I remind founders that the no’s come early because it’s super easy to qualify out a deal that you know is unlikely due to stage, focus, geography, competitive deal you’ve done or even just the fact that you’re too busy right now. When you read about the funding in the press it sounds like it was a walk in the park.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. Also, because the entire industry has changed because it is cheaper to start a tech company these days – there are simply way more angel rounds. Why prorata rights are becoming a bigger deal to angels.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I suppose I should have imagined that this line would get more press than all other comments combined. Responses ranged from, “hey, they’re in a HUGE market&# to “it is an amazing company and their technology rocks.&# I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. Fair enough. But everything has intrinsic value.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Innocal Offshore Entrepreneur 63

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

Unit Economics Accelerating One topic I heard a lot in investor circles last year and in the press a lot was that there weren’t good unit economics and therefore the scooter market was never going to perform well. They also were exclusive to Bird so they gave the company a competitive advantage. none of which are funny or tolerable.

Santa Monica 250

Santa Monica Venice Competition Software Review 250

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2018

For our interview this morning, we caught up with Scot Lawrie , the President and technical Co-founder of Los Angeles-based Coverfly (www.coverfly.com), and John Rhodes , Coverfly's head of Marketing and Business Development, to learn a bit more about the early stage, bootstrapped startup focused on Hollywood script writers. What is Coverfly?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Hollywood Platform Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

It’s always fun debating companies with Dana because she’s always so knowledgeable on deals – particularly those in the digital media, ad-tech and eCommerce spaces. million users making it considerably larger than some of its peers that have historically received more tech press inches. Competition: McAfee , Symantec.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

How could Bird really be worth the reported $2 billion valuation that I read about in this press? People said this about Ring (which went from startup to selling to Amazon > $1 billion in around 5 years), Facebook, YouTube, Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, Instagram and many other great behemoths of the technology industry. Not really.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2012

A tweet by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer on August 9th caused a stir in the tech scenes. ” Matt Ocko also revealed to Silicon Beat that they have been getting a lot more press inquiries due to the number of deals they were doing. Strong Network, Operational Experience and Technical Background. Big Data Shift.

Technical Review 74

Technical Review Entrepreneur Oracle Software Review 74

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2019

If you listen primarily to the popular press, you could easily be convinced that all successful startup businesses are built by one smart person, such as Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, or Jeff Bezos at Amazon. Solo or autocratic entrepreneurs usually don’t survive, due to required skills and a workload far beyond the capacity of a single human.

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Technical Review Ideas Tool 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2013

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I just saw today, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons.

Startup 103

Startup Marketing Social Media Technical Review 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

In my experience as a business advisor, one of the best ways to get all of these, is to publish a book on the technology, the journey, or some relevant lessons learned. Once you have a book, media coverage can come from book reviews and academic discussions, as well as from you and your customers.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Photo by Hope House Press - Leather Diary Studio on Unsplash It’s also true that there will be tough moments in your company’s journey where you will want to be able to carry people behind the tough decisions you want. Some members probably want most of the board meeting to be a review of financial information.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

We All Know That Dollars into Venture Have Gone Up … As a starting point, we know that the dollars into venture have steadily rebounded to pre great-recession levels, with just under $30 billion committed to US technology venture capital in 2015. …But LPs Have Been Putting Out More Money Than They Are Getting Back.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

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

AUGUST 12, 2017

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

Just like the sky scraping investment banks of Wall Street, the technology industry tends to be a sausage party. pitch and technology competition at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, I couldn’t help but feel like it might be a hall of crickets with a few passionate women warming the front row.

Conference 77

Conference Startup Technical Review Software Review 77

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 14, 2015

Fixed is not without competition, LA-based Cited launched last year and charges 20% of the cost of the ticket. Between the apps, Cited and Fixed ticket dismissal rates have been reported at anywhere between 20-80%, but it is still early in the game and LA parking enforcement policies have come under review for illegal practices.

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Angel Software Review Seed Funding 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

But more broadly it got me thinking to one of the biggest mistakes tech executives get into in the first place. But you’d be surprised how much tech folks either hold journalists too much on a pedestal or disdain them. Given a choice of your marketing person or talking to you (the founder) there’s no competition.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Tech.Co

MAY 9, 2024

We also offer some advice for writing your application, to make sure your proposal is as competitive as possible. The competitive program is open to select small businesses and specifically encourages participation from women and socially or economically disadvantaged persons.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Technical Review Research Writing 200

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most newspapers are written at a third-grade reading level, White House press releases average a fourth-grade reading level and the New York Times is easily digestible by the average fifth grader. Competition. As best-selling author Stephen King once said, "Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word.”

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review RSS 211

InfoChachkie

MAY 19, 2011

Relinquish Press Release Capabilities. In some instances, it will be appropriate to grandfather ongoing payments due regional distributors for their past performance. Craft terms which ensure you will not beholden to the BDC with respect to your ability to subsequently deploy and profit from jointly developed technology.

Outsource Development 193

Outsource Development IP Technical Review Entrepreneur 193

Xconomy

OCTOBER 10, 2016

By popular acclaim, San Diego-based Echo Laboratories founder Eugene Cho claimed top honors, and a $15,000 check, for his two-minute presentation last week in the 10th annual “Quick Pitch” competition, hosted by San Diego’s Tech Coast Angels. Crowd Gathers for San Diego Tech Coast Angels “Quick Pitch” Competition.

Tech Coast Angels 40

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review San Diego Software Review 40

AeA Los Angeles Council

JULY 7, 2008

Approximately 50 executives from the worlds of technology & venture capital piled into the dining hall on June 30th to listen to Dr. Mark Drapeau speak about "innovation" and its sister topic, "STEM education." It proposed to fund advertising to encourage young Americans to enter the science and technology workforce. government.

Education 45

Education Technical Review Research Web 2.0 45

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I get approached about clean tech or biotech periodically – I don’t focus on these. In ad tech there’s Seth Levine at Foundry Group and both Dana Settle & Ian Sigelow at Greycroft. Not what you read in the press. Press the flesh. Right for my stage? Focused on my industry? (I REAL information.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

Machine Learning / AI They discussed many topics ranging from protection of the press to what Mark looks for in an entrepreneur to investing outside of Silicon Valley and of course Trump and sports. He said that he believes AI will have a bigger impact than any technology in the last 30 years. He said if Instagram went public.

Artificial Inteligence 105

Artificial Inteligence Study Press Netflix 105