Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2021

Disclosing inventions before the patent application is filed. Entrepreneurs often put off the hassle and the cost of filing a patent until first funding. Then they realize that they have talked to many people without signing non-disclosure statements, precluding a patent, or someone else has now beat them to the filing docket.

Patents 145

Patents Legalzoom Invest Startup 145

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Don’t let your service be viewed as a commodity.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Don’t let your service be viewed as a commodity.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Declare that you will offer the product or service free.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Berkonomics

APRIL 13, 2017

If your vision is for a product or service that fills a need in a mature industry, you may be flying against the prevailing winds as a market shrinks over time, taking your business with it. A core patent or “thicket” of patents protecting your offering? Where in industry life cycle? Have you created high barriers to entry?

Patents 291

Patents Pricing Ideas Marketing 291

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Don’t let your service be viewed as a commodity.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

In the creation of a young company, there are five principal risks to be addressed by the entrepreneur. Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. Is the product or service possible to produce at all, let alone economically enough to.

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Entrepreneurs who are looking to attract investors need to develop and pitch a plan -- preferably written -- that answers every potential investor question about your startup before it is asked. This is also the place to first mention patents and any other differentiators that put you ahead of competition.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Don’t let your service be viewed as a commodity.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Declare that you will offer the product or service free.

Competition 120

Competition Patents Resource Invest 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek? Yet I’m still often approached by aspiring entrepreneurs who have neither.

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Target market. Sales/Marketing.

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

In their passion and excitement about a new product or service, entrepreneurs tend to continually narrow the scope of potential competitors, and often claim to have no direct competitors. Here are some of the key ones: Patent protection in place as a barrier to entry. No investor wants to be tied to a “one-trick pony.”

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Don’t let your service be viewed as a commodity.

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2014

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek? Yet I’m still often approached by aspiring entrepreneurs who have neither.

Product 101

Product Entrepreneur Summary Activity 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

As an advisor to new hardware entrepreneurs, I often hear the myth that a business plan is no longer required to find an investor, if your idea is good enough. What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more. and trademarks.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Many new entrepreneurs are so excited by their latest idea that they can’t resist contacting every investor they know, assuming the investor will be equally excited and want to contribute immediately. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse.

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

An excellent example is the initiative by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors a few years ago to give away their battery patents, to infrastructure and competitive car providers, without transactional agreements. Another partnering model example is the IBM Watson Group $1 billion investment to share cloud-based development and super-computing tools.

IBM 131

IBM IBM Startup Examples 131

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cashflow personally every day. Be a miser with contract services and facilities.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors. Access to intellectual property and current research.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Many writers have outlined the critical success factors for product companies, like sell every unit at a profit, patent the design, and continuous product improvement. The distinction between product companies and services companies is easy to see. The distinction between product companies and services companies is easy to see.

Product 91

Product Services Satisfaction Patents 91

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2014

You are an aspiring entrepreneur, eager to dump the corporate grind, and work to the beat of your own drummer, but you can’t come up with that killer idea to save the world. Technically, I believe an entrepreneur is anyone who manages his own profit and loss, and doesn’t meet the government tax definition of an employee.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Startup Course Patents 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

I’m not suggesting that a startup should ever disclose patent details to others before filing, but I can’t imagine why a startup would not seek visibility and feedback for their idea and solution while they could still make changes with minimal cost. The time to build investor relationships is before you need the investment.

Marketing 105

Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization Ideas 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2011

Disclosing inventions before the patent application is filed. Entrepreneurs often put off the hassle and the cost of filing a patent until first funding. Then they realize that they have talked to many people without signing non-disclosure statements, precluding a patent, or someone else has now beat them to the filing docket.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Patents Invest Startup 98

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. Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon their comfort with each. So, let’s examine them and mitigate them.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2014

With the appearance of do-it-yourself services on the Internet, entrepreneur curriculums at every university, and a wealth of new books on the subject, the need for expensive consultants and business advisors has also been mitigated. The same is true for filing patents, registering trademarks, and filing copyrights.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Commerce 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Be a miser with contract services and facilities.

Search Engine Optimization 103

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 103

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2021

As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs and occasional angel investor, I often see and hear innovative product pitches that sound exciting, but are missing one or more of the key business elements that investors deem critical for funding consideration. Patents are a good place for you to start. Outline your key activities to win.

Funding 132

Funding Template Resource Competition 132

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2012

You have probably heard plenty of times that being an entrepreneur is a risky business, and investors talk all the time about reducing the risk. Here is my own priority list of key risk drivers that every entrepreneur and every investor should evaluate and minimize in starting a business: Team experience and depth risk. Financial risk.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Examples Social Network Marketing 108

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I find that more and more entrepreneurs avoid using the term “profit” in pitching their new venture. Thus I was pleased and a bit surprised to see a new book, “ The Purpose Is Profit ,” by Ed “Skip” McLaughlin, an entrepreneur who has both succeeded and failed in starting multiple businesses.

Entrepreneur 58

Entrepreneur Ideas Pricing Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

Many new entrepreneurs are so excited by their latest idea that they can’t resist contacting every investor they know, assuming the investor will be equally excited and want to contribute immediately. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Startup Statistics Social Media 109

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Declare that you will offer the product or service free.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

Among those funds is TYLT Lab (www.tyltlab.com), which recently announced a new, $20M early stage investment fund specifically focused on companies here. We spoke with Rami Rostami and Gerard Casale , who are behind TYLT Labs, and who told us a bit about their new fund, its investment criteria, and where it sees the promise here.

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

In the creation of a new enterprise, there are five principal risks to be addressed by the entrepreneur. Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. Are you ahead or behind the market with your product or service? First: Product risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

File a patent and trademarks to show real intellectual property. A conundrum for many frustrated entrepreneurs is that they need money from investors to design and build a prototype product, yet most angel investors expect to see at least a prototype before they invest. Prepare an investment-grade business plan.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. Any startup with no patents, trade secrets, or other secret sauce is very high risk today. Make the product or service come alive. Reach out with creative videos to influencers in your domain.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2020

I’m not suggesting that a startup should ever disclose patent details to others before filing, but I can’t imagine why a startup would not seek visibility and feedback for their idea and solution while they could still make changes with minimal cost. The time to build investor relationships is before you need the investment.

Search Engine Optimization 174

Search Engine Optimization Ideas Startup Customer 174