Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

As a long-time business advisor and angel investor, I’m a believer that “two heads are better than one” in building a new business. Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. Feels a real passion and love for their role.

Software Review 154

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 154

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication? 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication?

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

We all like to think of startups as “non hierarchic&# organizations and to some extent that should be true. I see two common mistakes in companies (not just in startups, in fact). You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

By far the most popular post on this blog is 32 Questions Developers May Have Forgot to Ask a Startup Founder. While I’ve updated it a few times, it continues to get at important questions that startup founders need to be asking. million in sales every year for just a 1-second page delay. What do they do? Is SEO important?

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Startup SEO CTO Coach Web 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Fred Wilson also wrote on a similar topic in his usual more succinct manner , with a great quote being: “One thing I know for sure is that those who advise and invest in startups cannot and should not meddle in the day to day decision making. It’s harmful and hurtful to the startup and those that lead it. I did this.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2012

That's what Los Angeles-based MergeLocal (www.mergelocal.com) is looking to find out, by offering up points which can be converted to real cash, when users check into local businesses. What's your background, and how did you decide to start the company? Michael Wong: I was previously CTO of an agency called Breakthrough Ads.

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SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Beware of Mentors. " Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ). In both cases, I was the mentor telling the person that the idea, as I understood it was "not great." I saw a great post from Tristan Kromer Pivoting on Investor Feedback a.k.a billion dollar mistake.

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Customer Custom CTO Coach Startup 227

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Some great content around the intersection of startups and being a Startup CTO in June this year. This continues my series of posts: Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March The following are the top items based on social signals.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

As a long-time business advisor and angel investor, I’m a believer that “two heads are better than one” in building a new business. Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. Feels a real passion and love for their role.

Software Review 88

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 88

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Startups are hard. You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. ” Who cut you in on their bonus because even though you’re “just an sales engineer” they know you really deserved more credit for this deal. We tell startup stories.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. The easy answer of splitting it equally among all co-founders, since there is minimal value at that point, is usually the worst possible answer, and often results in a later startup failure due to an obvious inequity.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Monday, March 12, 2007 MyShape Article - Analyst Misses the Point The NY Times did a piece today on MyShape, a start-up in Pasadena - Log in Your Measurements, and the Clothes May Fit. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. I really think MyShape has a great concept.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 7, 2016

Orange County startup Beatshare --backed by the Tech Coast Angels, Pasadena Angels, Harvard Business School Angels, and Archangels, among others�thinks it's figured out the formula to make music the message in its mobile app. Photo: Barry Lieberman, President and COO; Eli Aizenstat, Founder & CEO; and Rob Patrick, CTO).

Tech Coast Angels 100

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Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 20, 2013

As the NBA playoffs closes to an end in a grueling road to Game 7 between Miami Heats and San Antonio Spurs, it would behoove every startup founder to learn from key elements and strategies of both teams, as lessons from the sport of basketball can directly translate to the success of a startup company. Who is the sales person?

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. So I was surprised at the sheer volumes of decisions that had to be made when I became a startup CEO. Your head of sales thinks she should fire somebody. Somebody asks whether you plan to set up 401k’s and do contribution matching. I think this paralyzes many people.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

After a decade on the job I’ve started to speak more openly when newer industry colleagues now ask me what I’ve learned. We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. It’s the executives who trust you to join the early-stage startups you’ve funded.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Southern California has had its share of new startup accelerators launch in the last few months, however, few people here have actually experienced an accelerator firsthand. in sales last year, what he learned from his experience at TechStars, and where he's going with Fanmix. Alex Benzer: I'm actually building two startups.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. The easy answer of splitting it equally among all co-founders, since there is minimal value at that point, is usually the worst possible answer, and often results in a later startup failure due to an obvious inequity.

Equity 91

Equity Startup CTO Hire CTO Coach 91

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 31, 2011

Coming hot off the coat tail of earlier this year’s Startup Weekend LA where Zaarly launched, this LASW was nothing less than amazing and as someone put, one of the best tech events in LA they had ever been to.

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Los Angeles Startup Angel Tech Coast Angels 73

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2016

When we met Shireen (CEO) and Scott (Co-founder & CTO) in late 2014 they had been inspired to create Nima to address their own personal food issues and empower other people to live their healthiest lives. It’s still in pre-sale, but reception from beta testers, previews and the industry ( tech and consumer ) has been enthusiastic.

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Company Companies CTO Coach Funding 207

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

We caught up with Ryan (who calls himself an "anti-VC") to hear more about his investment firm, which has invested in such companies as Heal , Elite Daily , Saucey , and FragMob. Tell us a bit of the story on how you started HashtagOne? We want to have startups we can get productive or generating revenue pretty quickly.

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socalTECH

AUGUST 9, 2013

We caught up with CEO Gabe Gottlieb recently to understand better why the company thinks transparency is important--and to try to understand better the tangled web of online ads. Big publishers are using that to arm their sales forces, and figuring out what advertisers to go after and what to pitch. What is Adomic? Gabe Gottlieb.

Advertising 153

Advertising Startup CTO Coach Study 153

SoCal CTO

MARCH 18, 2010

Vince: I’m an author, speaker and management consultant with a special expertise in online media sales. I started out as screenwriter, went into local television, ran ad sales in the west for AOL and joined Facebook in the companies very early days. With that as a start it rarely feels burdensome. The client has to win.I

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Startup Los Angeles Twiistup Social Network 225

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 18, 2013

A traffic jam of expensive cars lined up to pull into the packed parking lot of MuckerLab for its second graduating class demo day. Okuno has been investing in Los Angeles startups for the past three years after selling his own company E-Z Data. Okuno said, “I have invested in over 40 startups almost always in the six-figure range.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 24, 2017

Yet, in my role as a small business advisor, I still see many founders and executives who see data and analytics primarily as a measurement device on current results, rather than using it to evolve the business strategy and direction. Strategic decision makers need to see the data, in addition to marketing and sales.

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CTO Coach CIO Startup Competition 59

socalTECH

MARCH 10, 2010

Robin's latest startup is Internships.com (www.internships.com), an online site focused on aggregating internship opportunities and providing resources to potential interns. We spoke to Robin about the new startup, his executive team, as well as his angel investing activity here. How did you decide to start Internships.com?

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Startup Content Sites CTO Coach 223

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 15, 2011

Tony is currently Founder/CEO for Eventify, an LA-based startup creating a venue marketplace, and Visible Factors, an SEO consulting company. He is also an advisor to multiple startups and regular speaker at conferences like SMX, SXSW Interactive, and PubCon. Garth Holsinger, VP of Global Sales and Business Development, Klout.

SEO 85

SEO CTO Coach Conference Social Media 85

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. And as Rob points out – if you email members with short updates more frequently they are more up to speed when you do need them to weigh in.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

As a long-time business advisor and angel investor, I’m a believer that “two heads are better than one” in building a new business. Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. Feels a real passion and love for their role.

Software Review 56

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach 56

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 13, 2015

Los Angeles-based CurbStand (www.curbstand.com) is hoping to change that, by offering up a mobile app which connects you with the company''s network of CurbStand valet parking companies, which offers on-demand retrieval of your car, mobil payments, and on the valet parking operator side--lots of business analytics tools and reporting.

Networking 100

Networking CTO Hire CTO Coach Mobile 100

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 20, 2014

TechZulu recently sat down with east coast transplant Olenka Polak to talk about startup life in Los Angeles. Explain to our readers why you started your company, and why you created your app myLINGO. I mean, we’re new to this town and new to this industry – so just a lot of things came up during the launch that we’re now looking into.

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SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Right now they’re setting up 500 free corporations for first time entrepreneurs. He was Director of Online Marketing for Mota Motors, a BusinessWeek Top 50 Most Promising Startup of 2009 and TechCrunch50 finalist. Matt Miller – Co-Founder and CTO of CareerBliss.com. Thank you @eminutes. .

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Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78