Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For the more traditional investor, or for that chance meeting in a real elevator or meeting, you need a two-page brochure (two-sided page).

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

But with the pressures of the economy, and limited access to outside funding, we all know this isn’t always possible or appropriate. Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity. Get a good night’s sleep.

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Tips Startup Entrepreneur Mentor 86

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2014

Yet I still see business plans and funding plans for startups that have minimal or no allocation for travel. Yet if your service is consulting, for example, real travel is required to deliver the product. As an entrepreneur, you are the brand, so your visibility is as important as your product or service.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

Every startup mentor has his favorite list of basic strategies to avoid pitfalls, and I’m no exception. I offer these pragmatic recommendations: Buffer your funding requirements. Consider both the money you need before funding, and the size of investor funding requests. Severe cash flow problems may not be recoverable.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

But with the pressures of the economy, and limited access to outside funding, we all know this isn’t always possible or appropriate. Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity. Get a good night’s sleep.

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Tips Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 107

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

But with the pressures of the economy, and limited access to outside funding, we all know this isn’t always possible or appropriate. Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity. Get a good night’s sleep.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. The size of the document should be based on your style, but 10-20 pages or slides are usually more than adequate to outline even a complex business. You need money, and plan to do crowdfunding.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

Often I find that experienced investors flip to the management page of a business plan, even before they read the product description. The most common solution is that you “bootstrap” your business, or fund it yourself, at least to the point that your “traction” is evident (you have a product, you have customers, you have revenue).

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Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

For example, goods for sale – people add items that are for sale, their contact details, images of the product. Using our quick export function – he can embed this on a website or facebook page. Who are the founders, investors, mentors behind the Mimiboard? I am the founder , Investors are Eva Fund. Do users pay?

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Advertising Media News Content 91

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

I felt this myself as we went from a few founders huddled into a tiny room to the front page of the Financial Times, an influx of VC interest, magazine covers, invitations to high-profile events and the pressures of trying to live up to this perception and the economic opportunities everybody expected. Advisors / Coaches / Mentors.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

But with the pressures of the economy, and limited access to outside funding, we all know this isn’t always possible or appropriate. Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity. Get a good night’s sleep.

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Tips Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 101

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2013

But with the pressures of the economy, and limited access to outside funding, we all know this isn’t always possible or appropriate. Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity. Get a good night’s sleep.

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Company Companies Startup Entrepreneur 96

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2010

Often I find that experienced investors flip to the management page of a business plan, even before they read the product description. The most common solution is that you “bootstrap” your business, or fund it yourself, at least to the point that your “traction” is evident (you have a product, you have customers, you have revenue).

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2015

Develop written business plans as detailed as product plans. Good technologists produce written product specifications, to help them personally be confident that all the technical requirements are covered. Yet their business plans rarely get more than a page or two written.

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Technical Review Product Activity Technology 54

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2011

But with the pressures of the economy, and limited access to outside funding, we all know this isn’t always possible or appropriate. Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity. Get a good night’s sleep.

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Entrepreneur Startup Tips Mentor 110

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Seth’s interest in helping others grew out of his lack of having a mentor. He was drawn to Stanford by the people ecosystem- access to professors and mentors. Seth raised $100k in angel funding to fuel operations. Again, he stressed the importance of good mentors. Why did you pursue an MBA at Stanford?

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Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 9, 2014

Having a clear focus means it’s easier to communicate what your product is and who it’s for. By trying to appeal to everyone and adding features left, right and centre, you will actually dilute your message and could end up with a complex, bloated product. Here are two examples. Quote from John Wilshire, Artefact Cards 4.

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Startup Design Customer Custom 78

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 16, 2014

You can be an entrepreneur and at the same time you can be a mentor or an investor to someone else’s project. Entrepreneurs who have a startup upload their company’s information and create a startup page. You can create your startup page in two clicks. In 2012, you were not considering outside funding.

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Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2012

Because we are still in idea stage, it is in the best interest of the company to keep only a few key people to work on executing the product. RED FLAG #3, 4, 5, 6, 7… : I asked this person to send me over the access info to the domain, as I wanted to create a launch page, and his response was, “I’m working on it.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2010

But with the pressures of the economy, and limited access to outside funding, we all know this isn’t always possible or appropriate. Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity. Get a good night’s sleep.

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Tips Startup Entrepreneur Mentor 55

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

As a mentor to young aspiring entrepreneurs , I often get asked for tips on a strategy to get started. Don’t be shy about networking for advisors with business experience for coaching and mentoring. Assess potential for funding or bootstrapping. Remember that investors tend to fund entrepreneurs, not ideas.

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Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2014

This was a chance to blow open the story on their companies, to address a room full of potential investors, mentors, partners, customers, and press. To learn more about all the companies, be sure to visit 500 Startups’ official demo day page. In turn, Ohmconnect incentivizes its users with direct payments.

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SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Welcome to the Lost Decade (for Entrepreneurs, IPO’s and VC’s) - Steve Blank , July 15, 2010 If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. These are the top linked domains from Facebook pages.

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