Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2019

Business success is all about having a winning idea. In my experience, finding a good idea is the easy part. I have seen too many great ideas fail due to poor execution, and less impressive ideas succeed due to an innovative business plan, implemented and managed by the right team of entrepreneurs.

Software Review 98

Software Review Ideas Outsource Development Entrepreneur 98

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 28, 2011

Many thanks to everyone who participated in last night’s Spotlight: LA Tech at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Of course, the evening wouldn’t have been complete without our fireside chat with Mike Jones , serial entrepreneur and former CEO of MySpace. Individual clips will be posted soon. Diamond Sponsor.

Idealab 49

Idealab Tech Coast Angels Startup Platform 49

socalTECH

MAY 10, 2016

The idea is that we want to simplify complex topics, in a way that is fun, engaging, and entertaining. Where'd the idea for Napkin Finance come from? The course initially helps teach students about paying for college, understanding loans, and how to complete their studies. What is Napkin Finance about? READ MORE>>.

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Course Content Platform Resource 100

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2013

She dropped off the dogs and gave me the biggest thank-you text you could imagine. Thank you. More like a temporary VC just to get some experience and of course we’d pay him. He and his wife hatched the idea for DogVacay and decided to go for it. I absolutely loved the idea from day one and told Aaron so.

Venture Capital 344

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review San Diego 344

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Fariborz Masseh: The idea of funding a business plan competition is not a new idea. Even though they usually end up innovating and creating at the idea level, they usually need to have a business partner or someone else, to either become CEO of a company, or help them translate their innovation into practical use. READ MORE>>.

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Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Of course we fund companies in good markets and bad. Every year we try to write up and publish our thoughts publicly both to help other investors & entrepreneurs and also to test our thoughts in the public market of ideas. Thank you, guys. Every year at Upfront we try to analyze the venture markets.

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Funding Venture Capital Marketing Writing 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

The idea came about, because we see a lot of people coming through our program at UCLA, who might have the desire to be an entrepreneur, and to get into the technology field, by studying data science or cybersecurity. At the same time, we're trying to help add women and diversity to technology and entrepreneurship. READ MORE>>.

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UCLA Education CIO Examples 159

socalTECH

OCTOBER 26, 2015

They have the option of using those sessions with different trainers as they choose, and our average customer uses about three different trainers over the course of a month. The idea is that the program information and analytics are all stored in the app itself, so that they can track their progress. How are you backed and funded?

Training 100

Training Startup Orange County Malibu 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

It was a “disappearing text app” where the founders told me that they named the company because the idea came from how Tiger Woods got caught cheating on his wife because all of his mistresses had evidence that he cheated because they saved text messages from him. Of course that was a wrong narrative for both companies. Mostly kidding.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

Please stop using the word Girlboss thank you. The idea of the “girlboss” today is shrouded in privilege. And of course, those startups are by no means innocent when it comes to bad management. “If I mean, there’s a number of things that went wrong throughout the course of his tenure that were never brought up.

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Startup Netflix Los Angeles Innocal 280

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2014

We caught up with Avi Steinlauf , the CEO of Edmunds.com, to learn how hackathons have worked for Edmunds.com, and to provide some insight to others on the whole idea. We had twelve teams from outside of the company, all of them pre-vetted, where we already knew who they were and that they had some legit ideas. It was a great event.

Edmunds 172

Edmunds Southern California Ideas Startup 172

socalTECH

MAY 10, 2018

The idea, is to make it accessible as a multi-disciplinary part of Tel Aviv University, so that young people, alumni, and students with ideas for a company can join the fund, not only to be funded with seed money, but also so they can be accelerated and potentially incubated before they go out. Thanks, and good luck!

El Segundo 100

El Segundo Southern California Startup Santa Monica 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

In our industry we always talk about funding big ideas or funding things with more meaning. And of course we believe huge returns come with big platform initiatives like Grove. We loved the idea. And if we’re right our kids will thank us one day. (Ok, With conviction. Ok, probably not. Happy growing.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Software Review Startup Ideas 150

socalTECH

MARCH 8, 2013

What's the idea behind the incubator? So, I set out a little bit in an ad-hoc way starting companies as ideas came to me. We are the founders of these companies, and the ideas come from our own team. We've got a very strong team of general partners, and increasingly we're getting ideas from our major partners.

Incubator 208

Incubator Startup CTO Hire Ideas 208

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

We were both in college when we came up with the idea. We were both very good friends, living together, and we came up with the idea and thought this could go everywhere. We talked to people in the industry, our friends, and our family, anyone we could get ten minutes with and asked them if they thought this idea could stick.

Commerce 140

Commerce Help UCLA Organization 140

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

You want to send just enough to get the meeting (and of course a great deck sells better than a long email) and not so long that you don’t leave a chance to wow the person in your actual meeting. Almost every idea worthy of funding has 5 amazing teams trying to do the same thing and execution and team determines the winners.

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Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. I can’t tell you how many people have thanked me for this advice and say their productivity increased exponentially. That’s fantasy.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

Eric Greenspan

DECEMBER 5, 2009

Our Director of Flow, Heather Burlesci will be attending these courses as she is looking to build up her skills in this area. We will collaborate on ideas and projects and we created the Superfriends together, a group of local entrepreneurs that will gather to share ideas and help each other grow personally and professionally.

Social Network 180

Social Network Networking Yahoo Social Media 180

socalTECH

JANUARY 23, 2017

However, I always wanted to get into a broader role in the startup ecosystem, where I could help other entrepreneurs work on their ideas. Of course, there's a lot of concentration in LA along Siliocon Beach, but there are great things in Pasadena, Claremont, Downtown, and the Valley. Thanks, and congrats on the new position!

Startup 100

Startup Los Angeles Claremont Press 100

socalTECH

JULY 18, 2013

Thanks to that activity, a new, venture investor has moved into town, Core Innovation Capital (www.corevc.com) , to specifically take advantage of those opportunities. There is, of course, a significant percentage from the Bay Area. However, we were really excited by the amount of talent and ideas that are in Los Angeles.

Capital 183

Capital Startup Los Angeles Invest 183

Eric Greenspan

DECEMBER 5, 2009

Our Director of Flow, Heather Burlesci will be attending these courses as she is looking to build up her skills in this area. We will collaborate on ideas and projects. We created Superfriends, a group of local entrepreneurs that will gather to share ideas and help each other grow personally and professionally. A great trade!

Social Network 196

Social Network Networking Social Media Yahoo 196

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2012

What's the idea behind Vyclone? He met me in LA to talk about the idea, and we started developing a prototype to deliver a solution in this area. I started a consultancy out here when Joe had that idea, and he thought I'd be a good person to talk to because of my background. That really brought me out of retirement.

Startup 235

Startup Entertainment Los Angeles Ideas 235

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2021

Those are faculty members who have a commercialization idea and want help with that. Those companies tend to be around for longer than one year, because of course our faculty are not working on those things full time, they're continuing to teach classes. Dave Eastman: I think they are similar issues with any team of startup founders.

Marina Del Rey 150

Marina Del Rey Startup USC Incubator 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

And of course we talked about many of my views of building startups. And we had these vans and mobile kegs in the back, and we would go to golf courses. Talk to us about when you got the idea for BuildOnline and how that came to be – how you finally got out of the job. Which of course it won’t, right? Ridesharing.

Startup 337

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Venture Capital 337

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2011

The gist of MG’s argument is that he’d rather work with people who are openly critical of his ideas if it helps him to perform better than to have a bunch of “yes men” around who just say what a great job he’s doing. Of course I can’t write every press release for the company nor would I want to.

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Press Venture Capital Doc Summary 337

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2012

You've got a great idea for a web video series, but how do you learn about how to make that happen, to get distribution, and monetize that video? We teach through video tutorials, with courses around specific sites, like how to make content for FunnyorDie, taught by one of the staff writers from FunnyOrDie. READ MORE>>.

Web 187

Web Content Startup Education 187

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2018

Even with that, you should expect your first seed investment from friends, family, or business associates, who know your capabilities and believe in you more than the idea. Of course, the average beginning amount per startup is low, and usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment.

Tips 86

Tips Funding Startup Entrepreneur 86

socalTECH

MARCH 10, 2017

However, instead of just very rapidly scaling around that idea, we decided to really define what the business needed to look like. When I first joined in 2013, and we talked to a prospect, they'd say, �Thank god, you're here to shut down my Facebook location pages!� We accomplished that, that did it well. READ MORE>>.

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Google Paid Search Mobile Activity 127

Tech.Co

JULY 18, 2016

For examples, our sponsor, Microsoft Accelerator , will have team members on the floor to take stock of all the budding startups and genius ideas that this showcase will no doubt present. Thank you to our sponsors Microsoft Accelerator, American Airlines, WeAreLATech and philosophie for supporting this effort in Los Angeles. .

Los Angeles 70

Los Angeles Angel Startup Newsletter 70

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

And I tried to evaluate the idea and figure out: What did the founder really need here? The very last email I got from him told me the following: Thank you for your time Tony, I understand everyone wants a huge salary, no risk and a cut of the profits. How To Find A Programmer To Build Your Startup Idea Another option is sweat equity.

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

socalTECH

JANUARY 19, 2017

We came together with the idea of designing something that specifically addresses the skills and opportunity gap in our country. Eventually, the idea was that the entertainment industry's workforce would reflect our audience. I understand that at Stanford, one of the most popular courses is Designing Your Life. READ MORE>>.

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Help Education CTO Coach Startup 100

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

It’s obvious that we can be too late to these decisions of course. If — and it’s a big if of course — they can do that on the cheap, then why should an LP care at all? To every member of Extra Crunch: thank you. Burn the management fee in a fireplace if it makes the deals happen. Some more on metrics design and quantification.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2019

Even more importantly, owners have no idea how to respond appropriately, or get the offending comments removed. Of course, you can’t monitor the entire Internet yourself, but fortunately there are many tools and platforms out there to do it for you, such as Google Alerts and Hootsuite Insights.

Custom 86

Custom Customer Examples Sites 86

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 30, 2013

But of course life isn’t like this. Nobody that I’ve spoke with who had seen Jody recently has even an inkling of a idea. I cut-and-paste the text and saved it to my Trello board where I store blog ideas. Thank you for indulging me. We all face demons and stress. At a minimum we need to recognize the signs.

Blogging 400

Blogging Startup Ideas Press 400

socalTECH

JANUARY 11, 2019

Los Angeles- and New York-based Steereo (www.steereo.com) has a new idea: partner those artists with ride sharing drivers, and pay those ride sharing drivers to play their music to the ever-changing variety of people who hop in their vehicles. Where'd you get the idea for the service? READ MORE>>.

Startup 113

Startup Advertising Marketing Platform 113

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2016

But if you commit one simple day of your life I literally promise you that you will email or Tweet me a “thank you” and tell me you’ve been moved. Of course the contrasts are stark and the questions get more personal and much harder to hide from the privilege our side of the so obviously enjoys. You can go. You SHOULD go. Here is how.

Writing 150

Writing Startup Design Training 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2013

“Of course I can. ” Jacob, “Of course I can have a piece. They always finish the interview with a “thank you” and barely ask next steps. So unless you explain to me logically why it doesn’t make sense at our company, my assumption is that it’s a good idea.” “What?

Sales 416

Sales Class Training Technical Review 416