Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 22, 2012

GraphEffect today unveiled the latest version of its social network for marketers with an open API for developers. GraphEffect is a collaboration platform for social marketers which had only been available to large marketing partners including American Express, Toyota, Estee Lauder, Clorox, and Samsung. Venture Funding.

Social Network 65

Social Network Marketing Networking Social Media 65

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Now, thanks to social media, you don't have to outspend. Putting customers first. Legendary customer support. They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said. The Holy Grail of.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

socalTECH

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Los Angeles-based Passenger , a developer of private social networking sites for brands, said today that it has raised an additional $7.5M The round came from Shelter Capital Partners, StarVest Partners, and Steamboat Ventures, all existing investors in the firm. in an investment. READ MORE>>.

Steamboat Ventures 145

Steamboat Ventures Social Network Venture Capital Networking 145

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my series on Raising Venture Capital. Many businesses that pitch to me have White Elephant issues and I’d like to tell you how to deal with these when you’re raising venture capital. But the VC is thinking about the issue whether you address it or not. You raised $1.5

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Startup Training Sales 264

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. They are, in fact, great news for traditional venture capitalists. This article originally ran on PEHub.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter. Maybe you should just close your VC round? But they are SO FREAKING SLOW.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

TechCrunch LA

MAY 19, 2018

Seeking roommates and venture capital. Mostly, the aim seems to be providing something affordable for working professionals willing to accept a smaller private living space in exchange for a choice location, easy move-in and a ready-made social network.

Startup 272

Startup Los Angeles Demand Social Network 272

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

The Innovators Dilemma – which means that if you have large customers with big profit margins it’s impossible to throw that all away to destruct your industry. I remember a discussion with an older VC who told me that in the early 90′s they wondered whether the VC industry had a future. “ And my fear?

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

It’s easy to think that the wife of a well-known & successful VC ( Fred Wilson ) would have had an easy and storied life of wealth and privilege. That’s why I was so interested in having “ The Gotham Gal &# come on This Week in VC ( video link on YouTube , download iTunes, episode 15) ) and dispel those myths.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Venture Capital Entrepreneur 311

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

Your strategy today should be to define and excellently prepare the absolute minimum product that will excite a selected small segment of your intended customers, and roll it out to them – as a Beta, early promotion, or even a give-away. Find customers, partners and channels early. Get out there personally and find that first customer.

Startup 101

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Network Customer 101

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2010

One complaint we sometimes hear from venture capitalists visiting Southern California for the first time, is the difficulty of finding experienced entrepreneurs and executives. His new site, Mahalo, is focused on people-based, online search, with backing from Seuqoia Capital and Elon Musk, among others.

Southern California 228

Southern California Entrepreneur SoCal Mahalo 228

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. release out the door and get some customers using it, or friendly people piloting it then at least there is some validation to the product and some people to speak to about their experiences. They might be as hard as raising VC. But if you CAN find a way to even get your 0.1

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2013

Your strategy today should be to define and excellently prepare the absolute minimum product that will excite a selected small segment of your intended customers, and roll it out to them – as a Beta, early promotion, or even a give-away. Find customers, partners and channels early. Get out there personally and find that first customer.

Startup 105

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Network Customer 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2012

Your strategy today should be to define and excellently prepare the absolute minimum product that will excite a selected small segment of your intended customers, and roll it out to them – as a Beta, early promotion, or even a give-away. Find customers, partners and channels early. Get out there personally and find that first customer.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Network 92

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2019

In fact, he had four development co-founders, built a relationship with Peter Thiel, a top VC who invested early, and enticed Sheryl Sandberg to fill the COO role he sorely needed. Build connections with key customers and competitors. I believe collaboration is the lifeblood of every business.

IBM 87

IBM IBM Ideas Technical Review 87

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. You fish where your customers are. This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. I know this because you’re not a young teenager.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 16, 2019

The New York-based company was founded last year by Gina Bartasi, a fertility industry vet who previously launched Progyny, a fertility benefit solution for employers, and FertilityAuthority.com, an information platform and social network for people struggling with fertility.

Mobile 167

Mobile Pricing Social Network Los Angeles 167

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

However, Elgg could power 100,000 networks and it would make no difference - there is no revenue stream as we give everything away under a GPL license. Common revenue streams are consulting, training, support, customization, upgraded versions for corporate applications, etc. Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Southern California 150

Southern California CTO Coach CTO Hire Social Media 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series about Raising Venture Capital. A few years ago it became fashionable for large VC’s to do seed funding. If the large VC doesn’t agree to do your A round then you’re in a bit of trouble. If a VC term sheet comes in they begin their due diligence process.

Seed Funding 283

Seed Funding Venture Capital Funding Software Review 283

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

There have been a lot of entrepreneurs here in software and other industries, and interestingly enough there seem to be more self-funded, bootstrapped firms here, rather than those looking for venture capital to get off the group. Our marquis customers are companies like Citibank and Lowe's Corporation, along with many others.

Networking 214

Networking IBM IBM Pacific Palisades 214

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

4 times / 100 means if a customer uses your app frequently (say 10-20 times / day) then they are crashing nearly every day. Customer Acquisition. At the highest level you’ll obviously want to track how many customers your adding every month (and for some businesses that have hit scale this is measured on a daily basis).

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup SEO Customer 346

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

Bootstrapping Marketing Strategy, social media marketing, web applications. . Stop Listening to Your Customers. A common assumption among startup entrepreneurs is that listening to potential customers is the best. Entrepreneurism / Monetization Customers, research, startups. . Entrepreneurism / Monetization.

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

That might be for their interests--a sports team, if they are a VC, if they'd recently sold a portfolio company, things that you could reach out and tell them congratulations. Who is the ideal customer for this? Tyler Koblasa: We're trying to be the Salesforce for everyone else out there looking to network. READ MORE>>.

Startup 145

Startup Social Network Tool Santa Monica 145

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

I believe that many social networks confused this idea. It should lead to higher conversion rates and happier customers. Social networks continue to drive conversion of marketers. And the obvious category, especially for a VC based out of LA, is video. Not necessarily in the shopping mindset.

Advertising 284

Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Its also been interesting to see the interaction of tools involved - Social Networking, Blogging and a Discussion Group. The level of resumes we get through our LinkedIn networks is top notch. Weve also found that other social networks such as FaceBook and MySpace to have almost no results when it comes to recruitment.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

Our customers tend to be mostly moms, but also some dads who support their families, uncles, aunts, and their friends, but primarily moms. For lack of a better word, it's really social shopping--not in the way of using social networking to drive sales, but because moms are social, to allow them to share information regularly online.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Your strategy today should be to define and excellently prepare the absolute minimum product that will excite a selected small segment of your intended customers, and roll it out to them – as a Beta, early promotion, or even a give-away. Find customers, partners and channels early. Get out there personally and find that first customer.

Startup 48

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Network Customer 48

Steve Reich

MARCH 30, 2012

They did it entirely through social networking. One of the founders wrote a Python script that sent out custom emails to a list they had developed. Get Angel capital and build a prototype. Then get VC funding, rent a cool space, hire a big team, rebuild and relaunch. No wonder they just raised $1mm. Not any more.

Incubator 91

Incubator Web Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 91

socalTECH

AUGUST 3, 2009

Our company, Jute Networks, is a startup that is about a year and a half old. We build web software that improves the ability of people to manage their networks. We're specifically not a social network. Using a network relationship manager, it's much quicker to get that kind of information. Sean McDonald: Not yet.

Networking 113

Networking Startup Social Network Software 113

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2013

Brenton Sullivan: What we are is a private social network and platform for coaches to connect with each other, to exchange information on athletes. This private coaches network was the topic of a business plan we wrote for an entrepreneurial contest. What''s the idea behind FieldLevel? It''s exclusive only to verified coaches.

Coach 252

Coach USC Statistics Startup 252

socalTECH

MAY 26, 2011

Youve been in involved in a lot of very successful ventures. At first glance, you wouldn't think finding dentists would be interesting to venture investors. What drove that VC interest? We raised funding in January from Mayfield, on top of the seed funding we raised at the onset. 45 billion of that is spent out-of-pocket.

Startup 249

Startup Pricing Southern California Networking 249

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

And as a result their competitors were able to raise a considerable VC round from well-known firms. You need somebody who REALLY understands your company, its customers and its competitors. And you need somebody who is committed to keeping up your presence in blogs, social media and other online forums.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

socalTECH

DECEMBER 3, 2008

They want a means of representing themselves that is animated, and changeable, and actively communicates in places like MySpace, Facebook, and other social networks. As a former VC, why'd you decide to get involved with BigStage and back to the operating side? Venture capital seemed the obvious way to do that.

Entertainment 100

Entertainment Clearstone Venture Capital Media 100

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

In attendance we had startups galore with VC's and Angle's mixing and mingling all through the night. TechZulu captured the entire VC/Angle panel and we also had a chance to interview every StartupDemo startup company that participated. VC/Angel Panel. However, you know we always bring a little something back just in case.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. I now observes the fund raising process as a profession. Why buy me?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366