Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2017

How many times have investors heard startups start their pitch by touting that their technology is “disruptive?” What entrepreneurs forget or don’t realize is that most customers are wary of all technology, educating the market on new technology is expensive, takes a long time, and people buy problem solutions rather than technology.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Technology Startup Social Media 60

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 22, 2018

Apparently with a physical storefront where it can convince customers of the wonders of on-demand mobility. Update: TechCrunch has confirmed Lime’s plans for the store, and that the deal to build it came through Lime’s investor Fifth Wall Ventures that arranges partnerships between tech companies and real estate developers.

Santa Monica 221

Santa Monica Startup Technical Review Education 221

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

I found another name for this low-tech form of long distance TV show sharing in the New York Times: “sync-watching.” Beyond a simple phone call, far-flung friends are using any technical means possible—like Skype and live tweeting—to duplicate that cozy experience of sitting in front of the same TV together. See how it works here.).

Technical Review 40

Technical Review News Social Media Startup 40

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

David encourages entrepreneurs to stay away from the big tech firms (such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple) because they are hard to compete with. I believe entrepreneurs should, in David’s words, “build big businesses on the outskirts” but I don’t believe that Silicon Valley tech giants will outmaneuver startups.

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

In a bid to change that, there are a few groups working on helping women entrepreneurs, investors, and others, including the Pipeline Fellowship (www.pipelinefellowship.com), which recently launched itself into the Los Angeles market. It''s really a fantastic way to get mobilized. How does that investment process work?

Angel 276

Angel Invest Mentor Technical Review 276

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 1, 2012

From the phone in your pocket to the television hanging on your wall, apps have penetrated technology and they aren’t going anywhere. Smart technology doesn’t work without clever software to make it useful. Or do you toss your hat into the ring with an already existing concept, making a clone in hopes to snatch away market share?

Marketing 97

Marketing Startup Software Review Competition 97

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Fan Appz, a Santa Monica headquartered firm founded in 2010, and a Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) today Tuesday launched its Personalized Marketing Platform, a next-generation social media marketing solution set to help firms convert fans into customers and increase repeat purchases by turning good customers into great ones.

Platform 82

Platform Help Customer Custom 82

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2012

It's an intensely competitive market in developing games for the iPhone and other mobile platforms, with thousands and thousands of titles competing for attention from users. In 2010, we sold the game assets and name PlayScreen, which we had acquired, and formed a new company with some solid financial and technology guys.

Mobile 216

Mobile Startup Software Review Platform 216

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

I recommend you first review Dharmesh’s article and then listen to Naval’s thoughts. Venture Hacks is educating entrepreneurs on the game theory of how to raise venture capital. The core business we have built on is taking out-of-market startups and introducing them to investors. Capital is very mobile, but capitalists are not.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2013

The online flower delivery market is now an old and established market. round changes things for us, and will let us invest in infrastructure, build our team, invest in media, and also invest in technology to better leverage our spend on media. There are lots of online flower delivery services, in a pretty established market.

Services 215

Services Technical Review Startup Pricing 215

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 23, 2013

It’s a promotional video for a technology company. We talk tech, get a reminder of GumGum’s goals, and get some additional info on what they’re working hard on. “GumGum’s always been ahead of its time in what we’ve introduced to the market. ” Wait, what? And they do what? Why the shift?

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Advertising Google Screening 76

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

The early embrace of live streaming allows businesses to position themselves as ahead of the trend in emerging technologies and provide their stakeholders with compelling content. Technological advancements have made live video fun to capture and easy to share with a global audience in just a couple clicks. Real Estate.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Social Media Content Education 40

Inverted Software

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Millennials are more educated about healthy choices, are price sensitive and environmentally friendly. So which companies are ones seeing the most change in their sales as a result of Millennials making more educated choices? Millennials do their shopping online using a mobile device. Ecommerce made up 9.3% a year earlier.

Company 48

Company Companies Sales Education 48

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 26, 2016

This will also drive mobile usage and the growth of industries such as e-commerce and fintech, with a focus on streamlining and online task management integration tools supporting business use. In 2016, the price of mobile data will remain relatively stable. Mobile Growth Will Continue To Shape Our Lives.

Commerce 40

Commerce Mobile Technical Review Google 40

Tech.Co

JANUARY 10, 2018

In the Harvard Business Review Female Economy 2009 report, women purchasing power was predicted to control about $28 trillion in annual global consumer spending, if not more. If you as a founder don’t think that appealing to women should be a part of your marketing strategy, you are wrong, and will lose.

Tips 71

Tips Customer Custom Dollar Shave Club 71

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

It’s always fun debating companies with Dana because she’s always so knowledgeable on deals – particularly those in the digital media, ad-tech and eCommerce spaces. But truthfully both Dana and I are more aligned with the lean startup principles and believe you only go FAT when you’ve really proved out your product / market fit.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2013

only for the foreseeable future and that is due to banking laws. It’s not only the publishers; writers need to be educated too. We are hoping to educate new writers. We have to educate everyone to make sure the terms are known and you can plan accordingly. We expect to be a huge growth market. The form is dying.

Journal 90

Journal Startup Writing Media 90

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

mobile, locations, layering of services, data management, portability & more]. But AOL brought online services, email, chat and discussion boards to the masses and thus educated a generation that paved the way for others. Was it massively better software, better companies, better markets? The Past (1985-2002).

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Web 2.0 Startup 318

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

But why did Ring succeed when the entire market kept saying that Nest was going to be the winner? Why did Ring become an enormous success when it produced a hardware product and the market keeps saying, “hardware is too difficult to scale?” Here are my views … 1. we were sold on the concept immediately. We weren’t sure.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. But more broadly it got me thinking to one of the biggest mistakes tech executives get into in the first place. Guy Kawasaki said it best (paraphrasing), “you can’t do great marketing with a bad product.&# Robert’s article is worth reading.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations. I started showing my partners more deals that I found interesting and doing loads of analysis on the future of markets I thought were ripe for disruption. The market had tanked.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305