Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek? Technology, architecture, and feature descriptions.

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2022

Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. When entrepreneurs become prisoners of hope, they look for others to solve their problem.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 153

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. Human-experience design always supplements technology-driven design, and environmentally sustainable design. As an entrepreneur, you have the opportunity to take the lead, and become the world’s next super-brand.

Design 105

Design Customer Custom Product 105

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it. Know your customers intimately. Train and coach continuously.

Competition 99

Competition Services Startup Training 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2022

We are living in a new generation of business, where customers drive the experience, and highly engaged employees are required to keep up with customer expectations. We have all heard the examples of the great new company cultures, popularized by Google, Zappos, and Facebook, which seem to imply that company perks are the secret to success.

Customer 152

Customer Custom Coach Satisfaction 152

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

As an angel investor and a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m always disappointed to see founders who seem stressed out most of the time, and more annoyed than energized by the abundance of challenges they see in building their startup. Investors and strategic partners look for entrepreneurs who can execute.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Startup Activity Ideas 110

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

In a market where people aren’t just paid to “innovate” but will need to show real economic value, expect gains to come more slowly. Other companies have only seen a slight decline and may be expecting demand to return to normalcy later in the year. The reality is that when unemployment sinks in demand is likely to get worse.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

Berkonomics

JANUARY 17, 2019

If they are not achieved within the expected time, the reasons must be analyzed by you and by your board and acted upon to avoid loss of capital beyond plan or expectation. My favorite story of a fast failure was of a technology incubator started in the year 2000 with optimistic money from several angel investors, including me.

Incubator 120

Incubator Venture Capital Invest Capital 120

Berkonomics

JANUARY 17, 2019

If they are not achieved within the expected time, the reasons must be analyzed by you and by your board and acted upon to avoid loss of capital beyond plan or expectation. My favorite story of a fast failure was of a technology incubator started in the year 2000 with optimistic money from several angel investors, including me.

Incubator 120

Incubator Venture Capital Invest Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Customer 113

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2016

As an Angel investor and a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m always disappointed to see founders who seem stressed out most of the time, and more annoyed than energized by the abundance of challenges they see in building their startup. Investors and strategic partners look for entrepreneurs who can execute.

Entrepreneur 63

Entrepreneur Product Startup Activity 63

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2014

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek? Technology, architecture, and feature descriptions.

Product 101

Product Entrepreneur Summary Activity 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 30, 2015

Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active Angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. When entrepreneurs become prisoners of hope, they look for others to solve their problem.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Startup Marketing Customer 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it. Know your customers intimately. Train and coach continuously.

Startup 154

Startup Training Customer Custom 154

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. Human-experience design always supplements technology-driven design, and environmentally sustainable design. As an entrepreneur, you have the opportunity to take the lead, and become the world’s next super-brand.

Customer 150

Customer Custom Design Product 150

socalTECH

APRIL 25, 2013

In the arms race of search technology, only the big guys -- Google, Microsoft -- seem to be able to keep up with all of the innovations in the space. How can the rest of us get the kinds of features consumers expect with search elsewhere? Who are the customers for your technology? SRCH2 (www.srch2.com) SRCH2 (www.srch2.com)

Technology 216

Technology Google Commerce Southern California 216

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2018

New technology markets and paradigm shifts have traditionally been bad bets when seeking investors, since these were known to take decades to develop, and cost lots of money. Many customers now actively seek out new technologies, rather than wait for many others to try it first. The leading edge was too often the bleeding edge.

Marketing 92

Marketing Demand Examples Social Media 92

Berkonomics

JANUARY 12, 2012

If they are not achieved within the expected time, the reasons must be analyzed and acted upon to avoid loss of capital beyond plan or expectation. My favorite story of a fast failure was of a technology incubator started in the year 2000 with optimistic money from a number of angel investments, including mine.

Incubator 149

Incubator Venture Capital Invest Entrepreneur 149

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Steve Blank via Flickr by jdlasica I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution.

Startup 98

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 98

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Aspiring entrepreneurs often ask me what to do first when starting a business. Instead, entrepreneurs need to focus first on execution disciplines and timing. Your credibility as an entrepreneur is at stake. Your credibility as an entrepreneur is at stake. Find a partner and core team early to supplement your expertise.

Entrepreneur 59

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Ideas 59

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2018

Editor's note: All this week, and into the start of next year, we'll be featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. Over the last four years, I watched numerous entrepreneurs raise equity. Given SVBs market position, that is great news.

Southern California 133

Southern California SoCal Culver City Venture Capital 133

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

As a new business advisor, I hear facts all the time about how hard an entrepreneur is working, but often have a hard time getting them to quantify results. Even you as the entrepreneur, who may not be getting paid at all, are tricked into thinking that if you had more hours, you could get better results.

Metrics 124

Metrics Entrepreneur Satisfaction Study 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2019

Yet, in my daily role as an advisor to entrepreneurs and small business owners, struggling to boost revenues, profits, and earnings, I still see too many managers falling back on command-and-control, a focus on weaknesses, and not enough time for people. Your people will expect more coaches than bosses. Change is hard.

Coach 95

Coach Technical Review Satisfaction Examples 95

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2010

We asked the same five questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next two weeks. I left a great firm, Redpoint Ventures (after 11 years), to start a new firm, Archer Venture Capital. Great things will emerge there.

Venture Capital 234

Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Southern California 234

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

Thus, in my mentoring of potential technical entrepreneurs who have a real passion for their technology, I often recommend that they find a co-founder who can manage the marketing and execution elements of the new venture. The competition will improve, the market will change, and your customers will demand more.

Mentor 133

Mentor Startup Customer Custom 133

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

Of course the VC is looking to have specificity in how you plan to spend the money you’re going to raise and plans that show a pie chart that says, “25% on marketing, 30% on technology and R&D, 20% on infrastructure, 25% on G&A” do not get funded. Every VC wants to fund a deal that seems to have too much demand.

Venture Capital 247

Venture Capital Capital Funding Demand 247

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. It takes options off of the table.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2018

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that their idea and passion are so great that failure is not a possibility. I’m convinced that you can learn more from failure than success, so it pays to take these as lessons to improve your success odds before you start: Creating a new technology doesn’t make a business.

Startup 99

Startup Competition Examples Ideas 99

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2018

Dave Fink: Postie is a building a technology platform with a mission of making direct mail marketing behave as easily and dynamically as your favorite, programmatic channels. However, there just hasn't been the underlying technology to make it possible to pull all of that together. What is Postie? What is a print cloud?

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Marketing 100

InfoChachkie

MARCH 18, 2013

In order to extract value beyond your Angel investors' cash, you must first assess three important parameters: (i) the relative strength of their personal brand, (ii) their ability to add operational value, and (iii) the amount of care and feeding they will demand from you. Four Common Angel Archetypes. Painfully Diligent Investors.

Angel 217

Angel Technical Review RSS Entrepreneur 217

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2019

We are living in a new generation of business, where customers drive the experience, and highly engaged employees are required to keep up with customer expectations. We have all heard the examples of the great new company cultures, popularized by Google, Zappos, and Facebook, which seem to imply that company perks are the secret to success.

Customer 92

Customer Custom Coach Satisfaction 92

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. I just finished a new book, “ Experimentation Works ,” by Stefan H.

Sample 124

Sample Customer Custom Tool 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2017

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution.

Startup 64

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 64

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2012

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution.

Startup 118

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 118

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

I do believe that we are in structural change where technology will increasingly play a bigger role in all facets of life so the long run up for tech is promising through all of these cycles. And as I always assert, “Great companies are built in downturns. Have they done a business case on the expected benefits?

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

There's lots of noise in the on-demand tutoring space, especially connecting people virtually, however, in my experience, it's in the best interest of consumers to get in-person, local tutoring. We're using technology to scale, and use it to be super-efficient, but we're also never going to be entirely hands-off. What is HeyTutor?

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Beverly Hills Acquisition 113