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. That’s why investors say they invest in people (bet on the jockey, not the horse), rather than the idea. The sales professional.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

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. There are dozens of tools available to help you monitor relevant activity, including Social Mention and Google Alerts.

Product 127

Product Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Technical Review 127

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

If you're familiar with YCombinator or TechStars, you know that companies also get access to a deep network of top tier mentors and advisors, who help them with a variety of things, such as product marketing, go-to-market, and funding. How much are you investing in the companies who are part of the program?

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

Tech.Co

MAY 22, 2018

To help you crush your next investor meeting, we asked top VCs and tech leaders to share their best pitch advice. Try to compile all the different types of questions you could be asked about your business, like technical details, financial assumptions and projections, marketing, IP, etc., Take a look at what they had to say!

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

socalTECH

AUGUST 28, 2017

We're focused on larger scale events, not do-it-yourself type events, and we're really for people planning large scale events, looking for ideas, and who are looking for a professional to help them. I feel strongly, that if you're going to do this, you need to be technical, or have a technical co-founder.

Technical Advisors 100

Technical Advisors Technical Review Metrics Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

Steve Jobs started his technical career creating circuit boards at Atari, before joining Steve Wozniak to build personal computers in his garage. Be willing to invest in effort, before expecting results. Every business owner understands the need for making an investment first, before realizing any return or instant gratification.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

But as I rose in my career (and post MBA) I moved into a role in which I was to advise board-level executives on topics where I was expected to rapidly become an expert. Some areas were easy because they were technical and the answer was knowable or estimate-able. Every situation is different. I don’t know.

Entrepreneur 337

Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Startup Venture Capital 337

Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 28, 2017

Composed of a three-month boot camp , the program aims to help startups build their brand while figuring out the nitty gritty of finance, manufacture, distribution and sales. Or at least to encourage their clients to do so, via their three-month program complete with a shot at paid piloting and investment. The goal: Dairy innovation.

Incubator 70

Incubator Santa Clarita Technical Advisors FAQ 70

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework. The first thing to remember is that banks only do loans – they don’t do equity investments like angels and venture capitalists (and vice versa). If you don''t have a team on staff, then a banker is going to want to hear about outsourcing and advisors.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Entrepreneur Equity Ideas 75

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Despite this technical glitch, I opted to publish our discussion, given the high-quality content of his comments. He was the CMO at Charles Schwab during the emergence of the online brokerage revolution, helping to guide the company’s transition from a high-touch retail broker to a no-touch self-serve trading platform.

Google 220

Google Technical Advisors Technical Review Equity 220

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework. The first thing to remember is that banks only do loans – they don’t do equity investments like angels and venture capitalists (and vice versa). If you don't have a team on staff, then a banker is going to want to hear about outsourcing and advisors.

Technical Advisors 80

Technical Advisors Startup Equity Ideas 80

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I spent nearly a decade building software for large companies and then advising companies on the same. Maybe it helps that I love controversy and pushing the boundaries so people felt it was OK for them to do it as well. but there are some people you just take an (extra) liking to and want to help. This was such a guy.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Jason Nazar

APRIL 7, 2011

Who Are You: You corner us at mixers and tell stories about all the great things you do and how wonderful you are, without having any idea if we need your help. You take no interest nor show any curiosity in how technical systems are built or maintained, and Engineering is the least valued/respected part of your organization.

Technical Advisors 112

Technical Advisors Startup Social Media Ideas 112

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2010

More importantly, as a parent or mentor, what should you advise young potential entrepreneurs about getting an MBA? Schwab pioneered first the discount brokerage industry and then online investing, capitalizing on the Internet to build the leading online trading company. He even had to overcome dyslexia as a student.

Entrepreneur 60

Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Education Social Network 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” ” My friend Ian Sigelow wrote about this last week and advised people not to take on this kind of job. At Upfront we invested in such a company.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Working with startup lawyers also minimizes the risk of losing control of your adVenture, as they can help you avoid common fundraising and investor pitfalls. In addition, such an arrangement will further cement your lawyer’s incentive to help you succeed. This will allow you to defer a portion of your of up-front legal costs.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

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. Use something like, “I noticed you invested in a couple of companies in the x,y,z space. I funded them 8 weeks later.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 21, 2014

Hackers for Charity is a non-profit organization that leverages the skills of technologists to help provide food, equipment, job training and computer education to the impoverished in Uganda. There are the good guys out there who help you too. Still, this is really more of a mischievous prank than anything truly malevolent.

Technical Advisors 107

Technical Advisors Press Examples Training 107

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Each company is investing untold billions of dollars in developing AI technologies, betting on a future defined by computer systems that can perceive, reason, advise, and decide. The Partnership on AI , formally unveiled Wednesday, includes Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, Google and its 2014 acquisition DeepMind.

Artificial Inteligence 40

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Technical Advisors Research 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

This helps you get your deal done in the first place and it helps you get better terms. If it’s a biz deal you might care about IP protection, revenue share, investment commitments to joint marketing – whatever. Push hard to set up the technical reviews, the due diligence meetings, the reference calls – whatever.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

► August (1) Invest in Transparency & Active Communication ► July (1) The Fear of Success ► May (2) Optimized for Speed = 30% Waste Happy 1st Birthday Rubicon Project! That either shows extreme passion for the potential of the company or poor investment advice – I like to believe it is the former.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40