Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

Getting customer attention often takes more innovation today than solving the tough technical problems. As a business adviser, I still see too many new venture founders who skimp on their marketing focus, or start too late. You won’t need the multiple follow-ups and time to close new sales.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. If you don't have a team on staff, then a banker is going to want to hear about outsourcing and advisors. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. For 1991 I was very technical and also had a lot of practical business implementation experience in technology.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I often hear the desire to run their own company, to avoid having someone else telling them how to run the business. They then ask me to help them find investors who can provide the funding they need. are still bootstrapped today, often starting with less than $10,000 of personal funds.

Technical Advisors 125

Technical Advisors Startup News Resource 125

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. The sales professional.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. The sales professional.

Technical Advisors 105

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 105

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

In the era of Skype, web conferencing tools and collaboration software conventional wisdom says that distributed startup teams can be just as effective as those that are in person. Or more precisely the people espousing the benefits of distributed startups teams are often distributed and therefore self rationalizing it. Been there.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

One of the biggest complaints you hear from both entrepreneurs and investors in Los Angeles, is the lack of a credible, visible startup accelerator in the Los Angeles area. We caught up with Erik to hear more about MuckerLab, and its efforts to grow the Los Angeles technology ecosystem. Erik, thanks for the time.

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

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. Most people totally advise against stealth. “ We need to learn from doing, by trial-and-error. Be careful about this advice.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

Something is rotten in tech startup land. It’s not that I’m anti innovation or a disbeliever in disruption or calling it a full-scale bubble or saying every darling startup is going to fail. The uninvited crowds have all turned up. He turned up for the fun but went too hard, too early. None of those.

Technical Advisors 150

Technical Advisors Startup Writing Blogging 150

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 28, 2012

For those who haven’t heard of what Startup Weekend is all about, it’s building a company on STEROIDS! Friday Night, people started trickling in at Coloft at 6pm. People were so excited for the weekend, many of who have participated in Startup Weekend before and a few like me, who were there for the first time.

Startup 99

Startup Technical Advisors Ideas USC 99

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2018

I’m not saying success is rare, but the list of famous entrepreneurs who started their career in a big company is small. I made the jump myself from IBM several years ago, and now have a satisfying startup advising small businesses and mentoring entrepreneurs. Already have dependents and employees who look up to you.

Startup 52

Startup Technical Advisors Entrepreneur IBM 52

socalTECH

AUGUST 28, 2017

PartySlate (www.partyslate.com)--which is backed by a slate of LA area investors--offers up a place to browse photos on events, find venues, and most importantly, planners who put those events on, so your next big event can be an unforgettable one. That's how I came up with the idea. I said, that's what we need for the event industry.

Technical Advisors 100

Technical Advisors Technical Review Metrics Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Register Internet and social media startup names.

Platform 94

Platform Equity Invest Technical Advisors 94

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. at a startup that has already raised $5 million the chances of you making your retirement money on that company is EXTREMELY small. I often have career discussions with entrepreneurs – both young and more mature – whether they should join company “X&# or not. That’s Ok.

Startup 418

Startup Technical Advisors Venture Capital Santa Monica 418

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Let me start with a story. We ended up agreeing a term sheet for $16.5 We had people hearing through the grapevine that we were about to raise money and new investors started calling us to get in on the deal. Guys, I accept that we could probably shop this around but we could also end up with nothing. I was resolute.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2011

He could not be persuaded to commit the funds required for localization. Our own subsidiary, of a major technology company, started to repair and service competitive products in order to maintain our own technical staff and service capabilities. Thus, we did not translate the product and sales remained at an insignificant level.

Startup 90

Startup Technical Advisors Sales Examples 90

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Most of the entrepreneurs I advise today are ready to declare success when they get that first surge of traction with a real customer. You need to find investors for funding, vendors for volume manufacturing, processes for repeatable execution, as well as marketing and distribution to attract customers far beyond your pilot rollout.

Technical Advisors 83

Technical Advisors Tool Software Product 83

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Of course you could start your own company. As I talked about in “ Is it Time to Learn or Time to Earn ” – overwhelmingly the best economics go to those that start successful companies. But not everybody has the right skills to build a highly successful and valuable startup from scratch.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. I spent nearly a decade building software for large companies and then advising companies on the same. So I was surprised at the sheer volumes of decisions that had to be made when I became a startup CEO. I didn’t have to make many serious decisions. This was such a guy.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Tech.Co

MAY 22, 2018

Truth be told, your only path to some serious funding is perseverance and diligence in getting meetings and being prepared. I’ve had many startup founders tell me that their startup literally has no competition,” said Frank Gruber, Cofounder of Tech.Co, Startup of the Year , and Established. “In Prepare for Q&A.

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I would argue that this mostly consists of consumer Internet companies (although not exclusively) and it is predominantly early-stage people who are product gurus and have a mildly technical bend to them. I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

I’ve worked with 30+ early-stage companies in all sorts of capacities (and spoken to many, many more), so I thought it might be worthwhile trying to classify the various ways that I’ve engaged in different technology roles in startups. Later he posted about his experience in Challenges of Startups.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Technical Advisors CTO Coach Startup 170

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► August (1) Stay Positive ► July (2) Go Fast, but Don’t Hurry The DNA of an A++ Team ► June (1) Setting up Shop - Picking an Office Space ► May (3) Startup 6.0 - the Rubicon Project: Internet Advert. ► May (5) the Rubicon Project The Journey Startup 6.0: Visit StrongMail Website Startup 4.0:

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

► August (1) Stay Positive ► July (2) Go Fast, but Don’t Hurry The DNA of an A++ Team ► June (1) Setting up Shop - Picking an Office Space ► May (3) Startup 6.0 - the Rubicon Project: Internet Advert. No, it’ Startup 2.0: Startup 1.0: “The Bug Bite&# - The Internet Needs.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40