Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124

socalTECH

AUGUST 21, 2009

A new effort by Facebook to expand their "Gift Shop" application to third party developers has roped in San Diego-based RealGifts as one of its first partners, according to reports this week. RealGifts, which has received funding from the Facebook fbFund, has been providing its service on Facebook since July of last year.

Social Network 164

Social Network San Diego Networking Report 164

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Bockerstette, Main Street Venture Fund As I outlined last week, trophy angel investors are always looking for trophy entrepreneurs. The result is that the Main Street Venture Fund consistently has more money available than good opportunities for investment. There is no product idea good enough to overcome bad partners.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2019

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Ask Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble , who raised over $10 million on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform for his relatively low-tech wristwatch with programmed clock faces.

Press 96

Press Entrepreneur Social Media Training 96

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 7, 2013

CapLinked, Cloud-based enterprise platform for deal management and investor reporting, Wednesday announced a new suite of enterprise features in a move to take transactions mobile. The new features launched include business tools for reporting, file management, discussions and first-of-its-kind functionality for managing deals on an iPad.

Mobile 91

Mobile Report Pricing Tool 91

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. I had intended to talk about how bad the process could become, not to name-and-shame anybody (and The Funded was not yet around). I hadn’t thought about the fact that he would become aware of my link.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2014

I have been saying privately for years now that I believe online video will evolve into fragmented distribution (my next online video post) and vertical production. They have production facilities in Mexico where they have been creating lower-cost video for traditional TV for many years and they pivoted this facility to producing for YouTube.

Invest 291

Invest Content Media Networking 291

socalTECH

APRIL 10, 2019

Jay Budzik: You might have seen in our coverage, that Discover Financial, a pretty famous card issuer, is using us for an installment loan product, which helps them leverage machine learning to a specific business problem around losses related to their personal loans portfolio. What kind of lenders are using your tool?

Artificial Inteligence 113

Artificial Inteligence Tool CIO Customer 113

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Almost every early-stage startup who has approached investors for funding has heard the innocuous sounding rejection “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.” Free and freemium products need a solid base. In the consumer world, groups like Consumer Reports , will give you similar credibility, if positive.

Startup 106

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 106

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? I hand out money.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

Venture Capital funds: the different between “closed funds&# (which typically have a 10-year time horizon) and “evergreen funds&# which re-invest profits back into the fund. An investment doesn’t guarantee your product will suddenly be on the investor’s price sheet.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2014

According to a recent industry report on travel spending, small businesses buy 37% more airline tickets than big business travelers, and spend 24% more when on the road. Yet I still see business plans and funding plans for startups that have minimal or no allocation for travel. You would be wrong. Brand building requires travel time.

Startup 100

Startup Tips Mentor Conference 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2017

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Ask Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble , who raised over $10 million on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform for his relatively low-tech wristwatch with programmed clock faces.

Media 55

Media Social Media Startup Training 55

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Ask Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble , who raised over $10 million on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform for his relatively low-tech wristwatch with programmed clock faces.

Press 105

Press Social Media Startup Training 105

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

There’s a line of thinking in Silicon Valley that you should build product businesses rather than services businesses. They have created two internal technology “products&# and wanted to figure out how they could turn their services business into a product business that could be financed. This team is talented.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Sure, there are examples of Founders who have survived and prospered, such as Bill Gates and Larry Page, but these guys are the exception, not the rule. With Sarbanes-Oxley, the CEO, CFO, and the Board of Directors are all assumed to have full knowledge of all government standards of compliance and reporting.

Startup 89

Startup Entrepreneur Report Summary 89

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2012

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Ask Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble , who raised over $10 million on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform for his relatively low-tech wristwatch with programmed clock faces.

Training 93

Training Media Entrepreneur Social Media 93

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

What websites one visits, what pictures they look at, whose FB page they checking out – are not fair game in a world where you care about trust. You can turn it off, but they defaulted it to an on setting to drive more adoption of the product. I almost never read anything on Quora but tech, startup and funding articles.

Blogging 328

Blogging Content Press Startup 328

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Jim Semick: I’ve been launching and managing software products for 15 years now, going back to when you and I worked together at Expertcity before it was acquired by Citrix. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

socalTECH

APRIL 2, 2014

Our clients are retail, technology, consumer product goods, and other companies who are trying to address challenges with a very complex, digital marketing mix they face every day. As you might imagine, I started as a brand manager in the consumer product goods market. What''s your background, and how did you get into this?

Marketing 196

Marketing Pasadena Platform Email 196

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Sure, there are examples of founders who have survived and prospered, such as Bill Gates and Larry Page, but these guys are the exception, not the rule. With Sarbanes-Oxley, the CEO, CFO, and the Board of Directors are all assumed to have full knowledge of all government standards of compliance and reporting.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Startup Report Summary 95

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 2, 2016

As the San Diego Union Tribune reported in 2013, Tsien (pictured) was also unafraid to shine the spotlight on what he considered suspect scientific approaches, even when espoused by legends like DNA co-discoverer James Watson. A spokeswoman told Xconomy it was part of an “internal re-alignment.”

News 57

News San Diego Journal Technical Review 57

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2013

We''ve now reached critical mass in content, and in Asia we''re number three in the amount of information on products and suppliers online. We went from no suppliers to now over 160,000 suppliers, over two million products online. Michael Kleist: We''re seed funded, and have already raised money from twelve investors.

Southern California 170

Southern California Startup SoCal CTO Hire 170

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2013

billion for 35 funds during the first quarter of 2013, an increase of 22 percent compared to the level of dollar commitments during the fourth quarter of 2012, according to a report from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Venture capital investments are returning to startups.

Startup 86

Startup Tips Venture Capital Demand 86

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2013

Jackson added that the firm was proud of its product, and even uses its own software to manage their capital raised from investors. The new funding brings the company’s aggregate amount of capital raised to over $3 million. Jackson funding Google Inflection Ventures Investing Lee Essener' Over $3M Raised.

Draper 68

Draper Google Software Engineering Invest 68

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 9, 2013

I spoke this past week at the LeWeb conference in London, which was a superbly well run event with a very quality production team. They are also driving down the margins they make and are offering products that are initially lower functionality than their competitors. I described that phenomenon in this post. Prices down. Network Up.

Marketing 361

Marketing Course Pricing Networking 361

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

We’ll be conducting a series of educational programes covering: fund raising, team building, product development, sales, marketing, business development and how to prioritize your time as a CEO. The product focuses on the in-store behavior of consumers. And of course we had, TheMan. Now begins the 6-month journey.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2011

Sure, there are examples of founders who have survived and prospered, such as Bill Gates and Larry Page, but these guys are the exception, not the rule. With Sarbanes-Oxley, the CEO, CFO, and the Board of Directors are all assumed to have full knowledge of all government standards of compliance and reporting.

Startup 94

Startup Entrepreneur Report Summary 94

socalTECH

JULY 20, 2011

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based HitFix (www.hitfix.com) an online news site focused on entertainment, announced it had raised $2M in a funding round. There are trade publications such as Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline at one end, and gossip celebrity news at the other end. Why the new funding round now?

News 173

News Entertainment Startup Bertelsmann 173

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 19, 2012

“The object is to exploit the convergence of people, information, products, services and places with today’s smartphones and tablets, which drive online orders in addition to purchases from brick-and-mortar stores.”. Due to the combination of these factors, marketers began to more heavily fund digital platforms.

Mobile 85

Mobile Software Review Statistics Technical Review 85

Xconomy

AUGUST 12, 2016

In other Google-related news, Recode reported that Bill Maris, the founder and president of Google Ventures (now called GV), has left the firm and will be replaced by David Krane. . —The U.S. Alex Lash examined the company’s role, via its biotech subsidiary Verily Life Sciences, in the massive project. —David H.

Google 40

Google Technical Review News Research 40

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

For college, or maybe even high school, you can take a look at what courses you've taken, how we'll you've done, and you can even submit your report card or portfolio to college. They have more knowledge of what a student's life is about, which is much better than a one page resume. How is the company funded?

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2014

He gave a glimpse into the 500 Startups program, including, but not limited to: Weekly roundup meetings with all hands to report wins and losses. So far, after every batch completion, that’s been the number one benefit reported by almost all our startups. It sits above curriculum, investor connections, etc. ” Demo Day.

Startup 111

Startup Mobile Commerce Education 111

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

In other words, we really want to take social shopping to the next level, and make it product focused. The concept is divided into 3 areas: myTibesti, where people can put up their favorite products, create wish lists, and where people can click on those items and buy them, we share 50 percent with our registered users.

Startup 100

Startup Sites Los Angeles Product 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2011

By John Williams Fast Company magazine recently reported that PayPal founder Paul Thiel is giving away $100,000 to twenty-four young men and women to finance startup businesses. Fancy websites are expensive, but blogs and Facebook pages are free. The caveat is that these young entrepreneurs have to drop out of college to do it.

Startup 92

Startup Capital Blogging Ideas 92

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 9, 2014

Perhaps it’s time to raise a round of Venture Capital funding and want a pitch presentation a bit more composed than the dusty Keynote you put together last year for your friends and family round. All the while, you have product to maintain and a team to manage, but the very thought of hiring a VP or consulting firm makes you cringe.

Outsource Development 105

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review Outsource 105

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

The most recent report to weigh in on the troubles of the industry was produced by the esteemed Kauffman Foundation. This has led to the creation of incubators, accelerators and seed funds. The number of venture capital funds has shrunk by two-thirds. The Funding Problem. Just why does over-funding dampen returns?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347