Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

The best entrepreneurs in our industry focus on it year-round as opposed to just once every 18 months. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you have built a SaaS company where a large part of the early revenue comes from a few big customers or a large part of the revenue is services based vs. software based.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2019

By most definitions of the term, an entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business, incorporating innovative changes to existing products, services, business models, and creating new markets. One way of identifying the right characteristics and approaches is to take a hard look at entrepreneurs who have done it.

Resource 97

Resource Entrepreneur Social Network SpaceX 97

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 27, 2013

Kate Drane, hardware category lead at IndieGoGo joins us and talks about IndieGoGo and crowdfunding. I started my company with four of my friends and all of us are first time business owners and entrepreneurs. For example, when I was campaigning for my business, I raised only $4,000 out of the $10,000 for my business.

Startup 74

Startup Funding Capital Help 74

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know. 6:00 – 7:30). 11:40-14:15).

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

socalTECH

MAY 17, 2019

For today's interview, we sat down and spoke with David Loo , the founder and CEO of Perspectium (www.perspectium.com), a startup which is developing service management applications designed to help connect different, enterprise service management software products together. Perspectium recently raised a funding round from TVC Capital.

SaaS 113

SaaS Startup Customer Custom 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Nobody will be immune because in a bull market executives are paid to “innovate” so they sign software contracts and run projects. It takes time to sell in your software, get it implemented, prove the value, build a business case, gain executive support and then roll it out more broadly. What Do You Need to Prove to Raise an A Round?

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

The new hot topic for entrepreneurs the last couple of years is crowd funding, which is anticipated to at least supplement, if not replace, the slow and mysterious process of current Angel and venture capital investors. Example sites include StartSomeGood and the Facebook Cause page. Software crowd sourcing.

Funding 99

Funding Satisfaction Sites Outsource Development 99

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2019

Los Angeles-based BiasSync (www.biassync.com) was founded by three, very experienced serial entrepreneurs-- Michele Ruiz (broadcast journalism), Robin Richards (CareerArc, Internships.com, NTI Group, MP3), and Dan Gould (former VP of Technology for Tinder). How did you decide this needed to be a combination of software and content?

Content 150

Content Training Education Outsource Development 150

socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2011

The firm is now run by Derrick Oien , who an experience entrepreneur, who was the founder of Intercasting Corporation, and a member of the management team which sold MP3.com First, for those who haven't seen the Chumby, describe what it is and the software behind it all? We always struggle with what to call the category of the Chumby.

Startup 159

Startup Google San Diego Content 159

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

*. If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. Jeff and his peer group have done an excellent job at creating a new category of seed-stage VC. It is, of course, a very recent phenomenon.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Invest Cloud Computing 150

socalTECH

APRIL 25, 2013

We caught up with CEO Dev Bhatia --a serial entrepreneur who''s been involved with such companies at Hotsocket, Screaming Media (IPO), and Yoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo)--to learn more about. Dev Bhatia: Search2 is next generation search software, built from the ground up. A few examples of what we''ve done, is we do instant search.

Technology 216

Technology Google Commerce Southern California 216

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

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 Podfund , for example, writes checks sized between $25,000 to $50,000 to emerging podcasters.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2018

I’m sure you can all think of several examples of businesses that popped up quickly, with great business models, but then faded just as quickly. Examples would include Pets.com, Webvan, and Blockbuster. For example, adding new but similar cosmetics is better than adding hair care or dermatology products.

Examples 67

Examples Customer Custom Software Review 67

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

I often ask entrepreneurs to consider, “What’s your objective? For example, look at the following graph. For example, if you sell your product through a third-party reseller who charges 30% of any sale then your COGS will be 30% of revenue (assuming no other costs of sales). The example chart is not actually atypical.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2012

The new hot topic for entrepreneurs these days is crowd funding, which is anticipated to at least supplement, if not replace, the slow and mysterious process of current Angel and venture capital investors. Example sites include StartSomeGood and the Facebook Cause page. Software crowd sourcing. Proceed at your own peril.

Funding 96

Funding Satisfaction Sites Outsource Development 96

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

For example, in a new book, “ If You’re in a Dogfight, Become a Cat! ,” Leonard Sherman, executive in residence at the Columbia Business School, suggests that you should stay out of the competitive dogfight and continually redefine the game on your own terms. Use disruptive technologies to alter the value chain.

Examples 67

Examples Customer Custom Product 67

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 14, 2016

We spoke with co-founder Ryan Costello about Santa Monica-based Event Farm (www.eventfarm.com), on how its software technology is being used to power high end, VIP events for large companies. Ryan Costello: We're a software company. Our software is used for attendee management and for inviting guests.

Sales 100

Sales Santa Monica Startup Orange County 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2011

The era of cheap cloud computing plus open-source software plus digital natives unleashed upon society is creating some truly amazing products that will challenge the way we do business and the way we live our lives. My example du jour is LinkedIn. Sure, that’s a fine category. It’s not all sunshine and candy canes.

Startup 309

Startup Cloud Computing Venture Capital Marketing 309

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2018

The book itself is broken into nine different categories, like when to say no, understanding the personalities you're dealing with, understanding yourself and issues you have, and one is how to take control of the deal. I think one of the things entrepreneurs need to understand, is yourself. Richard Wolpert: There are many.

Startup 147

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Software Review 147

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2019

com), which is developing analytics software which leverages mobile phones for data on customers. Portnoy is a serial entrepreneur, having previously founded ThinkNear, a startup which went from the Techstars startup accelerator to an exit in only 14 months. How are things going with the startup?

Startup 113

Startup Culver City Competition Customer 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

There was a lot of consumer internet activity again…resurgence of things, but it was still mysterious, venture capital was still kind of closed, 1st time entrepreneurs had a lot of questions that were unanswered, and there was still some sort of hand waiving around all the financing stuff and so we took it on….”. was starting.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2017

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Check your brand definition against the clarity of this one from Xerox for office software. Within each of the platform categories defined above, there is a right one and a wrong one for your audience.

Social Media 58

Social Media Media Platform Tool 58

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. What a bubble means for each entrepreneur.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. I have had this discussion with many a first-time entrepreneur. For example, look at the following graph.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

What you will convey in your conversations What protections you will place on those communications For example, you might decide that portions of your concept will be controlled more closely (a secret algorithm). Since I fall into the expert category, my belief is that you should be pretty open with me.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

socalTECH

APRIL 28, 2011

Rich Rygg: Our software has the ability to record every geolocation you go to. For example, someone might be able to use what we've created to create a game. Alerts can come in three categories. For example, that might let people know how close you are to arriving at a meeting.

eHarmony 219

eHarmony Seed Funding Yahoo Examples 219

socalTECH

MARCH 21, 2011

For example, some of my biggest competitors--such as Flintstones vitamins--have been around for 40 years, have virtually no web presence, and a PageRank of 2. For example, if you put fish oil with copper, you oxidize the copper, and that's that. Our example, is we launched January 3rd of this year--just a couple of months ago.

Web 225

Web Social Media SEO Media 225

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. Prime examples include Uber, Airbnb and Snapchat.

Startup 57

Startup Software Review Equity Invest 57

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

What you will convey in your conversations What protections you will place on those communications For example, you might decide that portions of your concept will be controlled more closely (a secret algorithm). Since I fall into the expert category, my belief is that you should be pretty open with me.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2017

Entrepreneur of the Year” finalist. Show how production workflow software expands customer reach, streamlines processes and reduce costs, rather than merely introducing the latest technology. For example, make configuring your new office solution a transformational experience , rather than a technical installation challenge.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Marketing 85

socalTECH

JULY 21, 2011

Could you give an example of how a customer might use your service? Rob Reed: Starbucks seems to be a good example, though they are not a client. That was really my first experience working with a technology that was merging the digital and physical worlds.

Social Media 248

Social Media Zumbox Media Startup 248

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

In our industry we applaud the efforts for entrepreneurs to have tried and we know that today’s failure can bring the experience for tomorrow’s success. I like to use the example of a company I backed called MakeSpace because it’s such an easy an obvious market to understand. MakeSpace provides physical storage.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

To try to take advantage of those links, Los Angeles-based AutoStream (www.autostream.com) has developed software which makes those links to videos interactive, embedding an inline video player to keep users engaged on those forums. we can expand to other categories. Within those forums are threads, with posts within those threads.

Content 214

Content Startup Tool Advertising 214

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

Jody--an experienced entrepreneur who was most recently co-founder of a firm he sold to the Virgin Group, and has been involved with such firms as Lycos, Buydirect.com, and Xoom--told us the story of EcoMom, plus how he connected with McClure on the investment. Jody Sherman: I've been an entrepreneur since I got out of the military.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

It's in the automated translation category of the industry. We've created bi-directional, and real-time links between a web site and translation software. NativeTung is a cloud-based platform, which includes some software which runs on the web site, which ensures synchronization of the translation at all times.

Startup 133

Startup Technical Review Social Network Content 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2018

If you find yourself in this category, you need to focus on techniques to improve your productivity On software teams, for example, a detailed study published years ago shows differences as great as ten to one in productivity between comparable team members.

Coach 56

Coach Paramount Software Review Product 56

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. In many of them I get asked similar questions, including the inevitable “what makes a great entrepreneur?” You could just outspend. It says what?!”).

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248