Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2015

Recognizing this is as much about culture as about language, ensures an understanding of regional motivators, cultural taboos and local customs – so that your solutions are ideally designed and marketed to deliver value that has genuine local relevance. with demands for new products and services.

Patents 106

Patents Startup Offshore Demand 106

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. What about if elderly people never had to ask a relative or healthcare worker to change the batteries on their hearing aids? Was there consumer demand? No brainer.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

As an advisor to business professionals and entrepreneurs, I often hear about an innovative new solution that could lead to business growth or a new business. It was no surprise to me that all the investors he approached were less than excited about his plan for growing a new and nutritious algae.

Tips 80

Tips Startup Satisfaction Ideas 80

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

So a better question than asking about the quality of an idea, is asking about the quality of your plan to implement the idea. Ask some potential customers to see if there is real interest, and start thinking about price versus cost. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

Recognizing this is as much about culture as about language, ensures an understanding of regional motivators, cultural taboos and local customs – so that your solutions are ideally designed and marketed to deliver value that has genuine local relevance. with demands for new products and services.

Marketing 54

Marketing Patents Offshore Startup 54

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2013

Recognizing this is as much about culture as about language, ensures an understanding of regional motivators, cultural taboos and local customs – so that your solutions are ideally designed and marketed to deliver value that has genuine local relevance. with demands for new products and services.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Offshore 97

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. Now let’s talk about the basic components of a business plan. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek?

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2012

Recognizing this is as much about culture as about language, ensures an understanding of regional motivators, cultural taboos and local customs – so that your solutions are ideally designed and marketed to deliver value that has genuine local relevance. with demands for new products and services.

Marketing 104

Marketing Startup Patents Offshore 104

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2017

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I often have to deal with people who are convinced that they must get me to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before they begin talks about their new venture. It pays to talk to competitors about the business, but not your business. Get an NDA before detailed patent disclosures.

Technical Review 61

Technical Review Patents Ideas Social Media 61

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2018

Steve Jobs proved it with the iPhone, and Elon Musk can’t produce his electric cars fast enough to keep up with demand. Bold entrepreneurs now can credibly talk about entirely new markets, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), genetic modifications, and privatized space travel. Use social media and the media to build demand for change.

Marketing 92

Marketing Demand Examples Social Media 92

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2011

Recognizing this is as much about culture as about language, ensures an understanding of regional motivators, cultural taboos and local customs – so that your solutions are ideally designed and marketed to deliver value that has genuine local relevance. with demands for new products and services.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Patents Offshore Startup 103

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

I suggest you use social media, blogging, crowdfunding, or documented research to quantify a real demand from people who can afford it, and don’t have a better alternative already out there. Any startup with no patents, trade secrets, or other secret sauce is very high risk today.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2013

Early partners or co-founders often drop out of the picture early due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal or email promises you made. Later, when your venture is trying to close on financing, or even going public, that forgotten partner surfaces, demanding their original share.

Startup 94

Startup Patents Legalzoom Invest 94

socalTECH

AUGUST 18, 2017

We talked with CEO Marcus Filipovich to learn more about the company and its product. Judges, juries, defense, and prosecuters are now expecting and demanding video be produced in the courtroom. How did the company and its technology come about? When did this become a business and when did the funding come about?

Pasadena Angels 100

Pasadena Angels Pasadena Technical Review Southern California 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2020

They worry about the infrastructure needed to attract and support customers, including investors, employees, organization, marketplace coverage, manufacturing, and delivery. Dreaming and talking about potential solutions is not enough. Ability to raise money, manage it, and think in financial terms.

Startup 124

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2020

It’s easy for you to blame someone else in the organization, economic conditions outside, or even overly demanding customers, when things are not going well. I often hear about how hard people are working, rather than milestones achieved or business growth. People are focused on workload rather than business results.

Startup 113

Startup Examples Coach Metrics 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2012

Early partners or co-founders often drop out of the picture early due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal or email promises you made. Later, when your venture is trying to close on financing, or even going public, that forgotten partner surfaces, demanding their original share.

Startup 99

Startup Patents Legalzoom Invest 99

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2015

Santa Barbara-based Ice Energy (www.ice-energy.com) has quietly been working away at developing energy storage systems to help smooth out the demand for energy on the nation's power grid. Can you talk about your technology? We have thirteen patents associated with the Ice bear. megawatts of energy. megawatts of energy.

Southern California 100

Southern California Technical Review Demand Outsource Development 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

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. Now let’s talk about the basic components of a business plan. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek?

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2010

Recognizing this is as much about culture as about language, ensures an understanding of regional motivators, cultural taboos and local customs – so that your solutions are ideally designed and marketed to deliver value that has genuine local relevance. with demands for new products and services.

Startup 89

Startup Patents Offshore Demand 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

For example, “We just patented a new battery technology that will cut your smartphone charge time and cost in half.” Call out your top competitors, highlighting your sustainable competitive advantage, including patents, trade secrets. Use non-fuzzy terms to quantify customer value. Highlight your advantages over three top competitors.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2011

Early co-founders often drop out of the picture due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal promises you made. Later, when your venture is trying to close on financing, or even going public, that forgotten partner surfaces, demanding their original share.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Patents Invest Startup 98

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

So he founded IdeaLab with his wife Marcia Goodstein (he talks in the video about working with a spouse and also working with siblings). I’ve talked about this often – the biggest mistake I made in my first company was going into an industry for which I wasn’t passionate. We talked about patents.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

We spoke with Ali Khoshgozaran , founder and CEO of the company, to learn more about the startup. What is Tilofy about? How did Tilofy come about? About 100 teams participated in that competition, and 10 teams were selected to be part of USC''s Viterbi Startup Garage program. My degree is from USC in big data.

USC 236

USC Southern California Organization UCLA 236

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 6, 2017

In this article #StartupsEverywhere , I talked with Joe Wallace, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, and Hank McCarrick, CEO and founder of Seco Sys about sustainability, emerging eco tech, and challenges in the ecosystem. Can you tell us more about your company.

Startup 107

Startup Technical Review Patents Services 107

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 6, 2017

In this article #StartupsEverywhere , I talked with Joe Wallace, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, and Hank McCarrick, CEO and founder of Seco Sys about sustainability, emerging eco tech, and challenges in the ecosystem. Can you tell us more about your company.

Startup 121

Startup Technical Review Patents Services 121

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2015

So a better question than asking about the quality of an idea, is asking about the quality of your plan to cash in on the idea. Ask some potential customers to see if there is real interest, and start thinking about price versus cost. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks.

Ideas 104

Ideas Mentor Resource Entrepreneur 104

socalTECH

DECEMBER 7, 2016

We talked with Eli Aizenstat , the founder and CEO of Beatshare�and still a student--as well as President and longtime technology vet Barry Lieberman about the startup. Barry Lieberman: My backgruond is about 35 years in technology, business development, and sales and marketing. What is Beatshare? All are separate.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels CTO Coach Startup Pasadena Angels 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

I’m not suggesting that any startup needs to demand perfection, but I do recommend that all learn and follow common business practices from the beginning. Mark Zuckerberg can tell you a horror story about how his early informal breakup with a co-founder ultimately cost him a settlement later worth four billion dollars.

Startup 62

Startup Patents Entrepreneur Writing 62

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2014

So a better question than asking about the quality of an idea, is asking about the quality of your plan to cash in on the idea. Ask some potential customers to see if there is real interest, and start thinking about price versus cost. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks.

Ideas 107

Ideas Mentor Entrepreneur Resource 107

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

We Create Demand for California's Technology Companies. and international patent and trademark procurement - IP Litigation - IP Licenses and Agreements: distribution, development, joint venture - Intellectual property aspects of mergers and acquisitions. How about $70? Silicon Valley Bank (www.svb.com). Think Glendale.

Orange County 113

Orange County Southern California IP Glendale 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2017

So a better question than asking about the quality of an idea, is asking about the quality of your plan to implement the idea. Ask some potential customers to see if there is real interest, and start thinking about price versus cost. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks.

Ideas 56

Ideas Mentor Resource Product 56

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

A startup is all about "execution" - meaning the equity should be allocated based on the value that each partner brings to the table in each of these dominant variables: Experience running a startup business. Ideas are not intellectual property, until they have been converted into patents, trade secrets, trademarks, or copyrights.

Startup 101

Startup Entrepreneur Equity CTO Hire 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2010

Early co-founders often drop out of the picture due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal promises you made. Later, when your venture is trying to close on financing, or even going public, that forgotten partner surfaces, demanding equity.

Startup 50

Startup Patents Entrepreneur Invest 50

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

It's been awhile since we last caught up with Los Angeles-based Language Weaver (www.languageweaver.com), a venture-backed firm which develops language translation software, so we sat down the other day with Mark Tapling , the President and CEO of the firm, to hear more about where the company is nowadays--plus its strategy for growth and an exit.

Software Review 145

Software Review USC Content Tech Coast Angels 145

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2013

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. Of course, every company needs these, in due time. Need expensive resources up front.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Technical Review Equity 100

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. Now let’s talk about the basic components of a business plan. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek?

Product 101

Product Entrepreneur Summary Activity 101