Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

A common request I get while mentoring entrepreneurs is for a copy of the startup checklist they need to follow, in order to build a successful new business. His checklists cover everything from building a vision, to consistently delivering results, for entrepreneurs up to mature business executives. Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Technology 86

Technology Cloud Computing Social Media Networking 86

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

While the market isn't short of spritely, innovative entrepreneurs, harsh economic headwinds combined with a pullback in investor spending have made it harder than ever for budding businesses to break through. Calendly Calendly is an online scheduling platform popular among business and personal users. Gumroad homepage.

Startup 213

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 213

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. “There’s something going on in LA.” acquired Overture for $1.63

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Truecar 376

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but using no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business. Technologists building cool new platforms, just because they can, won’t find investor interest.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Ideas Competition 115

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I also wonder about the entrepreneur who would sign a term sheet that came from somebody they hadn’t gotten to know over time. Great entrepreneurs pivot.

Entrepreneur 291

Entrepreneur Startup Google Yammer 291

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

Not only has he become the richest man in the world again, leapfrogging a certain Mr Musk, but it has also been revealed that Amazon has quietly acquired ecommerce platform Selz. In fact, ecommerce website builders and platforms have become seriously big business over the last few years. It's been a big week for Jeff Bezos.

News 137

News Acquisition Platform Sales 137

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 20, 2022

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. Internet disruptors make prices and margins transparent. Value to second-order customer advertisers is key.

Customer 103

Customer Custom Competition Netflix 103

socalTECH

OCTOBER 6, 2017

We've built an open architecture, so we can pull in the latest and greatest technology. Combining that with my previous experience, which was in the platform and SaaS market, and sports, was really a home run. What's the biggest lesson you've learned here so far as an entrepreneur? Laurence Sotsky: Great question.

Mobile 162

Mobile Platform El Segundo UCLA 162

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2018

Everyone was on the phone, fighting with drivers over price and things like their availability. We viewed this as a central marketplace which would allow drivers to be put in the driving seat, get paid what they want, go where they want to go, and get paid the market price, and would help solve this issue. Lidia Yan: You're right.

Startup 173

Startup Pricing Marketing Entrepreneur 173

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 16, 2019

The New York-based company was founded last year by Gina Bartasi, a fertility industry vet who previously launched Progyny, a fertility benefit solution for employers, and FertilityAuthority.com, an information platform and social network for people struggling with fertility. But are these really high retail prices sustainable long term?

Mobile 167

Mobile Pricing Social Network Los Angeles 167

socalTECH

OCTOBER 19, 2017

We sat down with Steve to chat about what the Alliance is working on, and why he decided to champion the growth of the technology industry here. We are devoted to the mission of supercharging Southern California's technology ecosystem, and help it emerge as a world class technology hub by 2025.

Southern California 170

Southern California Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 170

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

You will build out features or expend to platforms — often before you have enough market feedback to warrant it. The larger the round, the higher the price, the harder the next hurdle is to hit But the bigger point I want to make is what happens when the coffers are depleted and you need more money?

Startup 292

Startup Software Review Pricing Entrepreneur 292

socalTECH

MAY 30, 2019

Richards--a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in a number of technology companies here, including NTI Group (sold to Blackboard), Internships.com, MP3.com, Our platform not only distributes your jobs, but helps with your brand online, and helps candidates move forward to see if they have a great fit with the company.

Content 193

Content Social Network Coach Help 193

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Entrepreneurs who experience promising initial success also play a similar game. Although the offer was gratifying, it was clear to the Founders that this windfall would ultimately fall far short of the value that could be created by productizing the technology and generating substantial user adoption. The payout was also unique.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Acquisition Pricing 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. Internet disruptors make prices and margins transparent. Value to second-order customer advertisers is key.

Marketing 124

Marketing Custom Customer Competition 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

This could be fighting some government bureaucracy with your technology, or “supporting” unhappy customer efforts against an unpopular competitor. This one has been around for a long time, but I still see too many entrepreneurs trying to climb the mountain alone. Produce memorable product demonstrations or videos.

Marketing 170

Marketing Examples Startup Custom 170

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Entrepreneurs who experience promising initial success also play a similar game. Although the offer was gratifying, it was clear to the Founders that this windfall would ultimately fall far short of the value that could be created by productizing the technology and generating substantial user adoption. The payout was also unique.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Acquisition Pricing .Net 124

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2018

Dave Fink: Postie is a building a technology platform with a mission of making direct mail marketing behave as easily and dynamically as your favorite, programmatic channels. However, there just hasn't been the underlying technology to make it possible to pull all of that together. What is Postie? Both of us are purely digital.

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Marketing 100

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 17, 2015

Entrepreneurs and startups operate within a David versus Goliath environment. In fact, improvements in technology, like big data as a service, mean there are options for all companies regardless if they’re massive corporations or fledgling startups. Entrepreneurs and Flexibility. This is a weakness entrepreneurs need to exploit.

Entrepreneur 40

Entrepreneur Tool Organization Social Media 40

socalTECH

JULY 27, 2012

Jerry Jao: Retention Science is a Big Data and e-commerce platform, where we help engage customers. Our technology is built around behavioral prediction. He actually was named as one of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year. A lot of our focus is on being able to build a stronger platform around the algorithm.

Commerce 196

Commerce Platform Southern California Custom 196

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

In a bear market executives are paid to: consolidate the number of contracts and renegotiate prices. A seed deal hasn’t already been “priced up” to a range where a new investor might be concerned about the valuation relative to performance. Valuations may have changed and “price discovery” in private markets is harder to determine.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2014

You fill out the short questionnaire, lawyers submit their price quotes, and they get hired. You put your project up, and shortly thereafter, you get price quotes from lawyers. That''s how we ended up developing this technology, to take that initial step out of the process. Lawyers on the platform love the experience.

Help 240

Help Startup CTO Hire Pricing 240

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. New investors sometimes want early investors to put in money to “prove” they have confidence in the new price. Much of this historically didn’t matter to entrepreneurs.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2015

A common request I get while mentoring entrepreneurs is for a copy of the startup checklist they need to follow, in order to build a successful new business. His checklists cover everything from building a vision, to consistently delivering results, for entrepreneurs up to mature business executives. Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Startup 107

Startup Cloud Computing Social Media Entrepreneur 107

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2018

In this age of constant market evolution and new technology, there is no such thing as a static business that is self-sustaining. Competitors tend to focus on price and other variations to existing offerings. Introduce disruptive technologies to this domain. Too many businesses only think of new products when in crisis mode.

Examples 99

Examples IP Acquisition Social Media 99

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

What we specialize in, is the way we deliver this content in a seamless way, in high quality, with the latest technology available. We are unique in being an open platform, that allows for all of these variations to happen. The second thing, is instead of being just a platform, we also have content partners pre-integrated.

Content 113

Content Startup Mobile Media 113

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

where entrepreneurs share their stories. 63 Los Angeles Entrepreneurs To Be Proud Of By mario on May 2, 2012 in Features , grid. Free Corporations For First-Time Entrepreneurs. Right now they’re setting up 500 free corporations for first time entrepreneurs. Here are 62 63 Los Angeles entrepreneurs we can be proud of.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

socalTECH

MARCH 15, 2016

Designers go on to our platform, post a production projet, and contratosr and factories bid on those projects. Based on ratings, reviews, and price, designers are able to hire a factory or contractor from our platform. The third problem we solve, is pricing and payment. We help apparel designers connect with factories.

Software Review 100

Software Review Design Technical Review Platform 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

I was mentoring some graduate students at a local university recently, and I sensed again that profit seems to be a dirty word these days to many aspiring entrepreneurs. The alternatives range from giving the product away for free (revenue from ads), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing).

Pricing 66

Pricing Custom Customer Advertising 66

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 15, 2016

One one hand, this opens a door for greater possibilities for the innovators of new advanced technologies. Technology has driven great change throughout history, it has shaped the working world, and replaced jobs and even whole industries. But the growth of AI also means the extinction of many jobs. Yehudit Mam, DADA.nyc.

Artificial Inteligence 40

Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Education Commerce 40

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2017

My side was really the publishing business, the technology, and monetization, the technology platform itself. We're firmly against volume-based pricing, like you see with analytics and monitoring, because it's a disincentive for people to use the service. Eric Futoran: I was one of the co-founders at Scopely.

Mobile 178

Mobile Develop Development Tool 178

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

The company was founded by Bong Koh, a former EIR at Prism VentureWorks and venture capitalist at Advanced Technology Ventures; he also co-founded ibeatyou. We want to create the right mix of the types of activities, price points, and make sure we have high quality content and high quality activities. What is LifeCrowd?

Startup 271

Startup CTO Coach Activity Software Review 271

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. It’s part of what makes him so likable.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2016

Every entrepreneur I know starts out with a strong conviction that their solution is a perfect match for their target market, and yet almost every one later admits a need to “pivot” before finding their groove. Few entrepreneurs know that even the most successful startups had pivots, which rarely get mentioned.

Entrepreneur 57

Entrepreneur Pricing Course Competition 57

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2014

A common request I get while mentoring entrepreneurs is for a copy of the startup checklist they need to follow, in order to build a successful new business. His checklists cover everything from building a vision, to consistently delivering results, for entrepreneurs up to mature business executives. Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Cloud Computing 99

Cloud Computing Social Media Entrepreneur SaaS 99

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. Internet disruptors make prices and margins transparent. Value to second-order customer advertisers is key.

Customer 101

Customer Custom Competition Netflix 101

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

I’m not saying that people don’t appreciate them – I just think that they’ve become so commonplace we tend to forget just how much they simplify life for a lot of entrepreneurs. Not to mention that almost every business in our modern, digital age is using this technology.

Software 78

Software Netflix Competition Design 78