Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

I made every textbook mistake at my first startup, which is why I believe I was much more effective at my second one. The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. Because market is such a broad topic, I’m restricting these lessons to PR marketing (as opposed SEO, SEM, product marketing, etc.).

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. Trying outrageous new things or even trying mundane things but in new ways but with extreme quality & innovation is what fuels the tech startup industry. But today I want to give you advice on how to decrease your odds of failure in a startup.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2015

As the number of sites on the Internet floats around one billion, the challenge with every new startup is to be found and stand out. In this age of relationships, you, the entrepreneur, are a very important element of your new brand, and it’s never too early to start marketing the value of your expertise, insights and ideas.

Blogging 110

Blogging Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media 110

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I recently got together with Aaron Shechet and an early stage startup to discuss the direction the company might want to take. I grew up in Los Angeles and went to undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, graduating in 2003 with Honors in Economics. While at UC Santa Barbara, I started a café which served over 1100 dorm residents.

Startup 150

Startup SEO Pepperdine Blogging 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2014

With the estimated 510 million live websites at last year-end, and 280,000 new ones being added every day, the biggest challenge for an entrepreneur is to get found, and get some credibility for a new startup. The biggest excuse most startup founders mention is too much to do building a product, mapping strategy, investors, etc.

Startup 101

Startup Blogging Writing Google 101

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

He’s done several startups and is a board member of the Technology Council of Southern California (which is where I met him originally). A typical day starts with email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Yammer checks/updates. What's keeping you up at night? I recently posted about SEO for Startups. Great stuff!

Acquisition 170

Acquisition Custom Customer Ideas 170

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2010

Yesterday I wrote a post about top-down versus bottom-up thinking. So many CEO’s just carry on being … CEO’s –> fund raise, get media attention, attend conferences, hire staff, “set direction&# , whatever. Tags: Start-up Advice. Let me give you an example. Similar with product features.

Startup 323

Startup Press Development Team Review SEM 323

socalTECH

OCTOBER 25, 2012

Tracy tells us how she bootstrapped her business by renting out both her bedrooms and sleeping on the couch--funding the startup via Airbnb--and is now scaling out the business with a new round of venture capital. That item is then live on Tradesy, and we clean up the image, add some additional data to the listing.

Startup 236

Startup Education Acquisition Funding 236

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Many of the entrepreneurs I advise or invest with spend considerable time on the Internet, keeping up with technology, customers, and competitors, but very few feel the need for an early personal presence. Every future entrepreneur should start by networking. A positive personal brand will give your product instant credibility.

Product 127

Product Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Technical Review 127

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

I’d embed the video but it doesn’t seem to allow you to do this so here’s the link the This Week in Startups, Inaugural show. Quora ( funding led by Benchmark at a crazy valuation: $86 million ). Q&A delivers amazing SEO juice that I’ve seen at several recent companies so I get that. Crazy valuation.

Venture Capital 232

Venture Capital Capital SEO Yahoo 232

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

Richard De Silva started off as a journalist with the Washington Post after growing up in D.C. In the late 90’s he saw the internet boom and helped start IronPlanet.com, a construction equipment marketplace that is nearing an IPO. Startup after Iron Planet? (6:00 What gets you interested in a startup? (16:35-19:35).

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2016

We caught up with co-founder and CEO Vic Belonogoff to learn more about Render Media, whose flagship site is Opposing Views. He was a co-founder of Applied Semantics, which started the AdSense technology, which they sold to Google in 2003. We started focused on small, niche health sites, and Oppoing Views fell into our lap.

Media 100

Media Content News SEO 100

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. ” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. I hand out money.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding. Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. short answer: very, very rarely. But it does happen.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

Skyler Lucci is co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based HeyTutor (www.heytutor.com), a startup which has created an online platform which connects and matches students with in-person tutors. The company recently raised a round of funding from Santa Barbara-based ScOps Venture Capital. Connecting people at scale is super-difficult.

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Beverly Hills Acquisition 113

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2010

The firm is venture and angel backed, and was co-founded by Wil Schroter, who is involved with a number of other startups here, including Affordit. What's your background and how did you start Gotcast? I immediately started at a company called Abrams artist industry, which I subsequently ran for nearly seven years. READ MORE>>.

Hollywood 252

Hollywood Startup Sites SEO 252

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

Vanity metrics will make you feel good about site traffic of SEO over conversion rate or purchases of your product will get more attention than retention. So many CEO’s just carry on being … CEO’s → fund raise, get media attention, attend conferences, hire staff, “set direction”, whatever. You get a lot of traffic — not always results.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2013

million new pages added to the Internet every day, the biggest challenge for every entrepreneur is to get found, and get some credibility for a new startup. The biggest excuse most startup founders mention is too much to do building a product, mapping strategy, investors, etc. Your Google ranking will go up dramatically.

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

StartUp Beat

NOVEMBER 12, 2017

StartupBeat, founded in 2009 in Los Angeles, is a media company focused on covering startups and why they matter in our lives. From the most innovative tech businesses to the money funding these ventures, we’re devoted to coverage of the startup revolution. Designed For SEO Professionals: $1999. Global Media: $999.

Advertising 40

Advertising SEO Media Los Angeles 40

socalTECH

APRIL 14, 2010

Lolita was founder of ModernMom.com, which she sold to Richard Rosenblatt's Demand Media last year, and we caught up with Lolita to learn more about her newest venture. Do you find it's been more difficult to build up traffic for a more targeted site, or easier? How's this new venture funded--and actually, how was ModernMom funded?

Networking 230

Networking Social Media Startup Search Engine Optimization 230

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

Nearly every startup I have spoken to over the years – including some where I’m a co-investor – talks positively about the support they’ve gotten from A16Z. Of course not every VC has the fund size or the fee size to build services at this scale yet many provide extremely well-regarded programs that are valuable.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

This company was started by Victoria Duff (who many of us know from back in the late 90s), Phillis Lane (who I have known for quite a few years) and Jon Bukosky. What I really liked in my conversations with The Hive is that they are willing to work with and fund ventures that would never get VC dollars.

Incubator 150

Incubator CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

With the an estimated 150K new websites and 7M new pages added to the Internet every day, the biggest challenge for every entrepreneur is to get found, and get some credibility for a new startup. The biggest roadblock is that startup founders already have too much to do building a product, mapping strategy, courting investors, etc.

Blogging 93

Blogging Invest Startup Writing 93

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2016

We caught up with founder and CEO Mike Mothner --who we first interviewed back in 2007 --to catch up with the company, gets some hints and tips on growing a company, the challenges of bootstrapping, and why Wpromote hopes to be buying more companies in the future. So we are looking for clients looking for significant growth.

Acquisition 100

Acquisition Paid Search El Segundo SEO 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 30, 2013

The startup--which is part of MuckerLab--landed a seed funding round last week, so we thought we''d catch up with founder and CEO Farbod Shoraka to dig deeper into the company''s goals and service. How does a startup like your fight such a dominant industry? Farbod Shoraka: We started out in the summer of 2011.

Beverly Hills 157

Beverly Hills Technical Review Design Startup 157

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

Ive personally been involved in the start-up world in Los Angeles for about 15 years, and have had the opportunity to work on many early-stage companies (e.g., He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? .

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2015

On our marketplace, a brand can sign up in thirty seconds, and request video endorsements, which goes out to the dashboard of YouTubers. Once they decide which YouTubers to hire, they can fund that video production. Those funds are held in escrow, so it''s safe for both sides. There was no real easy process to do it.

Content 100

Content Platform Startup Marketing 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

This morning's interview is with Billy Fried , co-founder and CEO of Kijubi (www.kijubi.com), a new startup which is looking to help people find travel activities. What's your background and how did you decide to start the site? The idea was to have tent poles up in the most important leisure markets.

Activity 164

Activity Startup Sites Web 164

socalTECH

MARCH 20, 2009

We talked with Dan to learn more about Scour, how it started, what he's hoping to do with it, plus learn more about the firm's hiring plans. Users can vote for relevancy of results, and over time, the non-relevant information or SEO moves down below the line. Those points add up to a Visa gift card. How is the company funded?

PPC 113

PPC Sherman Oaks Advertising Yahoo 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) In the end it will be up to you to figure out what to do. SEO marketing vs. social marketing. Past Success? FourSquare.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2012

TechZulu caught up with Recycled Bride and here is what we found! Tracy DiNunzio is the founder, and was 30 years old with no background in technology when she started the company. Recycled Bride uses PayPal to hold the funds until the seller ships their item and enters a tracking number into the system. Any funding yet?

Design 84

Design Social Media Sales Sites 84

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 6, 2014

To get some up to speed, Rap Genius , as a team and company have upheld a reputation as anomalies in the tech world. More recently, a conflict with Google over SEO practices saw heavy penalties on their search results, but ultimately led to a resolution between the two parties. Rap Genius, Black Sheeps of Tech. It’s no secret.

Startup 93

Startup Mobile Entertainment Sites 93

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I have talked extensively about “social proof&# in fund raising in the past. Remember that you’ll be investing against people who have worked on the Google algorithm and REALLY know what drives SEO. You’re going up against Dennis Crowley who built Dodgeball before ever founding FourSquare. Connections. Domain knowledge.

Invest 288

Invest Angel Web 2.0 SEO 288

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2011

We caught up with Sam Rogoway , the firm's CEO--and the former founder of TripUp, which is now part of Kayak--to hear about how the firm is hoping to revolutionize the local business video market with its services, which just launched last month. We've also found that online video really helps with search engine optimization.

Networking 150

Networking Search Engine Optimization Product Startup 150

SoCal Delicious

AUGUST 28, 2012

10 New York City startups we’re crazy about. Apple event rumor round-up: iPad Mini, iPad 3.5, MYTH 2: Silicon Valley companies will always have the best shot at funding. In the UC System alone in 2010, Southern California UC schools formed 49 startups, trumping the 22 started up north. 11 hrs ago.

Southern California 57

Southern California PHP Technical Review Orange County 57

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Matthew spoke to us to give us a better idea of what the company offers and why it was started. Personally, I've been an entrepreneur for 15 years, running companies with P and L responsibility for divisions, and watched with frustration as the Internet has grown up around us. We've also got SEO feed pages.

SEO 100

SEO Advertising Gogii Tech Coast Angels 100

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

From there, I became the first non-founder employee at an e-commerce startup called BITSource, which was the first electronic software distributor delivering electronic volume software licenses to corporations. Earlier this year I founded a new startup called KlickFu. What’s keeping you up at night? What are you working on now?

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150