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LA Technology Scene: StartEngine Entrepreneurs Mix It Up With Mentors

socalTECH

It's a warm summer night in Westwood and 35 entrepreneurs are mingling with a collection of the new SoCal silicon-set. At a recent Mentor Mixer for the accelerator, held last Thursday, the group ran through pitches and mixed and mingled with mentors. Five startups: Contur , Enplug , FitKit , Afterschool.me READ MORE>>.

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8 Entrepreneur Attributes Proven To Attract Investors

Startup Professionals Musings

As an angel investor in early-stage startups, I’ve long noticed my peers apparent bias toward the strength and character of the founding entrepreneurs, often overriding a strong solution to a painful problem with a big opportunity. Find and enjoy the company of one or more mentors. Virtuoso leaders know their life story.

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10 Traits Demonstrate Entrepreneur Character Strength

Startup Professionals Musings

As I was watching the investor show, Shark Tank , on TV the other night, I was struck by how quickly and how extensively the sharks focused on the background and character of the entrepreneurs, compared to time spent evaluating their products. These can be honed over time, and can’t be easily faked.

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6 Mistakes Often Made By Entrepreneurs Due To Passion

Startup Professionals Musings

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. This fallacy, often called historical myopia, essentially involves extrapolating only from recent positive events, and ignoring the reality that markets saturate or evaporate. Extrapolating you as the target customer.

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7 Essential Steps From A Lone Entrepreneur To Success

Startup Professionals Musings

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. See my article from way back “ Entrepreneurs Learn Best From Business Networking ” on how and where to get started. Nominate someone as your mentor.

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6 Lessons Most Entrepreneurs Only Learn On The Street

Startup Professionals Musings

In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most have the technical challenges well understood, but many are a bit short on some basic street smarts , or basic business realities. Planning for the future must be a regular activity, not just an early-stage or once-a-year event. Survival requires regular updates.

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8 Keys To Business Success For Entrepreneur Introverts

Startup Professionals Musings

It really is possible for an introvert to succeed as an entrepreneur, even though you can’t expect to start and build a business alone. You need to build business relationships with partners, team members, investors, and of course customers. Asking someone to be your mentor is not a sign of weakness, and most mentors love to help.