Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2023

Entrepreneurs seem more quickly frustrated these days when their “million-dollar idea” doesn’t turn into a sustainable business overnight. So why do entrepreneurs think that building a business is intuitively obvious, and should happen overnight? Even the revered Steve Jobs of Apple didn’t get it all right the first time.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2021

Yet every business and every entrepreneur I know struggles with this challenge, focused on hiring the right people and implementing the right process. I was happy to see my own view reinforced in the classic book, “ Innovation Thinking Methods for the Modern Entrepreneur ,” by long-time entrepreneur and innovation expert Osama A.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2021

The message I hear publicly from most entrepreneurs is that you have to think outside the box and take big risks to ever beat the odds and be among the less than ten percent that experience real success. Serious entrepreneurs will privately admit the business is first, and the family second. All risks are not the same.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2021

Knowing all too well how hard it is to start a single new business, I’ve always wondered how several well-known entrepreneurs, including Richard Branson and Elon Musk , have managed to successfully lead dozens of startups to success, and thrive on the process. Serial entrepreneurs embrace the risk, gather the relevant facts, and move forward.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2022

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Yet, for those with more realistic expectations and the right motivation, the entrepreneur lifestyle can be the dream life you envisioned.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2021, from 280 to 360 out of 100,000 of the adult population. They helped create over 5 million new businesses in 2022, a forty percent increase over the previous year. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. The cost of social media done well is low.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2022

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. The classic book, “ Hunting in a Farmer's World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. Dini makes the case that entrepreneurs are hunters, while the rest of us (large majority) are farmers.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2020

As I was watching the investor show, Shark Tank , on TV the other night, I was struck by how quickly and how extensively the sharks focused on the background and character of the entrepreneurs, compared to time spent evaluating their products. Recognize natural leaders and seeks help from them.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

After many years of working with angel investors seriously trying to find new ventures worthy of their hard-earned money, I find their frustration often exceeds that of entrepreneurs sincerely looking for financial help. Investors are looking to buy a chunk of the business, not the product.

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TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 28, 2020

The new capital will help support the launch of Bev’s new ‘Made By Chicks’ media platform and podcast, which will be hosted by the Foster sisters in their first official partnership with any brand, according to a statement from the company. Bev ’s female-oriented mission and movement align with our personal interests.

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Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Can you create a product in a vacuum? Creating a new product in a relative vacuum is an exercise in complete trust that you know what’s best for the customer, perhaps even without interaction with such a customer. Seeking, then analyzing responses allows you to make changes to the plan and product in response.

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TechCrunch LA

APRIL 15, 2021

E-commerce is booming, but among the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs of online businesses are finding a place to store the items they are selling and dealing with the logistics of operating. He also believes Saltbox is “extremely well-positioned to help power and enable the next generation of great direct to consumer brands.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2020

Studies of software teams, for example, show differences as great as ten to one in productivity between working team members. Much has been written about the external influences of office environments, motivation, and personal health impacts, but I see evidence that there are personal productivity tactics that contribute just as much.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2022

For example, as an entrepreneur, you need investors, so you need to start networking early, because they won’t find you. Actively seek out and attend key outside business conferences in order to meet and get to know people who can help you, and you can help in return. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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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.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. This early stage is often called basic research , well before any specific commercially viable products might be envisioned. Commercial product prototypes. Product verification and clinical trials.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2022

It’s a special mix of entrepreneur and company, regular in every respect except for having the courage and foresight to make an idea happen that was supposed to be impossible. As an entrepreneur in a startup, how do you know if you have this potential, and what are the steps to get from an innovation to a revolution? or “So what?”

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socalTECH

MARCH 20, 2019

Los Angeles-based online real estate investment marketplace PeerStreet --which is backed by Andreessen Horowitz--is expanding the scope of its marketplace with a new loan product, which will offer up loans for purchases of residential rental properties.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

As an advisor to new hardware entrepreneurs, I often hear the myth that a business plan is no longer required to find an investor, if your idea is good enough. What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more. You need both to survive.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2022

By most definitions of the term, an entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business, incorporating innovative changes to existing products, services, business models, and creating new markets. One way of identifying the right characteristics and approaches is to take a hard look at entrepreneurs who have done it.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2023

Technology is so key to every business these days that experienced business-smart but non-tech entrepreneurs are feeling deeper and deeper in the hole. Only one component of running a business is managing technology, but it is a critical component, so no entrepreneur can afford to ignore it or totally delegate it.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Santa Monica-based Convertro , the developer of marketing attribution software led by serial entrepreneur Jeff Zwelling, has rolled out a new product, which it says helps marketers measure the return on investment from printed catalogs. Zwelling''s last big success was EchoSign, which he sold to Adobe.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2022

Here are some key insights that I and others have collected for mature company leaders, as well as serial entrepreneurs. Innovative product and process solutions are only temporary, as they quickly become a commodity in the minds of customers and competitors. I advise working the next one as thoroughly as the first one.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Please help me congratulate him by Re/Tweeting this post (and following him if you don’t already). Helping be the VC “presence” at key events. Associates often shadow partners at board meetings so that they can help follow up with the company on important initiatives between board meetings. Industry reviews.

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Tech.Co

OCTOBER 28, 2020

They'll need to open a TikTok For Business account and select a product to feature, before auto-generating video ads that can link any interested TikTokkers directly to the merchant's Shopify store. Fitting the right audience to the right product will be tricky, but the potential upside is big. Who Will Take Advantage? 2.2% + 30c.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2021

I agree with her principles, and outline them here, for approaching any conversation at work, especially difficult ones, and making them positive and productive, rather than emotional and confrontational: Confidence - trusting yourself and the other party. Usually it helps to slow down rather than speed up.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

With the appearance of do-it-yourself services on the Internet, entrepreneur curriculums at every university, and a wealth of new books on the subject, the need for expensive consultants and business advisors has also been mitigated. The need to build a new million-dollar factory for each new product is gone.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

In my experience in large businesses as well as years of advising startups, I see far too much focus on product skills, and too little on people and process skills. His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. Great entrepreneurs are able to think on their feet, and are always prepared.

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socalTECH

MAY 2, 2014

In a bid to boost the Los Angeles economy and create new jobs in the city, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Friday that he has created a new "Entrepreneur-in-Residence" program, which will help the city in developing initiatives and policies aimed at growing, assisting and sustaining entrepreneurs in Los Angeles.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Many years ago, John Hamm published some definitive work on this subject in " Why Entrepreneurs Don't Scale " in the Harvard Business Review. This is generally a required quality for a successful entrepreneur, but it can turn into an unhealthy stubbornness during the scaling stage. Trusting your gut at this stage isn’t good enough.

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SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. Like many product managers, my background is fairly eclectic. That's where I learned I enjoyed interacting with customers and working with development teams to build and launch products. Tell me a bit about your background.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. You help them prioritize their objectives and review the results. And then there’s product management. Entrepreneurs should care more about respect. Engineering?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

It seems like everyone wants to be an entrepreneur and get rich these days. It’s really a multi-step process, with the first step getting you from an idea to a viable product, and the remaining steps creating a sustainable business. Attend trade shows and network to find the right players and pitch your product.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2020

In my own experience as a startup advisor and mentor, I find that entrepreneurs who can’t attract and maintain a highly motivated team rarely even get off the ground. There are many ways to add levity to a tough challenge, and engaging the team occasionally in some fun activities will work wonders for your team’s productivity and motivation.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2022

titled “ The Intelligent Entrepreneur ,” outlining the keys to successful entrepreneurship, as follows: Make the commitment. It will likely take several ideas, with the learning process of failing on a couple, before you can call yourself a successful entrepreneur. Problem solvers make successful entrepreneurs. Learn to lead.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2019

As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, the most common question I get is, “I want to be an entrepreneur -- how do I start?” Many people with great ideas never make it as entrepreneurs, and true entrepreneurs can make a business out of anything. Few entrepreneurs can assimilate and hone a complete plan in their head.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2019

Every entrepreneur believes that their product or service is memorable, and that every customer will quickly see the advantage over competitors. Yet true product differentiation in the eye of the customer is rarely achieved. Isn’t that why you signed on to the entrepreneur lifestyle in the first place?

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