SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

What are the biggest areas of technical risk? What technology research is required? What technologies will we use? What do we need to do to make sure we can survive technical due diligence by investors and partners? What specific technical innovations might make sense? How can we address this risk?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

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. A firm like ours has almost 100 different investments across all the various partners so we get to see some businesses very intimately. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

When should a VC invest? It’s the only way forward in capitalism, and it’s worth every investment you can make. The late-stage investment firm has been a slow-burning mess for the past several months, angering current and former employees, limited partners, and, crucially, [Peter] Thiel himself, sources say. All appears well.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

socalTECH

AUGUST 28, 2017

Unlike Yelp and listings sites that are focused on user-generated reviews or things like that, we're really a portfolio sharing site, and a tool of professionals. He and I connected, and walked through PartySlate and what we were doing, and he immediately said he wanted to invest and become an advisor to the company.

Technical Advisors 100

Technical Advisors Technical Review Metrics Startup 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. MakeSpace (as he named it) would help you get your excess goods into low-cost warehouses.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2023

Most business metrics I see compare current performance to your own previous experience, rather than your performance compared to industry standards and competitors. You may be continually improving, yet falling behind due to higher rates of growth by new competitors. A leader that does not invest in the future has no future.

Metrics 71

Metrics Training Netflix Resource 71

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2020

For example, if your idea is so new and different that it implies real social or technological change is necessary before widespread acceptance, investors will define your market as nascent or unproven, and be very reluctant to fund you, no matter how convincing your projections may be.

Marketing 174

Marketing Startup Artificial Inteligence Technical Review 174

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2022

In my experience, developers can be so committed to a technology, such as hydrogen engines for cars, such that they may be unwilling to change as the business pivots for market reasons. Setting your own metrics, and measuring yourself , will facilitate accountability. Generously give credit to others where credit is due.

Activity 109

Activity Organization Mentor Training 109

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

The best entrepreneurs know what they don’t know, aren’t afraid to ask for business help, and always offer something in return. Sets goals and milestones, with metrics to track progress. They define metrics for each goal, and diligently track themselves against these metrics.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Metrics Ideas 106

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

To prove that point, tonight I had the privilege of hearing him speak at Lean LA , a Los Angeles group that helps high tech start-ups build great companies on a budget. He told us how important it is to empower our team to make decisions that will help achieve company goals. Noah has what I believe he called “Thank You metrics”.

Metrics 87

Metrics Email Startup Technical Review 87

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2016

Investors have also learned not to invest in ideas but only in entrepreneurs and teams who can deliver solutions. As a result, Google has become a verb, and the company is a tech giant with record growth rates and a revenue of $74.5 Set business goals and milestones, and use metrics to track performance. billion in 2015.

Ideas 59

Ideas Technical Review Google Startup 59

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2019

More and more customers these days are doing their own marketing research, scanning internet reviews and feedback from friends, rather than trusting messages that you push out through advertising. Today people want to see customer needs highlighted, mobile friendly, recommendations from prior customers, and interactive help channels.

Marketing 94

Marketing Social Media Technical Review Customer 94

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

The number is much higher for those who choose to go it alone, without help. Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. Some dreams sound great, but may not yet be viable or proven with today’s technology.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 13, 2013

Matt Lucido wanted to help with everyone’s daily life by creating a service app called Porter. The nuts and bolts of our tech company is that CMS in the middle, the connection engine. When I went full-time, I did not have the full-time support on the tech side I wanted. So, I have no tech support right now.

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Mobile Startup Los Angeles 87

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

As part of the deal, not only do they invest in a company, but they help companies tap into their massive network. The thing that really specifically helped us with this funding round, was the customer traction we have been able to show. What were the proof points that helped you ink this Series C?

Startup 113

Startup Funding Technical Review Software Review 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can’t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2017

Normally the goal is to make enough money to be sustainable and provide a return on the investment of constituents. A written plan is helpful for communication to others Assemble a team with the right skills and experience. In today’s world, the market evolves even faster than the technology.

Ideas 72

Ideas Startup Metrics Entrepreneur 72

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Put simply – you need enough users in a segment who care about what you’re doing to dictate investing further in the product or in sales & marketing resources. And finally there is the most modern spin on these concepts by two individuals who have built tech startups and have done an excellent job at describing the process.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

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. Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. If you don’t, somebody else WILL!”

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I acknowledged this in the article.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2019

The most successful companies today build a strategy to proactively anticipate the needs of their customers, as a group and individually, and totally delight them with all aspects of the shopping experience, value, delivery, and help with any follow-on questions or problems. Highlight your competitive value, not your technology.

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Customer Custom Competition 87

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

According to a recent Harvard Business Review article , only 60% of companies today use social media for marketing, and only 12% of those feel that they are using it effectively. There is TweetDeck to help you use Twitter, and YouTube for video sharing. Define relevant metrics and measure. What’s the problem?

Social Media 115

Social Media Media Startup Social Network 115

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

CircleUp is an online social marketplace that supports direct equity investments from individual investors to small private consumer and retail companies. We are in a different age now where technology is so important and I wanted to be connected with people along the way.” image EPA/Andrew Gombert. “We Word of mouth travels far.

Startup 104

Startup Technical Review Search Engine Optimization Los Angeles 104

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. Between this blog and reviewing applications to Capital Factory I see hundreds of pitches a year. Metrics availability. Not that I blame you! Silly, right?

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

Either you’re not a good leader and he shouldn’t be investing at all, or he has no clue what it takes to build a startup.&#. There are people like Gus Tai who any entrepreneur who’s worked with him well tell you is that he has helped coach them into building a great business. I guarantee this is a bad VC.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 297

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

to help bloggers and blog readers with comments. Ive not found that much use for LinkedIn to help my blogging, but Im starting to think about this. Maybe this meme will help. We have been using LinkedIn for both sourcing recruits and reviewing backgrounds for recruits. Im not sure which of these make sense in what case.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

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. Yet I can’t help thinking there are many predictable failures that come from a lack of basic planning.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Matthew Graczyk is founder of angel-backed Zubican (www.zubican.com)--saw a problem, which was the difficulty of finding suppliers for products for businesses--and decided to solve the problem, with a site specifically targeted at helping B2B buyers and sellers connect. He's now at Gogii, which has received investment from Kleiner.

SEO 100

SEO Advertising Gogii Tech Coast Angels 100