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. Direction, mentoring and resources required.

Incubator 58

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Equity 58

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.

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Customer Custom Entrepreneur 143

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2011

Business incubators for sharing services were all the rage back in the days of the dot-com bubble (700 for profit, many more non-profit). Incubators I hear mentioned most often include YCombinator , led by Paul Graham in Silicon Valley, and TechStars , located in Boston, Boulder, New York City, and Seattle.

Incubator 93

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Mentor 93

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2012

Business incubators for sharing services were all the rage back in the days of the dot-com bubble (700 for profit, many more non-profit). Incubators I hear mentioned most often include YCombinator , led by Paul Graham in Silicon Valley, and TechStars , located in Boston, Boulder, New York City, and Seattle.

Entrepreneur 86

Entrepreneur Incubator Startup Seed Funding 86

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. Product pre-order model. With this model, a startup pre-sells their product early, at a cheaper price, in exchange for a pledge.

Funding 141

Funding Startup Outsource Development Satisfaction 141

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2010

Business incubators for sharing services were all the rage back in the days of the dot-com bubble (700 for profit, many more non-profit). The goal of most business incubators today is to strengthen the local economy, and commercialize new technologies. However, many research and technology parks also house incubation programs.

Incubator 93

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Mentor 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Customer 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2012

These resources are definitely not limited to students, since every university seeks out and needs the real world exposure and experience of entrepreneurs who already are active in the real world marketplace. Product research and prototype development. Connections to a mentor. Early-stage funding.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Incubator Mentor Research 92

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 13, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, twelve companies moved into the new downtown San Diego, EvoNexus incubator--which is run by CommNexus. Kevin Hell: What makes EvoNexus unique, is that it is--as far as we know--the only completely free, no-strings-attached incubator in the nation. Once they pass that, they get into the incubator.

Incubator 212

Incubator San Diego Technical Review Development Team Review 212

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. One senior mentor to Launchpad LA recently said, “I got more out of Launchpad LA than I even put in. For the past 2.5

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Funding 96

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2016

I explain to her that, like the contestants on the show, we work with very early startup entrepreneurs to build the next great product. We invest time and money into helping them develop their ideas, and help develop those companies and the entrepreneurs as leaders. What's your background?

Startup 100

Startup Incubator Invest Resource 100

socalTECH

JUNE 6, 2011

Those programs--epitomized by YCombinator in the Bay Area, and TechStars in Boulder, Colorado--attract newly minted entrepreneurs with a mixture of cash and mentoring, and a program which rapidly takes ideas and turns them into viable, executing businesses. Those mentors are not just Bruce and I, although we are full time on this.

Startup 221

Startup Mentor Southern California Incubator 221

socalTECH

AUGUST 5, 2014

It might look a little like Demo Day for Warner Media Camp , the startup incubator program being run out of Los Angeles by Turner/Warner Bros. The program graduated six companies out of its internal incubator program Monday, showing them off at a Demo Day. at the intersection of technology and media.

Media 124

Media Class Hollywood Incubator 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Steve Blank via Flickr by jdlasica I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Process myth: Why building a product leads to failure. It’s time for a new startup model.

Startup 98

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 98

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Startup 113

Startup Entrepreneur Funding Equity 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

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. Erik Rannala: MuckerLab is a new startup accelerator, focused on incubation stage Internet, software, services, and media businesses here in LA.

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

These resources are definitely not limited to students, since every university seeks out and needs the real world exposure and experience of entrepreneurs who already are active in the real world marketplace. Product research and prototype development. Connections to a mentor. Early-stage funding. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 95

Startup Incubator Resource Mentor 95

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Funding 174

Funding Startup Equity Examples 174

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 21, 2011

It’s a three-month program providing its selected startups with $21,000 in seed funding, plus the typical incubator benefits like shared office space, legal assistance, infrastructure and hosting, and mentorship from a network of advisors.

Los Angeles 58

Los Angeles Rustic Canyon Incubator Angel 58

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 6, 2014

Internally, we look very similar to a tech company, in that we have a development team, go-to-market team, and product people, and the ultimate goal of what we want to accomplish is to create companies that can run independently, with their own management teams. How is this different than accelerator or incubator?

Startup 231

Startup Technology Incubator Silver Lake 231

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

A while back I heard a talk by Dave McClure, a long-time angel investor, who also proclaims to be one of the “new breed” of venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, as CEO of 500Startups , which is either a micro-VC seed fund, or a startup incubator, or both. The hard part for entrepreneurs is figuring out what it takes to play.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Seed Funding Incubator 101

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2012

There is a large menu of startup accelerators in the Los Angeles, but one of more established efforts in the area is LaunchpadLA ([link] The effort actually started as an informal mentoring program, but has grown and expanded to follow the accelerator model. It was really just something built for the community to help support entrepreneurs.

Class 261

Class Mentor Startup Santa Monica 261

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2016

The real unique part of this program, which I'm excited about, is the marriage between the mentoring that a company could receive from both those with an entrepreneurial startup background of Techstars, and the deep, vertical knowledge of clinicians or healthcare administrators, who have been doing healthcare work for a while.

Mentor 100

Mentor Startup Coach Ideas 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2016

The real unique part of this program, which I'm excited about, is the marriage between the mentoring that a company could receive from both those with an entrepreneurial startup background of Techstars, and the deep, vertical knowledge of clinicians or healthcare administrators, who have been doing healthcare work for a while.

Mentor 100

Mentor Startup Coach Ideas 100

Frank Addante

OCTOBER 12, 2021

Well, after months of soul searching and talking to 100 people (one of my key rules before starting any business or product) — I figured it out! Our focus is on helping entrepreneurs build businesses that focus on social and environmental challenges. We call it TinkerBarn Ventures. We build and invest in startups with impact.

Startup 105

Startup Case Study Ideas Invest 105

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. Most investors won’t touch a first-time entrepreneur at this stage. Startup incubator seed funding. Yet, knowing this distinction is important.

Funding 104

Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

socalTECH

AUGUST 12, 2014

We select companies from an application process , and they join us for a twelve week program of workshops, mentoring, and business meetings in order to create value in our businesses, and also accelerate process for them. These companies were each offering a product or platform that really addressed one of those areas. READ MORE>>.

Startup 159

Startup Technology Hollywood Media 159

Berkonomics

MARCH 24, 2016

Kirsten is the founder of ChickLabs , an incubator that focuses on helping primarily women entrepreneurs. Selling is required whether it is for sales of the company’s products or selling the business idea to investors. Teacher, tutor, and mentor. She is also the CEO of Immunogum, a start–up in Newport Beach, California.

Startup 120

Startup Ideas Incubator Mentor 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2021

More and more entrepreneurs are hearing about the successful graduates and investors queued behind a few well-known startup incubators, including Y Combinator, TechStars, and the Founder Institute. According to the National Business Incubator Association (NBIA) , there are currently over 1,200 members in 30 nations.

Incubator 146

Incubator Technical Review Entrepreneur Mentor 146

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2017

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain.

Startup 64

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 64

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2012

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain.

Startup 118

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 118

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 22, 2018

At Techstars Startup Week Phoenix 2018 powered by Chase for Business , leaders from Phoenix-based organizations discussed how they help break down barriers to entry for entrepreneurs. Hardimon said that if companies, incubators, or organizations aren’t doing any social modeling, then it’s going to be hard to attract those people.

Resource 70

Resource Organization Mentor News 70

socalTECH

JANUARY 23, 2017

Anna Barber: Before this, I hadn't been involved with Techstars as a mentor, however, I'd been an entrepreneur and mentored at other accelerators. However, I always wanted to get into a broader role in the startup ecosystem, where I could help other entrepreneurs work on their ideas. What are your goals at Techstars?

Startup 100

Startup Los Angeles Claremont Press 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 27, 2011

K5Launch (www.k5launch.com) is modeled after the successful Y-Combinator and TechStars acceleration programs, and invests equity, provides mentors, and runs a three month program to get very early stage startups off the ground. However, the main benefit is the one-on-one assistance of entrepreneurs, and access to capital.

Orange County 192

Orange County Southern California Startup Class 192