Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2014

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that the strength of their initial idea somehow defines them as a leader, as well as the success potential of their derivative business. It takes leadership ability, as well as a good idea, to make a successful entrepreneur, and great leaders evolve from key leadership decisions along the way.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Ideas Framework Tips 111

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? Or more directly – they are likely narcissistic resuscitations of your newest features or bragging points that nobody but your marketing team and your mom care about. Think about Luma Partners.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Consistent with the statistics cited in Why Entrepreneurs Hate (Most) MBAs , the large majority of John and Kyle''s classmates accepted positions at investment banks and consulting firms upon graduation. an email) to about 35 people. If we had a blogging platform then, we would have been blogging. in September of 1999.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2018

Editor's note: All this week, and into the start of next year, we'll be featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. Here in LA we continue to be excited about the growth of the startup ecosystem and the quality of the companies here.

Startup 124

Startup Press Commerce Southern California 124

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Consistent with the statistics cited in Why Entrepreneurs Hate (Most) MBAs , the large majority of John and Kyle''s classmates accepted positions at investment banks and consulting firms upon graduation. an email) to about 35 people. If we had a blogging platform then, we would have been blogging. in September of 1999.

Newsletter 133

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 133

Tech.Co

JULY 12, 2017

In a press release The Disney Accelerator highlights the success of Sphero and announced: “They have a multi-property lineup for this year including the App-enabled Ultimate Lightning McQueen, the voice interactive Spider-Man, and more.”. “And is a game-based learning platform with more than 50 million monthly active users in 180 countries.

Artificial Inteligence 108

Artificial Inteligence Startup Entertainment Press 108

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. At Upfront we’re totally fine funding entrepreneurs who have done multiple businesses in the past – in fact we like it. But I’m guessing the narrative is similar elsewhere.

Funding 373

Funding Technical Review Startup Screening 373

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2018

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that the strength of their initial idea somehow defines them as a leader, as well as the success potential of their derivative business. It takes leadership ability, as well as a good idea, to make a successful entrepreneur, and great leaders evolve from key leadership decisions along the way.

Ideas 66

Ideas Entrepreneur Framework Tips 66

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. We also talked about Elevation Partners who invested in Palm and how this deal really salvaged their investment, which was a VERY big bet on Palm.

Clearstone 236

Clearstone Venture Capital ReachLocal Google 236

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2018

For our interview this morning, we caught up with Scot Lawrie , the President and technical Co-founder of Los Angeles-based Coverfly (www.coverfly.com), and John Rhodes , Coverfly's head of Marketing and Business Development, to learn a bit more about the early stage, bootstrapped startup focused on Hollywood script writers. What is Coverfly?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Hollywood Platform Competition 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2019

More recently, the desire for extra income has become the key driver in new startups, according to the popular press. Being called a lifestyle entrepreneur should be a point of pride, not an insult. Of course, even lifestyle entrepreneurs want to be happy, and want their business to be “successful.” According to William R.

Startup 77

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Course 77

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 24, 2013

The system will compile your interests in your local storage, so the more you use it, the more it learns about you, and the more relevant will be the results. If you add the next generation of natural language processing (NLP), you will be able to ask Google Voice Search or Apple Siri the questions right through your smart phone.

Web 98

Web Entrepreneur Software Review Google 98

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

What happens when you apply big data and computer science to digest all of that social data being fed into Twitter and other social platforms--and cross match that to location information? We spoke with Ali Khoshgozaran , founder and CEO of the company, to learn more about the startup. What is Tilofy about? READ MORE>>.

USC 236

USC Southern California Organization UCLA 236

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Well, we started out a free text messaging platform. OK, that sounds like an interesting business, but nothing to write a freakin’ blog post about? Silicon Valley (and Alley) has been super excited about the new category of “group text messaging&# and for valid reasons. I know this category has gotten a lot of press.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

socalTECH

JUNE 23, 2017

We chatted with Wayne about how SURE--backed by IA Capital, Menlo Ventures, FF Venture Capital, Nationwide Ventures, Assurant and AmTrust--is applying technology and working with, not against, insurance companies to make buying insurance something you can easily do with your smartphone or tablet. It's not about changing their business model.

Southern California 244

Southern California Technical Review Startup Commerce 244

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Why investors care about prorata rights. It’s why I often advise angel investors to be careful about assuming that being an angel investor is a profitable exercise unless you have the ability to have a wide-enough portfolio to have a few companies doing extraordinarily well plus deep enough pockets to follow your winners.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 31, 2014

On Sunday, March 2 nd at USC, these rivals took their battle to a new platform: startups. With the help of co-hosts and partners, including Bruin Entrepreneurs , Start-up UCLA , USC E-Club , Incubatrix, and more, Wowfand was able to put together the first startup rivalry to decide the dominant startup school in Los Angeles.

Startup 101

Startup USC UCLA Southern California 101

SoCal Delicious

AUGUST 28, 2012

VentureBeat | News About Tech, Money and Innovation. 10 New York City startups we’re crazy about. Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs. 5 things Silicon Valley gets wrong about Southern California. I assumed that the people of Los Angeles were disingenuous attention whores and didn’t know anything about technology.”.

Southern California 57

Southern California PHP Technical Review Orange County 57

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2011

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the proliferation of starutps in the past 2 years. New stuff gets created, it’s fun to play with and talk about. You want to use it because your friends are doing it and you want to find out what it’s all about. But what about education? But what does this all mean?

Startup 309

Startup Cloud Computing Venture Capital Marketing 309

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. It takes options off of the table.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 1, 2012

The following guest post is from Courtney Englert, Customer Success Intern at The Resumator , a SaaS applicant tracking system and hiring platform trusted by many of the fastest-growing companies in the world, including: Pinterest, Tumblr, Hootsuite, Klout, Posterous, Bitly, Atari and Mashable. Be prepared to take a fall. Share and Enjoy.

Startup 184

Startup RSS SaaS Press 184

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

I recently sat down with Troy Carter to talk about what he does and why he believes it is applicable to venture capital. And whom you know is really just about who is willing to go to bat for you, break through filters, and vouch for the quality of your product and of you. It’s the same story.

Mentor 150

Mentor Venture Capital Marketing Product 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

I believe that Twiistup is now a platform from which to grow and highlight what is uniquely LA. There are now a second generation of entrepreneurs and companies that have learned from their last successes and are producing great new companies like TopSpin Media , Sometrics and GumGum. Much of this was highlighted at Twiistup.

Twiistup 228

Twiistup SoCal Southern California Yammer 228

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

We spoke with Gary Bishop, the firm's CEO, to learn more about the company. It's nice chatting with you again about your company--you're here in Los Angeles, aren't you? Gary Bishop: One of the things about Los Angeles which I think is very unique, is it's been great for entrepreneurialism.

Networking 214

Networking IBM IBM Pacific Palisades 214

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

We spent the first 45 minutes or so talking about industry trends (in this order): The history and background of True Ventures, one of my favorite early-stage VC’s (and the one with whom Om is a venture partner). industry investors rather than VCs) a good idea for entrepreneurs. We talked about Facebook.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

As Brian Solis is fond of saying, “PR stands for public relations, not press release.&# That’s right. What should you blog about? analysts, journalists, potential employees) and blog about what you want to communication with them. If you’re a financial services firm blog about personal finance.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Plus, he told us a little bit about how he's helping to build a mini cluster of technology companies in the Silverlake area. SocialEngine is a white-label, community platform. We have about 8500 customers there, but only a small percentage have built great communities that took off, and the rest floundered.

Startup 242

Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

The fund is just celebrated its first year in business, so we thought we'd catch up with Brian to hear more about what the firm is investing in, the challenges of raising a venture fund in this market, plus his view on the Los Angeles venture market. Brian Garrett: We started Crosscut Ventures about a year ago. What do you invest in?

Southern California 153

Southern California Startup Palomar Rustic Canyon 153

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 15, 2012

This was my second TCDisrupt conference, however my first attending as press. The visible press pass label is a people magnet – most people you pass want to talk, discuss, pitch. I received dozens of long emails each day with press releases, pitches, news and information. Most emails were nothing short of a report.

Press 103

Press Email Tips Conference 103

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2010

Alon Goren: Basically, what we've done, is we've built a platform where anyone can raise money for anything. We also have the ability to license out our platform, for example if socalTECH wanted a tech company version, we could provide a tech company version of the site. What is the idea behind Invested.in? We didn't have that option.

Sites 237

Sites Startup Invest SoCalTech 237

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

I remember it even way back in kindergarden when my Saturday school teacher tried to tell me about Noah and Adam & Eve. While many of my friends bragged about their 5 condos in Florida I kept talking about how the real estate market was in a bubble – their gains an illusion. It has always stood with me.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

socalTECH

DECEMBER 6, 2011

Josh Resnick is a serial entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of nProgress , the company behind ntro. Josh Resnick: What ntro is about, is trying to uncover meaningful connections with people around you. We're quite familiar with your background, but for those who aren't, talk about how you got here and Pandemic?

Electronic Arts 236

Electronic Arts Startup Mobile West Los Angeles 236

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 21, 2014

The sessions served as a space where enthusiasts, innovators, and investors, of all scales could come together for open conversations about the crypto-currency space. Dan, now named as Product Manager for the Blockchain acquired Zeroblock apps, tells the audience about life after acquisition. The subject on hand?

Startup 104

Startup Venture Capital Draper Invest 104

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2014

This was a chance to blow open the story on their companies, to address a room full of potential investors, mentors, partners, customers, and press. After the event, we caught up, Parker Thompson , Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) charged with leading Batch 8. About $37B worth of lost sales a year, worldwide. ” Demo Day.

Startup 111

Startup Mobile Commerce Education 111

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 15, 2014

About Amanda: After finishing business school at Wharton, she moved directly into investment banking and spent two years working within the tech sector. Amanda talks a bit about life working for an incubator. “We’re finding the only reason why people don’t buy us is that they don’t know about us.

Outsource Development 108

Outsource Development Startup Incubator Press 108

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 8, 2016

I thought it would be interesting to understand the challenges and concerns of entrepreneurs who began selling online for the first time in 2016, so I sat down with Heidi Muther, COO at Z S upply , LLC. This position embodies everything I love about the fashion industry from merchandising to corporate planning and strategy.

Sites 100

Sites Sales Santa Barbara Design 100

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

In the summer of 2006 over a cup of Peet’s Coffee, you told me about this new thing called “cloud computing” and that you were trying to come up with a creative way to incorporate it into the curriculum of your upcoming UCSB Computer Science class. “By When you began your teaching career, did you plan on eventually being an entrepreneur?

Cloud Computing 188

Cloud Computing Santa Barbara EC2 Startup 188