Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. Many are no doubt trying to change this culture. Could leaders of society try to change the culture in ways that encourage acceptance of failure?

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

By spending more time educating your board on your business you get more valuable advice from them. Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2015

The Internet is the problem, by facilitating constant change, and it’s the solution, by providing an absolutely current view of customers, trends, and best practices. It requires an attitude of self-education, versus an assumption that someone else will provide the education. Building a new business is not rocket science.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Education 102

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

In the Los Angeles startup world, there are lots of high profile, buzzy companies which have lots of attention and funding--but which haven''t earned a dime of revenue. We generate thousands of new customers everyday for clients such as Ally Bank, GE Capital, Transunion, and a few other big brands. What is ConsumerTrack all about?

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

As I write these words I already imagine my next deposition in which I’m asked to read this out loud. I angel funded a company 5 years ago. Because no VCs would fund them with a pending lawsuit of this nature. I funded a company where the CEO stepped down. *. Lawsuits. Lawsuits are becoming so prevalent these days.

Startup 150

Startup IP Writing Ideas 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. We funded the seed round, the A round, the B round, C round, D round and E round. we were sold on the concept immediately.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247

InfoChachkie

APRIL 16, 2012

The Lean Startup approach dictates that successful customer development is an iterative process. Eric (Ries) was a student in one of the very earliest customer development classes at Berkley. Large companies write business plans, why of course, that’s the organizing document for a startup. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

Startup 229

Startup Class Press Custom Development 229

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. People don’t want to speak to customer service reps. Higher education.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Putting their expensive educations to good use, they aptly named their novelty product a "MouseDriver". I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. Dear Friends, We have no income and no venture capital funding.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2016

The Internet is the problem, by facilitating constant change, and it’s the solution, by providing an absolutely current view of customers, trends, and best practices. It requires an attitude of self-education, versus an assumption that someone else will provide the education. Building a new business is not rocket science.

Entrepreneur 61

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Education 61

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

15desks.com), a new startup focused on the education market. Zareh Baghdasarian: 15desks is all about managing your educational lifestyle, all the way from early education to your graduate work. If you can imagine, you can have your entire educational life online. Zareh Baghdasarian is the CEO of 15desks (www.15desks.com),

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

Tech.Co

MAY 9, 2017

He ended up building a digital agency that did everything from custom apps and web development to branding and digital marketing. I saw so many different applications for virtual reality in education, entertainment, mental health and communication,” he said. Education became a large facet within the space and focus for Taylor.

Startup 70

Startup Web Development Design Education 70

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

Thus, you must first create the playbook by which an independent sales rep can readily sell your product, including: identifying objections and developing strategies to overcome them, creating reference accounts and establishing meaningful customer adoption. 5) Allow Partners To Write Your Agreements. 3) Attempt To License An Idea.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. That changed very quickly.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Putting their expensive educations to good use, they aptly named their novelty product a "MouseDriver". I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. Dear Friends, We have no income and no venture capital funding.

Newsletter 133

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 133

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

Last week, Santa Monica-based Revolution Prep announced its first, institutional round of funding, worth $15M, from Kennet Partners. It was us, funding ourselves from credit cards, literally, to a company that is now on par with Kaplan and Princeton Review. How did you manage the growth you have, without outside funding?

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 4, 2010

In 1999, I was involved with GE Financial, launching a broker platform, so that they could self-score and autodoc their funding deals. How long has your software been available to customers? How are you funded? How did the company start? Tom Allanson: A little history might be useful. It was a very manual process.

Startup 150

Startup San Diego Entrepreneur Tool 150

socalTECH

OCTOBER 30, 2008

to the business of script writing, and is looking to combine a free online tool for writing scripts with matching those scripts with content producers. You mentioned funding--you're raising a round? The funding is a requirement to get to the next step. Scripped (www.scripped.com) is applying the world of Web 2.0

Content 138

Content Writing Software Review Hollywood 138

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2014

Customize your website using one of the tools above, selecting one of the standard templates for design and layout. Obviously, commercial e-commerce sites handling thousands of products and back-office functions are more expensive, and usually require professional help to do the custom programming and special site navigation features.

Startup 100

Startup Commerce Sites Blogging 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to. The company’s analytics comprehensively monitors customer behavior over multiple networks, including location-based mobile networks. Watch this space.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Microsoft Office ended up beating its competitors because it was able to read and write to file formats other than its own. Lesson: You dn’t want your customers to feel locked into using your software. It helps with sales cycles because customers know that they can switch away if they so choose. Defensibility in Software.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software Blogging Startup 285

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

It was a pleasure to write them myself. Bill had previously created a packaged software company called Knowledge Adventure the produced children’s educational software. He wanted to build direct customer relationships to get product feedback but only 2% of customers would ever return their registration cards.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

And a few teams of super talented, educated and bright entrepreneurs make a few mill. And they might give a premium if the team has been around a longer period of time, has built some hard-to-build proprietary technology or has some customer traction. And who cares, right? in their 20′s. What could be more capitalist than that?

Press 357

Press Startup Yahoo Venture Capital 357

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

Back to regular writing this week so check back in. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know. The fund is organized into sectors and each VC forms forward looking themes within sub sectors.

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2013

Aspiring creators learn by connecting with top web filmmakers and YouTubers on a topics specific to the web: developing a web series, producing web series, writing for genres like comedy & sci-fi, directing, editing, camera, Kickstarter funding, show hosting, distribution, and marketing. How unique are you from them?

Web 93

Web USC Course Guide 93

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. So I thought I’d write a piece on how to not suck when you give a presentation. how are you solving this problem?

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Welcome to the Lost Decade (for Entrepreneurs, IPO’s and VC’s) - Steve Blank , July 15, 2010 If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. Customer Care Today. They ignore/disrespect the platform.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Messenger : Rob Duva , Co-Founder, COO RingRevenue, prior Director of Customer Acquisition, CallWave. This is especially true for companies with expensive and complex products or services that are more consultative in nature, like insurance, financial services, home services, education and travel, etc. You’re right.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

InfoChachkie

JUNE 27, 2011

My response was brief and straightforward, which is common of popular Quora answers (as discussed in How To Write An Effective Quora Answer ). Although my answer was off-the-cuff, the question caused me to consider the issue of raising entrepreneurial children in greater depth, which led me to write this series.

Entrepreneur 270

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Resource 270

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2011

This move is indicative of the possibility that the traditional ways of going about making a living through a college education, an entry-level position at a firm, and steady promotion through the ranks is a dead model. But if you've spent all your money on the website for party supplies, you may not have the funds to have the site redone.

Startup 92

Startup Capital Blogging Ideas 92

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. Along the way many things came together: being able to find the right people, getting great customers, having lots of luck, being in the right place at the right time. From day one we focused on customers.

Cloud Computing 188

Cloud Computing Santa Barbara EC2 Startup 188

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

We had to write a CRM to keep track of them all. They are: Fred Wilson: Lead Investors, Dipshit Companies, and Funding Every Entrepreneur. Teach Like You’re the Student - Steve Blank , August 10, 2010 “I never have let my schooling interfere with my education.”. I've funded some myself. twenty in your wallet? Mark Twain.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

There are hundreds of entrepreneurs here in Los Angeles who are building awesome companies, writing awesome books, making awesome movies and are trying to solve important problems to help make this world a better place. Goodreads raised a Series A round of funding from True Ventures in the summer of 2009. MUST be on this list!!

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78