Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.” For example, we’re now already well into our third growth fund that we started in 2015 (the first returned 2x cash in 3.5

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 11, 2018

We’ve known each other for nearly a decade and he’s been a friend, a co-investor in startups and a mentor to many startups with whom I’ve worked. So of course when Cham wanted to build his own startup I was first in line asking to fund him. eat your heart out. Next up for Cham?

Startup 206

Startup Mentor Course Screening 206

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2023

Based on my experience as an investor and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, one of the quickest ways to kill your credibility and your startup is to offer a poorly written business plan, or none at all. Of course, if you don’t yet understand all the elements, it’s time to learn.

Startup 102

Startup Writing Mentor Sample 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. It’s no fun for either side.

Technical Review 138

Technical Review Startup Innocal Offshore 138

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. If you need help at this stage, look for a local university teaching online courses on entrepreneurship , or how to build a business plan. Funding or rollout stage.

Funding 94

Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2023

They don’t realize that according to statistics from Startup.co , almost 60 percent are funded with personal savings and credit, and another 25 percent get their money from friends and family. That leaves only about fifteen percent that actually get their funding from investors, through crowdfunding, banks, angels, and venture capitalists.

Statistics 98

Statistics Entrepreneur Funding Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2010

Then we do our very best to make sure that they build a broad set of relationships that will be continuing sources of interpreted information, that they have a full complement of Mentors to assist them as they make tough decisions Well, here’s an important follow-on story. They are funded and staffed by groups of accomplished entrepreneurs.

Incubator 80

Incubator Mentor Capital Startup 80

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” Of course, every alternative has advantages and disadvantages, so any given one may not be available or attractive to you. These are tough for a first-time entrepreneur. Solicit venture capital investors.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

With the current volatile economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Marty Zwilling.

Funding 104

Funding Summary Entrepreneur Acquisition 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” Of course, every alternative has advantages and disadvantages, so any given one may not be available or attractive to you. These are tough for a first-time entrepreneur. Solicit venture capital investors.

Funding 107

Funding Startup Equity Examples 107

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2023

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. If you ask them for a reason, most will insist that they couldn’t get funding, or they ran out of money too early. It’s tempting to believe that one more new platform will win for crowd funding or video games, like Indiegogo and Wii.

Entrepreneur 125

Entrepreneur Netflix Social Media Startup 125

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Of course, their answer is that the second intends to get to market faster, but every engine has limits regardless the fuel applied. Count on six months from beginning the funding process until a new check is cashed. Always add 20 percent to your best estimate of funding requirements when approaching investors.

Search Engine Optimization 103

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 103

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. If you need help at this stage, look for a local university teaching online courses on entrepreneurship , or how to build a business plan. Funding or rollout stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

Of course, starting and running your own business comes with financial and personal risks, so I always recommend that you do your homework first, and follow some tried and proven strategies to improve your odds of success. By far, the majority of new businesses I know are self-funding (bootstrapped) from your own savings and prior assets.

Social Media 98

Social Media Metrics Media Tool 98

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

With the cost of entry to be an entrepreneur so low today, the common excuse of “lack of funding” doesn’t get much sympathy from me. People can build great ecommerce sites with free tools, smartphone apps in their spare time and use crowdfunding to bypass the dreaded angel funding and venture capital penalties.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Knowledge Base 153

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2023

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. Of course, they may be out of money as well, but that is often more of an “excuse” than a reason. So why do most startups fail?

Startup 135

Startup Entrepreneur Statistics Course 135

socalTECH

APRIL 10, 2018

Most of our mentors are people who have been successful entrepreneurs and investors, who have been there, and understand how to get a company to the next sage. other companies, which are already off and running are ready for aceclerators and seed funding. We want teams willing to take advice from mentors. That was Startup Next.

Startup 172

Startup Seed Funding Mentor Ideas 172

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

Based on my experience as an investor and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, one of the quickest ways to kill your credibility and your startup is to offer a poorly written business plan, or none at all. Of course, if you don’t yet understand all the elements, it’s time to learn.

Sample 137

Sample Writing Mentor Content 137

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” Of course, every alternative has advantages and disadvantages, so any given one may not be available or attractive to you. These are tough for a first-time entrepreneur. Solicit venture capital investors.

Startup 113

Startup Entrepreneur Funding Equity 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2021

I’ve always wondered if there was some way that I could quickly deduce a new entrepreneur’s “sweet spot,” and optimize my mentoring to those strengths and weaknesses, maybe similar to the Myers-Briggs type indicator for business professionals. Of course, discovering your entrepreneur type is only the beginning. Some are very positive.

Entrepreneur 134

Entrepreneur Framework Mentor Web 134

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2014

With the uptick in the economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, and an old one long out of favor, the so-called “reverse merger.” Marty Zwilling.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Summary 98

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2014

And of course there are virulent debates about whether publicly funded media should exist at all. I fall firmly on the side of supporting public funds for quality, less-biased, programming. Unbiased of course doesn’t exist since we all have biases. But clearly funding for NPR will required leadership.

Riot Games 299

Riot Games Media Startup News 299

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Wonderful human being who is civically engaged, mother of 3, mentorer of younger founders, hard worker and arguer extraordinaire (so says her current Twitter bio). For starters we’re an LA-based venture fund who invests nationally (and sometimes internationally, but less so). She is a coach and mentor to team members.

Venture Capital 408

Venture Capital Startup Outsource Development CitySearch 408

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2021

Thus, in my role as mentor to young entrepreneurs, I always recommend that you first take a hard look at your own values and priorities, before jumping into any new startup, as the founder, or even as a side hustle. Of course, if you wait for the perfect time, you may never start. Timing is critical for every startup.

Startup 159

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Equity 159

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Even business school courses don’t teach you to operate strategically, deal with people objectively, and create loyalty within a diverse workforce. Investors don’t want to fund your stumbles. Early stage startup founders have to think tactically. These are areas where past stumbles are the best teachers.

Entrepreneur 169

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Mentor 169

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Fariborz Masseh: The idea of funding a business plan competition is not a new idea. In 2003 or 2004, I moved to California, and decided to change from running an engineering company into running a hedge fund. Now, I run a hedge fund and finance firm in Southern California. It has been done before, at a number of schools.

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Of course, previous successes provide more direct evidence of a network of the right people. Exudes integrity, humility, and stability.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2019

With the current strong economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Marty Zwilling.

Summary 121

Summary Startup Entrepreneur Funding 121

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2020

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. Of course, there are thousands of other companies that don’t achieve their minimum goal, requiring all contributions to be returned. Donation good-cause model.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Satisfaction Equity 129

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Over the past 4 years LA’s tech fundings have growing at a 30% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) which is > 4 times the US average VC CAGR (7%). Of course that’s not disputable. Both are massively funding other LA tech companies through what Fred Wilson once defined as “recycled capital.”

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Truecar 376

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2020

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. If you ask them for a reason, most will insist that they couldn’t get funding, or they ran out of money too early. It’s tempting to believe that one more new platform will win for crowd funding or video games, like Indiegogo and Wii.

Startup 124

Startup Netflix Social Media Customer 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans take too much time, are inaccurate, and rarely add value. Most of these scenarios involve attracting outside investors, strategic partners, or key team members: You are the team and you don’t need outside funding.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Seed deals, for example, are easier to get funded than a late-stage deal for obvious reasons. But there are some deals that will get funded even though not necessarily seed: If you’re in an anointed category that will serve a post Covid-19 world well. Of course I believe the market has slowed down massively. In a word: Yes.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

For example, many investors I know tell me they look for business plans that allocate the largest portion of a requested investment to marketing, but most often see the top “ use of funds ” to be further product or service development. Of course, you can’t possibly brand yourself if you don’t know who you really are.

Marketing 133

Marketing Custom Customer Outsource Development 133

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Of course, their answer is that the second intends to get to market faster, but every engine has limits regardless the fuel applied. Count on six months from beginning the funding process until a new check is cashed. Always add 20 percent to your best estimate of funding requirements when approaching investors.

Search Engine Optimization 124

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 124

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. So I think it’s now fair to rate me at 9/10 on follow-on fundings. I am closing 3 new fundings in April (2 new, 1 follow-on).

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

socalTECH

OCTOBER 7, 2010

The University of Southern California and wealthy engineer Fariborz Maseeh , now a hedge fund manager in Newport Beach, is announcing this week a $1M endowment, which will fund an annual, $50,000 prize for a business plan competition for the school's engineering students.

USC 214

USC Southern California SoCalTech Competition 214