socalTECH

AUGUST 3, 2020

A few weeks ago, Help With Black Equity (www.helpwithblackequity.com) launched an effort to help connect volunteers with efforts to help with addressing racial disparities, including here in Southern California. Deevee Kashi: For us, it's unique, because before Deed was an enterprise product, we had people reaching out to us.

Equity 100

Equity Resource Startup Platform 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

I’ve written about the topic of convertible debt at length before specifically about how angels & entrepreneurs should think about pricing. prefer equity to convertible debt): If you’re an early stage investor (e.g. prefer equity to convertible debt): If you’re an early stage investor (e.g.

Equity 319

Equity Pricing Venture Capital Entrepreneur 319

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? Just because it was your idea doesn’t mean you “deserve” 90% of the equity. The value in a startup is all about tangible results, so I see no equity value in the idea alone. Experience and connections in your business area.

Equity 95

Equity Patents CTO Hire Startup 95

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Sure, we built SaaS products before the term even existed but at 31 it was hard to delineate reality from what all of the monied people around us were telling us what we were worth. Nobody cared about our valuations any more. In those years I learned to properly build product, price products, sell products and serve customers.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. During that time one of the founders had mentioned that for the initial agreed time (3 months, equivalent dollars could be translated to 2% of equity but no agreement was reached at that time). Likely this greatly affects cash vs. equity.

CTO 167

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 167

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. During that time one of the founders had mentioned that for the initial agreed time (3 months, equivalent dollars could be translated to 2% of equity but no agreement was reached at that time). Likely this greatly affects cash vs. equity.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

7% Product Manager,2 -.3% 3% If you are not on this list, just worry about getting whatever your peers are getting. It never hurts to ask in a job interview what stock options are available, and don’t fall for the offer which promises to “work out the equity terms later.” Advisory Board Member, 1% Senior Engineer,3 -.7%

Equity 94

Equity Startup Pricing Marketing 94

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

We all know about AngelGate by now. Here’s what you need to know… As a funny coincidence I happend to have written about the topic of collusion 3 weeks prior to the fateful dinner. They’re not in search of price fixing or collusion, they’re in search of diligence information about the company.

Pricing 292

Pricing Entrepreneur Technical Review Venture Capital 292

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? Just because it was your idea doesn’t mean you “deserve” 90% of the equity. The value in a startup is all about tangible results, so I see no equity value in the idea alone. Experience and connections in your business area.

Startup 174

Startup Equity Patents CTO Hire 174

Berkonomics

JUNE 10, 2021

How about all those daily decisions? Take for example, solving key technology problems that prevent a product from shipment, or from scaling to large production. Take for example, solving key technology problems that prevent a product from shipment, or from scaling to large production.

Examples 156

Examples Sales Demand Equity 156

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? Just because it was your idea doesn’t mean you “deserve” 90% of the equity. The value in a startup is all about tangible results, so I see no equity value in the idea alone. Experience and connections in your business area.

Equity 62

Equity Startup Patents CTO Hire 62

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Certainly, bootstrapping is a preferred method of funding growth if it does not hold back the speed of growth or hobble the quality of product or service to the extent that better-funded competitors can overtake the business. There is a lot to say about retaining control. These include Y-Combinator and TechStars, among others.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

The first thing to remember is that banks only do loans – they don’t do equity investments like angels and venture capitalists (and vice versa). You have to get past how great the product is to address clearly what your business rationale is, why it is different from the competition's, and why it will succeed. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2015

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. This early stage is often called basic research , well before any specific commercially viable products might be envisioned. Commercial product prototypes. Product verification and clinical trials.

Develop 102

Develop Development Product Funding 102

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

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. Trade equity or services for startup help. Another common example is exchanging equity for legal and accounting support.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

Berkonomics

MAY 13, 2021

important point of that book, which was written to prompt discussion between entrepreneurs, professional managers, and their boards of directors about issues that could unite them or strain the relationships between them. How about context as a basis for decisions about growth? Getting to product release: process insights.

Resource 156

Resource Coach Activity Invest 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2014

Many entrepreneurs forget that their success is more about helping other people than about personally becoming famous, or overcoming the odds and getting rich. This is a fictional story about how an aggressive young M&A executive comes to realize that his aggressive style is actually making it harder to reach his goals.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Customer Custom Mentor 103

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Many entrepreneurs forget that their success is more about helping other people than about personally becoming famous, or overcoming the odds and getting rich. How and why this is true was brought home to me in a new book, “ It's Not About You: A Little Story About What Matters Most in Business ,” by Bob Burg and John David Mann.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Customer Custom Mentor 102

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. Tell me a bit about your background. Like many product managers, my background is fairly eclectic. That's where I learned I enjoyed interacting with customers and working with development teams to build and launch products.

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Use crowd funding.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

I’m still amazed at how many technical entrepreneurs don’t have a business pitch, and offer me their product pitch or product spec instead. I’m a technologist, so I always love to learn about the product, but every investor needs to make sure you have a business, as well as a product.

Product 58

Product Slides Entrepreneur Invest 58

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. This early stage is often called basic research , well before any specific commercially viable products might be envisioned. Commercial product prototypes. Product verification and clinical trials.

Resource 102

Resource Ideas Funding Research 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

When pitching to investors, entrepreneurs always seem to start with a customer pitch, then add a slide or two about the business. In reality, they need a separate pitch about the business, carrying over only a slide or two about the solution. Remember, investors are buying into the business, not the product.

Product 103

Product Slides Customer Custom 103

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

Max Q is a new weekly newsletter all about space. Astronomers continue to sound the alarm about constellations. Astronomers and scientists that rely on observing the stars from Earth are continuing to warn about the impact on stellar observation from constellations that are increasingly dotting the night sky.

SpaceX 272

SpaceX Newsletter Los Angeles Sites 272

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

The most striking example was the one hundred million–dollar purchase of one of my companies by a New York private equity investor using only five million of its cash. Using this technique with a supplier And how about a product purchase where you cannot come to a successfully negotiated price with your supplier?

Pricing 156

Pricing Sales Examples Tool 156

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Last month, the product launched with $1.2 Creators and influencers like Bernstein are forging a path from content creator to full-fledged business, with multiple revenue streams via podcasts, licensing deals, branded merchandise and even software products. “A million in funding from Rebecca Minkoff and other unnamed investors.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We operate at scale and speed unprecedented in human history.” * I first wrote about the changes to the Venture Capital ecosystem 10 years ago and this still serves as a good primer of how we arrived at 2011, a decade on from the Web 1.0 So in our earliest stages we’re about 70% seed and 30% pre-seed. dot-com bonanza.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Berkonomics

MARCH 21, 2019

Careful about “hockey stick” forecasts. Later stage investors sometimes look for less, since the business has already proven its capability to stay in the game and has already completed its product development cycle, eliminating more risk for the investor. The more you ask for – the more equity you give up.

Equity 159

Equity Examples Startup Invest 159

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2018

Los Angeles-based GoGuardian , a developer of educaitonal software, says it is targeting the problem of suicide and self-harm in K-12 schools, with a new product called Beacon. According to GoGuardian, its new tool uses mahcine learning to identify and alert school staff about at-risk students, so they can get assistance they need.

Software 100

Software Social Media Equity Tool 100

socalTECH

MARCH 29, 2016

The biggest difference looks to be in terms of equity pay, where only 19 percent of women working in product were happy with their equity, versus 48 percent of men in product. Comparably said that it polled over 1,000 people in the technology industry who are part of its service. READ MORE>>.

Satisfaction 100

Satisfaction Santa Monica Equity Examples 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2023

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. Yet there are many things about business and work that haven’t changed for a long time, and don’t need to change anytime soon. This is not about clocking in to work. Showing up still matters.

Startup 106

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 106

socalTECH

MAY 30, 2012

If you're a startup business owner, how do you get to the next step, and build your first product? That's the idea behind a new startup, Fundable , headed by serial entrepreneur Wil Schroter , which allows you to use rewards -- product, company schwag, an even equity -- as a tool to get your startup to the next stage.

Startup 223

Startup Equity Venture Capital Ideas 223

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Competitors, seeing a successful development of a niche, flock into the competitive void with products or services built with a fresh view of the current environment. So, the question: load up with more equity and dilution? What about those unicorns?

Pricing 156

Pricing Invest Equity Entrepreneur 156

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

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. Trade equity or services for startup help. Another common example is exchanging equity for legal and accounting support.

Funding 174

Funding Startup Equity Examples 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2022

7% Product Manager,2 -.3% 3% If you are not on this list, just worry about getting whatever your peers are getting. It never hurts to ask in a job interview what stock options are available, and don’t fall for the offer which promises to “work out the equity terms later.” Advisory Board Member, 1% Senior Engineer,3 -.7%

Startup 137

Startup Equity Pricing Marketing 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. This early stage is often called basic research , well before any specific commercially viable products might be envisioned. Commercial product prototypes. Product verification and clinical trials.

Help 165

Help Research Startup Funding 165