socalTECH

MARCH 4, 2009

Los Angeles-based LeadPoint said today that the firm has launched a product which will help its customers filter out leads by a "quality score," which will help its lead buyers find the types of leads and quality that they are looking for. The firm said the filters will be initially available for credit card debt and tax debt relief leads.

Tool 100

Tool Redpoint Education Los Angeles 100

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

The reality is that most venture capitalists are not very venturesome. Thus, it is incumbent on entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into viable businesses before seeking venture funding. Wiley entrepreneurs pre-sell their products and get customers to fund their businesses. Venture Capital Should Be Your Investor Of Last Resort.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Ideas Seed Funding Capital 100

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

- SoCal CTO , January 13, 2010 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 9 Reasons Why Many Smart People Go Nowhere - Life Beyond Code , March 29, 2010 No Accounting For Startups - Steve Blank , February 22, 2010 Startup Advice In Exactly Three Words - #StartupTriplets - OnStartups , January (..)

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

The company recently raised a round of funding from Santa Barbara-based ScOps Venture Capital. Now we're in over 100 cities and have over 10,000 clients, 10,000 tutors, and a platform which is working very efficiently, and gives the customer what they want. In this industry, customer acquisition costs are super high.

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Beverly Hills Acquisition 113

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Having paying “Customers” is what makes the cash register roar. This article will cover two things; First, the top mistakes small business owners make that end with inquiries leading you to the exit door before making a sale. Using your service or owning your product isn’t why a person buys, it’s the experience your customer will have.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Marketing SEO 85

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Now, more than ever, government agencies in the US and abroad are lousy startup customers. Government customers abundantly waste both of these assets by negatively impacting a startup’s cash flows while causing it to spend unnecessary time participating in laborious approval processes and elongated sales cycles.

Startup 207

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 207

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

Use this approach before you have a real valuation, a real product, or any real customers. Many people are afraid to tap into debt sources because they don't want to be burdened with the debt if the startup fails. Venture capital. An investment from a venture capital firm is usually expensive, in equity and control.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Equity Incubator Venture Capital 103

Tech Coast Venture Network

APRIL 22, 2010

With rare exception, you will need to finance personally (or with friends and family to the point of revenue and/or significant customer pre-order or commitment). Angel Investors & Venture Capital. If you are pre-revenue, have pre-sales, letters of intent and/or customer commitments. Friends and Family.

Startup 124

Startup Tech Coast Angels TCVN Incubator 124

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

However, the greater degree you can sequentially follow these steps and maintain your discussions with each venture capitalist (VC) at relatively the same stage, the sooner you can spend less time in the company of investors and get back to running your business. Unfortunately, your fundraising efforts will be less linear. Prep Steps.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

I love the enthusiasm, the boundless energy and the sense of possibility that comes from having an idea that hasn’t yet been beat up in the marketplace of competing ideas, customer contracts, VC skepticism, jaded journalists or fickle consumers who are on the The New, New Thing. A great CFO will help you plan that. Board Preparation.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

Tech.Co

JANUARY 19, 2016

The round is led by Subtraction Capital, and includes investments from PayPal co­founder Peter Thiel , Indicator Ventures, and venture debt lender Western Technology Investment (WTI). Given the nature of the venture capital industry, we understand the need for a secure deal management and stakeholder communications platform.

Doc 120

Doc Invest Screening Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2011

Use this approach before you have a real valuation, a real product, or any real customers. Many people are afraid to tap into debt sources because they don't want to be burdened with the debt if the startup fails. Venture capital. An investment from a venture capital firm is usually expensive, in equity and control.

Startup 93

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 93

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder is able to self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Venture Capital 174

Venture Capital Invest Class Entrepreneur 174

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2013

If you need more, you need to focus on venture capital territory. Also, don’t expect investor enthusiasm for your gambling site, porn site, gaming, or debt collection business. They probably won’t respond well to high pressure sales tactics, information overload, or bribes. Angel investors are people too. All you need is one.

Angel 101

Angel Startup Venture Capital Invest 101

socalTECH

AUGUST 13, 2010

We managed to double the company in eight quarters, and added companies like Dell, Intel, Adobe, Expedia, TripAdvisor, Siemens, and Rockwell and lots of other great global brand names as customers. They were quite attracted to Language Weaver and started to deploy our solutions. We were fortunate to have all of those scenarios to consider.

Equity 168

Equity Startup Acquisition Funding 168

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

They often make great team members such as head of products, CTO, head of sales, CFO, etc. Partners in VC funds only wanted to fund entrepreneurs who had a certain percentage of their net worth tied up in their venture. You have kids, a mortgage, MBA debt? That’s hard core. It’s lost salary for a period of time.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

The startup was so nascent that the sale would have been considered a short-term gain for tax purposes, which would have significantly reduced the Founders’ proceeds, making their small fortune even smaller. Such offers often come from a larger company once the startup begins to gain traction with customers and prove its value proposition.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Acquisition Pricing 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2010

Use this approach before you have a real valuation, a real product, or any real customers. Many people are afraid to tap into debt sources because they don't want to be burdened with the debt if the startup fails. Venture capital. An investment from a venture capital firm is usually expensive, in equity and control.

Funding 59

Funding Startup Technical Review Equity 59

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

The startup was so nascent that the sale would have been considered a short-term gain for tax purposes, which would have significantly reduced the Founders’ proceeds, making their small fortune even smaller. Such offers often come from a larger company once the startup begins to gain traction with customers and prove its value proposition.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Acquisition Pricing .Net 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2012

If you need more, you need to focus on venture capital territory. Also, don’t expect investor enthusiasm for your gambling site, porn site, gaming, or debt collection business. They probably won’t respond well to high pressure sales tactics, information overload, or bribes. Angel investors are people too.

Angel 98

Angel Capital Startup Journal 98

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

In any given year there are about 50 venture-backed companies or so that are bought for $100 million or more. Huge structural under-employment in much of the country and full employment in some niche tech markets where it’s impossible to hire developers, designers or sales professionals. source: Capital IQ. You feel it, too.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

This can be a great way to test your product and get customer feedback. Convertible debt. Venture debt. Customer financing can minimize your risk, providing more cushion to meet your milestones. They will want board seats and a say in decision-making. Crowdfunding. Vendor funding. Funding Vehicles.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2011

If you need more, you need to focus on venture capital territory. Also, don’t expect investor enthusiasm for your gambling site, porn site, gaming, or debt collection business. They probably won’t respond well to high pressure sales tactics, information overload, or bribes. Angel investors are people too.

Angel 97

Angel Entrepreneur Startup Journal 97

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

How To Pitch A Product - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , August 4, 2010 I've said a bunch of times on this blog that the perfect pitch is a very short intro to provide context followed immediately by a demo. Has convertible debt won? More tiers = more complication = more confusion. And if it has, is that a good thing?

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

release out the door and get some customers using it, or friendly people piloting it then at least there is some validation to the product and some people to speak to about their experiences. In SoCal we have Crosscut Ventures, Matt Coffin, Mike Jones, Klaus Schauser, etc. Market validation – This one is optional but important.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

One thing that comes with being a venture capitalist is you see hundreds and hundreds of businesses. Payback periods on customer acquisition way more important to you in the near-term. You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

Publicity and positive word-of-mouth can help grow your start-up into a successful venture. Bootstrapping enterprise, marketing, Sales. . Your Interactive Life Venture starts much earlier than the Ideation Phase (3). Stop Listening to Your Customers. Entrepreneurism / Monetization Customers, research, startups. .

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

forward sales with some as high as 12x sales. Collectively we chose growth and the market was rewarding high growth rates over any other factor so we felt that we ought to bring in an experienced CEO who had taken companies public, who had led large, international sales organizations and who was poised to take Invoca to the next level.

Funding 150

Funding Startup SaaS Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple. As with any sales campaign you need to: Qualify your buyers early so you focus your scarce resources on people likely to buy your product. . Three rules in sales: Why buy anything? Remember again that the three major steps to a sale are: Why buy anything?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

That is when no customers wanted to work with Internet startups because we as an industry had burned so many customers. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. I learned how to integrate customers into our product development process.

Startup 285

Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 285

Berkonomics

JANUARY 16, 2014

Example: salary, equity, joint venture, etc… Can the business afford it? Create roles and guidelines in the potential partnership: What role and responsibility will each of the partners have including operation, financial, sales, marketing, etc.? Review long term company debt, goals, objectives and financial projections.

Technical Review 204

Technical Review Startup Examples Metrics 204

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Goodreads raised a Series A round of funding from True Ventures in the summer of 2009. Rebecca Pontius is co-founder of the Do Good Bus — a transportable community service venture based in Los Angeles, CA. All he has to do is pull off one more job to pay off his debts. The site has since grown to nearly 7.5

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2010

In 2006, Steven Dietz, a partner at my firm, GRP Partners, had given me $500,000 in a seed in convertible debt when I started my second company, Koral. I had initially called them wondering if they’d fund my third venture. I had initially called them wondering if they’d fund my third venture. So what is my thesis?

Entrepreneur 321

Entrepreneur GRP Partners Venture Capital Invest 321