Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

Every business owner and entrepreneur I meet in my consulting rounds dreams of finding that “ disruptive ” innovation that will supercharge their business and move it into the ranks of business unicorns (billion-dollar valuations), such as SpaceX and Apple. Be sure to hire and cultivate new talent with the right mindset.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Metrics Resource Software Review 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

Software Review 56

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach 56

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

Software Review 103

Software Review Equity CTO Hire Outsource Development 103

InfoChachkie

APRIL 28, 2011

Many entrepreneurs encounter a similar dilemma. Thus, entrepreneurs must decide when to stop listening to the Sirens’ song of a quick buck and position their company to take advantage of long-term, sustainable business models. However, in the long run, entrepreneurs always benefit from delivering Maximum Utility for a fair price.

Entrepreneur 225

Entrepreneur SaaS Pricing Cloud Computing 225

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. In that context, I offer you my latest collection of popular investor-to-entrepreneur terms and concepts. Frothy is good for entrepreneurs. Seed-round investment.

Startup 57

Startup Software Review Equity Invest 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2015

This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off. Change requests must be visibly reviewed by executives frequently. business entrepreneur feature creep scope creep startup' Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 104

Technical Review Product Software Review High Tech 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2011

Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

Software Review 96

Software Review CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2010

Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

Software Review 92

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 92

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2013

This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off. Change requests must be visibly reviewed by executives frequently. entrepreneur startup funding product features business' Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Startup Software Review High Tech 110

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

We typically do not ask entrepreneurs to visit our offices in Santa Barbara, but Jeff wanted to meet with Kevin, an investor in our Fund who helped us vet opportunities and occasionally invested alongside of us. Tech Diligence - Consider The Source. Subject: Reference for Twilio. Forwarded message -. It's Me, Not You.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. Reviewing financial & operational performance. There are just as many bad entrepreneurs who do bad things. Defections of large swaths of talented employees due to low morale.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2012

As we know, developers always give their product a code name. The idea was pioneered by renowned and award winning high impact serial entrepreneurs, Robert Sussman and Lance Fanaroff. ABSA Jewish Entrepreneur of the Year – WINNER (This award was actually presented by Gill Marcus) – (Annex.13). Why the name?

Software Review 92

Software Review Social Network Platform Technical Review 92

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Startup 123

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 123

InfoChachkie

JUNE 20, 2011

Thus, entrepreneurs must consistently balance expanding their bandwidth via delegation with the more efficient, but non-scalable tendency to complete tasks themselves. Due to their lack of practical experience, this delegation/efficiency tradeoff is especially acute with respect to hiring Interns.

Startup 244

Startup Software Review Technical Review Class 244

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Tech.Co

JULY 24, 2017

Companies such as Microsoft, Facebook and Google have all established employee referral programs that give employees monetary rewards for referring friends who get hired. If you hired an outstanding front-end software engineer, chances are they are friends with other outstanding software developers.

Networking 83

Networking Startup Software Review Conference 83

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2011

This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off. Change requests must be visibly reviewed by executives frequently.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Startup Software Review High Tech 96

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. Two weeks after winning the deal and well into implementation planning we released a new version of our software. I hate losing. we would support 6.0

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. Two weeks after winning the deal and well into implementation planning we released a new version of our software. I hate losing. we would support 6.0

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Startup 53

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 53

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off. Change requests must be visibly reviewed by executives frequently.

Technical Review 75

Technical Review Startup Software Review High Tech 75

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. Two weeks after winning the deal and well into implementation planning we released a new version of our software. I hate losing. we would support 6.0

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

I’m writing this post to explain to entrepreneurs what you should be thinking about in terms of the VC’s you approach and the size and stage of their funds. Some wait 5-7 years but usually this is because it’s proving more difficult to raise a new fund due to market conditions or the lack of returns in their current fund.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

As Marketing Guru Guy Gabriel of Idea Engineering points out in Max Brand , viral marketing has made many an entrepreneur terminally ill. Cost Per Click (CPC) or Download (CPD) – As the name implies, advertisers pay only for clicks on its advertisements or when a user downloads its software, case study or whitepaper.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2012

It’s a great survival strategy for small companies or entrepreneurs, and a good expansion strategy for even the largest companies. As an example, a few years ago I worked for small software company selling an expensive enterprise workflow product. Cross endorsement.

Company 96

Company Companies Startup Examples 96

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. We have also been very busy with our next release, which is due out by December 11th (but I’ll save that for a different post). Folksonomy.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Yet, despite his exceptional courtroom theatrics, you would be foolhardy to hire good old Johnnie to review your software cross-licensing agreement. It is surprising how often entrepreneurs forget this simple fact. The reference may be well-intentioned, but the lawyer’s allegiance may be divided between the investor and you.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2011

It’s a great survival strategy for small companies or entrepreneurs, and a good expansion strategy for even the largest companies. As an example, a few years ago I worked for small software company selling an expensive enterprise workflow product. Cross endorsement.

Startup 90

Startup Examples Customer Custom 90

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I’m a software guy so I’m sure there are cases where building isn’t feasible. In most cases if you can’t get a prototype done you’re probably not an entrepreneur. Surround yourself with great advisors or other entrepreneurs. Most people are not entrepreneurs. But for most businesses it is.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Pricing Software Review Customer 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.

Product 159

Product Technical Review Pricing Software Review 159

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

With open source software (LAMP stack) and cloud computing infrastructure it just wasn’t that expensive to get your company going and founders just wanted to raise less money. I told entrepreneurs that it was a bit of a Faustian bargain. If a VC term sheet comes in they begin their due diligence process.

Seed Funding 283

Seed Funding Venture Capital Funding Software Review 283