Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). It super charges a business that is closer to product delivery.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. Should I Bundle it With More Juicy News? That used to be the standard.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2015

Blogging is one of the best ways to do this and build a brand, even before you have a product or service. Develop an efficient and effective writing style. Blogs are a great way for potential business partners to find each other, and build a social media relationship before getting into the hard negotiations of who gets how much.

Blogging 110

Blogging Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media 110

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Low cost and low margin products can be winners, if the volume is high enough.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

In fact, I said as much in September 09 at a Twitter conference in LA on a panel that Guy Kawasaki was moderating. First, I believe that Seesmic has an excellent product – especially the web version of their product and that having another senior and experienced exec like Loic Le Meur would be great for Twitter.

Acquisition 287

Acquisition Develop Development Conference 287

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

We had scrambled to get a product to market, built our first website, rapidly hired a technology team, raised our seed round of capital ($1.5 We started building 4 products so that our end-to-end, supply-chain services would be complete (MVP? They got us invited to the Fortune CEO conference in Paris held at Versailles.

Startup 310

Startup Press Venture Capital Journal 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Low cost and low margin products can be winners, if the volume is high enough.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

One of the most frequent questions entrepreneurs ask about when they raise a little bit of money or are getting close to launching their first product is whether they should hire a PR firm. You need somebody who is thinking laterally about how to creatively get extra attention at conferences or trade-shows. Some final thoughts on PR.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A The need for creativity extends well beyond product design. The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. Many people are visual thinkers.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Low cost and low margin products can be winners, if the volume is high enough.

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

. - Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - Don’t put in the time to getting coverage until your product rocks. Total waste. Be respectful.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

I had called on Chamillionaire from the audience and asked him to provide some views on how artists view social media, why they use it and where it’s heading. As a teenager he experimented with writing & producing his own rap music and received a lot of feedback from elders that he had a talent with words.

Entrepreneur 356

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Email 356

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

Social media users are over 60% more likely to check email at least four times a day than those who don’t use social media. Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Hours after the panelists debated the future of content distribution at the Silicon Beach @ USC conference, across campus at the Annenberg Innovation Lab a remarkable product demo was taking place by Coincident.TV. ScreenSync TV is just one product offering in the amazing portfolio of products Coincident has created.

Screening 109

Screening Content CTO Hire Platform 109

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 31, 2011

In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. With Lisa as CEO, the company has grown from an idea for a grassroots conference into a diversified media company. NewTek Inc.

Los Angeles 75

Los Angeles Angel Social Media Media 75

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? They do this because they have amazing skills at writing business plans. I like to see how they improve their products when there are obvious holes. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? What price?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2018

In my experience, the initial idea for a new product usually comes from a single entrepreneur, but the implementation plan for a new business requires a team, or at least a co-founder. Thus I always recommend a common series of steps that I have seen working for other entrepreneurs: Write a partner description for that ideal co-founder.

High Tech 55

High Tech Entrepreneur Writing Startup 55

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? They do this because they have amazing skills at writing business plans. I like to see how they improve their products when there are obvious holes. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? What price?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Jackson , “This financing round, coupled with hiring Adam Sroka as our head of technology, puts CapLinked in a position to further enhance our enterprise product offerings.”. 25 Years of Writing Code. He helped develop an airline tracking system for Homeland Security and is an organizer of the Agile Open SoCal conference.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 31, 2011

In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. With Lisa as CEO, the company has grown from an idea for a grassroots conference into a diversified media company. NewTek Inc.

Los Angeles 49

Los Angeles Angel Social Media Media 49

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Every 1:1 meeting you’ve had to date has been collegiate and productive. tip: write it down when asked / parked). Congratulations. A lot, actually.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

In the original version of his post, Andy writes. The best VCs I know take 11pm conference calls. And I’ll know in 18 months whether we have product / market fit. VCs often don’t use the products of the companies in which they invest. I use social media. They see how hard she does her job.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

socalTECH

AUGUST 20, 2018

It was through that experience, that I sat up in my chair when working at Intel Capital, thinking that, this is cool, I've got a pretty big checkbook to write from, and to do deals from, but there are so many more companies I could be investing in that I am not. It's a real issue, and one, frankly, that doesn't make a lot of sense.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Invest Capital Startup 100

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

For how to market your blog in order to get site visitors I suggest checking out the Marketing Show and if you can attend the next Pub Con it is one the best conferences to learn about getting web traffic. One of the hardest things about being a blogger is drawing that line between being a business owner and writing for passion.

Blogging 83

Blogging Email Writing Sites 83

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2011

As you may know I outlined my rules for maximum impact at events / conferences before SXSW began. I focused on relationships, connections, human bond, idea generation, testing products and also I generally tried to be available for others. It has to do with the future of social networking. I stayed out late. Strike that.

Ideas 294

Ideas Startup Marketing Pricing 294

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Typically entrepreneurs doubt themselves because they undervalue their offerings, but it isn’t about creating a product, setting a price and hoping people will buy. Using your service or owning your product isn’t why a person buys, it’s the experience your customer will have. Valu e and Exp erience versus Price and Product.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Marketing SEO 85

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

8 ) SocialStay is effectively a B-to-B, SaaS product that requires you to simultaneously speak to several audiences (hotels, travelers, travel sites, etc.). Your team operates out of a barn on your idyllic, coastal property, yet you have created a world-class product. Write it down…. They are starting to see the light.

Startup 233

Startup Design Mobile Social Network 233

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. but: Something is Still Missing.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

This is why many people are so excited by how much traffic they’re now generating from social media. And if they can monetize their follower base then they have an incentive to grow their base, Tweet more, engage more and write better quality Tweets. All of them are really sharp on product and market. is Sean Rad.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

And better yet, the company has a product that will turn the stream into a lake. DataSift has a product that builds a permanent database for you of just the information you want to capture. Some will cite my investment two years ago in social-media advertising company Ad.ly What does that mean? It is the town hall.

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

I needed to have a plan to be efficient with my time during the 3 day conference. The best way to get a journalist’s attention is to know who you are writing to and what interests them. To start, let’s take a peek inside my train of thinking while I was preparing what I would report on for Tech Crunch Disrupt 2012.

Press 97

Press Startup Technical Review Email 97

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 19, 2012

“The object is to exploit the convergence of people, information, products, services and places with today’s smartphones and tablets, which drive online orders in addition to purchases from brick-and-mortar stores.”. Credit for the writing and research of this article and content below goes to goes to them as well.

Mobile 85

Mobile Software Review Statistics Technical Review 85

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. Product Friday: Monetizing Content is a Product Problem - This is going to be BIG. m the f%*kin’ boss.”. Same goes for television.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191