Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2020

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

Entrepreneur 137

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Education 137

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. As well, these companies usually bring real new venture funding opportunities to the startups they sponsor.

Incubator 98

Incubator Startup Help Resource 98

socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2013

There''s been a lot of activity over the past two years in the Southern California accelerator/incubator market, with numerous groups (Amplify, EvoNexus, K5, LaunchpadLA, MediaCamp, Science, StartEngine, and many, many others) looking to help entrepreneurs start and fund their companies. But, how successful have they been?

Southern California 222

Southern California Incubator Report Startup 222

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Early or embryonic stage. Growth and exit stage.

Startup 122

Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? If you are looking for money, this question will certainly come up in one form or another when you approach professional or organized angel or VC investors. Early stage investors have been arguing over this for years. This is serious stuff.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? If you are looking for money, this question will certainly come up in one form or another when you approach professional or organized angel or VC investors. Early stage investors have been arguing over this for years. This is serious stuff.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2016

A question I often get as an adviser is whether or not to join a business incubator or accelerator as a way to move forward faster and smarter and increase the odds of business success. I find that this type offers the most value to new entrepreneurs or startups in the early idea stage. Costs, returns in equity and funding access.

Incubator 58

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Equity 58

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. I had to laugh a bit reading it. MBA fine, but not required.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Berkonomics

JANUARY 12, 2012

If they are not achieved within the expected time, the reasons must be analyzed and acted upon to avoid loss of capital beyond plan or expectation. My favorite story of a fast failure was of a technology incubator started in the year 2000 with optimistic money from a number of angel investments, including mine.

Incubator 149

Incubator Venture Capital Invest Entrepreneur 149

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2023

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

Startup 108

Startup Education Entrepreneur Tool 108

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 18, 2012

TechZulu is proud to announce that we are a sponsor of the Variety 2012 Venture Capital & New Media Summit and will be there in full force bringing you all the action. Variety is pleased to announce the return of its Venture Capital and New Media Summit on June 27 at the Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles. Speaker List.

Venture Capital 68

Venture Capital Media Capital Steamboat Ventures 68

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. This is serious stuff.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Summary Entrepreneur Incubator 240

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Early or embryonic stage. Growth and exit stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. Join a startup incubator. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start? Marty Zwilling.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

socalTECH

JULY 16, 2014

The way we view it, is we''re finding the best entrepreneurs in Southern California, and finding ways to work with them at the seed and pre-seed stage, and working pre-seed and smaller investments that are raising $1M to $3M in funding. Erik Rannala: Really, it''s the quality of the companies in the market, plus the level of activity.

Startup 206

Startup Capital Incubator Invest 206

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. By 2011 the market had started to change dramatically. So we went for it. And Jamie hers. And Adam his.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Early or embryonic stage. Growth and exit stage.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. Incubated by Clearstone Ventures in 2008.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

According to a Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with a majority of new ventures that don''t attract investors failing within the first three years. My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Even if you work every day in the world of new-venture funding, as I do, the options are confusing, and their meanings seem to change on a regular basis. I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. A micro venture capital firm.

Funding 104

Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

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. Specialized VCs start to jump in at this stage. Product development at this stage is the process of scaling up for manufacturing and marketing rollout. Commercial product prototypes.

Resource 102

Resource Ideas Funding Research 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2015

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

Entrepreneur 112

Entrepreneur Startup Education Tool 112

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 A Different Kind of Incubator - The Hive I recently met with The Hive a new incubator in Orange County. What I really liked in my conversations with The Hive is that they are willing to work with and fund ventures that would never get VC dollars.

Incubator 150

Incubator CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

According to a classic Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with a majority of new ventures that don't attract investors failing within the first three years. My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain, such as online web sites and smart phone apps, that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 11, 2010

This past December I spent a week in Boston to try to get to know some of the local VC’s and entrepreneurs a bit better. One of the meetings I had (organized by my good friend Jeff Yolen ) was with New Atlantic Ventures held the at the CIC, aka the Cambridge Innovation Center (no prizes for guessing where it’s located).

Startup 285

Startup Venture Capital Incubator Entrepreneur 285

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

We sat down with Kelly ahead of the announcement to chat about the new fund, why they think military veterans are particularly well suited as startup entrepreneurs, why the two went from organizing individual deals for funding to a formal fund, and more. Usually, an entrepreneur, hearing that, won't say no.

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 18, 2012

TechZulu is proud to announce that we are a sponsor of the Variety 2012 Venture Capital & New Media Summit and will be there in full force bringing you all the action. Variety is pleased to announce the return of its Venture Capital and New Media Summit on June 27 at the Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles. Speaker List.

Venture Capital 40

Venture Capital Media Capital Steamboat Ventures 40

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

The accelerator said that the demo day is a culmination of its latest three month program, which included ten new companies in mentoring, collaboration, funding, and access to its network of investors and entrepreneurs. MuckerLab's model is based on the TechStars incubation model, and the group is an affiliate of that startup accelerator.

Class 159

Class Startup Incubator Los Angeles 159

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. This has led to the creation of incubators, accelerators and seed funds. This article originally ran on PEHub.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 5, 2022

A few minutes away from downtown Atlanta, Collab Studio ATL describes itself as “a tech-based one-stop shop for content creators, HBCU students and young entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals.” A post shared by Collab Studios (@collabstudiosatl). Image Credits: Robiiiworld (Brandy Merriweather via BStarPR).

Platform 210

Platform Social Media Netflix Content 210

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

Josef Gorowitz , Swagbucks (Torrance, online marketing/rewards). Amanda MacNaughton , PromoJam (Glendale, marketing software). Sam Teller ,LaunchpadLA (Los Angeles, incubator). Ashish Soni , USC (Los Angeles, incubator/university). event socaltech50 awards entrepreneur entrepreneurship feature dfr2013'

Southern California 279

Southern California SoCalTech Dollar Shave Club Santa Monica 279

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. Join a startup incubator. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start? Marty Zwilling.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capitalists) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than the more risky research and development efforts. Join a startup incubator. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I knew him well before he became a VC. I knew his as he considered becoming a VC and we talked a lot about how it was going for me in my early years. My guess is that many VCs are. Many through history became entrepreneurs precisely because they were unemployable. The Dave I know, I’ve known for 6 years. Sounds obvious.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

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. Specialized VCs start to jump in at this stage. Product development at this stage is the process of scaling up for manufacturing and marketing rollout. Commercial product prototypes.

Help 165

Help Research Startup Funding 165

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

This offline event was successful in helping Kaviani find his own cofounder, Culin Tate, and a new venture. Together they envisioned a Match.com type of site for entrepreneurs to find each other and make things happen. s first accelerator called The Fort and raised VC funding. Soon after CoFoundersLab was accepted into D.C.’s

Entrepreneur 87

Entrepreneur Santa Monica Startup CTO Hire 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2016

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

Entrepreneur 58

Entrepreneur Startup Education Tool 58