socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2014

The Disney Accelerator , the startup accelerator sponsored by Walt Disney and being run by TechStars, had its demo day Tuesday, showing off the nine companies to emerge out of the accelerator. Disney offered up up to $120K in investment capital, access to entrepreneurs and executives at Disney, and other resources to its startups.

Class 185

Class Startup Seed Funding Entertainment 185

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Startup Boost Los Angeles says its program includes six weekly workshop sessions and one demo night hosted by Google, in Venice. Startup Boost says it provides guidance and coaching on such topics as product-market fit, market sizing, fundraising, and pitch development/presentation. READ MORE>>.

Los Angeles 154

Los Angeles Class Angel Startup 154

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 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 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

MuckerLab , the Los Angeles startup accelerator headed by Erik Rannala, is presenting its newest startup class today in a Demo Day. MuckerLab's prior class included such hot Los Angeles startups as SurfAir, Retention Science, Wallaby, and InstaCanvas.

Class 159

Class Startup Incubator Los Angeles 159

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I’m comfortable with introductions and then getting into the demo.&#. I believe in this so much that, despite my post advising you to be prepared for the *norm* in VC, I wrote a post about a company that came in for a presentation and never even got the slides out or presented a demo. Just jump into the demo after intros.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. By 2011 the market had started to change dramatically. So we went for it. Yeah, he was LA, baby! See point one!

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. They are likely taking losses on their first project with the entrepreneur so they select carefully.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

With Startup Boost, we had dozens of investors, service providers, successful entrepreneurs, and major industry leaders (including Microsoft, Google, Softbank, REME, and TechStars) coalesce around our initiative to help early stage companies get to the next level. For many founders, this type of mature leadership doesnt come naturally.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

Of course I’ve talked about wanting to get to know entrepreneurs over long periods of time ( lines, not dots ) – my most referred to post. ” I don’t give a s**t what other investors think about a deal or market. I seek out great entrepreneurs. I avoid Demo Days like the plague and have publicly said so.

Venture Capital 337

Venture Capital Invest Ideas Entrepreneur 337

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. They are likely taking losses on their first project with the entrepreneur so they select carefully.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 1, 2012

See product demos and learn about new ventures. Network with hundreds of entrepreneurs, CEOs, dealmakers, investors, JV partners, technical/business advisors, developers and marketing professionals. Tom will present "A Disruptive Technology-Converting Waste Into Energy With Fuel Cells." See [link] (more)

Technology Council 113

Technology Council Los Angeles Conference Technology 113

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 7, 2013

The good news for entrepreneurs is that there have never been more office space options for early stage companies. If you use the mentor-driven model that we pioneered at TechStars, you get entrepreneurs who are deeply connected with the broader entrepreneurial landscape. Many Sizes, Many Fits.

Incubator 238

Incubator Startup News Entrepreneur 238

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!,

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising. This is one book-end of the cycle.

Venture Capital 255

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2012

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. These days, the technical side may be the easy part.

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Pricing Customer Custom 99

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

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

We thought we''d catch up with Erik on what he''s learned about this market, advice he''d give to companies hoping to get into an accelerator, and what gets a company funding. We just had the demo day for our third batch of companies. It''s not a three month program, demo day, and folks move out or move on. That''s the minimum.

Incubator 187

Incubator Southern California Startup Ideas 187

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Some readers have commented that in today’s world you shouldn’t even need a PowerPoint presentation – in this era you should always just demo your product. I also recently wrote a post about a company that came in for a presentation and never even got the slides out or presented a demo. How big is the market?

Venture Capital 238

Venture Capital Slides Startup Sales 238

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2023

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. An incubator won’t help you if the market opportunity is small, the competitors are large, or your solution doesn’t address a real need.

Organization 92

Organization Incubator Startup Resource 92

InfoChachkie

JULY 4, 2011

Sam happily agrees, as he knows he will not have to continue selling, once the demo is completed. However, typical of an Optimistically Pessimistic entrepreneur, Sam never loses hope, and does gives up. Instead, he focuses on the immediate objective – to get his Prospect to demo the product. Sam-I-Am.”. I was no exception.

Sales 219

Sales Entrepreneur Startup Product 219

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. One needs to be in during bull markets and bear markets.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

socalTECH

JULY 22, 2019

There are lots of resources available to entrepreneurs in the industry, but they are not necessarily that easy to access, whether that's deep insight into how to work with the government or with NASA, or how to work with the big primes, we felt that we could help create that resource. For example, nuclear power plants and oil rigs.

Southern California 124

Southern California Startup Entrepreneur Los Angeles 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. An incubator won’t help you if the market opportunity is small, the competitors are large, or your solution doesn’t address a real need.

Resource 159

Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. People who believe the former believe that you should see the market demand before too many people know you’re “in market.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 7, 2019

I think in this age and time, that’s not what we want to get into,” Xinjie Ma, who heads up marketing for rct, told TechCrunch. “We appreciate a lot the support and opportunities given by Baidu and during the years we have grown up dramatically,” said Ma, who previously oversaw marketing at Raven.

Startup 235

Startup Artificial Inteligence Los Angeles Software 235

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

One of the most obvious places where you see this is in sales & marketing. So he hired an intern plus a junior marketing person and tasked them with mechanising responses. Demos – One of the things that most people are bad at and that are hard to standardize is the demo. A good demo tells a story.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

socalTECH

MARCH 21, 2012

Paul Bricault: We're obviously modeled after an aggregation of lots of different accelerators on the market. We decided, after looking at Los Angeles, that what was needed most in Los Angeles, and what entrepreneurs were interested in here, was that we'd need a little bit more capital offered than other accelerators.

Startup 254

Startup Los Angeles Entrepreneur Media 254

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2020

We now invest in more companies, include better trainers and involve 3 times more investors in the demo days. This is my 4th market upset and in the first three I was defensive. Brian Mac Mahon is a serial entrepreneur and investor and has owned companies in over 35 countries. What was the biggest lesson you learned this year?

Southern California 113

Southern California Technical Review Santa Monica Invest 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Great networking skills, which are critical when you want to be about to reference entrepreneurs & concepts and bounce your ideas off of other people in the industry. He was also an undergraduate of the one place that I think is cranking out some of the best young entrepreneurs and investors these days – Wharton.

Help 365

Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2020

As an aspiring entrepreneur, one of the most important things you need is a memorable “ elevator pitch ,” to communicate your startup value proposition and leave a great first impression on friends, investors, employees, and future customers. Lead with your best marketing pitch and conviction. Highlight the solution more than the team.

Sample 127

Sample Summary Startup Slides 127

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2012

We asked the same four 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 week. We launched a Digital LA - Women series with four panels starring female founders, entrepreneurs, developers and PR, which will also continue into the new year.

Dollar Shave Club 272

Dollar Shave Club Technical Review Santa Monica Southern California 272

Tech.Co

AUGUST 16, 2017

Finding potential customers continues to be a huge challenge not only for established marketing and sales teams but also for startup executives and solo entrepreneurs. A study in 2013 showed that 61 percent of marketers found it hard to generate high-quality leads. Team – for agencies and marketing teams, $149/month.

Tool 79

Tool Startup Help Template 79

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

One of the biggest complaints you hear from both entrepreneurs and investors in Los Angeles, is the lack of a credible, visible startup accelerator in the Los Angeles area. Erik Rannala: We think Los Angeles is one of the most under-hyped, under-funded, and under-appreciated technology ecosystems and markets around.

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. Entrepreneurs. ” **. . ” **.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2016

Now here is the important thing for you to understand — many of my target customers — entrepreneurs between ages 21–35 — are on Snapchat! I’m simply pointing out that by numbers more startups are founded in that younger demo). Snapchat is faster and easier. Snapchat has a built in audience. Today’s post got 9,000 views in 24 hours.

Snapchat 200

Snapchat Blogging Venture Capital Writing 200