Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2021

In my role as an advisor to startups, I often have to remind entrepreneurs to think more like sales people from day one, in finding a real problem to solve and designing the solution. That’s why Steve Jobs spent as much time on “insanely great design” as technology, and marketed to customer emotions.

Custom 136

Custom Customer Sales Social Media 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

If you need investors, it’s important that you understand their filters, and even if you are funding your own efforts, you need to recognize the red flags. These historically have included work-at-home, restaurants, telemarketing and social-service providers. You need a big differentiator in these arenas.

Invest 98

Invest Sites Technical Review Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2013

Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. When pitching to consumers, online or offline, the feedback will likely be on features and design.

Funding 106

Funding Equity Entrepreneur Sample 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2011

One of the hot new approaches I have seen around the country for assisting startups looking for funding has been “crowd-sourcing” sites ( Kickstarter ) or “crowd-pitching” events ( Funding Universe ). These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events.

Funding 92

Funding Startup Social Media Sample 92

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Amplify’s close mentoring is by design. Amplify’s portfolio companies are schooled on every challenge they need to master in order to achieve success. And they do all this in the span of four intense months. Amplify Mentor Panel in full swing. That is not to say the Partners are breathing down their neck.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2011

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based MySocialNightLife.com (www.mysocialnightlife.com) announced a seed funding round, and its technology platform for the nightclub and bar industry. In addition, we though we'd connect this to social media, as a forward-facing view for customers. What are you doing with your seed funding?

Social Media 174

Social Media Seed Funding Startup Design 174

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

If you need investors, it’s important that you understand their filters, and even if you are funding your own efforts, you need to recognize the red flags. These historically have included work-at-home, restaurants, telemarketing and social-service providers. You need a big differentiator in these arenas.

Startup 126

Startup Sites Technical Review Social Media 126

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

I have a few meetings with the team, perhaps about the website design, radio show structure, an event we are working on, a sponsorship (perhaps the uniforms for our youth basketball team). I frequently work on networking through the social web and building new relationships that will foster knowledge gathering or business growth.

Acquisition 170

Acquisition Custom Customer Ideas 170

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2020

Investors are looking for breakthrough solutions to fund. For example, I often hear proposals for new online social media or collaboration platforms, maybe more specifically tuned to inventors or artists, or easier to use, and populated by experts, to compete against Slack or Facebook. Be forever curious and optimistic.

Startup 134

Startup Artificial Inteligence Ideas Entrepreneur 134

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2018

Luckily, I had always been a “hands-on” professional, and I had learned the pragmatics of people leadership, marketing, management tools, and funding. Simply defining yourself as a marketing specialist, designer, or project leader minimizes the stigma of the consultant role. Use social media for more visibility.

Social Media 56

Social Media Software Review Custom Customer 56

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2020

For example, you may feel you are saving money by doing all your own administrative work and monitoring social media feedback. Remember the concept of minimum viable product (MVP), which is designed to test viability and interest before you burn through too much of your energy and resources. The reality is often the opposite.

Product 123

Product Startup Tips Entrepreneur 123

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

This is true whether it’s physical products or media products. Think about the tension between media companies and cable operators like last year when Viacom threatened to pull Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, etc. and a differentiated feel in terms of fabric, design, sustainability, etc. from Charter’s subscribers.

Product 296

Product Course Custom Customer 296

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2010

One of the hot new approaches I have seen around the country for assisting startups looking for funding has been “crowd-sourcing” tools ( ProFounder ) or “crowd-pitching” events ( Funding Universe ). These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events.

Funding 59

Funding Startup Social Media Sample 59

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

An Insider’s Perspective “Bird Zero” that are custom designed by the company There is a story arc of the electric scooter market that took the world by storm in 2018, was second-guessed late in the year and has quietly re-emerged as a powerful force of growth where few really appreciate the speed and scale of what has happened.

Santa Monica 250

Santa Monica Venice Competition Software Review 250

Tech.Co

MAY 9, 2017

Taylor returned home and dove into learning web development and design on his own. Taylor started pushing out content through social media and share what was happening in the industry. The company caught the attention of investor from China and secured a seed-funding round around $1.5 And UploadVR was born.

Startup 70

Startup Web Development Design Education 70

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

In that article I talked about how PR drives: recruiting, employee retention, biz dev deals, funding and even M&A and that often “attribution” to your PR activities is unknown. I’m generally not a believer in too much PR until you have a product built or at least well designed. I have no money?

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 13, 2020

We've created a social media platform which helps you meet new people, and we're also very focused on privacy, and don't sell your data, don't spy on you, but provide an environment where you can meet other people based on shared interests and shared locations. How is the company funded?

Mentor 157

Mentor Southern California Startup Networking 157

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

For those who may be living under a rock and have no idea what SXSWi is, its five days of presentations and panel discussions from some of the biggest thought leaders in Interactive digital media space. Social + Location + Mobile = The Perfect Beer (Untapped). Design: Developing for a Consumerized Enterprise World (BetterWorks).

Southern California 89

Southern California SoCal Guide Mixergy 89

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 25, 2012

Over the weekend the 12 teams worked on business model creation, coding, designing, and more important, market validation. 1 st Place: Flutterly –A social media platform that uses audio to connect with people led by Denise Walker. On Saturday teams were coached a mentored by a number of successful entrepreneurs.

San Diego 96

San Diego Startup Services Google 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price. These days, even with the pervasive Internet and social media, it still takes time and money for your marketing and customer communication efforts to have an impact. For example, I have a friend with a Ph.D.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

That's funding our new product, FanMix, which is a a social media tool. We're trying to build a center-of-mass on the East side, to draw talented developers and designers, to recruit more effectively, and reinvest in the local ecosystem. We started working on local web design projects, but got sick of that in six months.

Startup 242

Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2019

In my role as an advisor to startups, I often have to remind entrepreneurs to think more like sales people from day one, in finding a real problem to solve and designing the solution. That’s why Steve Jobs spent as much time on “insanely great design” as technology, and marketed to customer emotions.

Custom 107

Custom Customer Sales Social Media 107

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Some boards are designed to showcase each and every member of management by having everybody lead a 20-minute update only to find out that no time has been allotted for discussion or debate. Some board members spend all of their time in the meeting on electronic devices doing email or even checking social media.

Startup 269

Startup Venture Capital Layoffs Resource 269

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2013

ABC Family, Fox, Universal Music, Google, Facebook, Demand Media, MyLife, Riot Games, DFJ Frontier, Rustic Canyon, GRP Partners, Siemer and Associates, Marketshare, Saatchi Online, OMD, Ignited, Rubicon Project, Smashbox Cosmetics, NFL, UCLA, USC, and dozens of start-ups. Opening Party hosted by Demand Media with KCRW at the Viceroy.

GRP Partners 88

GRP Partners MyLife Dollar Shave Club Santa Monica 88

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 29, 2013

Have you received any funding yet? No, we are currently self funded but entertaining offers. Scroll through available promotions and perks and submit their photo either from their camera roll or via Instagram by tagging their photo with a designated hashtag. How does it work? Users connect their Instagram account with SnapMyAd.

Advertising 98

Advertising Social Media Entertainment Media 98

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 16, 2019

In an interview with The Verge last year, Bartasi said she’s taken inspiration from SoulCycle and DryBar, companies whose millennial-focused branding strategies and prolific social media presences have helped them accumulate customers. “We are women designing for women.

Mobile 167

Mobile Pricing Social Network Los Angeles 167

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

Create a business plan online, but don’t wait for funding. You no longer need to travel to China or hire an expensive prototyping expert to mock up your new design. Take advantage of social media and free websites for marketing. Site marketing is easily extended through blogs, Twitter, Facebook and social media.

Startup 108

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Outsource Development 108

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2012

How do you sort through all that social media activity you are driving, and figure out who really cares about what you're posting? Mark Sylvester sat down with us to talk about the new project, and how it's applying what they've learned building their visual analysis tools to the world of Facebook and social media.

Social Media 203

Social Media Startup Tool LAMP 203

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2010

So many CEO’s just carry on being … CEO’s –> fund raise, get media attention, attend conferences, hire staff, “set direction&# , whatever. But this leads to organizational drift because staff will continue to produce “work.&#. Let me give you an example. Similar with product features.

Startup 323

Startup Press Development Team Review SEM 323

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Amplify’s close mentoring is by design. Amplify’s portfolio companies are schooled on every challenge they need to master in order to achieve success. And they do all this in the span of four intense months. Amplify Mentor Panel in full swing. That is not to say the Partners are breathing down their neck.

Web Design 40

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 40

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Recycled Bride is the world’s largest wedding marketplace; a peer-to-peer platform that connects buyers and sellers of designer wedding dresses, accessories, and anything else wedding-related. Recycled Bride uses PayPal to hold the funds until the seller ships their item and enters a tracking number into the system.

Design 84

Design Social Media Sales Sites 84

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

socalTECH

OCTOBER 25, 2012

Tracy tells us how she bootstrapped her business by renting out both her bedrooms and sleeping on the couch--funding the startup via Airbnb--and is now scaling out the business with a new round of venture capital. Tracy DiNunzio: RecycledBride and Tradesy are same of the same company, Recycled Media. I didn't have any funding.

Startup 236

Startup Education Acquisition Funding 236

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 22, 2012

GraphEffect is a collaboration platform for social marketers which had only been available to large marketing partners including American Express, Toyota, Estee Lauder, Clorox, and Samsung. Venture Funding. It will allow them design,strategize,advertise,plan or just keep everyone on the same page.

Social Network 65

Social Network Marketing Networking Social Media 65

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 30, 2014

In order to support all of these teams, there are several on-campus startup competitions every year, from the Silicon Beach USC competition to the New Venture Seed Competition, with prize funds to help build the companies. With the ability to import images from social media, HipTraveler creates a shareable, searchable itinerary.

Competition 104

Competition Startup USC Southern California 104

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2015

We recently released the video sharing app Ferris and announced that Upfront Ventures led the funding in the company in our seed round of $2 million and I personally joined the board. We’ve tested tons of design concepts here and expect much innovation on this front in the future. Yes, we’ve only launched on iOS for now.

Invest 150

Invest Tool Product Startup 150