InfoChachkie

AUGUST 18, 2011

In this interview, Mark discusses how his experiences at Oracle, eHarmony and the Rubicon Project contributed to the creation of his latest venture, SteelHouse Media. 4) Did I read correctly that you were part of the original development team for Oracle Financials? When I joined Oracle, they were essentially ‘the Google’ of their time.

eHarmony 204

eHarmony Media Oracle Commerce 204

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

I see way too many startup founders who don’t have experience in selling and probably don’t feel that comfortable going to customers and asking for orders. This is probably because many founders are product or technology people. I only found out through customer meetings.

Sales 346

Sales Startup Technical Review Customer 346

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Exposure to customers, incumbents, and competitors all drive success. It’s just the first of many.

Startup 97

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 97

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

Effectively, when an organization uses our product, the can scale any subscription service with ease. We are looking at a market which is primarily mid-level, where they are too big for using Quickbooks as their solution, but they''re not big enough to use an Oracle or SAP. Where''s the sweet spot for your product?

Startup 159

Startup Oracle Customer Custom 159

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2014

Todd Davis: I''m a veteran of Oracle, and had been CEO of an equipment finance company for the construction industry globally. I think we have phenomenal product experience, specifically in the bulk material industry. Matt Brinker, our VP of products, comes from the construction industry, as does Rich Haus, our VP of Sales and Service.

Mobile 133

Mobile Startup Oracle Los Angeles 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2013

Unfocused entrepreneurs boast that their new technology will generate multiple disruptive products for consumers as well as enterprises around the world. Keep these balanced and aligned between people (customers, employees) and process (quality, service, revenue), and keep the scope realistic (eliminating world hunger is too broad).

Startup 103

Startup Competition Technical Review Oracle 103

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

Think of it kind of like running a national chain of restaurants and occasionally stopping in to wait tables to have a more intuitive sense for your processes, work conditions and the quality of your products. I spent a ton of time with the CEO and VP Finance understanding the businesses, its customers and its operational challenges.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. They are likely taking losses on their first project with the entrepreneur so they select carefully.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

And so do entrepreneurs who are quick to pivot to new businesses or to sell in an acquihire. It’s been high tide since 2009 so an entire batch of entrepreneurs don’t know what low tide even looks like. It might be for technical reasons or it might be for customer adoption reasons. “What exits have you had?

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

Frank Addante

MAY 23, 2012

A good product is always more valuable than the free alternative, even when you sell yo-yo upgrades. The dad was, of course, alluding to Google's frequently-used strategy to make available free services in otherwise paid markets to rattle competition and gain market share for advertising-supported products.

Oracle 111

Oracle Google Competition Marketing 111

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. They are likely taking losses on their first project with the entrepreneur so they select carefully.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2016

Aspiring entrepreneurs who struggle in a corporate environment often can’t wait to start their own company, only to find that relationships are even more critical and volatile there. The message here is not to use the public personas of leaders and entrepreneurs as the model for building and maintaining your business relationships.

Entrepreneur 56

Entrepreneur Oracle Outsource Development Mentor 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Exposure to customers, incumbents, and competitors all drive success. It’s just the first of many.

Startup 109

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 109

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

I know because many entrepreneurs I spend time with I can tell are in their own brains when we’re meeting rather than trying to understand what my position is. You’re in sales mode. Let’s assume you run a Customer Support software company. That stuck with me long before I was ever a CEO (aka chief salesman).

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Customer 314

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2013

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Exposure to customers, incumbents, and competitors all drive success. It’s just the first of many.

Startup 102

Startup Technical Review Oracle Entrepreneur 102

socalTECH

AUGUST 24, 2009

One of the startup areas where we've been seeing renewed activity in the last few months is in the enterprise software space--specifically, in software-as-a-service applications targeted at corporate customers. I'd used every CRM tool out there--Oracle, Siebel, PeopleSoft--you name it, I've used it. Our customers really like that.

Oracle 145

Oracle Sales Startup Screening 145

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2017

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Exposure to customers, incumbents, and competitors all drive success. It’s just the first of many.

Sites 59

Sites Startup Technical Review Oracle 59

Frank Addante

MAY 23, 2012

A good product is always more valuable than the free alternative, even when you sell yo-yo upgrades. I asked the young entrepreneur how he’s managing to compete with this free alternative. In the end, the best product wins. I recently visited a colleague at home, where I met his 10-year-old son, Andrew.

Oracle 63

Oracle Google Competition Marketing 63

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2011

Obviously they wish they would have figured this out a bit more quickly, but as a young team I personally cut them a little bit more slack than I would if it were Oracle, for example. Understand the Gravity of the Situation for Your Customers. The most tempting thing for inexperienced entrepreneurs to do is to attack the press.

Startup 329

Startup Press Training Media 329

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

It was the fact that the Seven-Up Company defined its product by describing what it was not , via the “UnCola” label. When evaluating a potential Institutional Investor, entrepreneurs should consider what they are not , as much as what they are. Such depression of funding valuations increases the entrepreneurs’ relative dilution.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Invest Funding Capital 157

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 14, 2016

In the corporate world, events are more than just an event�they are opportunity to connect with your customers and turn potential customers into buyers. We also wanted access to development resources, and we have our product team here, the engineers and designers, all based in Santa Monica. How do you make those events happen?

Sales 100

Sales Santa Monica Startup Orange County 100

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

It was the fact that the Seven-Up Company defined its product by describing what it was not , via the “UnCola” label. When evaluating a potential Institutional Investor, entrepreneurs should consider what they are not , as much as what they are. Such depression of funding valuations increases the entrepreneurs’ relative dilution.

Entrepreneur 140

Entrepreneur Cloud Computing Invest Funding 140

InfoChachkie

MAY 23, 2011

As noted in Contract Traps Entrepreneurs Should Avoid , exclusivity can kill a small company. Exclusivity excludes your startup from taking full advantage of future customer, partner and market opportunities. Excludesivity is most salient when you are crafting an initial relationship within a particular market or product segment.

Technical Review 183

Technical Review Marketing Sales Competition 183

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2010

A lot of first-time entrepreneurs think that a brilliant solution is the most important ingredient in building a successful business, but it's only one of many important elements. Execution: Execution - the hard task of turning ideas into products that people will buy - is what separates successful entrepreneurs from dreamers.

Startup 91

Startup Oracle Entrepreneur Ideas 91

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

We've essentially provided a customer a single interface, where they can create and analyze their international presence. In addition to that, we provide the ability of customers to review that with analytics. Who would be the typical customer for this service? Idris Manley: It's interesting. How did you start NativeTung?

Startup 133

Startup Technical Review Social Network Content 133

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

I know many super experienced entrepreneurs who don’t understand the basics of how fund size and age can affect them so I thought it was worth establishing a baseline. In a world of The Funded, VentureHacks and entrepreneur blogs this kind of informations spreads like wildfire. Let me explain: 1. And they don’t.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 20, 2012

Always looking to provide the very best for our community so that you may learn and grow as a startup or entrepreneur, Bill Gross is one of the best experts we could provide. A lifelong entrepreneur, Bill started several companies prior to Idealab. which made a natural language product for Lotus 1-2-3 called HAL.

Idealab 84

Idealab Tech Coast Angels CalTech Startup 84

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 30, 2012

Everything happens in the browser (no software to download) and the finished product looks amazing on large screens! CallFire provides Voice and SMS Solutions to over 40,000 customers including political groups, non-profits, insurance agents, small business owners, and marketers. SuperDemo: Bill Gross.

CalTech 91

CalTech Company Companies Idealab 91

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2017

Every new business or product owner wants to attract the broadest possible audience, so they are prone to adding more features, multiple sales channels, and appealing to every demographic. Thus one of my key messages to entrepreneurs, as a business advisor and angel investor, is “focus.” Customers want a solution from you, not many.

Entrepreneur 63

Entrepreneur Competition Customer Custom 63

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I wanted to also post the series here to have it as a resource on my blog for future entrepreneurs who stop by. If you haven’t spent time over there you should.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

Everyone in the outside world is talking about how great you are but internally you know that your sales aren’t ramping, your product isn’t shipping on time, you have doubts about the quality of your code, you’re not convinced you’re doing a good job on marketing – whatever. You’re stressed. Not so fast.

Startup 327

Startup Sales Class CIO 327

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

First, I believe that Seesmic has an excellent product – especially the web version of their product and that having another senior and experienced exec like Loic Le Meur would be great for Twitter. Often these were things that would make Salesforce more competitive vis-a-vis Oracle and Microsoft.

Acquisition 287

Acquisition Develop Development Conference 287

SoCal Delicious

OCTOBER 8, 2012

To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com. Tech entrepreneurs and executives from Silicon Valley are moving south and buying up luxury homes in the Los Angeles area. Developments Blog.

Los Angeles 44

Los Angeles Software Review Technical Review Journal 44