TechCrunch LA

APRIL 26, 2022

Food Rocket has taken an unconventional route, striking a funding deal with Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. At the time, the company raised $2 million, and Alexandrov said about the perceived competition, “The level of competition in this market in the U.S. Are rivals snacking on Instacart’s core grocery delivery market?

Funding 246

Funding Demand Los Angeles Competition 246

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 6, 2022

Last week, we talked about about the “de-stonkifying” of the market. The company’s stock tanked by more than 26 percent, representing a $230 billion reduction in market cap and a $31 billion drop in Zuckerberg’s personal net worth. Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review ! Image Credits: TechCrunch.

Marketing 246

Marketing Newsletter Technical Review News 246

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2020

As a frequent advisor to new entrepreneurs and startups, I often hear your frustration with being treated differently from other startups by investors, on expectations for valuation , traction, and market size. On the other hand, if the market is super-hot, many will be willing to jump in to make your case.

Marketing 174

Marketing Startup Artificial Inteligence Technical Review 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2023

So why do I see some many funding requests for products along these lines? Here are some key drivers that will likely lead you to a fundable idea: A business crisis. Other countries can provide e-commerce with different business models, outsource manufacturing at low cost, and a huge market for new products.

Ideas 118

Ideas Outsource Development Outsource Course 118

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2023

In reality, resource constraints should be seen by startups a competitive advantage, by forcing them to develop new markets, and to think differently and act differently than existing players. Startups funded by rich uncles rarely think about productivity. How many times have you actually made up work to keep an idle person busy?

Resource 112

Resource Ideas Competition Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

One thing I have learned the hard way in business is that implementing new ideas is usually much more difficult than conceiving the idea in the first place. That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person. For example, I have a friend with a Ph.D.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

TechCrunch LA

MAY 3, 2022

The company Winters was working for sponsored her MBA to Harvard Business School, and it was there that she came up with the idea for Upgrade. “I The other side of the business is a new monthly subscription service for stylists that helps them market their handcrafted wigs, beauty and other digital products and services.

Tool 179

Tool Customer Custom Marketing 179

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Ideas posted on the site include "Pizza Bot" -- mobile app for pizza delivery; "Trashnado" -- mobile app for garbage removal; "Power Belt" - a wearable belt to charge your cell phone--and others. All of those ideas have a pre-commited amount of capital from investors willing to back those ideas. READ MORE>>.

Ideas 159

Ideas Idealab Startup Pasadena 159

socalTECH

AUGUST 29, 2013

Can tapping the power of the crowd not only help you find customers and help fund your project, but also help you shape your startup idea and find funding? Dirk Ahlborn: We are coming out of the nonprofit incubator, the Girvan Institute of Technology, which has been around since 2002, and is funded by NASA Ames.

Ideas 178

Ideas Patents Funding Startup 178

socalTECH

MAY 13, 2019

A new, Irvine-based startup, Neuron EV said late last week that it is targeting the electric vehicle market, unveiling a new idea for an EV called the "HUB".

Marketing 124

Marketing Ideas Startup Capital 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2021

Creating and growing a business requires creativity beyond the product, in the areas of finance, marketing, and operations. Markets and industries are always more complicated than they seem. Able to move smoothly from idea to execution. Some people like to talk incessantly about their idea and possibilities.

Funding 152

Funding Startup Ideas Resource 152

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2023

Show focus and your understanding that your company is something more than just a good idea. Include any empirical evidence--including market research or technical analysis, if that's appropriate--in order to bolster your case about why you believe you will succeed. What a banker is looking for is validation of your idea.

Equity 121

Equity Technical Advisors Funding Ideas 121

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2021

Later, in my second career as an entrepreneur with startups, I realized that limited resources and fresh insights actually created the mindset that relied on market change and innovation to survive. We didn’t notice as technology advances had opened a whole new market. Don’t wait for innovation ideas from top management.

Marketing 117

Marketing IBM IBM Resource 117

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

If you’re funding the same stuff as everybody else and if you started your activities when the clues were obvious you’re much less likely to drive enormous returns. When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea. Venture Capital is a tricky industry.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2022

New entrepreneurs are always looking for a shortcut in getting their venture story and plan across to investors, and closing on the funding they need. It forces you to bridge the gap between idea and execution. As a former angel investor, I look for this level of alignment and understanding in every funding presentation I hear.

Funding 133

Funding Activity Customer Custom 133

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

With the enormous changes to our economies and financial markets?—?how how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued?

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. Because market is such a broad topic, I’m restricting these lessons to PR marketing (as opposed SEO, SEM, product marketing, etc.). They think that only by being open and testing your ideas in an open marketplace can you be successful.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

But LA-based performance marketing agency MuteSix didn’t wait that long to build its business around scaling DTC brands. If you have growth marketing agencies or freelancers to recommend, please fill out our survey !). Why do you think that performance marketing is the right fit for DTC?

Commerce 211

Commerce Content Marketing Startup 211

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Mostly it’s because your marketing campaigns suck. Or more directly – they are likely narcissistic resuscitations of your newest features or bragging points that nobody but your marketing team and your mom care about. Plus they run conferences with the top people (which is another form of POV marketing by the way).

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2022

Yager outlines in her book just a few of the reasons why an entrepreneur needs to overcome the fear, and master the art of speaking in public, and I’ve taken the liberty of adding a few occasions from my own business experience: You need funding, and have to address a group of investors. Are you there yet? Marty Zwilling.

Marketing 113

Marketing Entrepreneur Customer Custom 113

Tech.Co

MAY 16, 2024

If this sounds like something that might benefit you, we’ve rounded up seven grant programs that should be on your radar, including their funding amounts, eligibility criteria, and application deadlines. You can unsubscribe at any time. 🌎 Or appear as if you're in another country? Deadline: Rolling Learn more and apply today 3.

Design 225

Design Commerce Entrepreneur News 225

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

Fund raising. But it’s critical for your business, for you as a leader and people who excel at fund raising have an extreme advantage over those who do not. As a VC I also have to fund raise every three years and these posts 100% apply to VCs raising money, too. It definitely has a “d” in it, as in it’s really not fun, raising.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? I have often thought that creative endeavors where one has a quick turn-around between idea and realization of one’s work as one of the more fulfilling experiences in life. It’s just a market.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. People who believe the former believe that you should see the market demand before too many people know you’re “in market.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2017

Based on my own experience as a startup investor, and feedback from like-minded friends, we all get pitches for at least ten startup ideas for every one new business plan. New business founders need to remember that investors fund business implementations, not ideas. Draft a short pitch for customers, and one for investors.

Ideas 74

Ideas Social Media Startup Customer 74

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2013

Here are some “rules of thumb” that indicate a marketable and experienced entrepreneur: Highlights team strengths, more than his own. Talks about the implementation plan, not the idea. M ost entrepreneurs are great at envisioning their business idea, but the implementation is fuzzy. Focus is clear, not all over the map.

Ideas 108

Ideas Entrepreneur Funding Customer 108

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

My first suggestion is that entrepreneurs need to forget the old myth that all they need to do is sketch an idea on a napkin, and investors will line up to invest. Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Naïve expectations on funding terms and process. Investors expect a good value proposition in every pitch.

Funding 123

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Invest 123

InfoChachkie

MAY 7, 2012

Ideas are infinite, and in the absence of competent execution, they are worth nothing. Thus, if both ideas and money are abundant, what is the scarce constraint in the fundraising equation? Skilled entrepreneurs bring ideas and money together by building a bridge of trust. The same precept holds true today.

Ideas 251

Ideas Venture Capital Education Entrepreneur 251

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

Northridge-based Gamma Medica-Ideas , a developer of digital molecular imaging systems, said Tuesday that it has raised $24M in financing. The firm said the round, the first institutional funding for the firm, was made up of $14M in equity, $5M in mezzanine debt, and a $5M revolving line of credit.

Ideas 124

Ideas Northridge Equity Venture Capital 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2010

Only after they’re sold on you, do they want to see your plan and hear your idea, not the other way around. Here are some “rules of thumb” that indicate a marketable and experienced entrepreneur: Highlights team strengths, more than his own. Talks about the implementation plan, not the idea. Focus is clear, not all over the map.

Ideas 96

Ideas Funding Entrepreneur Customer 96

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” In today’s rapidly changing market, perfection is a fleeting and impractical objective.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Knowledge Base 153

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

They can talk with passion about their innovative new idea, and ask lots of questions, but never seem to really get started. The challenge we all have as business founders is to move from the idea stage to a real business. The result was a product that was bloated and late to market.

Ideas 99

Ideas Slides Writing Startup 99

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

As a mentor to many business professionals and owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs, I find a wealth of innovative ideas, but often less insight on what it really takes to transform ideas into an income stream that can excite new customers into long-term business success. A great innovation starts with at least three ideas.

Ideas 145

Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2015

We will have two well-funded companies educating the market on why this market opportunity for the $24 billion US storage market is ripe for disruption. When we funded Sam , Rahul and team at MakeSpace > 2.5 years it was hard to get other investors to see this unsexy market as ripe for innovation.

Funding 150

Funding Competition Marketing Summary 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. Funding or rollout stage. Growth and exit stage.

Funding 94

Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2015

As a business mentor, I sometimes feel besieged by people begging for my view and support of their latest idea. In reality, I like most ideas, but I have to tell them that the real challenge is taking the inspiration from a dream to a business. Now you see why no one should judge business success potential by the idea alone.

Ideas 104

Ideas Mentor Resource Entrepreneur 104

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2015

These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, pitching their latest and greatest new idea, and looking for someone to give them money. Talk is cheap, but entrepreneurs who show you a working model of their idea know how to execute. Many ideas I hear sound great, but I have no idea if they can be implemented.

Ideas 107

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Tool 107