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Here’s the question: This piece of wisdom came from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, during a board meeting for one of the companies where he sits as board member. Jeff asked the question “Is there anything big or small, which is working better than you expected? Is there anywhere we could double down?”. What a great insight. Bezos’ point was that we spend a lot of time focusing on what’s not working in Board meetings (especially during difficult times) and not enough time focusing on what is sur
Paying bills is hardly a fun thing. So I think it’s safe to say that any technology that can make the process easier is welcome by all. Papaya is a Los Angeles-based startup with a mission to do just that. It has developed technology to give people a way to pay bills outside of traditional methods, such as through the mail, over the phone or via a Web portal.
Goleta-based gallium nitride (GaN) power conversion semiconductor developer Transphorm says it has received $12.9M in a private placement. The publicly traded company (OTC) said the funding came from MCM Investment Partners, as well as Boardman Bay Capital Management. The company said the investments come as a part of a plan to uplist its shares of common stock on the Nasdaq.
Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.
It takes an effective team to attract and serve a community in business these days. With real-time online reviews and feedback via the Internet, and instant relationships via social media, a voice from the top that is inconsistent with what is heard from the firing line defines a dysfunctional and noncompetitive company for today’s customer. Thus team makeup is the critical success factor.
Networks play a vital role in supporting tech startup growth objectives. However, many small businesses may struggle with operational costs and scaling their networks effectively. By leveraging managed network services , startups can offload time-consuming maintenance tasks and strengthen their IT infrastructure to increase their competitiveness. . Below you will learn about how managed solutions address the largest network-related challenges facing tech startups.
In my life as an early-stage investor, I’ve been closely involved with so many businesses, there were bound to be numerous stories of actual and near failures, hopefully from which to learn lessons for all of us as we go forward. The emotions we feel when “turning out the lights.”. 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 t
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In my life as an early-stage investor, I’ve been closely involved with so many businesses, there were bound to be numerous stories of actual and near failures, hopefully from which to learn lessons for all of us as we go forward. The emotions we feel when “turning out the lights.”. 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 t
Tagger Media Inc. received an additional $15 million in funding from Five Elms Capital following a $8.5 million Series A investment by the firm earlier this year.
Another travel startup that found itself scrambling to pivot as the COVID-19 pandemic took off is now announcing a huge round of funding after finding its feet and proving that it can grow, even under adverse circumstances. AvantStay — which has built a platform where it decorates and then lists properties owned by others for people to rent out for vacations or other short-term stays — has raised $160 million in a Series B round of funding.
La Jolla-based GoSecure, a provider of managed security services, said today that it has acquired Covail, a security and risk optimization and automation company. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. GoSecure said it will use Covail's expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) to augment its platform. GoSecure is led by CEO Neal Creighton.
As a long-time business advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs, I’ve always been impressed with the few who seem to always come out ahead, no matter what the challenge. It seems to be more a function of mindset and principles, more than education or natural ability. I’m convinced that we all have a similar potential, if we practice the right principles and persevere through thick and thin.
Malicious attackers perceive tech startups as vulnerable, valuable targets: startups often have fewer infrastructure protections and smaller IT teams than their more established counterparts, and multiple connections to larger companies with lucrative data. . In the past year, 42% of small businesses experienced a cyberattack. Those incidents took several forms: . 23.7% were phishing attacks. 18.6% were data breaches. 15.6% were malware attacks. 14.8% were denial of service (DOS) attacks. 11.3%
Digging through your IP closet for gold…. In past years, several times a month I’d have lunch with one of my CEOs, and each time we’d find ourselves digging into the intellectual property developed by the company over the years, just to refresh ourselves about what the intended use was back then and whether new developments or technologies might make these older ideas and patents relevant again.
SEA Electric Holdings in Torrance announced it’s working with an Illinois-based bus and van dealer on modernizing approximately 10,000 used school buses by replacing their diesel engines with its proprietary battery electric power system.
In a bid to make it easier for consumers to get personalized wine recommendations, San Luis Obispo-based startup Tastry said it has launched a new artificial intelligence-powered service for wine recommendations. The company said its service, Tastry Uncorked, is an artificial intelligence tool which provides personalized wine recommendations for online retailers and wineries.
Here’s the argument: Many people believe that bottom-up budgeting leads to waste and misdirection. The advocates of top-down budgeting are strong in their belief that if you give each person or department no guidance, they will budget to their wants or specific needs, not to those that support a corporate goal. Why some CEO’s argue to budget from the top.
Based on my experience in business, it takes a team that works together to be successful, in conjunction with leadership from the top. You may be able to establish a startup while working alone, or managing autocratically , but long-term business growth and success requires the power of effective group relationships to achieve exceptional engagement , team alignment, and results.
An all-too-common question I get from startups and small businesses is “Which is the right social media platform for my business?” Is it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or one of the other 200 active platforms vying for attention these days? The right answer is that not all of these are worth your attention, but it’s probably more than one. The “Tyranny of the OR” is a concept from the old classic business best-seller “ Built to Last ,” by James C.
When I started mentoring entrepreneurs and startups a few years ago, I anticipated that I would get mostly tough technical questions, but instead I more often hear things like “Where do I start?” I find that the basics are actually the hardest to answer, just like your parents found out when they first tried to fill you in on the “facts of life” a long time ago.
An entrepreneur lifestyle that continues to gain in popularity these days is being a “social entrepreneur.” In the simplest of terms, these are people who seek to generate “social value”, rather than profits, and use traditional business principles to provide solutions to social issues On the surface, this sounds like entrepreneurs who want to build a non-profit organization.
During my many years in business, both as a professional and an entrepreneur, I always wished I knew the secret to success. Although I was never able to pinpoint any single one, I have gathered some insights which I’m certain are key. In more recent years as a mentor and angel investor, I’ve been even more determined to pass this guidance to those now entering the workforce.
Today’s customers are overloaded and overwhelmed by too much information, so making a decision is a challenge. 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.
If you want people to invest in your idea, then my best advice is first write a business plan, and keep it simple. Don't confuse your business plan with a doctoral thesis or the back of a napkin. Keep the wording and formatting straightforward, and keep the plan short. For minimum content, see my original article “ These 10 Key Elements Make a Business Plan Fundable.
In my role as mentor to many of you aspiring entrepreneurs, I often find you convinced that all you need to start is a unique innovation or idea , and now you are ready to jump in with both feet and enjoy the ride. Unfortunately, from my own experience, it’s not that simple, and not doing some preparation first can easily result in stress, lack of satisfaction, and a hard road to success.
I’m often surprised when you as an aspiring entrepreneur, looking for investors, tell me your solution is so innovative that you don’t have to worry about differentiating it from competitors, and customers will flock to it without a real marketing campaign. Unfortunately, what I see in this Internet age is information overload, and new product differentiation is harder than ever before.
Every entrepreneur seeking funding loves the challenge of getting customers and investors excited, but dreads the thought of negotiating the terms of a deal with potential investors. They are naturally reluctant to step out of the friendly and familiar business territory into the unfamiliar battlefield of venture capitalists from which few escape unscathed.
The recent world-wide health pandemic has highlighted again how fast things can and do change in the environment today, and it’s up to you to make sure your business can survive and thrive in this new world. As the current supply chain problems illustrate, we are all interconnected , and can no longer run our businesses without consideration for all the other businesses and society.
If you are an entrepreneur these days, or trying to grow an existing business, everyone is telling you that you need to use social media. There are many ‘experts’ out there telling you how to do it, or even offering their services. But very few are talking about how to measure your results and return on investment (ROI), and the right metrics for optimizing your marketing environment.
San Diego-based SkySafe, which develops drone defense and airspace security systems, has raised $30M in a Series B funding round, according to the company. The round was led by Kingfisher Investment Advisors, and also included Gaingels, Castor Ventures, plus Andreessen Horowitz. The company says it has now raised $45M in total. The company will use the funding for hiring, R&D, and expanded production.
Los Angeles-based startup, Nanotech Energy, is pitching customized, non-flammable Lithium-ion battery packs, saying it plans to deliver its products by Q4 of 2022. The company said it is developing graphene-based batteries and pouch cell battery packs, which it says can be used to power electric vehicles, bikes and scooters. The company has yet to deliver any products to market, but says it is now taking pre-orders for the yet-to-be-developed products.
Smart potential customers only visit and buy from credible and memorable websites. In the past, if your startup had a website presence, the company was credible by definition. In today’s world, a website is necessary but not sufficient for credibility. Dreamers and gamblers have found out that if the website isn’t validated as credible, it’s probably a scam, and everyone loses.
As I talk to many of you in my role as business advisor, I still often hear the concern for maximum return to the business and stakeholders, more than a passion for sustainably enriching the lives of your customers and team. In this age of instant and global communication via social media and the Internet, I see more and more evidence that delighted customers should be your top priority.
Long Beach-based Virgin Orbit, which is developing satellite launch systems, says it has partnered with signals intelligence provider Horizon Technologies. Financial details of the deal were not announced, however, Virgin Orbit said it will become Horizon's preferred launch partner, will take an equity stake in the company, and will appoint a Virgin Orbit representative to Horizon's board.
In a blow to the return to normal for the tech industry, a number of companies--including Amazon, Meta, and Twitter--announced yesterday that they will not be attending what had been expected to be the first, in-person Consumer Electronics Show since the beginning of this pandemic. CES--which had run an online event early in 2021--had announced they would be going back to in-person events for 2022.
Another glitch in Amazon Web Services this morning briefly took down a large number of services this morning, including Slack, Hulu, and others, due to what AWS reported was a power outage at a data center. According to the Amazon Web Services Dashboard a power outage at a data center affected its US-EAST-1 region, with continuing issues now with the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.
Los Angeles-based VYRNT, a startup developing an e-commerce platform for NTFs, says it has raised $1.5M in an initial funding. The company said the funding came from Jaycen Joshua (owner of Canton House Studios), and Steve Miller, (co-founder of Anomaly Create). The company said it is working on a "next-generation e-Commerce platform for NFTs focused on the Metaverse".
Los Angeles-based Sketchy, an educational technology company known for creating visual study tools, says it is taking aim at the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) in a deal with Blueprint, a provider of MCAT prep products. Financial details of the deal were not announced. The companies said the two have partnered to help students prepare for the MCAT.
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