Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2023

In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. Passion, optimism, and determination are necessary but not sufficient to assure a successful startup. Find a recognized billion dollar and growing market.

Ideas 106

Ideas Technical Review Patents Startup 106

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. Passion, optimism, and determination are necessary but not sufficient to assure a successful startup. Find a recognized billion dollar and growing market.

Technical Review 58

Technical Review Ideas Patents Startup 58

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. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. It can be one of the strongest motivators.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

The Truth About the Scooter Economy?—?An The company started the year with no revenue and at it’s peak had a run rate well in excessive of $100 million / year. Pause to think about how remarkable that truly is. Each with better torque for getting up hills, better suspension, lower maintenance costs and improved batteries.

Santa Monica 250

Santa Monica Venice Competition Software Review 250

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” We did know about Snapchat as early as anybody. Of course that was a wrong narrative for both companies.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Of course, the response depends upon lots of variables, including whether the company is in a fund-raising mode (in which case the CEO may be spending up to 80% of their time on this alone). What if?” “How about…” “When should we…” “How could we…” You get the idea. How much time do you devote to each type of activity?

Class 194

Class Organization Technical Review Activity 194

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2010

In my post, Technology Roles in Startups , I described some of the different ways I engage with startup companies such as CTO Founder , CTO , Part-Time CTO , Acting CTO , Consultant, Advisor and Advisory Board Member. Now, most often technical advisors are part of a broader advisory board.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Technical Review Technology CTO Hire 150

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2021

For today's interview, we spoke to Dave Eastman, the Director of the Viterbi Startup Garage, a startup incubator that is run by the University of Southern California, out of its location in Marina Del Rey. What is Viterbi Startup Garage? The Startup Garage is located physically in Marina Del Rey, in the twin tower on Admiralty.

Marina Del Rey 150

Marina Del Rey Startup USC Incubator 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2014

.” I have been weighing in slowly on the topic over the past few weeks on Twitter but have avoided writing a blog post about it until now. I have thought a lot about anonymity over the years and actually have enjoyed debating the topic with those passionate about anonymity’s benefits because of course that’s how I learn.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Blogging Examples Startup 329

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

It’s very common for startup companies to have COO’s. But … Startups don’t need – shouldn’t have – COOs. I have this conversation with every startup that comes to see me and has a CEO & a COO. I think usually a COO title at a startup is an ego thing. CEO’s run things.

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I’m not saying that lawyers were my screening process – simply that they knew about deals early on and they had voted with their time and pocketbooks so I knew I had a degree of filtering. Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle).

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

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. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. However, I’ve now begun questioning how and what an early-stage / startup CTO should be.

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2019

In fact, according to the latest Index of Startup Activity by the Kauffman Foundation and recent press reports , these Baby Boomers are actually driving a new entrepreneurship boom. With longer life expectancies and greater health in later life, older generations are moving to start new firms -- and mentor young entrepreneurs.

Startup 119

Startup Technical Review Technical Support Entrepreneur 119

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2023

Entrepreneurs who experience success with their first startup are often amazed to realize that the risks and fears of doing it right the second time go up, rather than down. Encores are tough, especially in the high-risk world of startups, yet every entrepreneur I know can’t wait to start over and do it again.

Startup 91

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Ideas 91

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. I called an (ex) LP to tell him about her and my goals for her. Kara said “no” because she wanted to start her own company, which she did and I backed. Leadership is about recognizing your next generation of talent and helping lift them up.

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

Startups in a world of massive markets can be confusing. The law of large numbers, platforms that can make your company blow up unexpectedly and the trendy nature of tech markets can be deceiving. This is why I loved Brad Feld’s recent post about the “ illusion of product / market fit.”

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2020

As a frequent advisor to new entrepreneurs and startups, I often hear your frustration with being treated differently from other startups by investors, on expectations for valuation , traction, and market size. For many years, startups featuring all-electric vehicles fell into this stage of the business lifecycle.

Marketing 174

Marketing Startup Artificial Inteligence Technical Review 174

Tech.Co

APRIL 26, 2019

Nearly 17 percent of tech workers admit to being under the influence of marijuana while at work at some point in their careers, according to a new study. The stats come from CBD publication Remedy Review , which surveyed 1,000 workers across the nation to learn more about how the modern employee incorporates marijuana into their working life.

Study 119

Study Technical Review Class Education 119

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 9, 2019

I fund startups for a living and before that I ran two software startups that I founded. With a standard tech startup I can tell you in my sleep that your two biggest cost items by a long shot are people (between 60–75% of total costs) and space (10–20% of total costs).

Product 214

Product Software Review Technical Review Startup 214

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

The last thing a new entrepreneur wants to think about for a new startup is how it will end. Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Startups with no exit planned will minimize investor returns. Most entrepreneurs like the startup role, but not the big-company role.

Startup 150

Startup Technical Review Equity Statistics 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2022

One of the myths I often hear as an advisor to many entrepreneurs is that their lifestyle would somehow be better if they could more easily find other people’s money to build their startup. Usually it pays to move a startup slower rather than risk relationships. Usually it pays to move a startup slower rather than risk relationships.

Funding 107

Funding Startup Satisfaction Venture Capital 107

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

If you’re funding the same stuff as everybody else and if you started your activities when the clues were obvious you’re much less likely to drive enormous returns. Internally at Upfront Ventures we talk about “high consensus” vs. controversial deals with “high conviction.” Far from it. Lots of it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

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. Don''t go to Wharton or Harvard.

Santa Barbara 258

Santa Barbara Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 258

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. Building Startups for Basecamp. It’s exhausting. Perhaps unsustainable. Lines, Not Dots.

Startup 317

Startup Technical Review Venture Capital Email 317

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. ” Let’s start with some basics. Thus Amazon’s market cap is $200 billion.

Ideas 150

Ideas Startup Technical Review Pricing 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

.” If you don’t create the message about yourself, the market will. Of course you could start your own company. As I talked about in “ Is it Time to Learn or Time to Earn ” – overwhelmingly the best economics go to those that start successful companies.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

I think I’ve read Paul Graham’s post on “ Startup = Growth ” three or four times now. And of course on Twitter I’ve seen the Tweets, ReTweets and superlatives on what a great post it is. Eventually a successful startup will grow into a big company. I talked about some of that here.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2020

Entrepreneurs who experience success with their first startup are often amazed to realize that the risks and fears of doing it right the second time go up, rather than down. Encores are tough, especially in the high-risk world of startups, yet every entrepreneur I know can’t wait to start over and do it again.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Ideas 129

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Shahidi’s inspiration for building Shots was that he was picked on growing up. He knew first hand what it was like for people to bully or make you feel self conscious due to your weight or looks or physical abilities. And of course comments are used to call people fat or ugly or stupid. So he did away with it.

Social Media 150

Social Media Media Technical Review Startup 150

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I received a great question via LinkedIn: I'm the founding engineer and working hard to launch my startup. What can I do to best equip myself to step up when the need to officially fill this role arises? I've previously addressed the role of a CTO in early-stages in my post Startup CTO or Developer. How can we address this risk?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

One of the vivid memories I have from being a startup CEO is the feeling that most people in your company have a look in their eyes that like they can do your job as well as you. But if you level up , raise capital and grow customers, revenue and staff – life changes. You course correct. Startup life.

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2021

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). Of course, both are impressive, but still small compared to over $300 billion from VC investments annually.

Funding 144

Funding Startup .Net Invest 144

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Seed funds now represent 67% of all funds being created now, which is up 100% from 6 years ago. ” The pioneering fund of funds realize that their source of differentiation is much more about the latter than the former.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2014

I’ll try to get write-ups shortly but for now here is an overview of my interview with Nanea Reeves – President and COO of textPlus. Nanea Reeves has a storied career in senior leadership roles at technology companies. Office politics – including Nanea’s experience being a woman in technology.

Technical Review 315

Technical Review Blogging RSS Organization 315

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. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104