socalTECH

MARCH 3, 2021

Slingshot is venture backed by ATX Venture Partners, Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Techstars Ventures, and Okapi Venture Capital, along with others.

El Segundo 113

El Segundo CTO Coach Artificial Inteligence Seed Funding 113

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2007

I generally am working as an acting CTO for about 3-4 start-ups or other companies at any one time. I also found this interesting graphic of the changing needs around the CTO role in different size/type companies that somewhat echoes my experience. During Stabilization, often the focus is transitioning to a full-time CTO.

Startup 231

Startup CTO Hire Technical Advisors Technical Review 231

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. In many cases, during my Free Startup CTO Consulting Session with them, we discuss where they are in in the process. The startup founder is definitely not ready to hire a CTO. Far from it.

CTO Hire 205

CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach Develop 205

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2021

This strategy is called “organic growth,” yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve, unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). The initiator funds the innovators’ development activities and gives them the flexibility to work independently.

Organization 132

Organization CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 132

TechEmpower

AUGUST 21, 2023

Due diligence prep: You’re coming up on a funding round or looking at a potential exit. You need a team who’s well-versed in technology and capable of translating that know-how into pragmatic options. cto , infotech , innovation , product , project , saas But what does the right team look like? Are you ready?

Technical Review 260

Technical Review Development Team Review Software Review TechEmpower 260

socalTECH

MARCH 26, 2014

For a couple of years, I was the head of a boutique software consulting firm based in El Segundo. I founded that with the former CTO of my first company, Kevin Smilak, who now works at Google. We were hired by a company that did outsourced medical billing and consulting for physicial medicine and rehab doctors.

Startup 160

Startup El Segundo CTO Hire Outsource Development 160

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. How are you funding this? What level of funding do you currently have? Are there specific metrics needed for future funding rounds or for operations? Tell me about the business.

Develop 396

Develop Development Startup SEO 396

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. How are you funding this? What level of funding do you currently have? Are there specific metrics needed for future funding rounds or for operations? Tell me about the business.

Develop 384

Develop Development Startup SEO 384

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Most VCs did well academically and had enough career success that a venture firm was willing to give them an investment role or they were able to raise their own fund. Gregg was a graduate of Stanford and a Wharton MBA and had worked at the consulting firm BCG so I knew he was smart and capable. Venture Capital is a people business.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2013

This strategy is called “organic growth,” yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve, unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). The initiator funds the innovators’ development activities and gives them the flexibility to work independently.

Acquisition 88

Acquisition CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 88

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. I Be specific. This is a great configuration for a starting team. Here’s why. Your Process Doesn’t Work.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

You’re sales person is getting blocked by the CTO who says she shouldn’t go above him but the CTO isn’t approving the deal. This person was educated at the best US schools and had worked for a top-tier strategy consulting firm – one of the big 3. Should she take a chance and potentially ruffle feathers?

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

This strategy is called “organic growth,” yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve, unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). The initiator funds the innovators’ development activities and gives them the flexibility to work independently.

CTO Hire 91

CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development Resource 91

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

It needs to be funded to be successful. Ask a few CTO type people. Or ask me Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions. At that point, you can't really just try to find someone to build it on the side, do equity only, etc. The grind is too much and too long if it gets beyond that size. Is this a Wordpress hack?

Guide 349

Guide Startup Mobile Framework 349

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

They often make great team members such as head of products, CTO, head of sales, CFO, etc. He was from South America but living in Switzerland and had launched a startup while holding down a day job at a consulting firm (McKinsey if memory serves). They told me not to join until after the fund-raising was done. Why should I be?

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

It needs to be funded to be successful. Ask a few CTO type people. Or ask me Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions. At that point, you can't really just try to find someone to build it on the side, do equity only, etc. The grind is too much and too long if it gets beyond that size. Is this a Wordpress hack?

Guide 296

Guide Startup Mobile Framework 296

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

Last week, Santa Monica-based Revolution Prep announced its first, institutional round of funding, worth $15M, from Kennet Partners. It was us, funding ourselves from credit cards, literally, to a company that is now on par with Kaplan and Princeton Review. How did you manage the growth you have, without outside funding?

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 15, 2009

I’ve always respected your work and perspective on internet businesses and social media so I wanted to pick your brain about opportunities in this space for consulting and full-time employment; how do I position myself? How do I find entrepreneurs who have a great idea that can get or has got funding who need a CTO and/or development team?

Los Angeles 179

Los Angeles Product Angel Startup 179

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Sure, there are roles like CTO or CIO, but the input and decision making process has remained fairly static. With the trend to higher technology needs and the youth who are involved in the development of new technology, it is no longer unusual to walk into a board meeting and see a CTO in his early 40s. Today’s boardroom.

Technology 40

Technology CTO Hire Conference Education 40

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2017

He's the former CTO at Stocktwits, and he did the analysis and found out a lot of stuff. How's the startup funded? Andrew Bermudez: We are funded by the Tech Coast Angels, the ACE Fund, and K65, as well as Gil Amelio, the former CEO of Apple, as well as Sean Ellis of Dropbox and GrowthHackers, as well as other angels and entrepeneurs.

Sales 145

Sales Startup Email Tool 145

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

I might also be concerned about taking my idea directly to a large, well funded competitor who is know for innovation. Startups that come to me and ask me to sign an NDA in order to get Free Startup CTO Consulting really are missing it. The reality is that Stealth is defined differently in each case.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

I might also be concerned about taking my idea directly to a large, well funded competitor who is know for innovation. Startups that come to me and ask me to sign an NDA in order to get Free Startup CTO Consulting really are missing it. The reality is that Stealth is defined differently in each case.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

Sergey Belyankin is our Chief Technology Officer. Sergey’s diverse experience as an entrepreneur, technology consultant and software executive qualifies him to lead amSTATZ’s technology development. Have you raised any funding yet? We are keeping the names of our investors private for now.

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

This is a novel user interaction that embeds casual entertainment directly into the operating system experience, based on some fairly interesting underlying technology. In addition, I do a few consulting projects on the side, in the areas of product strategy, search engine optimization, and intellectual property. Details coming soon!)

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Kaiser joined forces with Bruce Schwartz (Founder and CTO) to write an entirely new code language they called Interactive Television Markup Language (ITVML). This new technology also gives the producers complete control over the experiences they are creating. Coincident.TV Currently, Coincident.TV

Screening 109

Screening Content CTO Hire Platform 109

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

I’ve worked with 30+ early-stage companies in all sorts of capacities (and spoken to many, many more), so I thought it might be worthwhile trying to classify the various ways that I’ve engaged in different technology roles in startups. Actually, David’s taking even broader roles than I generally do as he’s CEO for at least one startup.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Technical Advisors CTO Coach Startup 170

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2014

The old way was difficult, time consuming, and often expensive; referrals, calling up lawyers, going through initial consultations. They''re actually initial consultations, ranging from divorce to DUI. It sounds like you have some angel funding? We haven''t gone to institutional funding yet. But, how do you start?

Help 240

Help Startup CTO Hire Pricing 240

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

This is especially true for companies with expensive and complex products or services that are more consultative in nature, like insurance, financial services, home services, education and travel, etc. At CallWave, Colin was CTO, Jason was CFO and I was in charge of product marketing and customer acquisition. You’re right.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 12, 2010

He previously co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU. Leila first developed the idea behind Samasource while working as a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners (now Booz & Co.), Eric Ries is the author of the blog Startup Lessons Learned and the lean startup methodology. Dave McClure. .

Twiistup 40

Twiistup Riot Games UCLA Media 40

SoCal CTO

JUNE 26, 2012

I've done four Free CTO Consulting Sessions in the past month with startup founders who all had run into variations of the same problem. And we are not even moving yet on the the next big release that I have to have to get my next round of funding. They couldn't plan their business.

Outsource Development 254

Outsource Development Software Development Develop Development 254

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. can feel you now—corporate recruiters at career fairs, sending offer letters to work at banks and consulting firms. But I don’t think so.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 22, 2014

HV: I would also add one more thing — we have consulted with neuroscience professionals here at USC, and they have informed the development of behavioral science models that we have built into our platform. And the funding for this study came through the PhD program at USC? So that pretty much helped to influence our design.

USC 104

USC Southern California Activity Study 104

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2012

Or riding a crazy party bus and sitting next to Aaron Batalion the co-founder & CTO of Living Social. Office Space. I always love visiting companies because you can tell so much about the character of the company by spending time in their offices. What is the local funding environment like? Nom nom nom. The Subway.

Startup 319

Startup Organization Entrepreneur Blogging 319

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

Venture Capital Funding 7. Prior to raising $16M+ in funding from top-tier venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital, Globespan Capital and Evercore Ventures, StrongMail was self-funded and cash-flow positive. I decided that I was going to consult/advise a few companies and relax for a bit. Relaxing 2. Incubation 3.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

After the acquisition, MyMiniLife became the common technology platform at Zynga and powers 150M monthly users including games like Cityville, Farmville, and Frontierville. He is a founder of Strengths Doctors, a consulting firm which helps leaders design energizing work environments. The site has since grown to nearly 7.5

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

2: “7th Horse in a 7 Horse Race&# We were not the first to build an ad-serving technology platform. In fact, we probably had hundreds of competitors including seven that were either very well funded with significant venture capital or publicly held (e.g. No, it’s bad. Oh wait… it IS good!

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40