Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2015

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. Yet the process is eerily realistic, and every entrepreneur can glean some important lessons. Investors invest in people, more than ideas.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Sample Ideas Custom 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2020

In my work with you as an entrepreneur or small business owner, I find that most understand the need try out new business models and product innovations, but trust their intuition rather than running a disciplined business experiment first. Yet a large sample does not necessarily lead to better data.

Sample 124

Sample Custom Customer Tool 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

Most entrepreneurs I meet are reluctant to disclose anything about their idea to investors before getting a signed confidential disclosure agreement (CDA). Yet I can assure you that people who are paranoid, or want to avoid all risks, won’t be happy as entrepreneurs, so it’s all about balancing the risk-reward scale.

Ideas 159

Ideas Tips Technical Review Patents 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2020

As an aspiring entrepreneur, one of the most important things you need is a memorable “ elevator pitch ,” to communicate your startup value proposition and leave a great first impression on friends, investors, employees, and future customers. Customers think about alternatives, and investors worry about competitors.

Sample 127

Sample Summary Startup Slides 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2021

Every investor has his own list, usually based on his own very small sample, or simply his gut feeling. We have all known entrepreneurs whose egos are so large that they can’t be bothered listening to any advice from friends or experts, and they insist on doing things their way. Offer customized products or services.

Startup 170

Startup Study Journal Sample 170

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2020

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve met many aspiring entrepreneurs, and I often get asked the question, “I have a great idea for a startup – do you agree that it real potential?” If you are dreaming of an opportunity to get rich quick, the entrepreneur route is not for you. You enjoy building relationships as well as products.

Startup 127

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Sample 127

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2016

For too many small businesses, customer service is still seen as a “burden.” Entrepreneurs don’t realize that this burden is actually costing them over $200 billion in repeat sales, according to a recent study by the W. These days, relationships and online reviews are key drivers for over 80 percent of new customers.

Custom 56

Custom Customer Startup Satisfaction 56

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2013

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Technical Review Equity 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve met many aspiring entrepreneurs, and I often get asked the question, “I have a great idea for a startup – do you agree that it real potential?” If you are dreaming of an opportunity to get rich quick, the entrepreneur route is not for you. You enjoy building relationships as well as products.

Entrepreneur 67

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Sample 67

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2012

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Pricing Custom Customer 99

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2012

Most of the time, I’m all about providing encouragement and inspiration to entrepreneurs. They need it and they deserve it, because entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our economy. Here is a sampling of ten themes from the book that I think are just as relevant today as they were then: The reality of starting.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Sample Guide Ideas 107

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2021

When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most entrepreneurs think only of patents. Significant differences will confuse your customers, and open the door to imitators and scam artists. Attorney fees start at around $5K, but provisional patents can be filed yourself for about $300. Internet domain name. This name (www.

Startup 145

Startup Patents IP Social Media 145

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2023

Every business owner and entrepreneur like you I work with wishes they could better predict product demand and sales, for managing inventory and long-term business planning. Gather feedback regularly from your team and customers to check for market and perception changes. Assess your measurements for trustworthiness.

Metrics 81

Metrics Demand Statistics Sample 81

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Technical Review Startup Equity 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. The hard part for entrepreneurs is figuring out what it takes to play. For angel investors, early-stage means there is a good business plan and maybe a prototype, but no customer revenue. For VCs, early-stage means customer revenue is less than $10M.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Seed Funding Incubator 101

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2018

One of those companies is Los Angeles-based Love Goodly (www.lovegoodly.com) co-founders Justine Lassoff and Katie Bogue Miller , who sat down and told us about their company, focused on cruelty-free, non-toxic beauty and skincare products. We're a little different from the sample size products out there.

Startup 157

Startup Commerce Los Angeles Product 157

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

We understood the irony of the message as we sampled their sheer, almost-not-there lipgloss, then looked into a mirror decorated with white vinyl letters in the bustling pop-up shop: you look good , our reflection told us. Even Chrissy Teigen and Reese Witherspoon wore Glossier’s signature Cloud Paint blush to the Oscars. . And who cares?

Startup 280

Startup Netflix Los Angeles Innocal 280

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

500 Hats , January 10, 2010 Developing new startup ideas - Chris Dixon , March 14, 2010 Batch Processing Millions and Millions of Images - Code as Craft , July 9, 2010 jQuery Plugin: Give Your Characters a NobleCount - The Product Guy , March 23, 2010 How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents?

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2015

Most entrepreneurs I meet are reluctant to disclose anything about their idea to investors before getting a signed confidential disclosure agreement (CDA). Yet I can assure you that people who are paranoid, or want to avoid all risks, won’t be happy as entrepreneurs, so it’s all about balancing the risk-reward scale.

Ideas 106

Ideas Technical Review Patents Entrepreneur 106

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

What are you on about? Anyone with a great deal of experience in dealing with numbers knows to be careful about the seduction of them. One of our core tasks was “market analysis,&# which consistent of: market sizing, market forecasts, competitive analysis and then instructing customers on which direction to take.

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2014

The name of your business has a tremendous impact on how customers and investors view you, and in today’s small world, it’s a world-wide decision. Right or wrong, the name you choose, or don’t choose, speaks volumes about your business savvy and understanding of the world you are about to enter. Sample potential customers.

Google 117

Google Custom Customer Sample 117

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2013

Too many entrepreneurs still believe the urban myth that you can sketch your idea on a napkin, and investors will throw money at you. I’ll even send you a free sample of my own business plan via email, if you drop me a note. entrepreneur startup business plan business' Marty Zwilling.

Sample 92

Sample Writing Startup Summary 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2016

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. Yet the process is eerily realistic, and every entrepreneur can glean some important lessons. Investors invest in people, more than ideas.

Startup 57

Startup Entrepreneur Sample Ideas 57

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2013

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Product 94

Product Pricing Custom Customer 94

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2012

Last week, Pasadena-based Punchcard (www.punchcard.com) launched its mobile apps, which help local retailers provide rewards to loyal customers. It provides consumer rewards, and on the merchant side, it allows them to identify local customers and reacquire them by pushing them offers and incentives to come back. What is Punchcard?

Southern California 245

Southern California Idealab Startup Custom 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2013

Entrepreneurs often get the advice from their lawyers and friends to always get a Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA or CDA) signed before disclosing anything about their new venture. You won’t last long as an entrepreneur in this category, since a startup is all about taking risks. Who is right? Strategic partner.

Ideas 92

Ideas Demand Patents Entrepreneur 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2012

Too many entrepreneurs still believe the urban myth that you can sketch your idea on a napkin, and investors will throw money at you. I’ll even send you a free sample of my own business plan via email, if you drop me a note. Every investor I know is frustrated with the poor quality of the business plans they get.

Sample 96

Sample Writing Summary Startup 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2019

When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most entrepreneurs think only of patents. Significant differences will confuse your customers, and open the door to imitators and scam artists. Attorney fees start at around $5K, but provisional patents can be filed yourself for about $300. Internet domain name. This name (www.

IP 93

IP Invest Patents Social Media 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2012

Entrepreneurs often get the advice from their lawyers and friends to always get a Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA or CDA) signed before disclosing anything about their new venture. You won’t last long as an entrepreneur in this category, since a startup is all about taking risks. Who is right? Strategic partner.

Startup 97

Startup Patents Sample Ideas 97

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2014

If you think about it, services make more sense in this social media age where relationships, personalization, and interaction are king. Here is just a sampling to give you the idea: Software as a service (SaaS). business entrepreneur services startup Zeithaml' Also, you don’t need a huge investment to build a services startup.

Services 101

Services Startup Outsource Technical Support 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2013

Every investor has his own list, usually based on his own very small sample, or simply his gut feeling. We have all known entrepreneurs whose egos are so large that they can’t be bothered listening to any advice from friends or experts, and they insist on doing things their way. Offer customized products or services.

Startup 102

Startup Study Journal Sample 102

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2017

Some typically worry about biases in their team, but rarely think of themselves as a source of bias. Here is my summary of some of the key decision-making biases to avoid that she and I have found in most entrepreneurs and business leaders today: Confirmation bias. Many business decision makers prefer sample customer stories to data.

Examples 60

Examples Sample Summary Study 60

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

This was really a fun week at TWiVC because we decided to have an entrepreneur come and talk about raising capital rather than having a VC come on. It’s always such a pleasure for me to spend time with Farb because he has all of the enthusiasm and energy you love to see in entrepreneurs. Farb talks about how he did that.

Venture Capital 214

Venture Capital Startup Design S3 214

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Technical Review 95

Technical Review Startup Equity Entrepreneur 95

socalTECH

JUNE 9, 2010

To understand why investors are finding the firm so interesting, and why the company raised such a large round, we spoke with Adam Bernhard , CEO of the firm, about the company and funding, how email has allowed the firm to get past the "Google trap" of marketing on the web, and where the firm is going. Adam, thanks for the time.

Sales 224

Sales Email Startup Sample 224

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2013

The name of your business has a tremendous impact on how customers and investors view you, and in today’s small world, it’s a world-wide decision. Right or wrong, the name you choose, or don’t choose, speaks volumes about your business savvy and understanding of the world you are about to enter. Sample potential customers.

Startup 104

Startup Google Custom Customer 104

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

Death By Competitive Analysis - Steve Blank , March 1, 2010 Trading emails with a startup CEO building an iPhone app, I asked him why potential customers would buy his product. How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents? In response he sent me a competitive analysis.

Startup 150

Startup Software Review Competition SoCal 150