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

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

It is no secret that Pinterest and other social commerce sites have begun to dial in the commerce equation. These sites (so far) have managed to balance facilitating product discovery and purchase capabilities with users'' desires to entertain and educate themselves without feeling like they are in a marketplace.

Entrepreneur 210

Entrepreneur Commerce Sites Social Network 210

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. This model facilitates donations to charities and creative projects, and has been around for a long time via sites such as GoFundMe. Donation good-cause model. In the U.S.,

Funding 141

Funding Startup Outsource Development Satisfaction 141

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2014

Startups that sell innovative new products seem to get all the attention these days, but services may be the quicker way to larger profits and faster growth. If you think about it, services make more sense in this social media age where relationships, personalization, and interaction are king. Advisory services. Everybody wins.

Services 101

Services Startup Outsource Technical Support 101

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2011

A Los Angeles startup entrepreneur, Mike Moradian , the founder of CollegeBudget , BookRenter and CampusBuddy.com , is turning to the wisdom of crowds to decide whether or not he should go to Harvard -- or continue working full time on his startups.

Entrepreneur 150

Entrepreneur Startup Los Angeles Sites 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

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. Barter your services for their services. Use crowd funding. Are you ready to start?

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 21, 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. If you haven’t spent time over there you should.

Entrepreneur 290

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 290

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2013

Los Angeles-based TheBouqs (www.thebouqs.com) thinks so, with its new, cut-to-order online flower delivery service for the iPad generation. There''s no continual upsell like you might encounter on other floral sites. The third part of this is the subscription service we offer. What is the Bouqs? Closing this $1.1M

Services 215

Services Technical Review Startup Pricing 215

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2017

Customer service has traditionally been a support function to respond to customer initiated requests, meaning someone waits for the phone to ring or for a website support request form. Think “pull” marketing rather than “push” for all services. The people you select to interact with customers defines your brand credibility.

Customer 95

Customer Custom Services Technical Review 95

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2023

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. This early in the game, any coverage and peer review is better than just being another unknown entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs who wait to be found are destined to spend a lot of time alone. Capitalize on yourself early.

Ideas 126

Ideas Startup Social Media Blogging 126

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. Barter your services for their services. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

InfoChachkie

JULY 16, 2012

Others shun translucent run-of-site Google ads, because they are distracting and monetize at extremely low rates. However, they were expensive to create because they required advertisers to employ full-service media agencies. You can also check out my blog for emerging entrepreneurs HERE. Such embedded video ads are not new.

Customer 226

Customer Custom Entrepreneur Advertising 226

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2015

If you think you are the perfect fit for the entrepreneur lifestyle, but you’re not yet sure if you’re ready to start your own, then I recommend that you take a job with an existing startup first to validate the culture realities against your dream. Hang out where entrepreneurs meet. Explore investor websites and conferences.

Sample 101

Sample Entrepreneur Technical Review Startup 101

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. Barter your services for their services. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2015

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, or an existing business, and haven’t yet sized any of these opportunities, you may be already late to the game. Usually these are revenue-generating e-commerce sites, or have the potential to be revenue-generating. One consequence of the new sharing business model is that goods become services.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Commerce Social Media Platform 111

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2014

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. This early in the game, any coverage and peer review is better than just being another unknown entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs who wait to be found are destined to spend a lot of time alone. Capitalize on yourself early.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Blogging 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2023

One of the biggest myths I have found in the entrepreneur community is that every startup needs one or more outside investors for credibility and success, and perhaps is even entitled to at least one. Searching LinkedIn, for example, is a must for contemporary entrepreneurs. Review current crowdsourcing sites for a good fit.

Statistics 98

Statistics Entrepreneur Funding Social Media 98

socalTECH

AUGUST 22, 2018

Sherman Oaks-based Serviz , the on-demand home services company founded by serial entrepreneurs Zorik Gordon and Michael Kline, has been acquired by Porch , another online marketplace for home services. Porch, which is based in Seattle, said it will integrate the Serviz technology platform into its own site, Porch.com.

Sherman Oaks 100

Sherman Oaks ReachLocal Demand Acquisition 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2016

Aspiring entrepreneurs often approach me as an angel investor, touting their innovative idea for yet another online dating site. According to statistics , there are more than 5,000 dating sites worldwide with 1,000 new ones appearing every year. For starters, 40 percent of frequent site users are already married.

Sites 51

Sites Ideas Statistics Google 51

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. He used online services such as SHOUTcast , which was online radio that allowed him to play his own songs, interrupt a song, do a commercial break and connect with fans. [It The most potent entrepreneur is the one that doesn’t NEED your money.

Entrepreneur 356

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Email 356

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

Many passionate entrepreneurs fight to add more features into their new products and services, assuming that more function will make the solution more appealing to more customers. Of course, once you have a brand and more resources, it can pay to expand your book selling to a full e-commerce site.

Startup 114

Startup IBM IBM Social Media 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2018

According to the 2017 Kauffman Startup Activity Index , the share of new entrepreneurs who started businesses to pursue opportunity rather than from necessity reached 86 percent, more than 12 percentage points higher than in 2009 at the height of the Great Recession. Thus a record number of entrepreneurs (and team members) are getting rich.

Entrepreneur 66

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Satisfaction 66

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

One of the biggest myths I have found in the entrepreneur community is that every startup needs one or more outside investors for credibility and success, and perhaps is even entitled to at least one. Searching LinkedIn, for example, is a must for contemporary entrepreneurs. Review current crowdsourcing sites for a good fit.

Funding 173

Funding Tips Startup Statistics 173

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2021

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, or an existing business, and haven’t yet sized any of these opportunities, you may be already late to the game. Usually these are revenue-generating e-commerce sites, or have the potential to be revenue-generating. One consequence of the new sharing business model is that goods become services.

Resource 126

Resource Commerce Social Media Platform 126

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2013

is already well above the dot.com bubble of 15 years ago, although we have slipped a bit this year from the high point of 320 new entrepreneurs out of 100,000 adults in 2011. Thus a record number of entrepreneurs (and employees) are getting rich. Social media is a boon for entrepreneurs and startups.

Startup 109

Startup Entrepreneur Social Media Satisfaction 109

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Funding 96

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Most entrepreneurs are so convinced that they are the disruptive element, they fail to anticipate that unknown facts or events can and will occur to disrupt their own well-laid plans. Every entrepreneur needs a succession plan early on the top three people, with a reshuffle and replacement strategy. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Startup Competition Mentor 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2013

Online dating sites usually fail because online dating usually fails. alone, the target demographic for these services is 90 million singles that are between 19 and 45. The same Online Dating Magazine estimates that there are more than 2,500 online dating services online in the U.S. In the U.S. The honeymoon is over.

Sites 86

Sites Social Network Networking Patents 86

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2021

Every entrepreneur wishes that he could predict whether his idea could be the “next big thing,” before he spent his life savings and years of energy on it. Investors, on the other hand, typically don’t even look very hard at the product or service, but prefer to evaluate first the entrepreneur, and secondly the business plan.

Ideas 155

Ideas Startup Summary Examples 155

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 28, 2012

Most of the time the advice you are looking for is from a successful entrepreneurs who might be so busy to be reached. The starup offers online entrepreneurial networking opportunities by introducing professionals with expertise (Advisors) to those seeking business advice (Entrepreneurs). Which startups or entrepreneurs have signed up?

Entrepreneur 89

Entrepreneur Startup Paramount Social Media 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2023

Winning entrepreneurs have long since supplemented conventional print and video “push” marketing with digital online interactive “pull” marketing, and a while back added social-local-mobile ( SoLoMo ) to the mix. A UVP sells a product or service because it differentiates it from other products or services that are available.

Marketing 107

Marketing Technical Review Startup Innocal 107

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. Look how many social media ‘likes’ my site has generated.”

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119