Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2022

Thus, over the years of my mentoring and consulting efforts with entrepreneurs, I have a key list of practices that I recommend to everyone starting and growing a business. Betting on funds you don’t yet have has crashed many businesses I know. They are not afraid to ask for staffing pointers, direction, or even funding.

Startup 134

Startup Training Tool Demand 134

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

He co-founded a prominent accelerator in Los Angeles called MuckerLab , that has produced a number of impressive companies and he mentored more than 20 of them. Natural mentors – a desire to help. So I began talking to him about joining the fund. I made some reference calls. Quantitative & analytical.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2014

And of course there are virulent debates about whether publicly funded media should exist at all. I fall firmly on the side of supporting public funds for quality, less-biased, programming. But I’ve seen first hand when I lived in the UK how great public funding of news can be with The Beeb. What a load of rubbish.

Riot Games 299

Riot Games Media Startup News 299

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2012

There is a large menu of startup accelerators in the Los Angeles, but one of more established efforts in the area is LaunchpadLA ([link] The effort actually started as an informal mentoring program, but has grown and expanded to follow the accelerator model. It was really just something built for the community to help support entrepreneurs.

Class 261

Class Mentor Startup Santa Monica 261

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

When you’re hiring most reference checkers focus on the person’s former bosses. Just literally this week I had breakfast with a guy giving a reference who said, “He’s brilliant. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. In many ways that can be way more telling.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

It goes without saying that if you find yourself in a really negative headspace PLEASE reach out to any trusted mentor, friend or family member. If your company can help with job search, or resume writing or providing references or calling other companies to tell them you did redundancies?—?you I imagine many of you are, too.

Demand 215

Demand Guide Customer Custom 215

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Accelerator programs--like YCombinator in Silicon Valley, and TechStars in Colorado--have come to the forefront of the minds of entrepreneurs as a way to boost their ideas quickly into the market, find funding, and into existence. We're providing seed funding, office space, and put them through a three month, structured program.

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. Usually these will not give you money, but will provide inexpensive expert mentoring and office services. Funding or rollout stage. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Organization 93

Organization Startup Incubator Ideas 93

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. A sample of three views is adequate.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Innocal Offshore Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. A sample of three views is adequate.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Innocal Offshore Entrepreneur 63

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Fred Wilson as usual said it better and more succinctly than I in this post : ” … we only manage funds in the $150mm to $200mm range, we only need to invest in 6-10 new companies a year and we only need a third of them to work. You can’t reference check your way into a “yes.”

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2015

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I recognize that it’s easy to spot a dysfunctional team after the fact, but it’s not so easy to spot the right attributes of new team candidates, in the context of existing members. If you find you have a dysfunctional team at your startup, fixing it should be a top priority.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Coach Mentor 100

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

See there are tons of people who play the role of mentor in their own capacity. And that’s why it’s super important to reference check your VC as I wrote in the linked post. You need to call the companies they funded that didn’t go well in order to find out what kind of actor they really are.

Startup 363

Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2010

Now they are coming back, and the best even provide networking, technical leadership, and seed funding, as well as shared facilities and space. Look first for people there who can help you, by their introductions, mentoring, and experience. About that time the bubble burst, causing more than 80% of them to disappear. Marty Zwilling.

Incubator 93

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Mentor 93

Xconomy

OCTOBER 12, 2016

“We like what Eric calls the boring back-end software,” said co-founder and managing director Jack Scatizzi, referring to a company’s internal, business-related software and the operating system that controls how a consumer-facing website operates. Three companies from each cohort also will get $50,000 in follow-on funding.

San Diego 40

San Diego Startup Southern California Invest 40

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

What does that refer to exactly? What Miigle does is make it easier for entrepreneurs to grow their ideas and startups by connecting them with people including other entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, potential product users who share their interests and want to help. Have you been funded yet? How do you expect to get funded?

Startup 101

Startup Ideas Platform Entrepreneur 101

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 11, 2013

Experience has shown that a strong emotional tie to a deal will help more than any other factor when raising venture funding. Just because you do not personally know any of the partners at a fund does not prevent you from accessing their extended network.

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 45

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 11, 2013

Experience has shown that a strong emotional tie to a deal will help more than any other factor when raising venture funding. Just because you do not personally know any of the partners at a fund does not prevent you from accessing their extended network.

Venture Capital 40

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 40

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2019

Michele Ruiz: Robin Richards and I formed the company, after he approached me, after having been a business mentor for me for fifteen years. We actually approached him for a referral, and when he saw the work we were setting out to do, he referred himself. How did the three of you connect? Dan Gould: Michele is too modest.

Content 150

Content Training Education Outsource Development 150

Tech.Co

JULY 24, 2017

Pitching one or two of your smartest friends and getting them to join your startup (or at least champion it) is crucial in those early days when nobody talented wants to join a no-name fledgling company with little to no funding. But how do you go about pitching your friends? First, figure out what motivates them.

Networking 82

Networking Startup Software Review Conference 82

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2012

Ask the investor for “references,” meaning contacts at companies where previous investments were made. Here is where you will really learn if there is a chemistry match that will likely lead to a good mentoring and business relationship. Be wary of individuals or funds sourced from offshore. Network with other entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Offshore Invest Social Network 96

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. Planning and dealing with extra-ordinary events: M&A, fund raising, crises. In the Early Days. Reviewing financial & operational performance.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Ask the investor for “references,” meaning contacts at companies where previous investments were made. Here is where you will really learn if there is a chemistry match that will likely lead to a good mentoring and business relationship. Be wary of individuals or funds sourced from offshore. Network with other entrepreneurs.

Offshore 89

Offshore Entrepreneur Invest Social Network 89

Jason Nazar

JUNE 1, 2016

Have your slides there, reference the key points as needed, but keep the focus on each other — not a slideshow. Read what other startup mentors have to say about attracting investor attention. Create scarcity ; let them know that this funding round is closing soon and we’re really here to see if we’re the right fit for each other.

Slides 49

Slides Startup Entrepreneur Metrics 49

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 2, 2013

His accelerator selects 20 companies a year out of the 500 which apply and provides 100k in funding to those who participate. Most companies are referred by other VC’s, founders or mentors. He felt you get them into the program and then the mentors will guide their evolution as a startup.

Cornerstone OnDemand 93

Cornerstone OnDemand Santa Monica Technical Review Startup 93

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. graph consists of a set of nodes connected by edges.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217