SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. In many cases, during my Free Startup CTO Consulting Session with them, we discuss where they are in in the process. The startup founder is definitely not ready to hire a CTO. Far from it.

CTO Hire 205

CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach Develop 205

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've talked about that in lots of other posts, so you can visit some of these to help determine what you specifically need: Startup CTO or Developer Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything Key ingredients in the equation are: How complex is the system? Your technical advisor can likely help.

CTO Hire 211

CTO Hire CTO Coach Startup Equity 211

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2012

Michael Wong: I was previously CTO of an agency called Breakthrough Ads. My cofounder, Steven Elliott, was CTO of a company doing artificial intelligence and automated chat technology. We had worked together for six years before starting MergeLocal, which came about on the golf course. We're also funding it out of pocket.

CTO Coach 223

CTO Coach Startup Mobile Artificial Inteligence 223

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. We generally have a policy to only fund entrepreneurs once the first version of a product has shipped or it near to shipping. So I asked Ethan to build his product first and then we would fund. The company was called Red Beacon. He was seeking $500k.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

” Of course I agree with this. In practice it can be a fine line between sparring partner / coach and stepping over the line to brute-force persuasion. Of course by the next quarter if I felt ripped off I could advocate for 7% or maybe ops requirements needed to be upped to 20% for one quarter.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. Of course triangulation is a mathematics term that is used in sailing and other activities to help you better navigate when you don’t have your bearings. Fund raising ? Triangulate.

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Innovation and Geography I ran across a post in Read/Write Web - Does Location Matter in Web Innovation? eHarmongy) as an acting CTO. Of course, thats probably even more true in Silicon Valley. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. “Getting the band back together” doesn’t stop for me with just our fund. We brought Ryan Lissack down from San Francisco to become Maker’s CTO and the rest is history. Mafias matter a lot to me, as well.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

I will soon announce a few fundings (not yet closed, sorry) and I’m beginning to help them think about how to ramp up their engineering teams. And I spoke with the CTO of another great company I used to be on the board of and enlisted his support in potentially being an advisor to one company. Roger Ehrenberg. Fred Wilson.

Networking 366

Networking Startup CTO Coach Email 366

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Good entrepreneurs can admit when their course of action was wrong and learn from it. You’re sales person is getting blocked by the CTO who says she shouldn’t go above him but the CTO isn’t approving the deal. Yes, I know it’s my job as the CEO to be the coach for people and that’s fine.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

socalTECH

JANUARY 19, 2017

We raised a bunch of money, and funded training programs for underserved communities for entry level jobs, which would lead to careers in the entertainment industry. Since then, I have worked extensively with mentoring youth, and helping them figure out what's possible in terms of careers. That's what we're trying to do.

Help 100

Help Education CTO Coach Startup 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

Ryan Blair: The theme around the fund is pretty simple. Of course, not all VCs are like that, and I've started some good relationships with them, but others are complete a**holes. We hired the ex-CTO of Sears, and other senior executives out of Disney in software. So where is the fund now?

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 31, 2011

We also had awesome group of mentors that included: David Waxman (Co-founder of PeoplePC, Spot Runner and Firefly Network), Paige Craig (CEO of BetterWorks ), Josh MacAdam (Co-founder/CTO at Ming.ly If Avesta sees someone drinking Coloft coffee (organic of course), he quickly asks if they’ve sold anything. Rob Maigret.

Los Angeles 73

Los Angeles Startup Angel Tech Coast Angels 73

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

For me, FI was great for networking with Adeo and the other mentors, who are all world class successful entrepreneurs themselves, as well as the other founders in the program. Of course, you should monitor social media such as Twitter, the social news sites, Facebook, etc. Tell Rod about the LA CTO Forum.

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 16, 2014

Can you explain in greater detail how the platform’s algorithm works to make it easier for entrepreneurs to find the right partner/advisor and to extend assistance to one another? You can be an entrepreneur and at the same time you can be a mentor or an investor to someone else’s project. Actually, I would say relevant visibility.

SoCal 104

SoCal Southern California Startup Platform 104

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

Running a new business starts with building a solid and credible business plan, working the investor funding process, and building an organization from nothing, with minimal resources. For example, if your rich uncle is providing all the initial funding, but has no active business role, it might be smart to offer him a 20% slice of the pie.

Startup 101

Startup Entrepreneur Equity CTO Hire 101

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

Running a new business starts with building a solid and credible business plan, working the investor funding process, and building an organization from nothing, with minimal resources. For example, if your rich uncle is providing all the initial funding, but has no active business role, it might be smart to offer him a 20% slice of the pie.

Equity 91

Equity Startup CTO Hire CTO Coach 91

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Some great content around the intersection of startups and being a Startup CTO in June this year. This continues my series of posts: Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March The following are the top items based on social signals. Not so bad.

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Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217