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Entity Academy, an edtech startup that trains, mentors and places women in tech roles, secures $100M

TechCrunch LA

An edtech startup called Entity Academy — which provides women with training, in areas like data science and software development; mentoring; and ultimately job coaching — has raised $100 million on the heels of strong growth of its business, and an ambition to improve that ratio.

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Mentor Secrets for Keeping Your Startup Alive

Startup Professionals Musings

Every startup mentor has his favorite list of basic strategies to avoid pitfalls, and I’m no exception. Barter services and use equity to get things done for minimum cash. Make every effort to do things “in house”, rather than rely on outside services, accountants, and law firms. Do not delegate this task! Manage your time.

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7 Steps To Greater Satisfaction As A New Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

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. Enlist a mentor and advisor who is not a ‘yes’ person. Start a ‘practice’ business to learn the ropes.

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6 Ideas To Recover From Business Resource Challenges

Startup Professionals Musings

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. Subtraction leads to simplicity, better usability, and easier education of your customers. Find new ways to augment.

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7 Excuses I Don’t Want To Hear For New Owner Failure

Startup Professionals Musings

When I heard a friend and business mentor say, “Your startup won’t fail if you don’t quit,” I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt “never give up” as their mantra. Yet if you already have some early adopters, that's a good indication that real marketing and education will likely bring your product or service mass acceptance.

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7 Stages In The Evolution Of A Startup To A Business

Startup Professionals Musings

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. Growing the company means growing people through mentoring and training.

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The Complete Guide To Southern California Accelerators and Incubators, Part I

socalTECH

We've defined an accelerator program as a class-based, limited-time program which ties mentors, educational events, and often, seed funding, to help ideas become startups, and to help get startups to the point where they are fund-able. Most are modeled after the YCombinator and TechStars accelerator programs.