Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2021

In my view, practical business courses in school are better than an advanced degree or MBA. Of course, working for a startup is not like running one, but it will give you a feel for the lifestyle implications, the mindset required, and how things look from the inside out. Write a business plan for your first startup.

Satisfaction 135

Satisfaction Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 135

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Of course, we are speaking of increased valuation of your company when we speak of “wealth.” This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. So, let’s examine them and mitigate them. Make you wealthy someday. The carrot and the stick.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

In fact, they are probably in such a hurry to give you money that they don’t want you to waste time writing anything down and passing it along to new investors. Of course, building a plan is not an alternative to getting out there and doing something. Writing it down promotes both understanding and commitment.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2013

They look at the following high level definition of Lean: and they interpret that as write up an executive summary with your ideas and hand it to developers to build. Correct your course quickly. What's Going to Go Wrong A lot of founders don't really understand Lean Startup principles. What's going to go wrong?

CTO Coach 219

CTO Coach Metrics Framework Software Development 219

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2017

We are over-intro’d and at the same time under-resourced in terms of staff to handle the barrage of in-bound requests. Having interesting and frequent opportunities at the top of your funnel is important, of course, but the ultimate score is only measured on the bottom end of the funnel. Get non-core things out of your way.

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Activity Blogging Email Startup 297

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

If you’re an early investor like I am that often means writing the first $2-3 million check into a business that previously had either survived on fumes or on a $500,000 angel round. I have seen many companies raise their first $3 million and still act like a company that has no resources at all. But at what cost?

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2023

Leading edge technology software and manufacturing require constant course corrections and iterative restarts. It’s hard to write a detailed specification on an evolving new service, process, or product that embodies your core competency. Don’t count on contracts and non-disclosure agreements to save you.

Software Review 114

Software Review Technical Review Outsource Development Outsource 114

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2021

You don’t really understand a new idea, until you try to write it down and succinctly communicate it to peers and critics. Of course, it’s good to have both, but don’t confuse the two. Ultimately, every business decision is a quest for maximum return on investment (ROI), utilizing cash, technology, and human resources.

Mentor 139

Mentor Entrepreneur Ideas Networking 139

Berkonomics

JUNE 9, 2016

So the lion recruited a cockroach who had extensive experience as a supervisor and who was famous for writing excellent reports. He also needed a secretary to help him write and type his reports. The Ant of course “Because she showed lack of motivation and had a negative attitude.”. Guess who the lion fired first?

Report 120

Report Writing Startup Course 120

SoCal Tech Calendar

NOVEMBER 6, 2009

When you set out to learn a new language, do you start out by writing an essay? Of course not! So why try to learn to program or write test scripts that way? We will play games, find shortcuts, and provide a list of free resources you can use to further your Perl education. See [link] (more).

Writing 100

Writing Education Course Resource 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

Nowhere is this more apparent than working in a startup where you are definitionally under-resourced and trying to make big accomplishments in compressed periods of time. I know some will read this as an indictment of all introductions and of course it’s not that. That’s why focus is critical.

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Innocal Conference Help Study 255

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

But of course it’s hard to advise people that they should do PR without a guide to how to do it on the cheap or how to do it at all. Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2021

High-performing startups today are the ones that use every resource at their disposal. Of course, if the board is set up or used incorrectly, the impact can indeed be more negative than positive. Board rules and governance policies should be articulated in writing and voted upon. Fail to establish adequate structure.

Startup 145

Startup Entrepreneur Mentor Writing 145

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15 If you invest early and then pull back in the next 3 rounds your multiples on cash invested are much higher than if you keep writing checks. Of course the media doesn’t do nuance well so this is an emotional topic. VCs have different views and strategies on this.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

Of course that website isn’t completely up to date but it’s a great resource for seeing the overall picture. Of course unsolicited spam has very low open rates and is filtered by the major providers. The key is understanding the nuance. But bacn (email you have subscribed to) can have incredibly high open rates.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

Of course not. It’s a hard topic to write about because it’s almost an accepted norm that total transparency is good. They told you, “Yeah, man, I’ll gladly write the first $250,000. Of course you need to be open. Of course you shouldn’t f **g buy a house. CEO transparency.

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. If you need money now, is has to come from friends and family.

Funding 94

Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2020

Leading edge technology software and manufacturing require constant course corrections and iterative restarts. It’s hard to write a detailed specification on an evolving new service, process, or product that embodies your core competency. Don’t count on contracts and non-disclosure agreements to save you.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 122

Berkonomics

MAY 29, 2014

If you don’t know these things, how are you going to course-correct if things go differently than forecast? In addition, it helps you focus your ideas and determine how to best manage your available resources including capital, cash, and people. A business plan: Organizes your thoughts to better run your business. Can we pull it off?

Startup 166

Startup Guide Help Mentor 166

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Of course, there are no guarantees, but I still see otherwise smart entrepreneurs taking shortcuts in their hiring, or jumping into business relationships based on emotion or low cost. Keep control by writing every check personally, and manage receivable and payables tightly. Your customers and competition make unexpected moves.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2012

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. An example is Melissa Rundle, who was been writing for the industry doing FunnyOrDie type comedies. He's been working Hollywood, too, and is a real Cinderella story.

Web 187

Web Content Startup Education 187

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

And of course we help with business development introductions and with fund raising events. I have been meaning to write this for a while as I’ve noticed that much of my board time is involved in trying to be an independent referee for founders who themselves are trying to resolve their own conflicts. What prompted this post?

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

To grow faster businesses need resources in today to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. Of course when you think about it it’s kind of obvious but when people make snap judgments about information they hear about companies or read about in the press they often don’t take the time to start to consider the details.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. I didn’t want to run out of things to write about in the first 6 months. Every time I write a post I send it out on Twitter. That’s boring.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. If you need money now, is has to come from friends and family.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. If you need money now, is has to come from friends and family.

Organization 93

Organization Startup Incubator Ideas 93

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

Moving a VC from an A to a B doesn’t mean they aren’t still your top pick, it just means your chances are less likely and your extremely limited resources should be allocated elsewhere. Of course there’s no exact number of VCs you should meet?—? In my post “ Measure twice, cut once ” I’ve outlined how to plan before you start raising.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

Fred has of course been a public mentor to us all with his market-defining terminology that he popularized including “freemium” and “mobile first.” There are some firms that pull resources from deals that aren’t quite working and put all of their time into their mega hits. But it’s not who I am.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2010

A little known, but valuable resource, every startup should investigate is a formal or informal connection to your local university. These resources are definitely are not limited to students, since every university wants and needs the real world exposure and experience of entrepreneurs who already have credibility in the marketplace.

Help 94

Help Startup Mentor Incubator 94

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly. Of course, now that you have investor attention, the devil is in the details. Investors realize that the resources and risk required to hit both markets concurrently are great, so they will likely look for focus, or a staged approach.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. The other worthwhile exercise is to write down what your competitors uses as its USPs – even ones that you don’t think are really valuable to customers.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2013

When building a new application, the fundamental rule is that you should choose any services that allows you the greatest combination of flexibility and resources to meet your application’s needs. For example, IaaS providers will give you raw infrastructure like compute and storage resources.

SaaS 90

SaaS Framework Resource Google 90

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2013

Reality-check your goals, then focus on ways to leverage your skills, assets, resources, and relationships. To convert your passion into tangible business value, write a business plan that makes financial sense for the needs and future goals of your startup, and have it checked by an expert. Attach to the market, not your idea.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Course Ideas .Net 103

InfoChachkie

APRIL 16, 2012

Once the book achieved commercial success, Steve then expended resources to edit and polish the book. Large companies write business plans, why of course, that’s the organizing document for a startup. Yet we took this document, the business plan, because we knew nothing else and said, ‘Go write one of these.’.

Startup 229

Startup Class Press Custom Development 229

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. Do I have to write up the overview? Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. or hard core engineering (new devices) then the CTO (Chief Scientist) means something else entirely.

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. Do I have to write up the overview? Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. or hard core engineering (new devices) then the CTO (Chief Scientist) means something else entirely.

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I promised I would write this post with some thoughts and ideas on the topic. Of course, you will want to figure out a bit more about the specifics of what this developer needs to know vs. can learn. Of course, you are looking for something a little different - a technical Cofounder. Here's an example of that kind of email.

CTO Hire 211

CTO Hire CTO Coach Startup Equity 211