Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. That means skip the jargon and include explanations and examples. Marty Zwilling.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2021

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a Founder agreement at the beginning. Disclosing inventions before the patent application is filed. Entrepreneurs often put off the hassle and the cost of filing a patent until first funding. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers.

Patents 145

Patents Legalzoom Invest Startup 145

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. Count on six months from beginning the funding process until a new check is cashed. The best entrepreneurs manage cash flow ruthlessly and never delegate decisions about spending money. Your goal is that magical breakeven point and hockey-stick profit-growth curve.

Search Engine Optimization 103

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2021

Every entrepreneur realizes that change is now the norm, and they have to adapt their business quickly to survive and prosper. In fact, the best entrepreneurs seem to see breakthrough changes coming even before they really happen, and are able to turn them into huge new opportunities. Technically, this is known as perceptual acuity.

Entrepreneur 173

Entrepreneur Summary Patents Examples 173

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Whether you are a business professional in a big company, or an entrepreneur with a startup, innovation is a key strategy. For example, no one predicted that Howard Schultz could take the simple idea of a better coffee experience called Starbucks, and innovate it into a successful chain of almost 34,000 shops in 80 countries.

Artificial Inteligence 114

Artificial Inteligence Ideas Satisfaction Customer 114

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2023

Young entrepreneurs often are so excited by new technology or their latest invention that they forget to translate it into a value proposition that their customers or potential investors can understand and relate to. Entrepreneurs who make this case effectively will get the decision they want, no matter how esoteric their technology.

Social Network 108

Social Network Training Startup Technology 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. I like patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, so this answer is a better sustainable competitive advantage than the other five answers. Martin Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

Every entrepreneur has an idea for transforming a market with innovative new technology, or transforming society with a new process. Entrepreneurs who have been really transformative, like Steve Jobs and Walt Disney, seemed to know how to deal with all the right elements. Seek innovation that begets invention. Failure is an option.

Startup 171

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Competition 171

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

There are no “overrides” – for example, businesses don’t thrive just because they offer the latest technology, or because everyone wants to be “green,” or because their goal is to reduce world hunger. New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on product direct costs, and underestimate marketing and sales costs, overhead costs, and support costs.

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. Count on six months from beginning the funding process until a new check is cashed. The best entrepreneurs manage cashflow ruthlessly and never delegate decisions about spending money. burn rate business cashflow entrepreneur investor startup'

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2020

Young entrepreneurs often are so excited by new technology or their latest invention that they forget to translate it into a value proposition that their customers or potential investors can understand and relate to. Entrepreneurs who make this case effectively will get the decision they want, no matter how esoteric their technology.

Technology 165

Technology Social Network Training Startup 165

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2015

Every entrepreneur realizes that change is now the norm, and they have to adapt their business quickly to survive and prosper. In fact, the best entrepreneurs seem to see breakthrough changes coming even before they really happen, and are able to turn them into huge new opportunities. Technically, this is known as perceptual acuity.

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Summary Patents Examples 109

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. I like patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, so this answer is a better sustainable competitive advantage than the other five answers. Martin Zwilling.

Competition 120

Competition Patents Resource Invest 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. They tell these entrepreneurs to sell themselves, execute well, and grow organically.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2022

In my experience as an angel investor to startups, goodwill disagreements are perhaps the most common reason that you will fail to close interested investors as an entrepreneur. If you are the entrepreneur or owner, every potential investor takes a hard look at you. Quality of your technical and business teams.

Technical Review 147

Technical Review Social Media Entrepreneur Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2020

For some reason, too many aspiring entrepreneurs I know seem to focus on “actions” rather than “results.” These are not the entrepreneurs that I want to support, since I’m well aware that running a startup is far more complex, albeit more satisfying, than most conventional roles in established enterprises.

Product 123

Product Startup Tips Entrepreneur 123

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2012

You have probably heard plenty of times that being an entrepreneur is a risky business, and investors talk all the time about reducing the risk. I don’t agree, for example, that the first priority is to avoid startups with a high attrition rate, like trendy restaurants and entertainment. What more could a budding entrepreneur want?

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Examples Social Network Marketing 108

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. They tell these entrepreneurs to sell themselves, execute well, and grow organically.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2020

More importantly, I look for entrepreneurs and owners like you who are not afraid to hold themselves accountable for the success of the business. Every investor can recite examples of passionate entrepreneurs who seek funding for a worthy cause, like feeding the hungry, without a real business case for who will pay.

Startup 113

Startup Examples Coach Metrics 113

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

Among those funds is TYLT Lab (www.tyltlab.com), which recently announced a new, $20M early stage investment fund specifically focused on companies here. We spoke with Rami Rostami and Gerard Casale , who are behind TYLT Labs, and who told us a bit about their new fund, its investment criteria, and where it sees the promise here.

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person. For example, I have a friend with a Ph.D. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. Yes, there are a lot of bridges to cross.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. Count on six months from beginning the funding process until a new check is cashed. The best entrepreneurs manage cash flow ruthlessly and never delegate decisions about spending money. Your goal is that magical breakeven point and hockey-stick profit-growth curve.

Search Engine Optimization 124

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2011

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a founder agreement at the beginning. Disclosing inventions before the patent application is filed. Entrepreneurs often put off the hassle and the cost of filing a patent until first funding. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Patents Invest Startup 98

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2012

Based on my experience as a mentor and an entrepreneur, if you fail on your first startup, you are about average. Every young entrepreneur knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Of course, a real entrepreneur always takes a failure as a milestone on the road to success. How can you improve your odds?

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Ideas Resource Statistics 109

socalTECH

AUGUST 12, 2019

We've helped entrepreneurs raise over $225M in early stage, venture funding. Their goal is to partner in really unique ways with entrepreneurs, accelerators and investors, to create businesses and brands in new categories for P&G. percent of funds going to female founded businesses. That number is extremely low.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Metrics Los Angeles Help 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2023

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve heard and seen hundreds of pitches from entrepreneurs, and the majority of founders are convinced that if you will just give them an hour or more time, you will love their business. A smaller market sizing may make a good family business, if you have the funding. Keep it simple and short.

Startup 96

Startup Education Ideas Customer 96

socalTECH

OCTOBER 22, 2020

What kinds of areas does the fund make investments in? Krisztina Holly: We are an early stage fund, known for our ability to discovery and cultivate very complex science and technology deals. We just launched a third, $100M fund focused on seed to Series A investments in transformative science and technology companies.

Southern California 124

Southern California Capital Technical Review Startup 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2016

For example, investors recognize that online gambling sites or a medical marijuana site may generate big returns but may tarnish their squeaky clean reputation. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, a well-written and complete business plan demonstrates that you understand the issues and have a real plan for execution.

Funding 57

Funding Social Media Startup Patents 57

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve heard and seen hundreds of pitches from entrepreneurs, and the majority of founders are convinced that if you will just give them an hour or more time, you will love their business. A smaller market sizing may make a good family business, if you have the funding. Keep it simple and short.

Startup 166

Startup Education Ideas Customer 166

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Their primary intended reader is a “first-time entrepreneur”, but clearly other stakeholders within the startup universe can also benefit from the book’s hands-on advice. They are both former entrepreneurs and current Partners at Foundry Group , a highly successful, early stage venture firm. The Magicians Tells Their Secrets.

Venture Capital 205

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

But here is another example of a role that everyone carries in a startup, so investors can’t imagine paying anyone uniquely to do that job. If your business is managing contracts and patents, it makes sense, but the CLO for most startups is LegalZoom on the Internet. c-level entrepreneur funding startup titles'

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Funding Cloud Computing CIO 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

Some examples: A large company has told you that you need to change your brand name or they’ll sue you for trademark infringement (this is a real world, recent example). A company has just filed suit against you for product patent infringement (obviously more serious). Did you hear that he was an entrepreneur?

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Examples 311

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2013

Entrepreneurs often get the advice from their lawyers and friends to always get a Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA or CDA) signed before disclosing anything about their new venture. You won’t last long as an entrepreneur in this category, since a startup is all about taking risks. Prior to patent application. Who is right?

Ideas 92

Ideas Demand Patents Entrepreneur 92

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

As I thought about the characteristics that comprise a great program, I identified five criteria that a prospective entrepreneurial student can use to evaluate the efficacy of a collegiate entrepreneur curriculum. Ask: What percentage of the startup-oriented classes are taught by accomplished entrepreneurs?

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Class Patents 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Many entrepreneurs stumble at this point, losing the deal or most of their ownership, by having no answer, saying “make me an offer,” or quoting an exorbitant number. This time I’ll use a hypothetical health-care web site company named NewCo as an example to illustrate the points.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Patents Outsource Development 98