Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Lessons. I started my first company in 1999 in London at the height of the dot com craze. Our software wasn’t fully baked. We had one of the largest US software companies talk about buying us. It didn’t add up to me. Building companies is hard work.

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Startup Press Customer Custom 331

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? There was no money train.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

TechEmpower

AUGUST 21, 2023

Many CEOs of software-enabled businesses call us with a similar concern: Are we getting the right results from our software team? We hear them explain that their current software development is expensive, deliveries are rarely on time, and random bugs appear. What does a business leader do in this situation? Are you ready?

Technical Review 260

Technical Review Development Team Review Software Review TechEmpower 260

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 30, 2014

In order to support all of these teams, there are several on-campus startup competitions every year, from the Silicon Beach USC competition to the New Venture Seed Competition, with prize funds to help build the companies. The post HipTraveler | Taking Startup Competitions by Storm appeared first on TechZulu.

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Competition Startup USC Southern California 104

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

In this three-part series I will explore the ways that the Venture Capital industry has changed over the past 5 years that I would argue are a direct result of changes in the software industry, not the other way around. When I built my first company starting in 1999 it cost $2.5 Open-Source Software & Horizontal Computing.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software Capital Startup 334

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. In the comments section a clever question popped up about whether I would have invested in myself before I became an investor. My first response mentally was, “Of course!” I often say.

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2013

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. An example of a startup which used non-organic growth early and effectively was Microsoft.

Organization 97

Organization Competition Startup Acquisition 97

socalTECH

MARCH 18, 2014

Irvine-based Bitvore , a startup developing big data and intelligence-gathering software which pulls information from both public and private data sources for businesses, said this morning that it has closed a $4.5M, Series A funding round. The funding was led by serial entreprenur Yuri Pikover, as well as $1M from crowdfunding.

Software 227

Software IBM IBM Social Media 227

Berkonomics

JANUARY 12, 2023

Management undertakes a simple exercise of calculating the increased profitability of shutting down all R&D, sales and subordinate operations, and universally notes with shock the high net profit that results – from shutting down all operations except customer service to recurring customers (as in software support operations.).

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Sales Customer Custom SaaS 296

TechCrunch LA

MAY 20, 2021

One startup that aims to help make the process simpler, cheaper and less stressful by helping people manage the home renovation process has raised $6 million to help it grow even faster. Construction tech startups are poised to shake up a $1.3-trillion-dollar Renovating a home is an exciting, yet often fraught-filled, endeavor.

Technical Review 185

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Software Review 185

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

FedEx Small Business Grant For: Small businesses Amount: Up to $50,000 Grantor: FedEx FedEx's Small Business Grant is a grant contest run by delivery company FedEx. Up to 100 businesses will receive honorary mentions and get $300 in My FedEx Rewards vouchers. You can unsubscribe at any time. Apply here Deadline: Monthly 5.

Technical Review 193

Technical Review Software Review Startup Competition 193

Xconomy

OCTOBER 1, 2018

Ten tech startups will vie to impress a panel of six judges and hundreds of attendees at San Diego’s biggest pitch contest later this month. Three of the 10 slated to pitch at the Oct. 24 event will get a cut of $75,000 to advance their businesses. Launched in 2006 by San Diego’s Tech Coast Angels, the annual John G.

San Diego 83

San Diego Competition Tech Coast Angels Startup 83

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2020

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Social-media advertising. Cold calling.

Customer 146

Customer Custom Marketing Startup 146

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. Innovate In the early years of a startup there is a lot of kinetic energy of enthusiastic innovators looking to launch a product that changes how an industry works.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 9, 2013

2020 seems like a decade away into space, however Motreal-based reelyActive, the winner os Startup World Competition , is doing just this. The startups software associates the identified people and “things” with their existing online data. ” The next billion dollar startup. Hyperlocal context.

Competition 83

Competition Startup Social Media Software 83

Southern California Edison Blog

DECEMBER 8, 2021

Malicious attackers perceive tech startups as vulnerable, valuable targets: startups often have fewer infrastructure protections and smaller IT teams than their more established counterparts, and multiple connections to larger companies with lucrative data. . Malware is software created to damage or weaken computer systems.

Startup 96

Startup Email Networking Southern California 96

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

Kevin O'Connor: I've been doing venture since my first deal in 1995, and have been investing on and off since I moved to Santa Barbara in 2001, under the name O'Connor Ventures, and did that full time until 2009, when I started Graphiq, and switched back into doing another company. What types of companies are you making investments in?

Venture Capital 145

Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. The passion has to be in the business context – meaning results oriented, customer oriented, and sensitive to competition. This is probably the best place to apply your “gut” feeling.

Software Review 154

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2021

If your innovation is real, it brings added value to the table, so most customers, especially early ones, are willing to pay a premium over competitive products. Your incremental costs to ship software tools to complement a retail device, such as a smart home product, is near zero, and it may justify a sizeable price increment.

Pricing 145

Pricing Startup Competition Examples 145

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2021

They keep asking people like me whether the time is right, and the truth is that there’s never an ideal time to start your own business. It’s like starting a personal relationship, if you wait for exactly the right time, you’ll never do it. This is a necessary, but not sufficient reason to start a business now.

Startup 168

Startup Ideas Satisfaction Entrepreneur 168

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 9, 2022

They were early to that idea: Danna describes it as “creator tools for YouTube before YouTube built them itself,” and he said they came up with the idea for Boulevard out of a joke between them. “We started obsessing about this,” Danna went on. Things then took an investigative, plainclothes turn. license.

Help 195

Help Startup UCLA Tool 195

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2021

Startup founders are known for their passion for their startup idea, and for their passion to kill every competitor. For example, I once worked for a small software company selling a sophisticated enterprise workflow solution. Ability to up-sell customers with related products. We both often lost as a result.

Startup 173

Startup Outsource Development Examples Customer 173

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 26, 2022

Many grocery delivery startups begin small, in one city, building up locations to cater to a certain neighborhood. At the time, the company raised $2 million, and Alexandrov said about the perceived competition, “The level of competition in this market in the U.S. We are creating new habits of customers.

Funding 246

Funding Demand Los Angeles Competition 246

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2016

For a software startup, a patent can be the intellectual property providing the key competitive advantage, or it can be an expensive non-defensible bureaucratic nightmare -- or both. Some argue to simply eliminate software patents, while others put their hopes in U.S. Even if you start with the U.S.

Patents 53

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 53

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. Trying outrageous new things or even trying mundane things but in new ways but with extreme quality & innovation is what fuels the tech startup industry. But today I want to give you advice on how to decrease your odds of failure in a startup.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

socalTECH

MAY 19, 2010

This time, Frank gives the Top 10 Ways to Win a Business Plan Competition. I'm a judge in a local university's business plan competition. Over the past few years I've been involved in different ways in the UC Irvine, Paul Merage School of Business, Business Plan Competition. They came in 2nd place. 1 Be kind to the judges.

Competition 153

Competition Mentor Software Review Invest 153

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2013

In what is a fairly unusual move, last week, Tradesparq (www.tradesparq.com), a Chinese startup in the area of B2B trade information, said it was planning on setting up its operations here in Southern California, as part of an expansion and scaling of the company. Michael Kleist: We started in 2010. What is Tradesparq?

Southern California 170

Southern California Startup SoCal CTO Hire 170

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. What makes up revenue?

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according the Crunchbase. Institutional venture capital dispensed in 2019 was down a bit from record highs the previous year, but up significantly over the last few years.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Class 125

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2015

If you are one of the many professionals still trapped between jobs by circumstances outside your control, or are about to dump the loser job you have now, you should be actively defining and starting your own business, in parallel with looking for that ideal job. Have startup efforts to highlight in job interviews.

Startup 101

Startup Social Network Activity Ideas 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2023

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. If your software or your manufacturing process is your “secret sauce,” you need to keep the work in-house. The same applies to manufacturing and almost any process these days.

Software Review 114

Software Review Technical Review Outsource Development Outsource 114

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Social-media advertising. Cold calling.

Marketing 114

Marketing Invest Social Media SEM 114

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

For more than 30-years, Bill Gates has been at the pinnacle of the software industry. Like Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and Larry Ellison, he is one of the few startup Founders who remained at the helm of their respective companies throughout their entire maturation process. One Of The Most Important Startup Skills. "The

Tips 275

Tips Startup IP Santa Barbara 275

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

Consumers buying through smart phones, travelers using the new, shared economy and businesses replacing old software with modern cloud-based solutions. For what ever reason we’re wired to have amnesia during the run up and prescient memories of how we ‘knew it all along’ as soon as the slide begins.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. The vast majority of those are nowhere up to modern codes. ” Climate resiliency .

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. You could just outspend. It is to out friend. Enjoyed this post? Disruptive. We get it!

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248