Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2017

By most definitions of the term, an entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business, incorporating innovative changes to existing products, services, business models, and creating new markets. Yet very few achieve that great aspiration of really driving economic, social, and environmental changes on a global scale.

Entrepreneur 56

Entrepreneur Resource Social Network SpaceX 56

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2012

A while back, I published an article on “ Startup Due Diligence Is Not a Mysterious Black Art ,” describing what investors do to validate your startup before they invest. The investment community in any geographic area is not that large, and most investors have relationships or knowledge of most of the others.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Offshore Invest Social Network 96

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

One of the most common questions that entrepreneurs who meet me for the first time like to ask is, “Do you miss being an entrepreneur? 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.&#. On Being an Entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2019

By most definitions of the term, an entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business, incorporating innovative changes to existing products, services, business models, and creating new markets. Yet very few achieve that great aspiration of really driving economic, social, and environmental changes on a global scale.

Resource 97

Resource Entrepreneur Social Network SpaceX 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2011

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Most social media outlets don’t require a subscription charge, but they certainly require an investment – in people, in technology, your reputation, and your time. Marty Zwilling.

Social Media 93

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Platform 93

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2014

LinkedIn is one of the largest social networks, with 300 million users, and we fell that it has a higher quality user base. Max Fischer: I''m a former investment banker and investment professional, and I have worked a little bit in the entertainment space as well. This is the first based off of LinkedIn. Why LinkedIn?

Networking 185

Networking Startup Ideas Mobile 185

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

socalTECH

APRIL 14, 2011

He was also the founder of Wallstrip, which he sold to CBS back in 2007, is an investor in a significant number of web and social media companies. Through Howards investment in betaworks, he also owns early shares in Twitter. Luck has it, I'm also a small investor though an investment in BetaWorks.

Ideas 248

Ideas Web Startup Content 248

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Limited Partners or LPs (the people who invest into VC funds) have taken notice as 2014 is by all accounts the busiest year for LPs since the Great Recession began. pre-money valuation you certainly would want to exercise your right to continue investing if you had prorata rights. and the bigger funds can’t get in directly.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

socalTECH

MAY 30, 2019

Richards--a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in a number of technology companies here, including NTI Group (sold to Blackboard), Internships.com, MP3.com, By definition, they liked you and thought they were a good fit for you before their applied. com, and Vivendi Universal Net USA, where he was also CEO.

Content 193

Content Social Network Coach Help 193

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Investors invest in people - not just ideas. Executive team. Funding requirements.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2017

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Most social media outlets don’t require a subscription charge, but they certainly always require an investment, sometimes large, in people, in technology, your reputation, and your time.

Social Media 66

Social Media Media Tips Platform 66

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2010

Anyone who works in the venture business or frankly just lives in Silicon Valley will be used to hearing a buzz word rise up out of nowhere to capture the technology zeitgeist and find its way into every entrepreneur’s product development plan or every aspiring entrepreneur’s pitch deck.

Startup 296

Startup Evite Web Ideas 296

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2017

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Most social media outlets don’t require a subscription charge, but they certainly require an investment to be hard hitting – in people, in technology, your reputation, and your time.

Social Media 58

Social Media Media Platform Tool 58

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin.

Startup 108

Startup Sales Metrics Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2012

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Most social media outlets don’t require a subscription charge, but they certainly require an investment – in people, in technology, your reputation, and your time. Marty Zwilling.

Social Media 95

Social Media Media Startup Platform 95

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Every investor and banker I know looks for a few more key elements in the plan and pitch that will ultimately make or break the deal, including the following: The target customer segment definition and size. A new easier to use social network may not get anyone excited. Will you be selling to businesses or consumers, or both?

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

A while back, I published an article on “ Understanding the Dreaded Investor Due Diligence ,” describing what investors do to validate your startup before they invest. The investment community in any geographic area is not that large, and most investors have relationships or knowledge of most of the others.

Offshore 89

Offshore Entrepreneur Invest Social Network 89

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and Founders being replaced, to their chagrin. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and Founders being replaced, to their chagrin.

Sales 96

Sales Metrics Startup Entrepreneur 96

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2014

This also requires a huge investment to get to critical mass, and real work to differentiate and sell premium services to convert users to paying customers. This doesn’t work well with “nice to have” offerings, like social networks, but does work for new drugs and medical devices that solve critical health problems.

Startup 114

Startup Pricing Customer Custom 114

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 14, 2019

“The way I look at it… a lot of it is going to be like any kind of content studio,” says Peter Rojas, a partner at the New York investment firm Betaworks Ventures. Flinn got exposure to the virtual media world while at Rothenberg Ventures, the now defunct fund that invested in virtual reality and augmented reality.

Social Media 261

Social Media Content Media Artificial Inteligence 261

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin.

Startup 56

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 56

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Investors invest in people - not just ideas. Executive team. Funding requirements.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2013

This also requires a huge investment to get to critical mass, and real work to differentiate and sell premium services to “convert” users to paying customers. This doesn’t work well with “nice to have” offerings, like social networks, but does work for new drugs and medical devices that solve critical health problems.

Pricing 116

Pricing Product Customer Custom 116

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

We have many seasoned entrepreneurs who have built successful companies here and made a lot of money for investors and themselves. LA generally doesn’t have an appetite for this kind of investment at early stages. Entrepreneurs in LA spend a lot of time commuting up to the Valley. LA investors are more pragmatic.

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Its also been interesting to see the interaction of tools involved - Social Networking, Blogging and a Discussion Group. Where I use LinkedIn: * I definitely use LinkedIn for Specific Requests - Ex. I definitely check people out using LinkedIn. However, it definitely has served as a hub. How do you use LinkedIn?

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Investors invest in people - not just ideas. Executive team. Funding requirements.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2010

I meet with dozens of entrepreneurs a week. They come to me wanting to know first, will I invest myself? Okay, then will I connect them to someone who will invest? When I get funded,” the entrepreneur thinks, “I can build a prototype, hire a development team, go to market, scale more quickly, and beat my competition.”

Outsource Development 93

Outsource Development High Tech Outsource Startup 93

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. First of all, it’s more of an investment in people than in a business, since the startup is usually an idea barely half-baked when they need your money. Join an existing angel investor group.

Invest 89

Invest Entrepreneur Startup Equity 89

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

In most cases if you can’t get a prototype done you’re probably not an entrepreneur. Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more. They know that the money they invest may be lost. That’s OK.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 25, 2014

I’ve definitely thought to myself “take me back” multiple times. Tons of great conversations about new startups, hardware, and the entrepreneurs building them. Founders, Entrepreneurs, and Celebrities, Oh My! Mike Norman – WeFunder , bringing crowd investing to the world.

Entertainment 99

Entertainment Google Entrepreneur Course 99

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2011

And so as Steve is apt to do, he consolidated this midnight mind meld, added it to his linear thinking on the investment phases of tech companies and turned it into one of the most cogent pieces on the topic that I’ve seen. Phillip Stevenson who is currently a Wharton MBA (and whom I was trying to talk him into being an entrepreneur).

Ideas 294

Ideas Startup Marketing Pricing 294

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

In 2009, after their first round of investment, they launched internationally. The service can be accessed by computer, mobile phone ( iPhone , Android ) or social network ( Facebook ). As far as entrepreneurs are concerned, the US startup scene does not seem so different than the one in Europe. Any user stats?

Training 82

Training Marketing Competition Platform 82

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

We will be bringing you some of the hottest startups around to give you a quick rundown about their companies and get to know the entrepreneur behind those companies. This Panel is filled with investing super stars who will be going over must have content for all the startups and entrepreneurs out there. Adrenaline Fueled Angel.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2017

Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. First of all, it’s more of an investment in people than in a business, since the startup is usually an idea barely half-baked when they need your money. Join an existing angel investor group.

Invest 73

Invest Startup Equity Incubator 73

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. First of all, it’s more of an investment in people than in a business, since the startup is usually an idea barely half-baked when they need your money. Join an existing Angel investor group.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Startup Invest Incubator 102

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. First of all, it’s more of an investment in people than in a business, since the startup is usually an idea barely half-baked when they need your money. Join an existing Angel investor group.

Startup 87

Startup Invest Incubator Ideas 87