TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

” Of course, it’s more complicated than just checking boxes on a question list. Do you have a custom algorithm or other technology? Even when they have talked to multiple developers or development firms, we’re often the first to ask basic questions like “Who are your customers?” Where’s the mystery?

Develop 520

Develop Development Technical Review SEO 520

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

Invoca had grown steadily and consistently since 2009 and by 2015 SaaS companies with scale had become hot – trading at a median of 7.3x Of course it’s not literally a memo but that’s a metaphor for knowing that things have dramatically changed. But of course public markets had begun gyrating.

Funding 150

Funding Startup SaaS Venture Capital 150

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 26, 2018

“What we’ve really been doing over the course of the last few years is solving the really difficult technical challenges in generating this kind of data. I incorporated Aclima 10 years ago and started really working on the technology around 2010. So a chunk of the Series A will be going to help pay for more sensor rollouts.

Platform 224

Platform Google SaaS Los Angeles 224

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

We discussed why in Q4 you will see large renegotiations of SaaS contracts and increased churn rates. Food production and distribution, group collaboration, remote training or education, sensor technology (tracking people movement, temperatures, etc), certain biotech deals. Of course I believe the market has slowed down massively.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ). and Microsoft had become.

CTO Hire 309

CTO Hire Organization Google Course 309

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2014

According to a recent Forbes article , UC Santa Barbara''s Technology Management Program offers students a superior startup education over the University of Pennsylvania (home of Wharton), as well Harvard, Northwestern and even its acclaimed southern neighbor, the University of Southern California. Want to be an entrepreneur? All-Star Alumni.

Santa Barbara 258

Santa Barbara Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 258

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 10, 2014

In the course of dominating their initial direct response market, a number of enterprise-level advertisers began using Invoca''s unique marketing platform in ways the company had not foreseen. This unintended use of their technology caused the company to modify their product set to better accommodate large, brand-focused advertisers.

Technical Support 250

Technical Support Marketing Advertising SaaS 250

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

I built my first software company in the early days of SaaS and there were few models to go by. It is the opposite of what SaaS is supposed to be. We said to customers, “We only sell SaaS and we think that’s the right solution for you. So we took a stand. How responsive are they to your needs now?

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

That is, how much should your company be willing to lose in cash every month as you make investments in staff and equipment that funds technology, sales, marketing and management. Sometimes, of course, reducing burn means cutting costs which usually means cutting staff.

Startup 212

Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. Of course, I have an advantage because I organize the LA CTO Forum. Of course, since you know those questions, you can just collect up the answers and provide them to your developers.

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2015

Over the course of the year our active portfolio companies received awards or recognition on over 35 separate occasions. But things can change in technology businesses in very short order when the company is not yet at scale (sub -$50 million in revenue) and getting greedy can be very costly to the funds' returns.

Capital 100

Capital Beverly Hills Artificial Inteligence Equity 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

And let’s say this – they use zero technology today and I have yet to meet a single person who loves their self-storage provider. It’s not just big in Dallas but in San Diego, Phoenix and Sacramento but also Boston, Chicago, Washington and of course San Francisco. Of course they are. Are the dinosaurs worried?

Ideas 150

Ideas Startup Technical Review Pricing 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Much has changed in the past four months of the technology startup world and how outsiders value the business. Of course it’s too early to predict whether this is a trend or an aberration but the smartest people I know in the industry are predicting the former. It applies to all startups – not just SaaS.

Startup 150

Startup Pricing Venture Capital Statistics 150

socalTECH

APRIL 30, 2018

For this morning's interview, we caught up with Elizabeth Cholawsky , the new CEO of Santa Barbara-based HG Data (www.hgdata.com), which develops software which helps marketers and salespeople understand the "technology stack" of their potential customers and prospects. For those who aren't familiar with HG Data, what does the company do?

Santa Barbara 113

Santa Barbara High Tech Outsource Development Startup 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2016

The show has become my best curator of which books to read (including my favorite of last year, The Accidental Superpower ) and my go to for understanding geopolitics of: Russia, Iran, Pakistan, China, India and of course the US. But they also take on issues in science, technology and management.

Coach 150

Coach Technical Review Framework Google 150

socalTECH

MAY 19, 2017

It was that combination of great talent, the great companies we can sell to here, and of course, the great lifestyle of living next to the beach, which is a no brainer. A lot of the legacy technology which exists in this space has been hardware-based. How does this look like to those developers? Andrew Peterson: It's all software.

Web 138

Web Startup Southern California Software 138

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

I do believe that we are in structural change where technology will increasingly play a bigger role in all facets of life so the long run up for tech is promising through all of these cycles. Of course back then it literally was sold in a package and stored on a shelf! Your favorite investor told you this was a bad idea.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2015

when a technology startup, its investors or the market believe in robust growth rates writ large. I don’t meet many rational invests (VCs or LPs) who believe this will last but of course nobody knows whether we have 6 weeks, 6 months or 2 years. __. faux·men·tum. fōˈmen(t)əm,fəˈmen(t)əm/.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Custom Customer 150

Steve Reich

OCTOBER 30, 2012

Last week, the WSJ ran a great article (add link) on the value of college humanities courses, and used comments from a successful entrepreneur to make their case. The company builds a SaaS mobile banking platform for community banks. With the right technology, they can compete with the Megabanks and Wall Street.

Startup 65

Startup SaaS Platform .Net 65

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

And of course on Twitter I’ve seen the Tweets, ReTweets and superlatives on what a great post it is. I’ve seen this happen before where companies seems to be struggling with traction and one technology change at an industry level suddenly propelled them more rapidly. That leverage technology or drive change.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

If you look at what you go through, starting high school, and maybe even middle or grade school, you go through your educational life managing courses, relationships with your teachers, and relationships with your parents. We've basically taken advantage of all the new technology out there--especially, the web-based service model.

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

What technology research is required? What technologies will we use? What’s our purchase, licensing, SaaS strategy? When they recruit you, they should tell you about what you will learn, but it will be focused on technologies and skills that they immediately need for the success of the business.

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 2, 2013

Business opportunities are popping up around cloud computing technology, too, according to cloud computing consultant and blogger Phil Wainewright. The job market, too, will feel a significant impact from cloud computing technology. “Of course, IT jobs within solution providers and at consultancies will remain.

Cloud Computing 85

Cloud Computing Marketing CIO Organization 85

InfoChachkie

MARCH 3, 2011

In the spirit of the “land grab” mentality of the day, we emphasized usage of our screen sharing technology with no thought applied to how we would convert such users into paying customers. We failed to apprise our BuddyHelp users of our plans to charge for the use of our technology, thereby eliciting their wrath and feelings of betrayal.

Custom 162

Custom Customer Technical Support Startup 162

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Yet, new technology can quickly blindside you, and market dynamics change, plus you need to broaden your opportunity. Software as a service (SaaS) has now pretty much replaced the old licensing model, but offering it was a strategic risk for SalesForce.com. Plan to replace your product with a better and cheaper one.

Pricing 103

Pricing SaaS Competition Social Network 103

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

Of course there is usually an inverse relationship between how senior the person is, how much time they have available and on the other side how much time they’ll spend helping you and getting involved in details. Of course great VCs play this role and many founders rely on VCs for input to hard decisions.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

For 1991 I was very technical and also had a lot of practical business implementation experience in technology. I, of course, knew nothing about business. I asked him if I could join his practice as the guy who could help him bridge technology & business. I could become the SaaS guy. My starting salary was $27,000.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

SaaS 101: 7 Simple Lessons From Inside HubSpot - OnStartups , July 19, 2010 It’s been a little over 4 years since I officially launched my internet marketing software company , HubSpot. So, I’ve had about 4 years on the “inside” of a fast-growing, venture-backed B2B SaaS startup. I got a taste of that within my first weeks on the job.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2011

Yet, new technology can quickly blindside you, and market dynamics change, plus you need to broaden your opportunity. Software as a service (SaaS) has now pretty much replaced the old licensing model, but offering it was a strategic risk for SalesForce.com. Plan to replace your product with a better and cheaper one.

Startup 98

Startup Pricing SaaS Competition 98

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 21, 2011

My background was 8 years of telecoms & mobile and 8 years of cloud computing & SaaS – so these two themes were a given. So my strategy was to focus on technology heavy companies who could bring measurability and performance to inefficient parts of the digital media landscape. Or can they?

Mobile 329

Mobile Advertising Media Marketing 329

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

In a short, densley packed timeline, our panel of industry experts discussed the fine line topics of wearables technology, bitcoin, SaaS, cloud, mobile gaming, and social markets. Babak Razi – Founder of Third Waves Ventures, innovator and supporter of emerging high technologies. Summary of Topics. Big or Bust?

Startup 95

Startup Google Education Venture Capital 95

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

I taught a somewhat crazy course about writing and deploying a scalable website in Ruby on Rails and deploying it in EC2. Most big companies initially rejected use of the cloud, just as they rejected SaaS solutions when we launched GoToMyPC in 2001. The term ‘cloud computing’ only caught on much later. Same everywhere.

Cloud Computing 188

Cloud Computing Santa Barbara EC2 Startup 188

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2010

Yet, new technology can quickly blindside you, and market dynamics change, plus you need to broaden your opportunity. Software as a service (SaaS) has now pretty much replaced the old licensing model, but offering it was a strategic risk for SalesForce.com. Plan to replace your product with a better and cheaper one.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Pricing SaaS Competition 97

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

You may have raised money across multiple rounds of investors from 3-4 different VCs and of course most of them would like board seats or at a minimum board observer rights. Unless you’re SnapChat, Instagram or similar this is probably 3-5 years into your existence.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. ” Of course life is more complicated. Of course a group of 10 seed funds can’t fix the prices of a market. So prices start dropping. What hogwash.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 20, 2010

However, despite the movement of social computing into our daily lives we’re all clearly on a long journey together as the technologies themselves emerge from infancy. Four aspects of social Web evolution So what kind of emerging standards and technologies are we seeing that can help address these issues?

Web 29

Web Technical Review Web 2.0 Social Media 29

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 31, 2011

Messenger : Ian Siegel , Co-Founder |CEO ZipRecruiter , Former Executive Product and Technology roles at: MyLife, CitySearch, Stamps.com, Rent.com and Pictage. Ideally we’d like to work with other B2B SAAS businesses. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

MyLife 160

MyLife CitySearch Web Technical Review 160