Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2021

In my role as mentor to many of you aspiring entrepreneurs, I often find you convinced that all you need to start is a unique innovation or idea , and now you are ready to jump in with both feet and enjoy the ride. Remember that being an entrepreneur is all about starting and running a business, after the initial invention.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2022

With the cost of entry at an all-time low, and the odds of success equally low, more and more entrepreneurs are starting multiple companies concurrently. Other prolific entrepreneurs, like Richard Branson and Elon Musk , simply have several startups on the table at any given moment. Multiply the pay-back.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2021

Knowing all too well how hard it is to start a single new business, I’ve always wondered how several well-known entrepreneurs, including Richard Branson and Elon Musk , have managed to successfully lead dozens of startups to success, and thrive on the process. Yet making no decision means you never start, or you quickly lose.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2020

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2022

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve met many aspiring entrepreneurs, and I often get asked the question, “I have a great idea for a startup – do you agree that it real potential?” Of course, you do need to consider how often that strategy has worked for you, and how often it backfired. A startup is no place for the Lone Ranger.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

In my view, starting a new business has never been easier, and according to reports from the Kauffman Foundation , the numbers are here to show it. The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2021, from 280 to 360 out of 100,000 of the adult population. Establishing your brand with interactive social media.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2023

Most of the time, I’m all about providing encouragement and inspiration to entrepreneurs. They need it and they deserve it, because entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our economy. Here is a sampling of ten themes from the book that I think are just as relevant today as they were then: The reality of starting.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2021

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs probably have long searched for that special idea that will catapult you and your startup to success. True entrepreneurs are born, not made. It’s true that some people are natural risk-takers, but these often do not make the best entrepreneurs. Every inventor is an entrepreneur by default.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Request a small business grant.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2021

In my role as mentor to business professionals, I often get the question about your potential of going out on your own as an entrepreneur, versus your current role of working for a boss at an established company. If you enjoy wearing many different hats and are constantly learning new skills, you will get more satisfaction as an entrepreneur.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. All the skills and instincts you needed to get to this level can actually start working against you, and you can fail to scale.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Raising capital for a female-led startup can be very diffiult--which is what Justine Lassoff and Melinda Moore found out when they started their own company, LovingEco, in Los Angeles. We actually started the organization in 2013. What is the most difficult challenge that women entrepreneurs face?

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2019

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” Others are debilitated by their fear, avoid risk at all costs, and never start.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. Almost anyone can start a company today on a shoestring budget, following these cost-cutting recommendations: Establish a solid legal structure for your business.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

Out of curiosity, I often ask aspiring entrepreneurs like you, who come to me for help, what drives them to take on the workload and risk of a new startup. I ask every entrepreneur to first take a hard look inside for one or more of the following key intrinsic drivers, before they start: Satisfy a driving need to be in control of their life.

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2022

Dave’s note: This is a reprint of a 2015 insight that seems to have struck a chord with investors and entrepreneurs. None of this advice has changed… Let me tell you a few short hair–raising stories of entrepreneurs who have raised money and regretted it later. The problem, of course, comes if the business fails.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2020

For all entrepreneurs, starting a business is the route to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” no matter how risky. According to a classic article and poll by Startups.co.uk , having the independence to make your own decisions is considered the key benefit of being an entrepreneur. If you are here in the U.S.,

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2020

Most of the time, I’m all about providing encouragement and inspiration to entrepreneurs. They need it and they deserve it, because entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our economy. Here is a sampling of ten themes from the book that I think are just as relevant today as they were then: The reality of starting.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2016

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2023

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Too many entrepreneurs think that expert external advisors are suspect, or will slow them down.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2023

There is no skill more vital to an entrepreneur than effective networking. This was illustrated well in the classic book, “ Hopping Over The Rabbit Hole ,” by Anthony Scaramucci, a well-known entrepreneur, financier, and television co-host of Wall Street Week. Be prepared to give as much as you get from networking.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2019

In all cases, it’s more effective and less painful to do it as a planned process, rather than a crash course in survival. Resurgence begins when entrepreneurs and top executives stop trusting only themselves, and build a coalition with customers to see what is and isn’t working. Don’t wait for the descending darkness before you start.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2013

I continue to see stories of really young entrepreneurs, like this article on Business Insider , with pre-teens as young as 9 years old who make millions more than their parents. This makes me wonder what starts that entrepreneurial drive in kids, and how early parents and schools should start teaching the basics.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2020

Entrepreneurs who experience success with their first startup are often amazed to realize that the risks and fears of doing it right the second time go up, rather than down. Encores are tough, especially in the high-risk world of startups, yet every entrepreneur I know can’t wait to start over and do it again.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2019

While starting a new business always involves tackling many new challenges, I’ve personally found myself reluctant to ask for help. Thus, in my consulting with entrepreneurs, I always encourage them to get more comfortable asking for help. Of course, there are good ways and bad ways to ask for help.

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Berkonomics

MAY 11, 2023

But the most important ones for any size business, including start-ups, is: Do you believe it should be the quality of your management team, or the plan you execute so brilliantly toward your success? Here’s a test: Several weeks ago, we published statistics of start-up and company failures. Of course, you could be the exception.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. Of course that’s not disputable. LA By The Numbers. Yes, Google won.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2014

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. Almost anyone can start a company today on a shoestring budget, following these cost-cutting recommendations: Establish a solid legal structure for your business.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2020

If you want to join the ranks of entrepreneurs and businesses who have a reputation for being ahead of the pack, for being an initiator rather than a follower, such as Apple and Nike , here are five key strategies and skills to develop that I recommend and practice: Develop a mindset of constant change required to thrive.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2020

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have new ideas on a regular basis, and find it hard deciding which to pursue, or try to tackle several at the same time. Good examples of initial focus by an entrepreneur would include Jeff Bezos when he started Amazon as an online marketplace for books only, and Elon Musk starting PayPal as an online bank.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2020

When I heard a friend and business mentor say, “Your startup won’t fail if you don’t quit,” I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt “never give up” as their mantra. Nothing is more discouraging to aspiring entrepreneurs than the high failure rate. Starting a business is just like building a new relationship; it takes work.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

She started with a story — a parable — as Jewish people are wont to do. Of course the dirty one took the shower.’ Learning comes from starting with a point-of-view that says, “I don’t know.” The more self-assured the VC is and the more impressionable the entrepreneur is the worse the outcome.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. The amounts from angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range. In fact, the reality is quite the opposite.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

This is when your job function truly starts to match the definition of “leader” because that’s exactly what your role is. You course correct. Marketing of course often feels the opposite. In my experience entrepreneurs too worried about being loved make poor decisions and thus poor leaders.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Thus smart business professionals are rapidly becoming the new entrepreneurs. Of course, entrepreneurs delivering services have existed for some time, including business consultant, independent contractor, and freelancer titles. For existing trained professionals, it’s an opportunity to become an entrepreneur.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2020

In my experience with entrepreneurs, there seems to a wealth of self-proclaimed “idea people” who aspire to start businesses, but only a few who are willing and able to dig in and get the job done. Only rare great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, have proven to be both. Productivity and time management challenges.

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