Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. This does not mean you shouldn’t solve big, complex problems or write complex code. Most Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs I know are more like Al Gore.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. Yet it is the one element that too many entrepreneurs focus on only as an afterthought. Even great products need great marketing “content” to fuel the ascent of their online message.

Content 146

Content Newsletter Competition Writing 146

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

Every entrepreneur I know has their favorite excuse for a previous failure – an investor backed out, the economy took a downturn, or a supplier delivered bad quality. In that spirit, I offer my perspective on ten common startup failure sources that rarely get admitted by entrepreneurs: Choose to skip the written business plan.

Startup 174

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 174

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2021

Effective communication is an absolute requirement for successfully starting a business, but it doesn’t come naturally to many entrepreneurs. Founders have to communicate their ideas and products to investors, business partners, and the rest of the team. The goal is for only the strongest ideas to survive. Transparency.

Startup 134

Startup Writing Ideas Entrepreneur 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

You don’t need to invent an innovative product to be a real entrepreneur. Many of these new entrepreneurs were regular employees a few years ago, focused on a skill specialty. They are not the generalists required for new product startups. Writing specialists. Information specialists. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Services Search Engine Optimization Startup 106

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

In the creation of a young company, there are five principal risks to be addressed by the entrepreneur. So, it is important for the entrepreneur to identify, address and mitigate each of these in order to increase valuation and decrease the risk of ultimate loss of the business. First: Product risk. . Second: Market risk. .

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans take too much time, are inaccurate, and rarely add value. In fact, they are probably in such a hurry to give you money that they don’t want you to waste time writing anything down and passing it along to new investors.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

They realize that their productivity is suffering, as well as their health, but they don’t know what to do about it. Here is my prioritized list of work management strategies I recommend to all business professionals and entrepreneurs: Avoid reliance on multi-tasking to keep up with requests. Celebrate even small successes.

Demand 103

Demand Activity Email Mentor 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2022

Some entrepreneurs forget that talking is not communicating. Founders have to communicate their ideas and products to investors, business partners, and the rest of the team. Communication is not just talking, but also listening, writing, body language, and “actions speak louder than words.” Information withheld.

Technical Review 137

Technical Review Entrepreneur Guide Mentor 137

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Upon graduation from Wharton, John and Kyle launched a startup based upon a simple, pedestrian product: a computer mouse shaped like the head of a golf driver. Putting their expensive educations to good use, they aptly named their novelty product a "MouseDriver". According to John, "So, we, we sent.(an an email) to about 35 people.

Newsletter 133

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 133

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Jim Semick: I’ve been launching and managing software products for 15 years now, going back to when you and I worked together at Expertcity before it was acquired by Citrix. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. If you asked me to tell you a list of three of the best decisions in my life, I can certainly tell you that regularly writing is one of them. Why You Should Write. Why You Should Write. Kanye West.

Startup 191

Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

On a regular basis, I am approached by entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. They cite sources like a recent BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this NY Times article. With bootstrapping, no business plan is expected by anyone.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Entrepreneurs are always looking for “the next big thing,” when maybe in fact it’s a lot of little things that are only recognized after the fact as components of a big evolution or revolution. Key vehicles already include wireless for communication, and RFID for product location. The implications for startups in this context are huge.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Ideas Writing Training 95

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

An entrepreneur, weightlifter and travel photographer, James offers his readers advice and insights that help them become better leaders, with an emphasis on improving one''s health in the process. One of the biggest challenges of being an entrepreneur is deciding what not to do. Focusing On Everything = Focusing On Nothing.

Entrepreneur 222

Entrepreneur Startup Research Social Media 222

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2013

million new pages added to the Internet every day, the biggest challenge for every entrepreneur is to get found, and get some credibility for a new startup. The biggest excuse most startup founders mention is too much to do building a product, mapping strategy, investors, etc. Wordpress entrepreneur startup website blogging business'

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2012

Effective communication is an absolute requirement for successfully starting a business, but it doesn’t come naturally to many entrepreneurs. Founders have to communicate their ideas and products to investors, business partners, and the rest of the team. The goal is for only the strongest ideas to survive. Transparency.

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Writing Ideas Email 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2013

Some entrepreneurs forget that talking is not communicating. Founders have to communicate their ideas and products to investors, business partners, and the rest of the team. Communication is not just talking, but also listening, writing, body language, and “actions speak louder than words.” Information withheld.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Technical Review Guide Mentor 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2011

Entrepreneurs are always looking for “the next big thing,” when maybe in fact it’s a lot of little things that are only recognized after the fact as components of a big evolution or revolution. Key vehicles already include wireless for communication, and RFID for product location. The implications for startups in this context are huge.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Ideas Writing Training 92

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 16, 2013

Turn on your phone and look at the productivity folder. Something to write your notes, another to set reminders, and one that does both. You’ll be more productive within three weeks time. We discuss productivity, emails, communication, and the dynamics of the team. We’ve been there. We’ve all been there.

Product 99

Product Ideas Email Organization 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2011

Every entrepreneur is flooded with information from all directions, but despite their best efforts to absorb it, they likely miss the information really needed to start a business. In the past century, curators for business information were specialized news magazines like Forbes and Inc., Lessons Learned , by Eric Ries.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Technical Review Blogging Java 92

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

Because market is such a broad topic, I’m restricting these lessons to PR marketing (as opposed SEO, SEM, product marketing, etc.). My general rule is that it’s good to be stealth in the early days while you’re building your product and testing your market. You need some guidelines to make decisions.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. Yet, most good business people I know agree, but don’t know where to start.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2012

Based on my experience as a mentor and an entrepreneur, if you fail on your first startup, you are about average. Every young entrepreneur knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Of course, a real entrepreneur always takes a failure as a milestone on the road to success. How can you improve your odds?

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Ideas Resource Statistics 109

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Especially if you are in the early stage of growing a business, these five risks can and often do derail entrepreneurs before realizing the riches of a great exit. First: Product risk. . Is the product or service possible to produce at all, let alone economically enough to compete in the marketplace? Make you wealthy someday.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 14, 2015

The rise of powerful new tools for automation and management of business tasks is taking the world by storm, because it lets one entrepreneur accomplish much more with their time than they ever could before. Automated mailing tools are a major resource for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is undergoing many technological changes.

Entrepreneur 40

Entrepreneur Technology Email Tool 40

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

She learns how to ship product, how to deal with merchants, how to hire product managers. Always meeting her product ship dates. She was always able to get into the weeds on product or biz dev discussions. She was everything I was looking for in an entrepreneur to back. She helps write press releases.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

In modern society we’re all over-worked and over-loaded with information and tasks and to-dos and obligations. In many instances this help is genuine, well-meaning and productive. I try to steer entrepreneurs away from over-introducers and I often find myself wanting to be careful about them becoming an investor in companies I back.

Innocal 255

Innocal Conference Help Study 255

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

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. But first you need to know about Reg D filings.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. Or “I’m a new entrepreneur, why would I offer advice on how to run a startup?&#. By definition, you read blogs.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!, I know I can’t be in every deal and I know that the easy part of being a VC is writing the first check in a deal. And there’s conferences. Web Summit.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2019

Image via Wikipedia Effective communication is an absolute requirement for successfully starting a business, but it doesn’t come naturally to many entrepreneurs. Founders have to communicate their ideas and products to investors, business partners, and the rest of the team. The goal is for only the strongest ideas to survive.

Writing 94

Writing Ideas Entrepreneur Email 94

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. Like any sale you first need to plan your “prospects” and qualify whether or not they’d be a good fit for your product?—?an

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. but: Something is Still Missing.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I’m sitting at my computer now at 9.00pm writing this – which is an hour earlier than I normally write (there are about 8 women at my kitchen table having a book club (aka excuse to drink wine & gossip so I’m locked in another room writing. We have an informed point of view. I enjoy that. Same thing.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

I speak a lot on college campuses and entrepreneur events and amongst the most common things I’m asked to talk about are: What do VCs fund? Hard Problems I encourage entrepreneurs to try and tackle harder problems even if it makes fund raising more difficult and is less likely to succeed. We need leaders who can rigorously prioritize.

Design 150

Design Ideas Startup Writing 150