Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2016

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. Networking effectiveness is a measure of your potential. Productive networking traffic does not happen by default. Networking relationships still drive most promotions, jobs, and new clients.

Startup 93

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 93

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Jackson , “This financing round, coupled with hiring Adam Sroka as our head of technology, puts CapLinked in a position to further enhance our enterprise product offerings.”. Yesterdays’ equity round of $1.6 25 Years of Writing Code. According to CEO Eric M. million Raised.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2013

Here are some key ones they look for: Talks and writes well. Networked and connected. Successful entrepreneurs already have a visible network of trusted suppliers, potential customers, partners, and even investors. The technology or product may be at an embryonic stage. Listens before answering questions.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Course Patents 109

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Anyone who has worked in a large company further knows that timing a product launch or a new marketing strategy has more to do with internal politics than reading market forces. Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets. How can you practice timing? Ditto people you met a while back.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2012

Here are some key ones they look for: Talks and writes well. Networked and connected. Successful entrepreneurs already have a visible network of trusted suppliers, potential customers, partners, and even investors. The technology or product may be at an embryonic stage. Listens before answering questions.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Technical Review Course Patents 117

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

” It was meant both as a call to those writing angel checks into other people’s companies that they ought to think about putting that capital toward themselves either by becoming a startup founder or (and this was my real point) by taking an under-market salary in a company where they can learn the right skills to do it in the future.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Jim Semick: I’ve been launching and managing software products for 15 years now, going back to when you and I worked together at Expertcity before it was acquired by Citrix. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

If you have a product description, that’s necessary, but not sufficient. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO). Show personal investment.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get to do a deep dive on their business model, product roadmap and competitive positioning. I get paid to network – I love meeting people. My job doesn’t involve the daily grind of customer complaints, product outages, business partner / channel problems, hiring / firing, etc. But there’s a big difference.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

If you have a product description, that’s necessary, but not sufficient. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO). Show personal investment.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

socalTECH

MAY 25, 2016

There's also a great network effect happening in the area of industry clouds, and network capitalism, which is not just marketing poof. That network effect is a subtle but has a powerful effect with all this new technology. Enterprises are under a lot of pressure to produce great product under fast cycles.

Southern California 113

Southern California Capital Funding Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Here are some key ones they look for: Talks and writes well. Networked and connected. Successful entrepreneurs already have a visible network of trusted suppliers, potential customers, partners, and even investors. The technology or product may be at an embryonic stage. Listens before answering questions.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Angel Technical Review Course 96

socalTECH

MAY 14, 2013

We also sold one of our largest sites to a private equity firm in the real estate niche, and narrowed our focus down to FamousBirthdays.com. We work with Google to help monetize our traffic, and we''re also working with a variety of other networks. Instead, we build a very good product, get organic traffic, and those networks pay well.

Google 236

Google Sites Startup Web 236

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

If you have a product description, that’s necessary, but not sufficient. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO). Show personal investment.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

If you have a product description, that’s necessary, but not sufficient. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CIO) and a product lead (CTO). Show personal investment.

Tips 88

Tips Startup CTO Hire Press 88

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

8 ) SocialStay is effectively a B-to-B, SaaS product that requires you to simultaneously speak to several audiences (hotels, travelers, travel sites, etc.). Your team operates out of a barn on your idyllic, coastal property, yet you have created a world-class product. Write it down…. They are starting to see the light.

Startup 233

Startup Design Mobile Social Network 233

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

Los Angeles-based Maple Media (maplemedia.io) recently announced a big, $30M funding from Shamrock Capital, to assemble a collection of mobile applications in the utility, productivity, games and entertainment verticals. They're an elite private equity firm, and what's even better is I can literally walk from my house to their office.

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. but: Something is Still Missing.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

From the Venture Trenches

MARCH 27, 2013

Yet despite his ability to raise over $1 billion of private equity and to build an organization that is worth $5 billion as of this writing, Mason was shown the door. Groupon raised seven series of private equity before going public. Money raised from friends and family typically come with few constraints and very simple terms.

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Anthem Startup 45

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

As I sit here writing this, I can’t help but think how excited I am about our future. The fact that Twitter built a product around the mobile phone culture right out of the gate is significant: it created a new social pipeline. Why is Twitter’s user acquisition at a standstill , and why are their ad products failing?

Platform 40

Platform Startup News Content 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Aaron is also the Program Director for Entretech’s Nitro.la , a non-profit mentoring network in partnership with USC, UCLA and Caltech, to help develop LA’s entrepreneurial community by “getting more companies funded in greater Los Angeles&#. 9:30a – 10a: Network with CEOs from this and the next session.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Aaron is also the Program Director for Entretech’s Nitro.la , a non-profit mentoring network in partnership with USC, UCLA and Caltech, to help develop LA’s entrepreneurial community by “getting more companies funded in greater Los Angeles&#. 9:30a – 10a: Network with CEOs from this and the next session.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Aaron is also the Program Director for Entretech’s Nitro.la , a non-profit mentoring network in partnership with USC, UCLA and Caltech, to help develop LA’s entrepreneurial community by “getting more companies funded in greater Los Angeles&#. 9:30a – 10a: Network with CEOs from this and the next session.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Aaron is also the Program Director for Entretech’s Nitro.la , a non-profit mentoring network in partnership with USC, UCLA and Caltech, to help develop LA’s entrepreneurial community by “getting more companies funded in greater Los Angeles&#. 9:30a - 10a: Network with CEOs from this and the next session.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 20, 2014

myLINGO is the first product of her company Oladas, Inc., We did a lot of investigative research — cold calling executives in Hollywood through networks at Harvard and networks through Johns Hopkins, the school where my brother graduated from. her joint effort with her co-founder and brother, Adam Polak. Skip classes.

Startup 91

Startup Entertainment CTO Coach Screening 91

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. If you asked me to tell you a list of three of the best decisions in my life, I can certainly tell you that regularly writing is one of them. Why You Should Write. Why You Should Write. Kanye West.

Startup 191

Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2011

An inflated sense of financial well-being can result in sloppy budgeting and accounting as you write checks here and there without pause. Businesses can be built on sweat equity. If you will be making a product to sell, be sure the cost of materials is minimal and beyond that it costs only your labor. and to tell their friends.

Startup 92

Startup Capital Blogging Ideas 92

Frank Addante

APRIL 16, 2007

Under Process, Over Deliver So, you need to develop a product? ► 2006 (20) ► December (2) Just Say What it Is 12 Proven Guidelines for Rapid Product Development. So, I am going to interrupt my previous series/postings on product development to share my thoughts. After writing this, I think I smell something.

Google 40

Google Advertising Startup Venture Capital 40

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. Product Friday: Monetizing Content is a Product Problem - This is going to be BIG. m the f%*kin’ boss.”. Same goes for television.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. But it did take Brad as a public spokesman, consummate networker and successful VC to help create legitimacy to let David’s ideas flourish. I don’t write about LA but I write from LA.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

Clearly a startup should consult its lawyer before filing or not filing.But the attorneys I relied on to write this piece told me that they’ve done lots of Section 4(2) deals in the past, and would recommend it to clients who had relatively simple financing agreements (not tranched-out, not too many investors, etc.) They also avoid Reg D.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We had a special edition of This Week in Venture Capital this week shooting out of the Next New Networks offices in New York. We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. Social network app developer and ad network. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2013

Consider the non-cash alternatives, like offering team members equity instead of cash and bartering for services. I believe the process of writing the plan is more valuable than the result, because it forces you to think through all the elements, and make sure they fit together and fit you. Do you have a viable plan?

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Funding Training Startup 101

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Brad was openly writing about this and it felt like he was giving the VC playbook away for free! We write about $40 million of first-checks into new deals / year and about $40 million of follow-on investments. Other products “elastic” meaning demand falls off quickly when prices go up. But let me be even more clear.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 16, 2012

Beyond the traditional new product or service model, you can always buy an existing business, purchase a franchise, join a multi-level marketing (MLM) company, or simply go out on your own as a consultant. Consider the non-cash alternatives, like offering equity instead of cash and bartering for services. Do you have a viable plan?

Training 96

Training Ideas Entrepreneur Commerce 96

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Beyond the traditional new product or service model, you can always buy an existing business, purchase a franchise, join a multi-level marketing (MLM) company, or simply go out on your own as a consultant. Consider the non-cash alternatives, like offering equity instead of cash and bartering for services. Do you have a viable plan?

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Invest Training Ideas 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2010

Beyond the traditional new product or service model, you can always buy an existing business, purchase a franchise, join a multi-level marketing (MLM) company, or simply go out on your own as a consultant. Consider the non-cash alternatives, like offering equity instead of cash and bartering for services. Do you have a viable plan?

Training 84

Training Entrepreneur Startup Ideas 84