Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

As a business advisor, I have to recommend even to established companies that they review and revamp their competitive strategy now, even if it appears to be working today. As a simple example, the Wal-Mart website now shows shoppers more products that they may like, based on previous purchases.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

For example, if you are working on a great social networking idea to replace Facebook, and need funding, you probably won’t find any interested and focused VCs or angel investors in Arizona, where I live. Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. get the attention of the market they choose.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

I recommend a trial run with an experiment or MVP (minimum viable product), at full price and cost, before the big bang launch, risking your investment money and a major time commitment. With my software background at IBM, I’m well aware that technical early adopters value more and more features, and are able to deal with complexity.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

Most often at the earliest point in the life of a startup, the dominant need is certainly to produce product to get something in the market, get funding, etc. I understand the desire for hiring someone who is going to product product. How are we going to manage the product roadmap? How can we address this risk?

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

My cofounder and I know how hard it is to get a company up and running, and funded, to keep your investors in the loop. It allows you to share private and confidential information about your company, and have a dialog with your investors, within a walled garden where you can put the documents you need for diligence. READ MORE>>.

Southern California 243

Southern California Entrepreneur Software Review Yammer 243

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

For example, if you are working on a great social networking idea to replace Facebook, and need funding, you probably won’t find any interested and focused VCs or Angel investors in Arizona, where I live. Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. get the attention of the market they choose.

Startup 97

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 97

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

To grow faster businesses need resources in today’s financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. You have to understand whether they’re likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Steve Reich

JUNE 11, 2012

MindBodyOnline is a terrifically succesful SaaS company, based in San Luis Obispo, that provides scheduling and transactional software for Yoga studios, hair salons, and spas. MBO is very metrics driven, and their shareholder reports are dense with detailed, disciplined reporting that remind you that Rick is former Naval officer.

Customer 97

Customer Custom Software Review SaaS 97

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

There is much talk these days that startup valuations have decreased and may continue to do so and that the amount of time it takes to fund raise may take longer. months for fund raising start to finish and make sure you have at least 6 month’s of cash if it takes longer.

Startup 150

Startup Capital Funding Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

For example, if you are working on a great social networking idea to replace Facebook, and need funding, you probably won’t find any interested and focused VCs or Angel investors in Phoenix, Arizona, where I live. Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. The list goes on and on.

Startup 109

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 109

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2017

For example, if you are working on a great social networking idea to replace Facebook, and need funding, you probably won’t find any interested and focused VCs or Angel investors in Arizona, where I live. Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. get the attention of the market they choose.

Sites 59

Sites Startup Technical Review Oracle 59

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2013

For example, if you are working on a great social networking idea to replace Facebook, and need funding, you probably won’t find any interested and focused VCs or Angel investors in Phoenix, Arizona, where I live. Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. The list goes on and on.

Startup 102

Startup Technical Review Oracle Entrepreneur 102

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It says that selling an airplane ticket for $500 and getting paid a $5 fees by the airlines (1% gross margin) is not the same thing as selling $500 of software that you built (>90% gross margin). Sam did all this analysis before even deciding to build V1 of his software and before we put serious money behind him launching.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

I know I must have pitched over 200 people trying to raise funding for the company, and although we had raised $1.7M in funding, we ultimately knew last year that the things we needed to prove investors was not going to happen in the time we had left. So, our priorities are to improve the product and catalog for listeners.

Software Review 100

Software Review Startup Metrics Content 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

If you buy into the argument that a strong board can actually help you then this post will lay out how to help you have more productive meetings by preparing properly in advance. Often board members themselves don’t do the work to say “what metrics would we like to see.” This is part of a broader series on Board Meetings.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years. " Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

There are obvious reasons the industry has had less-than-desirable returns, including: massive over-funding of the sector, huge increases in inexperienced venture capitalists that took a decade to peter out, and the massive correction in the value of the public stock markets that closed many exit opportunities for half a decade.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

Design the full stack, not just a new software element. In other parts of the world, innovators often need to develop both the ultimate product or service, as well as the enabling infrastructure that underpins it. With a singular focus on building unicorns, very rapid growth has been a key metric. Marty Zwilling

Capital 138

Capital Marketing Ideas Venture Capital 138

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2020

Design the full stack, not just a new software element. In other parts of the world, innovators often need to develop both the ultimate product or service, as well as the enabling infrastructure that underpins it. With a singular focus on building unicorns, very rapid growth has been a key metric.

Ideas 124

Ideas Venture Capital Software Review Technical Review 124

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. How to raise money with no lead - Venture Hacks , July 31, 2010 Paul Graham says “The future [of funding] is no fixed amount, no fixed closing date, and no lead.”

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217