Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework. A winning product or service. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 105

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 105

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

(In case it’s not obvious it’s a play on the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.&# ) I believe that being successful as an entrepreneur requires you to get lots of things done. Entrepreneurs make fast decisions and move forward knowing that at best 70% of their decisions are going to be right. This paralyzes most people.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

One of the biggest complaints you hear from both entrepreneurs and investors in Los Angeles, is the lack of a credible, visible startup accelerator in the Los Angeles area. He created one of the first industrial R&D labs, and hired and brought in a bunch of investors to help iterate, and experiment, and build new products.

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

In my business of mentoring new entrepreneurs and advising small company owners, I recognize that most don’t start as experienced leaders, and most don’t realize that people leadership is a primary key to their future success. Building a business is not a one-person job, and leading by edict rarely works today.

Develop 124

Develop Development Technical Advisors Satisfaction 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework. A winning product or service. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Entrepreneur Equity Ideas 75

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Prepare a slide deck to highlight product and business.

Platform 94

Platform Equity Invest Technical Advisors 94

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

If I can help you avoid some of my first-time mistakes it would be a victory. Because market is such a broad topic, I’m restricting these lessons to PR marketing (as opposed SEO, SEM, product marketing, etc.). Most people totally advise against stealth. . “ We need to learn from doing, by trial-and-error.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Len Short is truly an online marketing pioneer, heading up marketing at Charles Schwab, AOL and then (PRODUCT)RED. Despite this technical glitch, I opted to publish our discussion, given the high-quality content of his comments. Len later joined (PRODUCT)RED as its Founding CMO. Len remains an active advisor to several startups.

Google 220

Google Technical Advisors Technical Review Equity 220

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

As a self-made entrepreneur and former chairman of Diamond Resorts International, he asserts that the five biggest companies by market value today, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, aren’t really tech, but hospitality companies. Improve the whole customer experience, as well as the product.

Technical Advisors 82

Technical Advisors Artificial Inteligence Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2018

While spending years in a big company as an employee and an executive, I heard many people talking about jumping the corporate ship, dreaming of being an entrepreneur, and totally in charge of their own destiny. I’m not saying success is rare, but the list of famous entrepreneurs who started their career in a big company is small.

Startup 52

Startup Technical Advisors Entrepreneur IBM 52

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

Steve Jobs started his technical career creating circuit boards at Atari, before joining Steve Wozniak to build personal computers in his garage. I advise owners that they have to know when to give up a business, as well as when to buy one. Highlight your productivity and efficiency rather than workload.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework. A winning product or service. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 80

Technical Advisors Startup Equity Ideas 80

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

I often have career discussions with entrepreneurs – both young and more mature – whether they should join company “X&# or not. If you’re thinking about joining as the director of marketing, product management manager, senior architect, international business development lead, etc. Let’s face it.

Startup 418

Startup Technical Advisors Venture Capital Santa Monica 418

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2011

Here are a few examples from my personal experience: You need to translate/localize your products. I was once asked by a top executive of a major software company why we were not selling more products in Finland. Thus, we did not translate the product and sales remained at an insignificant level. Watch your product naming.

Startup 90

Startup Technical Advisors Sales Examples 90

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I would argue that this mostly consists of consumer Internet companies (although not exclusively) and it is predominantly early-stage people who are product gurus and have a mildly technical bend to them. I’m a product geek more than a spreadsheet ninja. The product feedback will be invaluable.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2010

As a follow-on to that article, here are a few examples from my personal experience: You need to translate/localize your products. I was once asked by a division manager of a major software company why we were not selling more products in Finland. Thus, we did not translate the product and sales remained at an insignificant level.

Technical Advisors 48

Technical Advisors Sales Startup Coach 48

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Working with startup lawyers also minimizes the risk of losing control of your adVenture, as they can help you avoid common fundraising and investor pitfalls. In addition, such an arrangement will further cement your lawyer’s incentive to help you succeed. It is surprising how often entrepreneurs forget this simple fact.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” ” My friend Ian Sigelow wrote about this last week and advised people not to take on this kind of job. the standard 4-6% for a hired-gun CEO).

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

I often talk with entrepreneurs who are kicking around their next idea. Moonlight Responsibly - If you are still employed please be very careful not to use your company’s resources to produce your product and please do not work on your next idea during business hours. It’s hard enough to build a successful company.

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

Under Process, Over Deliver So, you need to develop a product? ▼ 2006 (20) ► December (2) Just Say What it Is 12 Proven Guidelines for Rapid Product Development. They had products that were already in the market, piles of cash, tons of customers and revenue, seemingly endless resources and lots of employees.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

The CEO weighs in with his perspectives, the head of product management disputes his conclusions and the marketing VP has a different take. The sales rep that brings back news from the front line that is shared with the office adds to our collective knowledge about customer needs, product design flaws or partnership opportunities.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335