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. He or she will assume your comment means there is no market for your product or service, or you haven’t looked. Don’t bash the competition.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

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.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

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

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

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 17, 2010

In 1994, (I know a long time ago), I invested over a million dollars into a company whose entrepreneurs had a vision that I bought into for many reasons, not the least of which was that I had industry experience and understood the need. Surprisingly, many entrepreneurs immediately respond. Back to 1996.

Marketing 247

Marketing Competition Research Summary 247

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I challenge them to think beyond what I call linear extensions to a current trend, such as another “easier-to-use” app for smartphones, a new dating site for pets, or another niche social network. Why doesn’t this product or service already exist? Great social entrepreneurs are rare.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Ideas Resource Examples 126

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

In the creation of a new enterprise, 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. And fifth: Competitive risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

He was a life-long entrepreneur and the first business he created out of college (actually, he founded it while he was at Caltech) was a company that manufactured high quality audio speakers. Yes, long before Yelp or any similar service. Too many entrepreneurs focus on dilution. We talked about patents.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

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, 2021

It seems like everyone wants to be an entrepreneur and get rich these days. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks. This is the point where you work on the specifics of being able to deliver your product or service. All the evidence says that over 99% fail to make that leap. Keep thieves away (protect it).

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2013

New entrepreneurs who want to survive, and optimize the growth of their startups, need to think globally, and act locally, from day one. with demands for new products and services. At present, no world patents or international patent process exists, so you need to apply in every relevant country. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Offshore 97

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. business business plan entrepreneur investor technology'

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

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 20, 2011

New entrepreneurs who want to survive, and optimize the growth of their startups, need to think globally, and act locally, from day one. with demands for new products and services. At present, no world patents or international patent process exists, so you need to apply in every relevant country. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Patents Offshore Startup 103

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2011

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. It’s here that entrepreneurs must shift their thinking from tactical and operational, to strategic and managerial. No entrepreneur is born with these skills.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Startup Organization Training 111

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2013

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 100

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

OCTOBER 16, 2012

When I started mentoring entrepreneurs and startups a few years ago, I anticipated that I would get mostly tough technical questions, but instead I more often hear things like “Where do I start?” It doesn’t matter how good your product or service is if most of your potential customers don’t know about it. The marketplace is a war zone.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Guide 110

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 11, 2018

Company co-founder Jonathan Zweig has already had one hit as a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur. Zweig claims that conversion rates have increased significantly for the companies that pay a fee for his company’s service. “Google has been a great partner for us,” Zweig says.

Google 213

Google Los Angeles Southern California Platform 213

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Technical Review Startup Equity 102

Berkonomics

APRIL 20, 2017

Leaders and companies that innovate new products, services and methods of delivery are the ones that stand out in a crowded business world, especially when attempting to gain recognition among the throngs of competitors visible on the web. Commissioner of Patents in 1899. That was Charles H. Duell, U.S.

Artificial Inteligence 256

Artificial Inteligence UCLA Web Patents 256

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2012

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. Incorporate, register your domain name, trademarks, and copyrights, then patent if possible. Success is the right balance of both for fun and profit.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Ideas 102

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2015

Most of the technologists I know inherently believe that the terms inventor and entrepreneur mean the same thing, so they are frustrated and surprised when they build their products and no business evolves. The term entrepreneur has always been defined as a person who builds a new business, which may or may not involve inventing a product.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Pricing Customer Custom 106

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Their primary intended reader is a “first-time entrepreneur”, but clearly other stakeholders within the startup universe can also benefit from the book’s hands-on advice. They are both former entrepreneurs and current Partners at Foundry Group , a highly successful, early stage venture firm. The Magicians Tells Their Secrets.

Venture Capital 205

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

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

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2009

Helping entrepreneurs succeed. An on-line community for entrepreneurs. and international patent and trademark procurement - IP Litigation - IP Licenses and Agreements: distribution, development, joint venture - Intellectual property aspects of mergers and acquisitions. We put the "Service" back into Internet Service Provider.

Southern California 133

Southern California IP Orange County Glendale 133

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

socalTECH

OCTOBER 30, 2009

Helping entrepreneurs succeed. An on-line community for entrepreneurs. companies, universities, and organizations will be sharing their latest technologies, products, and services in this unique Southern California event. and international patent and trademark procurement - IP. Thanks in particular to: Sponsors.

Southern California 140

Southern California IP Orange County Glendale 140

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Steve is now in charge of Marina Del Rey-based TeleSign (www.telesign.com), which has quietly become a huge force in providing authentication services to nearly every major Internet service out there. Telesign provides authentication services for the largest web companies in the world. To learn more, we caught up with Steve.

Marina Del Rey 238

Marina Del Rey Startup IP Examples 238

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2012

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. It’s here that entrepreneurs must shift their thinking from tactical and operational, to strategic and managerial. No entrepreneur is born with these skills.

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Startup Organization Training 94

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

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

In fact, I often have to tell aspiring entrepreneurs that their inventions have zero value, at least not until they are put in the context of a business plan, with qualified people committed to executing the plan. A long-term advantage usually also requires intellectual property, such as a patent, trade secret, or trademark.

Technical Review 156

Technical Review Funding Patents Ideas 156

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. If you give away your product or service to the first 10 customers, that’s a good learning experience, but it’s not real traction. milestones entrepreneur startup funding business'

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

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

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 1, 2009

At this workshop, Intellectual Property attorneys will present on Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks and Non-Disclosure Agreements. The workshop will include case studies on how these subjects are utilized to protect actual products or services. See [link] (more).

Case Study 100

Case Study SoCal Southern California IP 100

InfoChachkie

MARCH 4, 2019

In addition to creating a franchise chain which exceeded 500 locations at its peak, Martha Harper was also one of the world’s first social entrepreneurs, helping thousands of middle-class women create their own businesses and control their destinies. Social Entrepreneuring (Before It Was Cool). Martha’s Legacy Lives On.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Class Template Patents 100