Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. First of all, it’s more of an investment in people than in a business, since the startup is usually an idea barely half-baked when they need your money. Join an existing Angel investor group.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Startup Invest Incubator 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2023

Every entrepreneur and business executive knows that continuous innovation is required to survive, but most struggle with this more than any other challenge they face. Sponsor experiments and measure like new investments. Invest more energy in the “horse you can control.” Innovation driven by the next crisis is not leadership.

Framework 96

Framework Competition Ideas IBM 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2022

My friends who “grew up” with lifetime careers in General Motors, Exxon Mobil, or even IBM, are now often too embarrassed to even mention it. On the other hand, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. His focus is on entrepreneurs in America, but what he says applies to every other country as well. Next wave of economic expansion.

Startup 126

Startup Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Offshore 126

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. First of all, it’s more of an investment in people than in a business, since the startup is usually an idea barely half-baked when they need your money. Join an existing Angel investor group.

Startup 87

Startup Invest Incubator Ideas 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2021

Based on my experience as a business advisor, I’m convinced that most startup investors invest in the entrepreneur, as much as a solution or product. The attitude of taking nothing for granted, of disbelieving the conventional wisdom, of challenging the way things are done, is essential for a winning entrepreneur.

Startup 162

Startup Entrepreneur IBM IBM 162

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

Another partnering model example is the IBM Watson Group $1 billion investment to share cloud-based development and super-computing tools. This facilitates technology growth and innovation for startups in Silicon Alley, as well as positioning IBM for growth down the road. Find partners who can do what you cannot do alone.

Startup 124

Startup IBM IBM Examples 124

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 8, 2012

IBM , and the Los Angeles Times. The effort is applying language analysis and language software from IBM to try to distinguish positive and negative tweets about films, actors, and actresses, to predict the possible winners of an Oscar. The group said they'll be showing a real time analysis of the winners with the LA Times.

USC 182

USC IBM IBM Southern California 182

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Every entrepreneur and business executive knows that continuous innovation is required to survive, but most struggle with this more than any other challenge they face. Sponsor experiments and measure like new investments. Invest more energy in the “horse you can control.” Innovation driven by the next crisis is not leadership.

Tips 160

Tips Framework Competition Ideas 160

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Funding sources for this stage extend from grants to large private fund incubators, such as the IBM Watson initiative a while back. It’s still considered high risk for investment, since manufacturing and quality issues are likely. Thus the best entrepreneur strategy for funding is to build solutions, not technology.

Resource 102

Resource Ideas Funding Research 102

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Every year, at the end of the year, we share some reflections on the past year from our readers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, sponsors, and others in the local technology community. No matter what sector or region you are investing in, it will have an impact. We'll be featuring contributions all through the holiday season.

Capital 100

Capital Technical Review Truecar Venture Capital 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2021

As I “grew up” in business in big companies, including IBM, I always wondered why the real innovations seemed to come from startups, while we had more resources and more experience. If you see yourself or your company ignoring any of these, now is the time to take action: Invest in a new market, as well as new features.

Marketing 117

Marketing IBM IBM Resource 117

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2013

My friends who “grew up” with lifetime careers in General Motors, Exxon Mobil, or even IBM, are now often too embarrassed to even mention it. On the other hand, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs growing companies create more value and more jobs. The cost of entrepreneur entry is at an all-time low.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Offshore Startup Technical Review 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Almost every entrepreneur and new business owner I mentor is certain that his/her idea has a very high probability of success, and all find it hard to believe that ninety percent of startups ultimately fail. I once met with an entrepreneur who had developed a new algae strain to cure world hunger and make him rich.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2019

In the entrepreneur world, it’s still a popular misconception that the “idea” is everything. Even though investors, like myself, have long made it clear that we invest in people, not ideas, new venture owners insist on talking about their latest “ million dollar idea ,” rather than their “ million dollar team.”

IBM 87

IBM IBM Ideas Technical Review 87

socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2018

Editor's note: As we head into the new year, we've been featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. Those investments are a huge validation of our Fund thesis: investing in Extraordinary Leadership, with a heavy emphasis on military veteran co-founders.

Capital 113

Capital Venture Capital News Patents 113

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Friday, March 9, 2007 Map of VC Investments Found this Map of 2006 VC Investments post. Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller SEO for Startups Startup Version 1.0 Some very interesting graphics including this heat map: Very cool visualization tool! in Computer Science.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Invest CTO Coach Southern California 150

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 8, 2019

Responding to Elizabeth Warren’s call to regulate and break up some of the nation’s largest technology companies, the venture capitalists that invest in technology companies are advising the presidential hopeful to move slowly and not break anything. This is not a new model, and it makes no sense,” says Narasin. ”

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Startup Chief Technology Officer Social Media 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Funding sources for this stage extend from grants to large private fund incubators, such as the IBM Watson initiative a while back. It’s still considered high risk for investment, since manufacturing and quality issues are likely. Thus the best entrepreneur strategy for funding is to build solutions, not technology.

Help 165

Help Research Startup Funding 165

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

In the old days, every entrepreneur planned on taking their startup public, and making it big. Smart entrepreneurs are now starting to look at this option again, as well as the challenges of running a public company. Thus, there is tremendous pressure to increase current earnings, and little appetite for strategic investments.

Startup 98

Startup Report IBM IBM 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2020

As an investor, innovation is a term I certainly like to hear these days, but many of you entrepreneurs try to take it to the next level, by claiming to have a “ disruptive innovation.” Within all large markets, there are many opportunities for smaller innovations that don’t require a huge investment.

Startup 129

Startup Artificial Inteligence Examples Google 129

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

Entrepreneurs talk to customers and competitors talk to each other about the new trends and technologies they see. The time to build investor relationships is before you need the investment. Pivots and corrections are inevitable for startups in this age of rapid change, and the earlier you make them, the quicker you get to success.

Marketing 105

Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization Ideas 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2013

Competing with IBM, Microsoft, and other large companies is a very difficult task. Entrepreneurs who utter this line are kidding themselves. “Microsoft is too big/slow to be a threat.” Usually the reason the big companies are no threat is that the market is too small. They may think it's bravado, but investors think it's stupidity. “We

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Startup Social Network IBM 111

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Bill Gates started producing software solutions, like his Basic Interpreter and MS DOS, but quickly focused on adding thousands of small partners for applications, and major partners like IBM and other hardware manufacturers. These relationships need not require cash investments; often they are done with exchanges of equity or assets.

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Organization Startup Competition 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2020

Entrepreneurs talk to customers and competitors talk to each other about the new trends and technologies they see. The time to build investor relationships is before you need the investment. Pivots and corrections are inevitable for startups in this age of rapid change, and the earlier you make them, the quicker you get to success.

Search Engine Optimization 174

Search Engine Optimization Ideas Startup Customer 174

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2019

Conventional business wisdom tells us that entrepreneurs are today’s main source of innovation. In fact, a Wharton Business School study in this decade of the “Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years,” concluded that only eight were first conceived by entrepreneurs, and twenty-two were conceived by employees.

IBM 53

IBM IBM Java Google 53

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2015

Another new partnering model is the IBM Watson Group $1 billion investment to share cloud-based development and super-computing tools. This will facilitate technology growth and innovation for startups in Silicon Alley, as well as position IBM for growth down the road. Find partners who can do what you cannot do alone.

Startup 100

Startup IBM IBM Examples 100

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2010

Helping entrepreneurs succeed. Middle Market Investment Banking. An on-line community for entrepreneurs. Key Information Systems (www.keyinfo.com) Providing IBM Storage Solutions. Please let them know how much you appreciate their support of socalTECH! Redpoint Ventures (www.redpoint.com). Need office or Tech Space?

Orange County 145

Orange County Glendale Southern California SoCalTech 145

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Entrepreneurs will have a relative willing to devote time, a school friend with business experience, professionals who charge for the service, investors with a reason to promote your success and more. Photo courtesy IBM Business Coaching. Business coaches come in all sizes and shapes.

Coach 243

Coach Organization Resource IBM 243

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2014

Another new partnering model is the IBM Watson Group $1 billion investment to share cloud-based development and super-computing tools. This will facilitate technology growth and innovation for startups in Silicon Alley, as well as position IBM for growth down the road. Find partners who can do what you cannot do alone.

IBM 100

IBM IBM Startup Examples 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

There have been a lot of entrepreneurs here in software and other industries, and interestingly enough there seem to be more self-funded, bootstrapped firms here, rather than those looking for venture capital to get off the group. Gary Bishop: The founder of the company is Dustin Snell, who is a classic, bootstrap entrepreneur.

Networking 214

Networking IBM IBM Pacific Palisades 214

Xconomy

DECEMBER 27, 2018

startup CognitiveScale and managing director of The Entrepreneur Fund , which makes investments in early-stage machine learning companies, Saxena believes A.I. [ Updated 12/27/18, 9:54 am ] Manoj Saxena is bullish on artificial intelligence. As chairman of Austin, TX-based A.I.

Artificial Inteligence 106

Artificial Inteligence Tool Invest Entrepreneur 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2020

In my experience working with entrepreneurs, once they feel they have a winning formula for their business, they are often hesitant to change or update it. Don’t be the next Xerox who totally missed the personal computer market, even though they had the technology and the processes well before Apple, IBM, and others.

Customer 143

Customer Custom Examples IBM 143

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, technology has served you well. The Case Foundation invests in people and ideas that can change the world. In five short years, they’ve helped build 52 companies, raised 25 million in investments and reached over 2000 founders. “[It] The Case Foundation (Washington, DC).

Startup 141

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 141

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2018

Another partnering model example is the IBM Watson Group $1 billion investment to share cloud-based development and super-computing tools. This facilitates technology growth and innovation for startups in Silicon Alley, as well as positioning IBM for growth down the road. Find partners who can do what you cannot do alone.

Competition 60

Competition IBM IBM Startup 60

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Competing with IBM, Microsoft, and other large companies should never be minimized.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

One or more of the following parameters are viewed by most investors as traction indicators, but good entrepreneurs are often creative and define their own to supplement these: Start with sales to-date for a priced offering. Signed contracts with big name customers, like IBM, AT&T, or Wal-Mart, is a strong indication of traction.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2019

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Smart entrepreneurs are just now starting to look at this option again, due to its unpredictability and the challenges of running a public company. Startups going public are laid open to competitors and critics.

Startup 84

Startup Technical Review Report IBM 84