TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

Ghost is not alone in developing technology focused on inventory. Last week, Syrup Tech raised $6.3 The investment was led by Union Square Ventures and included participation from Eniac Ventures, Human Capital and Flexport. Syrup Tech bags $6.3M to develop some sweet inventory-planning software.

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2022

Yet the value of real relationships, as with consumer customers, has become critical to your business services growth and success. In my experience, the good news is that everyone is becoming more and more comfortable with relationships via the new media and technology. Maximize online referrals and positive service reviews.

Services 121

Services Technical Review Social Media Case Study 121

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

Most business professionals I know have been conditioned to think of inflation as highly negative, driving up their costs, and reducing customer buying. I see it as an opportunity to find new ways to attract customers , make long-needed changes to improve productivity, and lower your own costs of doing business.

Outsource 95

Outsource Customer Custom Sample 95

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Because of the rapid pace with which Venture Capitalists review investment opportunities, they must employ pattern matching techniques which include identifying common fundraising deal breakers. Surprisingly, most venture investments do not break down over valuation. A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes.

Technical Review 264

Technical Review Entrepreneur IP RSS 264

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

Whenever a VC assesses a potential investment opportunity, they attempt to match the entrepreneur(s), their solution, and intended markets with a pattern they have previously encountered. Such deals are ideally funded by customer dollars until the opportunity is adequately proven and/or management accrues an adequate level of experience.

Technical Review 244

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital RSS 244

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2014

On one end, entrepreneurs who have (at minimum) built something customers love and are willing to pay for, and the other hand, investors who are looking for the very companies who fit that profile. You’ve built a great business, your customers love you. The investment environment at large in light of the JOBS Act.

Invest 100

Invest Startup Technical Review Software Review 100

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 19, 2020

Laurent Grill, one of the investors at Luma Launch (which is the corporate investment arm of the film studio Luma Pictures), has been working in the Los Angeles venture community building and backing startups for about a decade. If you are a company raising or investor investing, please go to this link to submit your information.

Venture Capital 135

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Los Angeles 135

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

The main thrust of the post is that with YouTube taking a 45% of revenue and talent taking 70% of the remaining revenue, YouTube Networks didn’t have sustainable businesses unless they invested heavily in technology as a tool to increase margin and provide defensibility. That is the definition of Disruptive Technology.

Company 339

Company Companies Technical Review Content 339

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

James (chairman of the Althea Foundation) and appointed Adam Sroka as Senior Vice President of Technology in a move to make business transactions simple and secure. . Jackson , “This financing round, coupled with hiring Adam Sroka as our head of technology, puts CapLinked in a position to further enhance our enterprise product offerings.”.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

There’s an article making the rounds in tech circles titled “ Growth Hacking is Bull ” written by Muhammad Saleem. I tell people that they need to blog about their industry to drive customers and not blog to their egos to drive their peer group to their blogs. I’d strongly encourage you to read it.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review SEM SEO Marketing 384

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. In contrast, low-volume, high-conviction investors like Rincon only invests in a handful new companies each year, making it much more costly (in dollars and effort expended) to invest in a loser.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

InfoChachkie

MAY 6, 2013

This is due to a fundamental disconnect between the increased activity of high-volume seed investors (that fill out lots of Seed rounds) and the relatively small number of Series A investors, who only make 1 or 2 investments, per partner, per year.". There is a similar Darwinian aspect to venture capital investing.

Entrepreneur 246

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Capital 246

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

As noted in Pour and Stir Part I , the key to the successful execution of this strategy is managing the following equation: The cost to acquire a customer < lifetime value of a customer. Decreasing Your Customer Acquisition Costs. This is equivalent to being handed a free customer for every ten customers you acquire.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 8, 2011

For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. It’s a gathering of friends and tech enthusiasts of all stripes. This Spotlight takes place Thursday, July 14, at The California Institute of Technology (CalTech). RSVP: AGENDA.

CalTech 100

CalTech Technical Review Company Companies 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. You have said outloud anyone can send you an email, is that fair?

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. He’s committed to getting through every email. It’s not because I don’t want to respond to all emails – I do. I get way too many emails – many of them unsolicited.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

socalTECH

MARCH 19, 2019

We started focusing on that, and at the time we were doing only phone verification, but then we started adding in data analytics because of customer demand, we added in some other things like straight messaging rather than pin codes. What enabled you to get that first customer on board? We were really focused on customer acquisition.

Marina Del Rey 113

Marina Del Rey Software Review Startup Incubator 113

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Most of them are telling you that they just need to see a bit of traction before they’d be prepared to invest. Investors are giving you a version of the “soft no,&# which basically means that they’re not prepared to invest now. They get positive product reviews on TechCrunch, GigaOm or Paidcontent.org.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Fan Appz, a Santa Monica headquartered firm founded in 2010, and a Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) today Tuesday launched its Personalized Marketing Platform, a next-generation social media marketing solution set to help firms convert fans into customers and increase repeat purchases by turning good customers into great ones.

Platform 82

Platform Help Customer Custom 82

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Before booking a hotel I always check out Trip Advisor and read reviews. Nowhere is social proof more prevalent than in angel investing.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2016

The reality television show Shark Tank makes for entertaining content but many of its underlying messages are potentially detrimental to tech entrepreneurs. A number of my UC Santa Barbara entrepreneurial students initially model their investment pitches on the show's contrived format. According to David S. Shark Tank Distortions.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Entertainment Technical Review Ideas 100

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 22, 2014

While not investing in certain areas may seem like a good idea in the short-term, not spending enough on key elements could shortchange your business, leading not only to headaches but requiring expensive fixes down the road. Here are some areas where it pays to make the necessary investments to get it right the first time: 1.

Startup 97

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 97

InfoChachkie

JUNE 22, 2015

Facebook recently joined Google and Twitter by offering a click-to-call functionality in its ads, giving consumers an option to call businesses directly, versus emailing them or completing an online form - effectively making the plain old phone one of the most powerful on/offline marketing tools of the coming decade.

Mobile 100

Mobile Technical Review Google Tool 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 30, 2013

Those services work on volume, and the designs you can send--and which you receive--are from a limited selection, not at all personalized to the recipient, and for the florist delivering the flowers, provides slim margins and no opportunity to build a customer base. We partner with them, and give them tools to help their business.

Beverly Hills 157

Beverly Hills Technical Review Design Startup 157

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

Value is created through diligent hard work. Once you prove that a substantial number of people are willing to pay more for your solution than it costs you to provide it, you can then consider licensing your underlying technology. In addition to paying the consultant, you must invest time to educate them.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2013

The second big part of this, is the user experience, the brand, and the customers. It''s all about being very simple, very honest, and very straightforward in how you treat the customer. We send you reminders by email, and deliver as many times a year as you prefer. We also have Just Because, which schedules random deliveries.

Services 215

Services Technical Review Startup Pricing 215

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

The board’s job is to review the company’s financial performance and strategy and help provide counsel to the executive team. Communicate frequently and proactively The most effective CEOs that I’ve observed send regular, short, board update emails every few weeks or monthly just to give the board a sense of what is going on.

Tips 212

Tips Slides Startup Technical Review 212

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2012

The following guest post is from Eric Greenspan, Founder and CEO of MakeItWork, a consumer facing, in-home tech support service. Our customers benefitted from this and saved thousands over the years as a result. But later in 2011, new customers slowed, appointment bookings slowed and average appointment time dropped.

RSS 170

RSS Technical Review Capital Email 170

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2010

For example, if your startup is building a high-tech software product, a dream team of advisors would be a former CEO or high-level exec in another software company, a former software marketing executive, and a former financial executive. What better candidates than your Advisory Board?

Invest 50

Invest Technical Review Software Review High Tech 50

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

And NOT even because they give until death refunds if a customer is ever dissatisfied with a purchase. He says he cares most about “focusing on customers for life”. To prove that point, tonight I had the privilege of hearing him speak at Lean LA , a Los Angeles group that helps high tech start-ups build great companies on a budget.

Metrics 87

Metrics Email Startup Technical Review 87

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 17, 2012

Resources Required – At high-tech startups, required resources include developers’ time and the opportunity cost associated with alternative uses of the developers’ 12-hour workdays. Additionally, many opportunities require financial investments, which must be considered in tandem with non-financial resource requirements.

Tool 255

Tool Startup Ideas Resource 255

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

According to a recent Harvard Business Review article , only 60% of companies today use social media for marketing, and only 12% of those feel that they are using it effectively. They don’t know if they should move to social networks for lead generation, branding, customer loyalty, or for direct marketing and e-commerce.

Social Media 115

Social Media Media Startup Social Network 115

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 6, 2017

In this article #StartupsEverywhere , I talked with Joe Wallace, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, and Hank McCarrick, CEO and founder of Seco Sys about sustainability, emerging eco tech, and challenges in the ecosystem. Joe Wallace, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer at CVEP.

Startup 119

Startup Technical Review Patents Services 119

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

tevye2009 , Q: “can you briefly explain why it’s best to get a small valuation when getting investment.&# Mike Stern (wasn’t sure which one so leave a comment if it’s you): Q: “is it possible to sell your startup without venture investment if the company has big traction and a large user base?&#

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2012

For example, if your startup is building a high-tech software product, a dream team of advisors would be a former CEO or high-level exec in another software company, a former software marketing executive, and a former financial executive. What better candidates than your Advisory Board?

Startup 95

Startup Technical Review Software Review High Tech 95

InfoChachkie

MAY 7, 2012

If you are fortunate to pitch a sophisticated investor in person, assume they already believe in the veracity of your idea, the market and the underlying technological trends. I likewise value an entrepreneur who treats my money like their own and understands the difference between spending and investing. Think Stewardship.

Ideas 251

Ideas Venture Capital Education Entrepreneur 251

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2013

Many companies would love to be able to get the benefits of cloud--easy configurability, low cost, scaling, and more--but, due to various reasons, can''t take advantage of public cloud services like Amazon. We are also pushing out updates all the time to our customers. One of our customers has 6,500 separate and distinct applications.

CIO 207

CIO Southern California Technical Review Software Review 207