Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Innocal Offshore Entrepreneur 63

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2022

Startup investors tell me they invest in a new venture with a higher caliber of people, rather than the product or service, and I agree. Of course, it’s no surprise that most entrepreneurs don’t have a background in hiring teams, and don’t have a budget for training or human resource consultants.

Training 135

Training Case Study Resource Statistics 135

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable. Reviewing financial & operational performance. As we have invested millions in building out our sales organization efficiency really matters.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Startup 123

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 123

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2019

Image via Max Pixel Startup investors tell me they invest in a new venture with a higher caliber of people, rather than the product or service, and I agree. Of course, it’s no surprise that most entrepreneurs don’t have a background in hiring teams, and don’t have a budget for training or human resource consultants.

Training 73

Training Case Study Resource Statistics 73

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Startup 53

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 53

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

This means trying to understand what makes them tick and being really up to speed on which kinds of investments they like, in which sectors, their typical deal size, and stage. Basically you want to keep a dialogue going and use it to convey your business’ desirability, and viability, as an investment.

Startup 40

Startup News Invest Entrepreneur 40

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 2, 2013

gaming and mobile tracks others took advantage of during the course of the three-day conference held consecutively at ROC , Cross Campus and Santa Monica Place. He said it’s easier to get to know the tech community down here and you’re not competing with thousands of startups like Silicon Valley, more like hundreds.

Cornerstone OnDemand 93

Cornerstone OnDemand Santa Monica Technical Review Startup 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2017

Startup investors tell me they invest in a new venture with a higher caliber of people, rather than the product or service, and I agree. Of course, it’s no surprise that most entrepreneurs don’t have a background in hiring teams, and don’t have a budget for training or human resource consultants.

Training 58

Training Case Study Resource Statistics 58

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I know you’re not a tech guy and haven’t done anything other than an HTML course you once took, but if you’re inspirational and a leader you’ll find somebody to moonlight for free to get your prototype built. They know that the money they invest may be lost. That’s OK. of people aren’t.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Yet, despite his exceptional courtroom theatrics, you would be foolhardy to hire good old Johnnie to review your software cross-licensing agreement. If you are charged for every nanosecond you spend with your lawyer, consider finding one who is willing to “invest” more aggressively in your success. Money Is Time. They make mistakes.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2012

Both now lead with the same processors, but Dell offers custom system configuration at ship, while HP capitalizes on more impressive display and battery technology. If your "competitor" isn't really competing with your direct market, you can refer business to each other without anyone losing customers. Cross endorsement.

Company 96

Company Companies Startup Examples 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2011

Both now lead with the same processors, but Dell offers custom system configuration at ship, while HP capitalizes on more impressive display and battery technology. If your "competitor" isn't really competing with your direct market, you can refer business to each other without anyone losing customers. Cross endorsement.

Startup 90

Startup Examples Customer Custom 90

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. We have also been very busy with our next release, which is due out by December 11th (but I’ll save that for a different post).

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

It has become so synonymous with Internet companies that the French have invented a disdainful term including Amazon: “les GAFA,” which they refer to as Google-Apple-Facebook-Amazon to talk about American dominance of the Internet. It is a household name. Thus Amazon’s market cap is $200 billion. And they have. Innovation.

Ideas 150

Ideas Startup Technical Review Pricing 150

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

While I do fill that role at the moment, I'm a little hesitant to refer to myself as a CTO as we still haven't launched a product, acquired a single user, or turned or a penny in profit. What are the biggest areas of technical risk? What technology research is required? What technologies will we use?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

Affiliates invest the up-front marketing expenses required to attract customers. Direct Response Email and Newsletters – Although rightfully vilified due to the irresponsible actions of Spammers, targeted, opt-in email lists can be lucrative sources of customers. I was dead wrong.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

AeA Los Angeles Council

JULY 7, 2008

Approximately 50 executives from the worlds of technology & venture capital piled into the dining hall on June 30th to listen to Dr. Mark Drapeau speak about "innovation" and its sister topic, "STEM education." This 15-20 year prospecting, as a general rule, requires a long-term investment strategy by the government. government.

Education 45

Education Technical Review Research Web 2.0 45

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. We moved into the legal process and final due diligence in January and February of 2000. Push hard to set up the technical reviews, the due diligence meetings, the reference calls – whatever.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Of course much of it is conflicting. And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. Partners make investment decisions. ” In VC terms that means the key questions you need to answer are, is this investor: Geographically focused and have they invested in my geography before? Meet in person.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. Graphs - Chris Dixon , July 22, 2010 It has become customary to use “ graph &# to refer to the underlying data structures at social networks like Facebook.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217