Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Many years ago, John Hamm published some definitive work on this subject in " Why Entrepreneurs Don't Scale " in the Harvard Business Review. Investors don’t want to fund your stumbles. For successful scaling of the business, there has to be a transition to “executive” mode in the more traditional business sense.

Entrepreneur 169

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Mentor 169

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

As an angel investor and a mentor to entrepreneurs I still see this every day. Since language and implication have changed a bit since then, I’ll restate Carnegie and Hill’s original principles here, with my own current-day commentary and recommendations added: Definiteness of purpose. Going the extra mile. Profiting by adversity.

Technical Review 119

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Customer 119

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Contrary to popular belief, most investors are not looking for entrepreneurs who are desperate for funding. Being the first mover or lowest cost is not a good long-term strategy.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

Mentoring and technical assistance from volunteer or paid experts. Direct seed funding, for a share of the equity, and introductions to investors. As well, these companies usually bring real new venture funding opportunities to the startups they sponsor.

Resource 159

Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2020

I’m definitely a proponent of this latter approach. Most entrepreneurs don’t get the satisfaction of a salary for the first couple of years, even if their startup is well funded by investors. Startups cost money but don’t pay a salary before revenue. Maintain the status and affirmation of an existing job.

Startup 128

Startup Entrepreneur Satisfaction News 128

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

According to most definitions, an entrepreneur is one who envisions a new and different business, meaning one that is not a copy of an existing business model. Funding and rollout stage. Many entrepreneurs have a passion and an idea, or even invent a new product, but are never able to execute to the point of creating a startup.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Satisfaction 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Contrary to popular belief, most investors are not looking for entrepreneurs who are desperate for funding. Being the first mover or lowest cost is not a good long-term strategy.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2020

As an angel investor and a mentor to entrepreneurs I still see this every day. Since language and implication have changed a bit since then, I’ll restate Carnegie and Hill’s original principles here, with my own current-day commentary and recommendations added: Definiteness of purpose. Going the extra mile. Profiting by adversity.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Customer 126

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

These resources are definitely not limited to students, since every university seeks out and needs the real world exposure and experience of entrepreneurs who already are active in the real world marketplace. Early-stage funding. Connections to a mentor. Product research and prototype development. Business plan assistance.

Startup 95

Startup Incubator Resource Mentor 95

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2012

These resources are definitely not limited to students, since every university seeks out and needs the real world exposure and experience of entrepreneurs who already are active in the real world marketplace. Early-stage funding. Connections to a mentor. Product research and prototype development. Business plan assistance.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Incubator Mentor Research 92

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

The venture capitalists we look at to fund our deals are certainly tightening down, there's no question about that. What is not happening, is those marginal deals that would have gotten funded a number of years ago, when things were better, are not making it. So you don't see as many people looking for funding now?

Tech Coast Angels 231

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Southern California 231

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2020

According to most definitions, an entrepreneur is one who envisions a new and different business, meaning one that is not a copy of an existing business model. Funding and rollout stage. Many entrepreneurs have a passion and an idea, or even invent a new product, but are never able to execute to the point of creating a startup.

Ideas 127

Ideas Entrepreneur Satisfaction Summary 127

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

As a member of NextSpace I have witnessed Amplify in operation and it is a shop that definitely believes in good rewards stemming from hard work. Amplify Mentor Panel in full swing. Amplify’s close mentoring is by design. And they do all this in the span of four intense months. Setting up for Eric Garcetti.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2019

Michele Ruiz: Robin Richards and I formed the company, after he approached me, after having been a business mentor for me for fifteen years. The key to the LA tech scene is finding people who really understand content, and funding pepole in content who understand technology, and getting together. How did the three of you connect?

Content 150

Content Training Education Outsource Development 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

Mentoring and technical assistance from volunteer or paid experts. Direct seed funding, for a share of the equity, and introductions to investors. As well, these companies usually bring real new venture funding opportunities to the startups they sponsor.

Incubator 87

Incubator Startup Resource Seed Funding 87

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

The other point, is that those are where I can add the most value, helping the CEO or executives, mentoring them on go-to-market and expansion, because I have been through that cycle many times and with many companies. Is this fund just your own investment fund, or do you have outside LPs? Kevin O'Connor: Definitely.

Venture Capital 145

Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

That's funding our new product, FanMix, which is a a social media tool. We're definitely Los Angeles natives, but we got the opportunity to do TechStars. We have some great mentors now. Thanks to TechStars, we've got an awesome mentor who's co-habitating with us now, and we're learning something daily from him.

Startup 242

Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2010

These resources are definitely are not limited to students, since every university wants and needs the real world exposure and experience of entrepreneurs who already have credibility in the marketplace. Other engineering departments at ASU often provide grad students to build prototypes, and even venture funding for certain projects.

Help 94

Help Startup Mentor Incubator 94

socalTECH

JANUARY 27, 2010

Alex Schneider: It all started in 2003, when the city created an economic development fund worth $5M. It was a kind of rainy day fund, available for economic development purposes. In 2007, we started to put some policy attached to the money, and created a jobs investment fund. The $5M of funding we had got split three ways. $3M

Ventura 200

Ventura Incubator Technology Startup 200

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2016

Mentoring and technical assistance from volunteer or paid experts. Direct seed funding, for a share of the equity, and introductions to investors. As well, these companies usually bring real new venture funding opportunities to the startups they sponsor.

Incubator 106

Incubator Startup Help Resource 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2012

Now they are coming back, and the best even provide networking, technical leadership, and seed funding, as well as investors waving money at graduates. TechStars has several excellent mentors on staff, led by founder and CEO David Cohen. TechStars has several excellent mentors on staff, led by founder and CEO David Cohen.

Entrepreneur 86

Entrepreneur Incubator Startup Seed Funding 86

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2011

Now they are coming back, and the best even provide networking, technical leadership, and seed funding, as well as investors waving money at graduates. TechStars has several excellent mentors on staff, led by founder and CEO David Cohen. TechStars has several excellent mentors on staff, led by founder and CEO David Cohen.

Incubator 93

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Mentor 93

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 7, 2013

The bad news is that it is often difficult to determine which of these alternatives is ideal, since the definition of "ideal" changes as your venture matures. If you use the mentor-driven model that we pioneered at TechStars, you get entrepreneurs who are deeply connected with the broader entrepreneurial landscape.

Incubator 238

Incubator Startup News Entrepreneur 238

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2015

As an angel investor and a mentor to entrepreneurs I still see this every day. Since language and implication have changed a bit since then, I’ll restate Carnegie and Hill’s original rules here, with my own current-day commentary and recommendations added: Definiteness of purpose. Going the extra mile. Profiting by adversity.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Ideas Customer Custom 108

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Based on my experience as an angel investor and a mentor to dozens of entrepreneurs, having no business plan is the quickest way to define yourself as just a dreamer, or at best a hobbyist. Yet I continue to get funding requests that never mention any specific plans or costs to be associated with these elements.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2010

Now they are coming back, and the best even provide networking, technical leadership, and seed funding, as well as shared facilities and space. Look first for people there who can help you, by their introductions, mentoring, and experience. About that time the bubble burst, causing more than 80% of them to disappear. Marty Zwilling.

Incubator 93

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Mentor 93

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Contrary to popular belief, most investors are not looking for entrepreneurs who are desperate for funding. Being the first mover or lowest cost is not a good long-term strategy.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Angel Social Media Patents 107

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

Mentoring and technical assistance from volunteer or paid experts. Direct seed funding, for a share of the equity, and introductions to investors. As well, these companies usually bring real new venture funding opportunities to the startups they sponsor.

Incubator 98

Incubator Startup Help Resource 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2016

That’s not as high as the failure rate with professional investors, but it should convince entrepreneurs that crowdfunding has been no panacea for funding. Board seats can’t be negotiated, and even informal mentoring in decision and governance processes is unlikely. Later funding rounds can’t deal with a thousand shareholders.

Equity 54

Equity Platform Entrepreneur Demand 54

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2010

Mike Wolf is a mentor of mine, and a role model for many technology entrepreneurs and investors in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. More recently, he has invested in numerous local startups, while mentoring and advising hundreds of young entrepreneurs. He is a 26-year software veteran who has survived both startups and big companies.

Entrepreneur 84

Entrepreneur Angel Startup Mentor 84

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2014

As an Angel investor and a mentor to entrepreneurs I still see this every day. Since language and implication have changed a bit since then, I’ll restate Carnegie and Hill’s original rules here, with my own current-day commentary and recommendations added: Definiteness of purpose. Going the extra mile. Profiting by adversity.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Ideas Startup Customer 104

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

As a member of NextSpace I have witnessed Amplify in operation and it is a shop that definitely believes in good rewards stemming from hard work. Amplify Mentor Panel in full swing. Amplify’s close mentoring is by design. And they do all this in the span of four intense months. Setting up for Eric Garcetti.

Web Design 40

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 40

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

Being relentlessly resourceful is definitely not what you learn in big companies, or in most schools. The most common solution is that you “bootstrap” your business, or fund it yourself, at least to the point that your “traction” is evident (you have a product, you have customers, you have revenue). Relentlessly resourceful.

Startup 94

Startup Resource Social Network Mentor 94

socalTECH

AUGUST 25, 2015

Tucker Kain: One thing we've found, is the ability to bring a brand like the Dodgers to bear on these early stage businesses opens up opportunities for them, from our network of mentors and industry experts. The breadth of scope of our entire business group adds value. All of that combined can change the odds of success for companies.

Startup 100

Startup Invest Resource Entertainment 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

As an angel investor and a mentor to entrepreneurs I still see this every day. Since language and implication have changed a bit since then, I’ll restate Carnegie and Hill’s original rules here, with my own current-day commentary and recommendations added: Definiteness of purpose. Going the extra mile. Profiting by adversity.

Technical Review 53

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Customer 53

socalTECH

AUGUST 21, 2015

Ray Christian: (laughs) Yes, that's definitely common criticism if there is one. There are probably millions of pieces of advice you get on who to bring on board, tactics, from mentors and advisors. Finally, how are you funded, and what are your next steps? Isn't using your service kind of cheating in the dating game?

Startup 100

Startup Technical Review Help Ideas 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2015

According to most definitions, an entrepreneur is one who envisions a new and different business, meaning one that is not a copy of an existing business model. Funding and rollout stage. Many entrepreneurs have a passion and an idea, or even invent a new product, but are never able to execute to the point of creating a startup.

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Ideas Satisfaction Summary 109