Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2021

Some people even believe that entrepreneurs must be born with the right genes, and no element of education is relevant. In my view, the most effective entrepreneurs are those with a background of an array of real-life experiences, both positive and negative, as well as good academic and coaching activities.

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Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

Removing the emotion from a negotiation [Email readers, continue here…] Over the years, I have been delegated by more than several entrepreneurs and boards to negotiate critical agreements, sometimes to sell the company or merge it with another.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

As an entrepreneur, I understand your passion when pitching your solution to investors and customers, but passion alone won’t make one more technology pitch stand out above all the rest. I’m not talking here about trying to be a stand-up comic, or weaving theatrical tales. Connect to people’s emotion as well as logic.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Every business professional I know, or have met in my consulting role, has given serious thought to the alternative of switching to the entrepreneur lifestyle , pursuing a long-standing dream, and controlling their own destiny. Product-market fit (PMF) is all about value creation. To survive, you need to find a product-market fit.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

It seems like everyone wants to be an entrepreneur and get rich these days. So a better question than asking about the quality of an idea, is asking about the quality of your plan to implement the idea. Ask some potential customers to see if there is real interest, and start thinking about price versus cost.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. His top eight required skill set elements for sales don’t even mention product skills, and match my view of the right skill set for successful entrepreneurs, with only a few priority changes: Creating and sharing a vision. It’s up to you to clear the way.

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TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. What excites me about this space is that there’s so much low-hanging fruit.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2010

We have tons of entrepreneurs but our technology community has historically been splintered across town and across industries. But for the first time I’ll start talking publicly about the debates I’ve been having privately over the past 2 years about the direction of websites like Facebook, Twitter & Foursquare.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. So why would I have talked so much about the deck in my post? I funded them 8 weeks later.

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SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 18, 2012

Thursday, May 24, 2012 -- Creating and Presenting Your Business Plan. If you have a business concept and want to learn more about becoming a successful entrepreneur, you are invited to attend. Entrepreneurship @ RCC. Email ron.pardee@rcc.edu.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2020

Although most people believe that being a successful entrepreneur is all about having the right idea, I’m convinced from my years of experience as a startup advisor and investor that’s it’s more about you as a person. Entrepreneurs with positive, but rational, attitudes are supported and move forward with their plans.

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socalTECH

MARCH 28, 2019

Earlier this month, the annual Montgomery Summit conference was held in Santa Monica, including a special portion of the conference dedicated to the Rise of the Female Entrepreneur. I see you were involved in the Rise of the Female Entrepreneur effort at the Montgomery Summit this year, tell me a little about what that is all about?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 1, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs and business owners, and seeing their workload and challenges, it would be easy for me to conclude that starting a business is a big hit to health and happiness. If you are sick of the corporate grind, take your favorite idea or hobby, and join other happy entrepreneurs. Stay rooted in the present.

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Entrepreneur Satisfaction Mentor Writing 137

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024

Let’s dive a little deeper and present some “gray area” scenarios to consider. After the non-compete expires [Email readers, continue here…] How about after the two-year limitation in your non-compete agreement? Last week we introduced the subject of non-compete agreements. The non-compete agreement does expire when stated.

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SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 19, 2012

Friday, May 25, 2012 -- Creating and Presenting Your Business Plan. If you have a business concept and want to learn more about becoming a successful entrepreneur, you are invited to attend. Entrepreneurship @ RCC. Email ron.pardee@rcc.edu.

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Email Entrepreneur 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Most entrepreneurs spend far too much time thinking negatively about competitors, and can’t resist making derogatory statements about them to their own team, investors and even to customers. As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition.

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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? Now let’s talk about the basic components of a business plan.

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Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2015

Fred Wilson immediately weighed in on her analysis , a meme was born and we were off to the races talking about “Unicorns.” I’m not talking about raising money at a billion dollars. I’m talking about making your company memorable by describing it with a narrative that people will later remember.

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InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

As part of UC Santa Barbara’s Distinguished Lecture Series, Jason Nazar, Co-Founder and CEO of Docstoc , recently shared ten lessons that emerging entrepreneurs can learn from superheroes. You can watch Jason’s presentation below or on YouTube here: [link]. You can check out Jason’s original entry HERE.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

Relationships are the key to survival and success for entrepreneurs, and first impressions usually turn into lasting impressions. As an advisor to many early-stage entrepreneurs, I caution them to always be prepared for that chance meeting with a famous investor, a potential partner or an industry guru.

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Entrepreneur Startup Content Platform 128

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2023

Most entrepreneurs spend far too much time thinking negatively about competitors, and can’t resist making derogatory statements to their own team, to investors, and even to customers. As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition.

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Competition Entrepreneur Patents Customer 111

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 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 started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Much is also about luck and timing.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2011

tl;dr version: If you’re an entrepreneur or VC or will be working in this industry - buy this. Founders don’t often think about “primary&# stock vs, “fully diluted&# stock in terms of voting rights. Liquidation preferences never say things like “participating preferred&# although we all talk about it.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Guide Blogging 304

Berkonomics

JANUARY 21, 2021

When making a presentation to a new audience, the smart thing to do, if there is an opportunity, is to ask your audience by show of hands, if they have some knowledge of your industry or space. And if you are making a one-to-one presentation, don’t start without a conversation about the other person’s knowledge of your space.

Slides 156

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

Gerber wrote a best-selling business book called The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. The E-Myth (“Entrepreneurial Myth”) is the mistaken belief that most businesses are started by people with tangible business skills, when in fact most are started by “technicians” who know nothing about running a business.

Technical Review 136

Technical Review Startup Social Media Satisfaction 136

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. But the narrative in the press about Al Gore was that he was a smarmy know-it-all. They wrote about his verbal fumbles. Before that he was a US senator.

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 22, 2024

Investors will invariably try to tell you that they know much more about the “how to” than you do, and that you should listen to them. A good entrepreneur-turned-CEO listens, takes it all in, responds with reason, and stands up for what s/he believes for the parts that matter most. Make your case for staying the course.

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Venture Capital Course Email Design 227

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

Back in November I agreed with Nivi over at VentureHacks to do a series on the ten most important attributes of a successful entrepreneur. Unfortunately, I don’t believe it is perfectly correlated with what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. If we’ve seen a company present where we feel that the CEO is shady.

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Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Funding 284

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2016

Most entrepreneurs spend far too much time thinking negatively about competitors, and can’t resist making derogatory statements to their own team, to investors, and even to customers. As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition.

Competition 62

Competition Entrepreneur Patents Customer 62

Berkonomics

MAY 25, 2023

First, if your vision is limited and you will be happy with a successful local dry-cleaning enterprise or small restaurant around the corner, you are not the target for this epic effort to help entrepreneurs build great businesses that do change the world. Please take what you can from these weekly posts. Many will apply directly to you.)

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

On why you should be an entrepreneur, “A lot of people do what they have to do. We also talked about getting more young African Americans interested in entrepreneurship & technology. It made me confident about what would work. “All the failures that people get so scared of is what I did.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2021

Based on my own years of experience in startups and big business, and more recently as an angel investor, I often cringe when I see one of you entrepreneurs missing a cue that I have seen work for many before you. A passionate entrepreneur I met a while back had found that a certain algae could be grown cheaply, and could end world hunger.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2015

Relationships are the key to survival and success for entrepreneurs, and first impressions usually turn into lasting impressions. As an advisor to many early-stage entrepreneurs, I caution them to always be prepared for that chance meeting with a famous investor, a potential partner or an industry guru.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Content Platform 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

If you are new to the startup space and Angel investing, you probably don’t realize that some groups of Angel investors charge entrepreneurs a fee to pitch to their groups. In reality, these fees are usually trivial compared to your real costs of preparing, travelling, and presenting to investors. Find and fix that first.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. I hear it right after people have decided to come by for a few days to “check out what all the fuss is about.” When you begin to peel back the onion some surprising data presents itself. LA By The Numbers.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are. Lines vs. Dots is all about people. But what about markets? Think about Twitter.

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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?

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