Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

In fact, the cost may be minimal, if you do your networking and build a relationship with an experienced business executive or two in your domain who are willing to share and give back for a nominal retainer, perhaps one percent of your new startup equity. The cost of a co-founder is usually fifty percent of your equity.

Startup 142

Startup Technical Review Equity Entrepreneur 142

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

For example, professional investors put great priority on your previous experience in building a business, and they expect to own a portion of the business equity and control for the funds they do provide. Trade equity or services for startup help. Another common example is exchanging equity for legal and accounting support.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

With one of the many new tools , and a dose of sweat equity, you can create a website for almost nothing -- and you are on your way to success with ecommerce, your latest invention or personal services. Use your networking to get advice, but all jobs can be do-it-yourself. Use your equity for key executives and business partners.

Social Media 169

Social Media Startup Equity Summary 169

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2011

Wondering how, as a small business, you can reach customers in the YouTube age? Well, Los Angeles based Near Networks (www.nearnetworks.com) is looking to both reach customers online, and avoid the tacky, lousy production of typical small business ads, with a new service. What is Near Networks? Sam Rogoway: Yes, it has.

Networking 150

Networking Search Engine Optimization Product Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2023

Peers and customers alike still expect responsiveness. Yet peers and customers notice phone calls and e-mails not returned in twenty-four hours or less. Networking effectiveness is a measure of your potential. Productive networking traffic does not happen by default. Someone is always taking attendance.

Startup 106

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 106

socalTECH

APRIL 20, 2017

Thousand Oaks-based wireless networking equipment maker Xirrus has been acquired by Riverbed , to help bolster its SD WAN efforts, the two said on Wednesday. The company had counted Microsoft, University of Mississippi, Liverpool Football Club and Paul Hastings Law Firm as major customers. READ MORE>>.

Thousand Oaks 127

Thousand Oaks Acquisition Startup Networking 127

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2013

Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Use voicemail, a world-class website, and personal customer service, with small expenses, to beat your big competitors. Act big, behave small. Do it yourself. Marty Zwilling.

Equity 96

Equity Startup Summary Tips 96

socalTECH

JANUARY 26, 2010

What that gives our customers, is a great edge in performance. That's a lot of pain in an engineered network. What a customer wants is to just have much better Ethernet and UDP multicast. That's what customers are using in this environment. It's sampling and we have customers looking at LAN on motherboard.

Networking 124

Networking Startup Design Customer 124

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

For example, professional investors put great priority on your previous experience in building a business, and they expect to own a portion of the business equity and control for the funds they do provide. Trade equity or services for startup help. Another common example is exchanging equity for legal and accounting support.

Funding 174

Funding Startup Equity Examples 174

Xconomy

AUGUST 15, 2018

Best Buy is paying $800 million in cash for GreatCall, a San Diego-based healthtech company which private equity firm GTCR bought early last year. GreatCall operates a virtual mobile telecommunications network for a customers base of more than 900,000 elderly consumers. Minnesota-based Best Buy (NYSE: BBY.

San Diego 68

San Diego Screening Equity Mobile 68

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested.

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Funding Startup Ideas Equity 125

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

Those at the other extreme don’t look up from the grindstone long enough to notice whether all their work is producing sweat equity or just sweat. Truly satisfied customers are a joy to every business person. Reserve the same names on the leading social networks and blogs. Both are networks. A business model that works.

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Startup Patents Competition Social Network 160

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2022

Too many customers have long felt distanced from many successful brands, seeing them as closed and mysterious environments, focused only on profits and killing competitors. In the idea stage, get customers involved with an engaging contest. Offer equity in future projects to people outside your business.

Organization 126

Organization Social Media Examples Customer 126

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

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Technical Review Startup Innocal Offshore 138

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2023

That leads to switching costs, sunk costs, brand equity, and a host of other considerations, commonly called “barriers to entry.” At some level of function, availability, and price performance, customers jump ship away from you. Bargaining power of customers. Utility of alternative solutions. Bargaining power of suppliers.

Competition 88

Competition Startup Framework Pricing 88

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

This usually means not taking money from equity investors, since investors want fast growth, high profits, and an exit event, to allow investments to be recouped. If you are living your passion, you want to interact with customers, and “touch and feel” the product every day. Insist on being engaged at the transaction level.

Entrepreneur 148

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Course 148

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Networking to build and maintain positive relationships with the right people outside your company is something you can’t forget in the rush to get your new business going. Potential customers these days rely more and more on name recognition for credibility and new brand adoption. Enlist industry leaders and influencers as proponents.

Marketing 116

Marketing Resource Training Startup 116

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

Peers and customers alike still expect responsiveness. Yet peers and customers notice phone calls and e-mails not returned in twenty-four hours or less. Networking effectiveness is a measure of your potential. Productive networking traffic does not happen by default. Someone is always taking attendance.

Startup 153

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 153

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Tealium, a San-Diego startup that provides online advertising tag management and marketing services for enterprise customers, has raised $35 million in a growth financing deal intended to expand its technology and market reach. We help our customers weave together all the data across all of their data streams,” Lunsford said.

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Customer Custom San Diego JavaScript 40

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2020

That leads to switching costs, sunk costs, brand equity, and a host of other considerations, commonly called “barriers to entry.” At some level of function, availability, and price performance, customers jump ship away from you. Bargaining power of customers. Utility of alternative solutions. Bargaining power of suppliers.

Competition 151

Competition Startup Framework Pricing 151

socalTECH

MAY 30, 2012

One way is getting funding from your potential customers. That's the idea behind a new startup, Fundable , headed by serial entrepreneur Wil Schroter , which allows you to use rewards -- product, company schwag, an even equity -- as a tool to get your startup to the next stage. What's Fundable?

Startup 223

Startup Equity Venture Capital Ideas 223

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2023

Here are eight key insights that will help you find a productive match: Angels want equity ownership, not causes. Warm introductions from common friends are even better, so networking with potential peers and future investors is highly recommended well before it’s time to ask for money. Angels prefer strong teams to big ideas.

Venture Capital 106

Venture Capital Angel Seed Funding Invest 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2020

Too many of you business owners think success only means being the next Amazon, or you stress yourself out trying to be everything to every customer. Just because you want to start a business doesn’t mean you are entitled to outside equity, loans, or crowdfunding. Don’t forget to do continuous marketing and networking.

Customer 125

Customer Custom Tool Writing 125

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

A grant is not an equity investment, so the entrepreneur doesn’t have to give up a stake in the company either. You need to enhance your business plan and marketing with all the benefits to your customers of the multiple “stimulus” plans and tax breaks now being put together, especially related to alternative energy products.

Equity 92

Equity Startup High Tech Research 92

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2021

In my experience as a business advisor and occasional investor, many of you won’t make it that far, succumbing to the high costs of getting those first customers, funding an initial inventory, and building an operational support process. Start networking for funding before the crisis. Build your plan around resources you know.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Customer Custom 161

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Optimize the total customer experience. There is no free lunch. Install a real board of directors.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

What is it about the content delivery network market which has enabled Santa Monica-based EdgeCast to go from startup to over $100M in revenues in only a few, short years? We serve up four to five percent of the global Internet on our network. For those who don't know about EdgeCast, CDN services, who/what kind of clients you serve?

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 23, 2010

Santa Monica-based Rubicon Project , the online ad network optimization firm, told its customers today that it has just optimized its one trillionth display ad. Rubicon Project's services are used by web publishers to pick the best ad networks to run on a specific page of their site, based on the return predicted from that ad network.

Clearstone 159

Clearstone Santa Monica News Equity 159

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

The firm’s portfolio includes Detroit’s direct-to-consumer plant startup Bloomscape , Chicago-based Paro , which provides a network of on-demand finance professionals, DC’s custom framing business Framebridge , Milwaukee-based monthly wine club Bright Cellars and New York insurtech company Policygenius.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Funding Seed Funding Activity 211

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested.

Startup 148

Startup Ideas Equity Invest 148

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Convoy , an online marketplace that connects shippers with freight truck fleets and independent drivers, announced today it raised $185 million in a Series C fundraising round led by CapitalG, the growth equity investment fund of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. With the online network covering more ground, it can offer more options.

Equity 54

Equity Networking Funding Artificial Inteligence 54

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

Landline , the operator of a bus network in the Midwest, is one of the latest companies to raise venture capital. billion in a round led by the private equity firm GPI Capital this week. HappyOrNot nabs $25M for its customer satisfaction terminals . The business has closed a $3.85 Indian startup Digi-Prex raises $5.5M

Services 207

Services Startup Venture Capital Redpoint 207

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2021

Dave Eastman: For one thing, although we're not completely unique in this, is we don't take equity. What we do, is regional customer discovery for teams, typically academic. We teach them how to determine their value proposition, how to identify and detail their customer targets. but the key thing is customer discovery.

Marina Del Rey 150

Marina Del Rey Startup USC Incubator 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

Los Angeles-based Rubicon Project , the online advertising firm which helps web publishers optimize their ad network revenues, reported this week on the latest online ad spending, saying that ad spending tracked at its customers grew 47 percent in the first half of the year. READ MORE>>.

Advertising 193

Advertising Clearstone Report Equity 193

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity. Giving equity is realistic, but base it on contribution and role, with vesting after time and milestones. Offer low cash early, with bonuses or stock options for milestones, to people in your personal network. The right investors and right time dilemma.

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Startup USC Entrepreneur Statistics 130

socalTECH

JULY 27, 2020

Oftentimes that will be Google, sometimes that will be Apple, sometimes it will be another network. Nick Hedges: Level Equity led the most recent round, have Sigia Ventures in Menlo Park, and we have DFJ Frontier, those are the main investors, but we do have a variety of other investors. So July of last year, I swapped in as new CEO.

Google 113

Google Santa Monica Networking Software 113

socalTECH

MARCH 10, 2017

funding led by Level Equity. Robert Blatt: We say to people that we do customer experience for multi-location brands. Our platform enables them to manage the digital representation of their locations, and engage with consumers in paid, social, and search, to improve that customer experience. What is MomentFeed up to nowadays?

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Google Paid Search Mobile Activity 127