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 173

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Technical Review 173

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Social media is not rocket science.

Search Engine Optimization 103

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 103

SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

But, advisors, coaches, and mentors can often fill the bill. While Bob’s post focuses on Technology Advisors and the Startup Founder Developer Gap , we also discussed advisors more broadly. In creating Mentor Night , I’ve been happy to hear how giving most people are. That’s great advice.

CTO Coach 241

CTO Coach Startup CTO Hire Template 241

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

The accelerator said that the demo day is a culmination of its latest three month program, which included ten new companies in mentoring, collaboration, funding, and access to its network of investors and entrepreneurs. 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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2022

Many of you business leaders I work with, and entrepreneurs I mentor, have a great strategy and an innovative solution , but struggle with building and motivating the team necessary to run your business. As a good solution developer, it’s easy for you to see team members only as components of your business solution.

Mentor 108

Mentor Social Media Coach Customer 108

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Almost every entrepreneur and new business owner I mentor is certain that his/her idea has a very high probability of success, and all find it hard to believe that ninety percent of startups ultimately fail. I once met with an entrepreneur who had developed a new algae strain to cure world hunger and make him rich.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Beware of Mentors. In both cases, I was the mentor telling the person that the idea, as I understood it was "not great." The Fallacy of Customer Development Hubris Versus Humility: The $15 billion Difference Less is More, More or Less Yes, but who said they’d actually BUY the damn thing? billion dollar mistake.

Customer 227

Customer Custom CTO Coach Startup 227

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

As a business mentor, I sometimes feel besieged by people begging for my view and support of their latest idea. There are lots of resources available for that question, including the Internet and mentors like me. Start by developing an “elevator pitch” that you can deliver in 30 seconds to hook a potential investor.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Tech.Co

JANUARY 29, 2018

Add Mentors to Your Roster. Regardless of one’s stage, mentors are a must have for any founder. Through the CTA Mentor program, these individuals can help founders foresee roadblocks and challenges, work through regulations, offer perspectives, help one fine tune pitches and asks, introduce them to the right people, and more.

Startup 87

Startup Mentor Artificial Inteligence Research 87

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 8, 2021

In a small industrial park located nearly halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, one company is claiming to have hit a milestone in the development of a new technology for generating power from nuclear fusion. Then the company needed to develop other technologies like vacuum conditioning. “The energy is super tiny.

Technology 354

Technology Artificial Inteligence Google Orange County 354

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

As an introvert myself, I remember worrying that I could never be comfortable giving a sales pitch, or networking to find clients. Asking someone to be your mentor is not a sign of weakness, and most mentors love to help. Develop and practice your business vision and story.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Social media is not rocket science.

Search Engine Optimization 124

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

As a mentor and advisor to entrepreneurs and startups, and an angel investor, my passion is to find and nurture those entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas and acumen, to make them into successful business owners. Startup and development stage. Even fewer are able to grow the startup into a viable business.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Satisfaction 108

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

He also still gets excited to donate one percent of sales to environmental groups around the world. Innovative technologies require iterative development, while other ideas are primarily marketing and financial. Assess who you can get for value and mentoring. Document and communicate a solid business plan.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2021

As an entrepreneur mentor, my mission is to foster the attributes in you as a startup founder that I believe will lead to success. Idea people must surround themselves with people who build momentum and get things done, including production, marketing, finance, and sales. Paul Allen was the idea visionary.

Entrepreneur 136

Entrepreneur Ideas Examples Mentor 136

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2020

As a business advisor, I have too often seen technical entrepreneurs get a product or service off the ground with ease, but then struggle mightily when their business reaches a couple of million in annual sales, or the employee count grows beyond a handful. Spend real time on people development and succession planning.

Startup 125

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 125

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2021

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. They run into difficulty when their business reaches the $1-2 million annual sales range, or their employee count exceeds 5-10. Staff properly at every level. These are all skills you can learn.

Startup 171

Startup Organization Training Entrepreneur 171

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2021

The right first step is to go back to your goals to focus on the real limiting factors when you encounter problems with sales, growth, profitability, market share, or costs. Many techniques have been developed, such as brainstorming , to expand your thinking and identify up to twenty solutions for a given problem.

Startup 140

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Coach 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

Boomer investors are much more likely to get in the game with a high focus on mentoring and give-back, as well as the financial return potential. On the other hand, there are some roles in a startup where Boomers are probably not the best candidates: Constantly-on-the-road sales territory management roles.

Startup 124

Startup Technical Review Software Review Entrepreneur 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2019

In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. In the end, engagement drives customer retention, sales, growth and profit. Priority is placed on employee mentoring and coaching. Leaders need direct and open team communication.

Coach 94

Coach Organization Mentor Startup 94

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Funding is depleted before customer sales ramp up.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2019

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have no idea how dramatically your own role has to evolve as you develop a solution, start a business, and expect it to scale into a successful self-managed company. Thus my job as a small business advisor really is really more about getting you developed than perfecting the business.

Company 99

Company Companies Technical Review Startup 99

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

They did development in SF and had the ad sales team in NY. At every entrepreneur event I through between 2008-2012 I invite Hamet because he was a great mentor for entrepreneurs. For starters they has asked him to hire a CEO (Hamet was a first timer) and that person lived in Seattle even though NextMedium was based in LA.

Invest 340

Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2012

There is a large menu of startup accelerators in the Los Angeles, but one of more established efforts in the area is LaunchpadLA ([link] The effort actually started as an informal mentoring program, but has grown and expanded to follow the accelerator model. We're really excited for the next steps. Sam Teller: Great question.

Class 261

Class Mentor Startup Santa Monica 261

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 18, 2010

Encourage the most successful LA tech entrepreneurs who had previously started companies to get involved as mentors, instructors or just informal advisors. He was able to raise money from a VC in Minneapolis called Split Rock , grow the business to over $200 million in sales and sell to Experian for nearly $380 million.

Technical Review 259

Technical Review Venture Capital Southern California Tech Coast Angels 259

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

As an advisor and mentor for many startups and small business founders, following my initial career in big business, I realize that the key strategies to achieve success in small businesses are often different from those that make larger businesses successful. Sharing the same space also facilitates creativity.

Sales 69

Sales Organization Entrepreneur Examples 69

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2022

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. The other four are: new product development, writing, time management, and sales/marketing.

Marketing 113

Marketing Entrepreneur Customer Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2020

As a mentor and advisor to entrepreneurs and startups, and an angel investor, my passion is to find and nurture those entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas and acumen, to make them into successful business owners. Startup and development stage. Even fewer are able to grow the startup into a viable business.

Ideas 127

Ideas Entrepreneur Satisfaction Summary 127

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I spent my first year developing proprietary deal flow and learning the business and then the Sept 2008 / Lehman Bros collapse / financial meltdown happened. Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 years ago.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2017

In fact, I just finished a new book, “ Winning from Failing ,” by business development and sales productivity expert Josh Seibert, which extends this principle as well to large corporate organizations seeking to improve their productivity and success. Establish mentoring and coaching relationships.

Coach 57

Coach Mentor Organization Entrepreneur 57

Tech.Co

JANUARY 10, 2018

To have a successful sales strategy, it would behoove you to include women’s voices on your team, even if you’re selling [a men’s product].”. All founders agreed that by adding female mentors or board members to the mix helped them gain a stronger perspective of their potential customers to attract more business. “As Final Thoughts.

Tips 71

Tips Customer Custom Dollar Shave Club 71

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

The best ones bring in more executive leadership so you can appropriate allocate resources across sales, marketing, product, engineering and support. At the B-round great teams often hire their first business development person. You’re the coach, mentor, cheerleader. Objection Handling training.

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Social media is not rocket science.

Startup 89

Startup Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 89

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2017

In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. In the end, engagement drives customer retention, sales, growth and profit. Priority is placed on employee mentoring and coaching. Leaders need direct and open team communication.

Entrepreneur 78

Entrepreneur Coach Organization Mentor 78

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 13, 2012

They've provided a completely free facility, furniture, Internet access, mentoring, sponsorship--all of those things are provided for free. After the sale, Rory [Editor's note: Rory Moore] asked me if I wanted to take this to the next level. That's through the generosity of the Irvine Company. It's a unique, community supported model.

Incubator 212

Incubator San Diego Technical Review Development Team Review 212

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Due to the language and culture issues in Europe we opted for a country structure with an MD in each country and local sales, marketing & customers support staff. This is akin in the US to having sales staff in NY, SF & LA with your HQ in one of these locations. But it wasn’t just about company structures.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Sales Customer 319

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2015

Convert Graduate-Founders Into Mentors. Bringing an accelerators’ graduates back as mentors provides value to the next class, certainly. If the sales aren’t there, it might be time for the entrepreneurs to either pivot or seek out a new venture.” Just like in the “old days,” sales still solve all problems.

Startup 100

Startup Class LAMP Santa Barbara 100