Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2022

Most entrepreneurs who start a company alone soon come to the conclusion that two heads are better than one – someone to share the workload, the hard decisions, costs, and tasks you don’t like. This would be a mistake, and could easily cost you your startup. Most startups can’t afford that. All decisions will be made jointly.”

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Startup Satisfaction Writing Entrepreneur 140

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2021

Unfortunately, these goals are often mutually exclusive, and focusing on the wrong ones won’t bring you that business success and satisfaction you crave. Timing is critical for every startup. Of course, if you wait for the perfect time, you may never start. Should I start out alone, or assemble a team first?

Startup 159

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Equity 159

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

Many entrepreneurs have a passion and an idea, or even invent a new product, but are never able to execute to the point of creating a startup. Even fewer are able to grow the startup into a viable business. Startup and development stage. Funding and rollout stage. Growth and scaling stage.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Satisfaction 108

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2020

If you are seriously looking to start the next billion-dollar startup, you need to get beyond the realm of enhancing a current solution. Investors are looking for breakthrough solutions to fund. Actively solicit insights from outside domain experts, and follow-up to expand your thinking relative to your own domain.

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Startup Artificial Inteligence Ideas Entrepreneur 134

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. That might start with the CEO giving the investor pitch to the whole organization, and distributing the current business plan document to everyone.

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Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

One of the myths I often hear as an advisor to many entrepreneurs is that their lifestyle would somehow be better if they could more easily find other people’s money to build their startup. Usually it pays to move a startup slower rather than risk relationships. Many times friends and family have been broken by failed investments.

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Startup Satisfaction Venture Capital Entrepreneur 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2021

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. How many times have you actually made up work to keep an idle person busy? Rethink or reframe the challenge. Marty Zwilling.

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Startup Resource Entrepreneur Competition 164

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2023

As a business owner, I myself had to learn to depend on skilled partners, rather than jump in and try to solve every business challenge myself, from fund raising to social media. Follow your own interests and business insights to increase satisfaction and long-term success. Help others who have the potential for helping you.

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Satisfaction Startup Social Media Summary 101

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company. Performance accountability processes. Marty Zwilling.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

Trying to do everything is a sure way to maximize stress, lower job satisfaction, and minimize productivity. I will outline here his six required activities of every successful business to get you started down the right path for you: Wonder: identify the value and need for change. I recommend that you start online to find data sources.

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Activity Satisfaction Metrics Startup 108

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. I still see entrepreneurs who spend money and time for months on a new business idea without any separation of personal and business funds, and any formal accounting system for their new business.

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Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2020

Most of you will start your business with plenty of passion and purpose, but all too often I see both disappearing after months of facing unanticipated setbacks and challenges. They feel the same passion that you and your team need to be reminded of on a regular basis to keep up the necessary level of energy, positivity, and commitment.

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Startup Coach Satisfaction Training 127

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s noteworthy news pertaining to startups and venture capital. Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit. Last week, I profiled an e-commerce startup Part & Parcel. Startup Spotlight: Landline. IPO Update.

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Services Startup Venture Capital Redpoint 207

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2020

After you have heard a few startup success stories, like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, you may be tempted to invest some money yourself, maybe by pooling your funds with other investors who claim to have a great track record. My advice is to leave the investing in startups to the professionals (or friends and fools).

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Tips Invest Offshore Startup 141

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2014

I’ve always wondered who started the urban myth that the best way to start a company is to come up with a great idea, and then find some professional investors to give you a pot of money to build a company. Eighty percent of new entrepreneurs use this approach, with only six percent using investor funding.

Startup 110

Startup Entrepreneur Satisfaction Legalzoom 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2020

Based on my own experiences in startups, and many years of advising new business owners, I’m convinced that there are a few common frustrations that we all need to anticipate and prepare for, rather than let them be a surprise and a painful dent in your enthusiasm and personal satisfaction from living your dream.

Entrepreneur 122

Entrepreneur Startup Course Examples 122

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Capture your “secret sauce.”

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Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2013

I’ve always wondered who started the urban myth that the best way to start a company is to come up with a great idea, and then find some professional investors to give you a pot of money to build a company. Eighty percent of new entrepreneurs used this approach, with only six percent using investor funding.

Startup 105

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Legalzoom 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. I still see entrepreneurs who spend money and time for months on a new business idea without any separation of personal and business funds, and any formal accounting system for their new business.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2016

One of the myths I often hear as an advisor to many entrepreneurs is that their lifestyle would somehow be better if they could more easily find other people’s money to build their startup. Usually it pays to move a startup slower rather than risk relationships. Many times friends and family have been broken by failed investments.

Funding 57

Funding Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 57

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 16, 2019

When Arianna Huffington stepped down from her role at the Huffington Post to start Thrive Global, she said the goal of her new business was to help a generation “avoid the burnout that all too often comes with success today.” “We can use technology to hook people to unhook them from unhealthy behaviors.”

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Artificial Inteligence Seed Funding Startup Screening 226

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

Yet I still see most of the focus in the startup community on creating the best technology and process, rather than practicing the most effective habits. Being proactive in a new business means starting with a vision of how to do things better, rather than following someone else’s success model. We have enough social network startups.

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Startup Entrepreneur Social Media Social Network 148

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2017

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. As an active angel investor, I look for this level of alignment and understanding in every funding presentation I hear. No startup or entrepreneur is an island. Key partners.

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Funding Startup Activity Customer 57

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2012

Building a startup is hard work for low pay, it’s risky, and it requires total responsibility to make it work. That doesn’t mean unlimited funds, but enough that they don’t fear being destitute, without funds, or dependent on others. Yet, many entrepreneurs are the happiest people I know. Financial independence.

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Satisfaction Entrepreneur Study Content 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2023

The challenge is to find the time and initiative to keep up with the information wave, and be able to curate the data into knowledge that must be learned, unlearned, or relearned. With this principle, real entrepreneurs start with a conviction that new learning will reveal flaws in existing models, leading to new opportunities.

Social Media 120

Social Media Startup Entrepreneur Education 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

As a startup advisor, when I suggest cooperating with competitors, most entrepreneurs initially think I'm crazy or suggesting something illegal. And growth is the lifeblood of every startup. And growth is the lifeblood of every startup. Complementary advantages can expand both markets. Be visible and be proactive.

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Startup Customer Custom IBM 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2020

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. The crowd gets the satisfaction of helping, with minimal risk, and no expectation of any high return. Startup equity model. Product pre-order model. In the U.S.,

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Satisfaction Equity 129

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2021

The best part of being an entrepreneur is having the independence to make your own decisions, the flexibility for a better work/life balance, and personal satisfaction from driving change. You don’t have enough control over your time, investors, the market, or your startup. But nobody said it would be easy. It’s very frustrating.

Entrepreneur 174

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Satisfaction Social Media 174

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

The new hot topic for entrepreneurs the last couple of years is crowd funding, which is anticipated to at least supplement, if not replace, the slow and mysterious process of current Angel and venture capital investors. Good-cause crowd funding. Pre-order crowd funding. Rewards-based crowd funding. Ideas crowd sourcing.

Funding 99

Funding Satisfaction Sites Outsource Development 99

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2019

Ian Chen is the co-founder and CEO of Discotech , a startup that offers up bottle service booking, discounted tickets and more to clubs and nightspots. How are you funded? What has been the hardest part of a startup? When we started the app about six years ago, that was the idea an vision.

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Startup Equity Customer Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. How many times have you actually made up work to keep an idle person busy? Rethink or reframe the challenge. Marty Zwilling

Resource 112

Resource Ideas Competition Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2012

The new hot topic for entrepreneurs these days is crowd funding, which is anticipated to at least supplement, if not replace, the slow and mysterious process of current Angel and venture capital investors. This new model will allow large numbers of “regular” people to invest small amounts each online to fund early startups.

Funding 96

Funding Satisfaction Sites Outsource Development 96

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Whether you are a business professional in a big company, or an entrepreneur with a startup, innovation is a key strategy. New businesses driven only by a passion for big profit margins, rather than customer value and a higher cause, are perennially high risk with low satisfaction for you and the team.

Artificial Inteligence 114

Artificial Inteligence Ideas Satisfaction Customer 114

socalTECH

JUNE 24, 2016

Santa Monica-based HomeHero , the home care technology and services startup founded by Kyle Hill and Mike Townsend, has linked up with Cedars-Sinai to launch a new program called Safe Transition Home. Financial impact of the deal was not announced. READ MORE>>.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2011

I’ve written about this before, but I was surprised again recently at a conference for startups when a couple of entrepreneurs started berating investors for their low rate of funding for early-stage startups. Executives need to show up be the model, communicate the model, and enforce the model. Marty Zwilling.

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Funding Startup Satisfaction Customer 96

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

They ask me for a perspective on the pros and cons of that dream, the potential for increased satisfaction , and the probability of their long-term growth and success. He offers a handbook of lessons for what to expect in business, from initial ideas to funding, growth, and possible exits. Find an idea that matches your set of values.

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Entrepreneur Ideas Satisfaction Customer 124