Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2022

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. Business ethics are more about religion than management or leadership. For example, people often do not automatically know that they are facing an ethical choice.

Entrepreneur 116

Entrepreneur Software Review Summary Examples 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2015

If you define your self-worth as an entrepreneur by how busy you are, it’s time to find another lifestyle. For survival, entrepreneurs need to be all about accomplishing results that matter for themselves, their team, and their customers. That’s productivity. That is a huge hit on productivity. Why is this so hard?

Product 111

Product Entrepreneur Framework Social Media 111

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. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

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. For example, I worked with an entrepreneur a while back who was clearly intelligent, had a great idea, and communicated well. I sometimes find entrepreneurs who highlight that their strength is “ideas.”

Entrepreneur 136

Entrepreneur Ideas Examples Mentor 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2020

In my experience with entrepreneurs, there seems to a wealth of self-proclaimed “idea people” who aspire to start businesses, but only a few who are willing and able to dig in and get the job done. Only rare great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, have proven to be both. Detailed product specifications and prototypes.

Ideas 122

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup IBM 122

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. It starts with documenting and communicating a real purpose and mission in terms everyone can get excited about.

Entrepreneur 173

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Technical Review 173

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. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Product 101

Product Entrepreneur Summary Activity 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2020

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have new ideas on a regular basis, and find it hard deciding which to pursue, or try to tackle several at the same time. In addition to personal focus, I find that the best entrepreneurs build and demand a culture of focus and excellence in their team, their investors, and even their advisors.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Startup Patents Resource 126

socalTECH

MAY 1, 2019

We caught up with Brian to hear more about the startup. What I realized, when we started LegalZoom 18 years ago, is there were lots of instances where simple legal documents were enough for people, where they could do those legal filings on their own. It's not about establishing a relationship with a lawyer.

Legalzoom 127

Legalzoom Startup Incubator Services 127

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2016

If you define your self-worth as an entrepreneur by how busy you are, it’s time to find another lifestyle. For survival, entrepreneurs need to be all about accomplishing results that matter for themselves, their team, and their customers. That’s productivity. That is a huge hit on productivity. Why is this so hard?

Product 60

Product Entrepreneur Framework Social Media 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2021

If you define your self-worth as an entrepreneur by how busy you are, it’s time to find another lifestyle. For survival, entrepreneurs need to be all about accomplishing results that matter for themselves, their team, and their customers. That’s productivity. That is a huge hit on productivity. Why is this so hard?

Framework 153

Framework Product Entrepreneur Social Media 153

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2019

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. Business ethics are more about religion than management or leadership. For example, people often do not automatically know that they are facing an ethical choice.

Software Review 77

Software Review Summary Examples Offshore 77

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 30, 2021

Several times in my investing life, as the final board member making the arrangements to dispose of remaining assets, I have literally been the one to turn out the lights, carry out the documents, books and records to my car, and become the only remaining contact between the failed business and the investors, bankruptcy court, or creditors.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Training Invest Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I originally conceived it as the Top 11 things that I believe “all entrepreneurs need to succeed.&# If it stuck to this theme then I would stand by my top 11. It isn’t a “must&# for me but it’s certainly a huge positive when entrepreneurs have it. Are you launching a mobile application?

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

Many new entrepreneurs are so excited by their latest idea that they can’t resist contacting every investor they know, assuming the investor will be equally excited and want to contribute immediately. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Both of these approaches are a waste of your time and theirs.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Startup Statistics Social Media 109

socalTECH

MARCH 4, 2010

Recently, Santa Monica-based Docstoc (www.docstoc.com) launched a new marketplace on its site, for anyone interested in selling professional documents. We thought we'd get the background on the new effort directly from Jason Nazar , CEO and founder of Docstoc, to learn more about the new service. A year ago, we were around 3.5

Technical Review 171

Technical Review Rustic Canyon Screening Startup 171

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We operate at scale and speed unprecedented in human history.” * I first wrote about the changes to the Venture Capital ecosystem 10 years ago and this still serves as a good primer of how we arrived at 2011, a decade on from the Web 1.0 And the truth is that several entrepreneurs prefer it this way. dot-com bonanza.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Berkonomics

AUGUST 13, 2020

In fact, many angel investors or venture capitalists look for and respect the lessons learned by entrepreneurs that have survived a failed business. The key question is: Why did an entrepreneur fail? A successful entrepreneur who has seen the movie before is even more valued. “Was this a failed idea from the start?”.

Startup 156

Startup Entrepreneur Venture Capital Course 156

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I wanted to also post the series here to have it as a resource on my blog for future entrepreneurs who stop by. If you haven’t spent time over there you should.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2020

There is so much confusion and misinformation out there about the government sponsored “payroll protection plan” loans to companies that the heads of every small business CEO in the country must be spinning. We have been advising a lot of entrepreneurs so I thought I’d “open source” some of the advice I have been sharing. what is that?

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Doc 279

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Many new entrepreneurs are so excited by their latest idea that they can’t resist contacting every investor they know, assuming the investor will be equally excited and want to contribute immediately. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Both of these approaches are a waste of your time and theirs.

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

Every entrepreneur I know feels the pressure of the thousands of things that need to get done, all seemingly at the same time. The real solution is better productivity and less procrastination, to put you back in control of your business. Being a good role model is productive, but trying to control others is fruitless.

Tips 100

Tips Activity Startup Product 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2021

Based on my experience as a business advisor, I’m convinced that most startup investors invest in the entrepreneur, as much as a solution or product. The attitude of taking nothing for granted, of disbelieving the conventional wisdom, of challenging the way things are done, is essential for a winning entrepreneur.

Startup 162

Startup Entrepreneur IBM IBM 162

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

You don’t need to invent an innovative product to be a real entrepreneur. Self-employed services specialists are just as important, and are a growing part of this new “ age of the entrepreneur ” that I discussed last week. Many of these new entrepreneurs were regular employees a few years ago, focused on a skill specialty.

Entrepreneur 89

Entrepreneur Services Product Search Engine Optimization 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2023

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. A software product is a classic example of a scalable solution, since it costs real money to build the first copy, but unlimited additional copies can be quickly cloned for almost no incremental cost.

Tips 135

Tips Invest Startup Outsource 135

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. It usually takes more than you can collect just to build and deliver the product. Startup revenues come later.

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2013

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. Business ethics are more about religion than management or leadership. entrepreneur culture startup ethics growth business' The reality is different.

Software Review 100

Software Review Summary Examples Offshore 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you. Written business plan.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 15, 2009

Steve Gilison worked as a market researcher and product manager at a startup where my company, TechEmpower , did the software / web development. Remind me about your background Steve? I have about 11 years in the technology sector including roles doing market research, sales and product development. I can see that.

Los Angeles 179

Los Angeles Product Angel Startup 179

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2021

One of the most important skills for every entrepreneur is timely and effective decision making. The best entrepreneurs relish this role, while others struggle mightily and ultimately lose their health and their company. Success in business is all about actions, not ideas. In a startup, any decision is better than no decision.

Startup 140

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Coach 140

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2022

These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, pitching their latest and greatest new idea, and looking for someone to give them money. Talk is cheap, but entrepreneurs who show you a working model of their idea know how to execute. Reduce the time to production and rollout. Quantify the implementation challenges.

Outsource Development 110

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2021

You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process. Every aspect of your business must be about sales. Resilience is the life skill of a business.

Customer 136

Customer Custom Sales Social Media 136

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2015

Most of the technologists I know inherently believe that the terms inventor and entrepreneur mean the same thing, so they are frustrated and surprised when they build their products and no business evolves. Inventors focus on building a product, which investors often tag as a “solution looking for a problem.”

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Pricing Customer Custom 106

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2021

For today's interview, we sat down and chatted with >Zeb Evans, the founder and CEO of San Diego-based ClickUp (www.clickup.com), the developer of a workplace productivity software platform which is based by such companies as Google, Airbnb, and Nike. Zeb Evans: From a product perspective, we have everything for everyone.

Doc 203

Doc San Diego Demand Product 203

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process. Every aspect of your business must be about sales. Resilience is the life skill of a business.

Sales 82

Sales Entrepreneur Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2018

Many experts will tell you that you can’t succeed as a part-time entrepreneur, as any good startup will require a 100 percent commitment of your time and energy. Thus I often recommend that entrepreneurs keep their day job until the startup is producing revenue. Learning to manage your own time is critical.

Ideas 102

Ideas Entrepreneur Tips Startup 102

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

Many new entrepreneurs are so excited by their latest idea that they can’t resist contacting every investor they know, assuming the investor will be equally excited and want to contribute immediately. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Both of these approaches are a waste of your time and theirs.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124