Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Entrepreneurs need to listen to constructive criticism, but ignore negative vibes and complainers at all costs. If you are a complainer, and you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, think again. The world of an entrepreneur is tough, unpredictable, and fraught with risk. entrepreneur startup self-aware positive business'

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Startup Press Coach 100

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2012

Entrepreneurs need to listen to constructive criticism, but ignore negative vibes and complainers at all costs. If you are a complainer, and you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, think again. The world of an entrepreneur is tough, unpredictable, and fraught with risk. Redirect the conversation.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Press Coach 104

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2012

An obvious reason is limited funds, but a more important reason is the need to know and intimately understand what is really going on in the business and the market. A diligent entrepreneur should certainly work the important details for his or her startup, especially when it comes to assessing any negative fluctuations in the business.

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Startup Template Mentor 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2015

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” Focus” is the key to success as an entrepreneur. There must be something deeper that slows people down.

Startup 114

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Knowledge Base 114

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2010

By Akira Hirai Startup funding is a binary event. When I say that funding is a binary event, I mean that there are only two possible outcomes: either you succeed in getting funding, or you don’t. Most funding sources – both investors and lenders – have a nearly endless supply of deals to choose from. All or nothing.

Funding 90

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Capital 90

Eric Greenspan

OCTOBER 19, 2017

I built and built and built and one day, I wrote a business plan and sent it off for review to an angel funding group. I got a few bucks out of a guy that wasn’t even in the room, but overheard from outside the banquet room. Over the next few months, I landed the most funding of any company to date with that organization.

Startup 222

Startup Santa Monica Funding Email 222

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

I had been thinking a lot about this recently because I’m often asked the question of “what I look for in an entrepreneur when I want to invest?” Unfortunately once you’ve earned mega bucks most people have ramped up their lifestyle and cost base such that they can’t take the hit. But I explained.

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2019

For this morning's interview, with caught up with serial entrepreneur James Citron , the founder of Pledgeling (www.pledgeling.com), a startup which enables any business to help connect their business with social causes. As a serial entrepreneur, oftentimes I wasn't around. Did you get funding this time around for the new company?

Technical Review 113

Technical Review Software Review Mogreet Platform 113

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

entrepreneur” and by Forbes as “New York’s Archangel”, David is a former Inc. 500 CEO, serial entrepreneur and the founder of New York Angels. accredited investors in 1,000 angel groups and venture capital funds to. collaborate with over 250,000 entrepreneurs in 95 countries. Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak?

Startup 189

Startup Sales Ideas Entrepreneur 189

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I would love for prospective investors in Dave’s fund to call me personally to learn about “the real Dave.”. Many through history became entrepreneurs precisely because they were unemployable. When my pal Dave started his venture fund, 500 Startups, he was ridiculed. Dave might just ACTUALLY take over the world.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But a couple of people replied with responses of such lack of comprehension that I thought it was worth expanding on for first-time entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs achieve much through their personal leadership traits that inspire others to do great things with them – sure. Not possible. ” Or there was this one.

Startup 363

Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

InfoChachkie

MARCH 4, 2013

Entrepreneurs can learn a great deal from the manner in which Pink Floyd created DSOTM. Lesson: As described in Go For The Quick Buck , wily startups also devise creative ways to secure funding from their customers, rather than from investors. Entrepreneurs should always err on the side of long-term gain. Pay To Play.

Startup 269

Startup Cloud Computing RSS Writing 269

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. So the people who invest in VC funds have two problems.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

Plus, just last week we closed our first round of funding, worth $2M, including Peter Lee from Baroda Ventures, Paul Martino at Bullpen Capital--he was the founder of Aggregate Knowledge and Tribe, and also seeded Zynga--and Prism Ventureworks. We're excited about launching and getting funding, and trying to get traction in Los Angeles.

Startup 271

Startup CTO Coach Activity Software Review 271

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2019

Ian talked to us about the rewards and challenges of being an entrepreneur, plus how important it is to manage lifetime value (LTV) of a customer versus customer acquisition cost (CAC) in making a successful company. (We How are you funded? I'm definitely happier as an entrepreneur, which is why I made the leap.

Startup 113

Startup Equity Customer Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2016

It’s easy to declare yourself an entrepreneur, but it’s not so easy to convince investors, your team and customers that you are that special one to fund and follow. If you don’t consistently display the right entrepreneur mindset traits, people won’t follow and business success will likely elude you.

Startup 58

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

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?

Startup 100

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Resource 100

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2016

Phil Hui-Bon-Hoa , the CEO of El Segundo-based Kaleo (www.kaleo.com), is a serial entrepreneur who has previously built and sold four companies, including one acquired by IFILM, and another by Sun Microsystems. With Kaleo, I figured out from day one that we would need to raise outside funding.

El Segundo 169

El Segundo Southern California Startup CTO Hire 169

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

An obvious reason is limited funds, but a more important reason is the need to know and intimately understand what is really going on in the business and the market. A diligent entrepreneur should certainly work the important details for his or her startup, especially when it comes to assessing any negative fluctuations in the business.

Startup 103

Startup Entrepreneur Template Mentor 103

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2015

Can you imagine an entrepreneur who is actually afraid of success? I see it in the business person who has plenty of funding, but won’t spend a dime on marketing to get the word out, just to conserve resources. Every successful business needs someone in charge -- the buck stops here, and hard decisions have to be made.

Startup 57

Startup Entrepreneur Help Resource 57

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns.

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

socalTECH

APRIL 27, 2009

Seed stage, venture capital fund DFJ Frontier (www.dfjfrontier.com) announced this morning that it has raised its second fund, worth $55M. We sat down with Managing Director Scott Lenet last week, ahead of the announcement, to chat about the new fund and what the firm is investing in now. Congrats on the new fund.

Santa Barbara 124

Santa Barbara Entrepreneur Funding Invest 124

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 8, 2011

I concluded that it is an effective tool for leveling the playing field between sophisticated investors and emerging entrepreneurs. I have subsequently recommended the book to number of students as well as emerging entrepreneurs, all of whom expressed positive feedback. . We decided to do it in a way that was accessible.”.

Venture Capital 224

Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur Blogging 224

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

This may not seem fair to all you first-time entrepreneurs, but wouldn’t you choose to bet on a horse that has been in races before, and won, rather than an unknown in his first race? The buck stops here. ” The strength of your idea alone won’t suffice to bridge the funding gap. That’s how important the people are.

Startup 94

Startup Resource Social Network Mentor 94

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2010

Why would they go to the site to help fund a project? Pretty soon we'll be looking to raise a few bucks for ourselves outside the initial $10,000 we raised on our own on the site, but our main effort is getting people to put their projects on the site and help them raise money. What's in it for people to get involved with Invested.in.

Sites 237

Sites Startup Invest SoCalTech 237

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 10, 2011

I gathered ten such examples which are particularly relevant to entrepreneurs. I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.’ ”. I regularly bring successful entrepreneurs into my UC Santa Barbara classroom. We built it for ourselves.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Santa Barbara Entrepreneur 279

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). And if I were an entrepreneur I’d rather find investors who understood “my space&# so that in tough times they felt comfortable about “doubling down.&#. Not everybody agreed.

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

We funded one in 2005 and lost a lot of money. ” Scary because that hard earned $40,000 you have slavishly saved “for the future” is going to dwindle fast if you can’t bring in funding. So the tech team departed en masse to find the next great stock option scheme to make their big bucks. Sorry, brah.”

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2010

This may not seem fair to all you first-time entrepreneurs, but wouldn’t you choose to bet on a horse that has been in races before, and won, rather than an unknown in his first race? The buck stops here. ” The strength of your idea alone won’t suffice to bridge the funding gap. That’s how important the people are.

Startup 93

Startup Resource Mentor Writing 93

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2015

Congress was clearly influenced by the well-funded retail lobby, which characterizes online sellers as "tax evaders," while describing brick and mortar stores as "mom and pop operations just trying to survive." Yet, you may still think, "A million bucks is a lot, this won't hurt my definition of a small business." Think again.

Sales 100

Sales Customer Custom Metrics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2022

With the cost of entry at an all-time low, and the odds of success equally low, more and more entrepreneurs are starting multiple companies concurrently. Other prolific entrepreneurs, like Richard Branson and Elon Musk , simply have several startups on the table at any given moment. Many entrepreneurs love investing in other startups.

Entrepreneur 145

Entrepreneur Startup Resource Course 145

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. That doesn’t mean you should always go for the big bucks first. They argue that the color of the money is the same from either source. How experienced is your team?

Startup 98

Startup Venture Capital Funding Invest 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. That doesn’t mean you should always go for the big bucks first. They argue that the color of the money is the same from either source. How experienced is your team?

Venture Capital 125

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Startup Invest 125

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

The funding environment for tech startups is an ever shifting ground as we go through predictable shifts that go hand-in-hand with the slowing of the overall market. Explosion in Seed Funds. Now seed funding is conventional wisdom. Here is a brief history first to put the changes into context. Rise of Seed. I Leaderless Rounds.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Funding Seed Funding 150

SoCal Delicious

AUGUST 28, 2012

Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs. MYTH 2: Silicon Valley companies will always have the best shot at funding. Matthew has seen hundreds of startups pitch funding though OCTANe’s LaunchPad program. Saudi Arabia uses your gas dollars to fund solar energy Health Cisco helps build first U.S. Featured stories. Enterprise.

Southern California 57

Southern California PHP Technical Review Orange County 57

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2014

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited Angel investors. That doesn’t mean you should always go for the big bucks first. angel investors business entrepreneur startup venture capital' How experienced is your team?

Venture Capital 106

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Angel Startup 106