Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2018

One of the lessons I have learned over the years as a business executive, and now as a mentor to entrepreneurs, is that if you really want employees who enthusiastically take ownership of their work, you have to start treating them like owners, not renters. These include the following: Clearly communicate the big picture, and current reality.

Mentor

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

Your most talented developer quits because he thinks his boss is a fuckwit and he can’t work with her any more. More developers? In my experience entrepreneurs too worried about being loved make poor decisions and thus poor leaders. Entrepreneurs should care more about respect. What do you do?

Entrepreneur

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2013

I was never into spicy foods growing up but after living in the UK for nearly a decade and having so much great Indian food around me all of the time I developed more of a taste for it. How much could the new generation of entrepreneurs learn from that? My own fascination with hot sauces began a few years ago.

Entrepreneur

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 9, 2020

The Los Angeles-based app development shop, V/One , is giving away 50,000 free mobile app builds through the rest of April as the company officially launches its platform for would-be, LA-based mobile app moguls. Since its soft launch, December 20th of last year, the app development company has built over 100 new applications.

Mobile

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. I think there is also no denying the role that Richard Rosenblatt has played in building the LA tech ecosystem and spawning great entrepreneurs who followed in his footsteps. “There’s something going on in LA.”

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2020

As I was watching the investor show, Shark Tank , on TV the other night, I was struck by how quickly and how extensively the sharks focused on the background and character of the entrepreneurs, compared to time spent evaluating their products. Today’s world of business is highly driven by social issues and environmental concerns.

Entrepreneur

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 22, 2018

In an attempt to boost diversity and inclusion efforts and civic engagement between the growing technology industry in Los Angeles and the community that surrounds it, over 80 venture capitalists and entrepreneurs joined the city’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, and the non-profit Annenberg Foundation to announce PledgeLA.

Los Angeles

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2021

The best part of being an entrepreneur is having the independence to make your own decisions, the flexibility for a better work/life balance, and personal satisfaction from driving change. The road to business success is filled with challenges and frustrations that most aspiring entrepreneurs never even imagined.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2021

As an angel investor in early-stage startups, I’ve long noticed my peers apparent bias toward the strength and character of the founding entrepreneurs, often overriding a strong solution to a painful problem with a big opportunity. Developed a higher level of mental complexity. In both cases, the beliefs tended to become realities.

Entrepreneur

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 22, 2018

Founded by Steve Poizner last year to accelerate the growth of a startup entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southern California, The Alliance is building a network of investors, entrepreneurs and universities to provide ballast in the south to the dominance of the Northern California tech industry.

Southern California

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

After seeing Chamillionaire interact with several entrepreneurs both at events and as an investor I started introducing him to startups in an advisory capacity. So we discussed his moving to LA for a while and working in our offices and developing his ideas and we decided to formalize it. Welcome to the family. Startup Lessons'

Conference

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

A continuing question I hear from young entrepreneurs is whether a university degree is important to startup success, or just a distraction in achieving their purpose in the world. Every school recognizes the power of “hands-on” work to help you develop your own ideas into a business. Write a business plan and pitch deck for learning.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2021

Yet every business and every entrepreneur I know struggles with this challenge, focused on hiring the right people and implementing the right process. I was happy to see my own view reinforced in the classic book, “ Innovation Thinking Methods for the Modern Entrepreneur ,” by long-time entrepreneur and innovation expert Osama A.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most have the technical challenges well understood, but many are a bit short on some basic street smarts , or basic business realities. Your leadership skills do not develop without effort. Even the best college degree is not a substitute.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2023

Over my many years of mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs and business professionals, I often hear a desire to start a new business, with a big hesitation while waiting for that perfect idea and perfect alignment of the stars. None of us has the skills and interests for all aspects of developing an idea, as well as growing a new business.

Technical Review

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

A-Frame , a Los Angeles-based developer of personal care brands supported by celebrities, has raised $2 million in a new round of funding led by Initialized Capital. ” So far, the company has worked with CAA, UTA and WME on all of the brands in development, Bloom said. We create an entity that we spin out.

Incubator

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

Entrepreneurs are well positioned to become the new leaders, because they perceive problems as opportunities, and have the mental mindset to innovate and execute. He urges people to focus on developing a few key relationship skills, and I agree. This is not a skill everyone is born with, but it’s a skill we can all develop.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2021

Some people even believe that entrepreneurs must be born with the right genes, and no element of education is relevant. In my view, the most effective entrepreneurs are those with a background of an array of real-life experiences, both positive and negative, as well as good academic and coaching activities.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. Now you can do it for free, or a few hundred dollars, with one of the many web building tools available, like Shopify or Weebly.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2022

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. According to Tim Cook at Apple, there are over 34 million registered developers in 2022. Above all, don’t forget to develop a comprehensive marketing and promotion strategy.

Development

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2021

In my many years of experience in business, and recent work as a mentor to entrepreneurs, I have seen the business world change, and can relate well to his five success practices paraphrased here: Build the team from people with a shared obsession. For team members, the ongoing challenge is figuring out what not to do.

Class

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

You can’t survive as an entrepreneur without resilience, because you are going to fail at least once, maybe multiple times. If you need more evidence that great entrepreneurs survived through resilience, just look into the backgrounds of more recent entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk. Then they get it done.

Entrepreneur

Berkonomics

AUGUST 8, 2024

After speaking with many entrepreneurs over the years, each defines success in his or her unique way. To others, it is simply a way to express a talent for art, cooking, consulting, management, development or more. Then again, with the fifty percent rule, aren’t all entrepreneurs a bit insane to start?

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2022

The answer is a resounding yes today, and I’m convinced that it will be even more true tomorrow, as young idealistic entrepreneurs try to adapt to the long-standing business culture if success is only measured in the money you make for yourself and your business. Look for a mix of talent and balance in your support team.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2020

In retrospect, however, Bill Gates did a lot of things right as a startup that I still look for today in aspiring entrepreneurs and their companies: Build a strong team. Microsoft spent a huge amount of time and money with software developers for applications, and with hardware manufacturers to support multiple PC platforms.

IBM

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2022

Some people are not cut out to be entrepreneurs. I’ve hit this before, but I still hear from too many unhappy entrepreneurs. I’ve hit this before, but I still hear from too many unhappy entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs do not function well in traditional organizations and do not like being in the conventional management hierarchy.

Entrepreneur

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I often talk about what I’m looking for when I meet with an entrepreneur. Above all else I’m looking for a genuine passion for what the entrepreneur is doing. You can sense when it is a “mission” for this entrepreneur to succeed and she will continue the journey even if success isn’t easy or immediate.

Venture Capital

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2022

I saw these summarized clearly in a new book, “ BUILD ,” by a well-known entrepreneur and technologist from Silicon Valley, Tony Fadell. Primarily for these reasons, I always recommend that new entrepreneurs and startups assemble a qualified Advisory Board or Board of Directors early in their lifecycle.

Develop

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2015

” And yet we entrepreneurs who will sign up for the journey accept that failure is a possibility and the true entrepreneurs know that they must stick with the ship even if it’s sinking. First time entrepreneurs can fall prey to hubris. But markets don’t generally love failure. Yet failure smells.

Startup

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Even if those estimates are overblown, investor have already backed companies developing reusable rockets, 3D printing technologies, advanced materials, miniature satellites and other space-related technologies to the tune of at least $2.3 billion over the last year.

Los Angeles

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. Do fewer business development deals but make the ones you do have more impact.

Software Review

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2023

Entrepreneurs seem more quickly frustrated these days when their “million-dollar idea” doesn’t turn into a sustainable business overnight. So why do entrepreneurs think that building a business is intuitively obvious, and should happen overnight?

Entrepreneur

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. They had all of their character development started (they showed up mock-ups) and the basic gameplay for Game 1 was through through (but not yet built). We all loved Andrew & Petri and their vision.

Funding

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

*. What is the role of a VC for entrepreneurs? I was recently contacted by an entrepreneur who was consider a few different business models for his company. My job isn’t to predict markets but rather to find entrepreneurs who want to create markets through insight and conviction.” ” I responded.

Venture Capital

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2021

In my own work as an advisor to many entrepreneurs and startups, I see many who are focused on that single big disruptive innovation that will change the world. Kaplan is a leading expert in building innovation cultures, and speaks from his real-world experience with many companies, as well as academic study.

Develop

Tech.Co

MAY 16, 2024

However, despite growing optimism, the path to success for Black entrepreneurs is still paved with systematic barriers in 2024. Power Forward Small Business Grant Black Founder Startup Grant Powershift Entrepreneurs Grant NAACP and Lelsie’s Certification Boost Grant U.S. 🌎 Or appear as if you're in another country?

Design

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2021, from 280 to 360 out of 100,000 of the adult population. Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. The cost of social media done well is low.

Entrepreneur