Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Every school recognizes the power of “hands-on” work to help you develop your own ideas into a business. They provide peer group organizations, usually called incubators, with free resources, practice environments, and outside mentoring that can help you learn and pivot with minimal cost. Learning by doing is the only way to go.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

As an entrepreneur and startup investor, I have helped create companies which achieved two IPOs which collectively raised over $100 million, as well as two acquisitions which totaled $385 million. However, it is my hope that this article will help you avoid learning the following lessons the hard way. 8 ) Grant Exclusivity.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

I must admit I discuss this very frequently with portfolio companies but hadn’t thought to write about it. Why Exclusivity Matters to Your Customers or Business Development Partners. So often exclusivity on mega deals is of huge importance to your potential customers or business development partners.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Custom Customer 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

But while universities are developing online content they are not fundamentally disrupting leaning because the method of delivery is not a new business model. In many ways I think general purpose writing & thinking skills are as valuable as math skills. “Online education is truly going to kill us.”

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Jason Nazar

JUNE 22, 2010

I often get asked for advice on Business Development. Seeing how you might work together is infinitely more impactful that trying to describe in text, even if you did write the best 6 th grade book reports. This post is geared toward folks looking to do BD deals in the online world. 10 Tips for Better BD. Now the real work begins.

Outsource Development 88

Outsource Development Develop Development Tips 88

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Develop your business plan. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important. Manage human resources. Don’t try this without a formal process.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

It’s like the entire industry wants to outsource its brain to the smartest person they know and then follow that person. What he said has always stuck with me and while it never helped me at the club it has always helped me in business. Wait, make that $1 million. And please reserve another $1 million for me?—?I What gives?

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

Tech companies have spent the past decade or more developing innovations that can be applied to old-world industries like agriculture, construction, energy, education, manufacturing and transportation and logistics. A Biden presidency doesn’t need a Green New Deal to make progress on climate change. ” Climate resiliency .

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Develop your business plan. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Manage human resources.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

They had a prominent NorCal investor already so I thought a SoCal lead would make sense – that I could help them in a more hands-on way. Write things down. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. We helped the write out their requirements for a system.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

They had a prominent NorCal investor already so I thought a SoCal lead would make sense – that I could help them in a more hands-on way. Write things down. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. We helped the write out their requirements for a system.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Develop your business plan. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important. Manage human resources. Don’t try this without a formal process.

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

To be clear, I define a product specification as the technical definition of your product, to be used for development and testing purposes, with a quick business summary for context. Scale your funding requests to the value of your startup today, consisting of assets, contracts, and intellectual property you currently own.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. In addition to helping manage the board Chris also helps represent the interests of the angel investors / common stock holders.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Develop your business plan. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Manage human resources.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Rejecting the paint-by-numbers approach to corporate communications deployed by most marketing executives, Brad has embraced unconventional guerilla marketing tactics to help establish his venture capital firm, Foundry Group, as a thought leader in early-stage tech investing. Write Your Own Playbook. We have never done a press release.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2015

Many of you will know that Twitter unexpectedly cancelled it’s contract to allow DataSift to resell Twitter data to 3rd parties. Never mind that Twitter in writing specifically asked us to build this re-syndication product with them and that every step of the way encouraged us to build out the service. Just how much? Ninety five.

Platform 150

Platform Course Custom Customer 150

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 3, 2015

I often write about the best strategies for startup fundraising or how to manage startup financing and optimize for growth. To make sure your IP is protected — As I’ve written before, failing to develop an IP strategy, including a plan for protecting your IP as well as avoiding unwitting infringements of someone else’s, is a huge mistake.

Startup 40

Startup Outsource Development IP Outsource 40

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

Would you want to run the risk that your former employer could have a claim against the intellectual property you’ve created because you broke company policies and developed your ideas on company resources? I’m reluctant to put it into writing because people get so passionate about this issue and many disagree.

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

If I were writing about the most important attributes of a VC (hmmm) one of the things that would make my list is “ability to spot patterns.&# I see the same things over-and-over again and being able to spot things and compartmentalize them is important – it helps with short-handing analysis and learning.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Custom 306

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. They were looking for a collaboration tool to manage all of their large water development projects. The initial contract was worth about $500,000 and the whole value of the contract would have been worth a couple of million over the years.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

to “where can I get help writing one?” Don’t outsource the job. While it may be tempting, with everything that you have to do, to try to find someone else to write your executive summary, you really need to do this yourself. Here’s what not to do when crafting your executive summary.

Summary 40

Summary Outsource Development Writing Outsource 40

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 15, 2014

Wi-Fi hotspots aren’t new by any means (duh) but this was the first time I’d heard of Karma and their always maintaining open wifi networks, no contracts, and pay it forward mantra which rewards both hub owners and would be wifi users with free data incentives. ” Everyone asked in unison. ” Spreading the Word.

Outsource Development 108

Outsource Development Startup Incubator Press 108

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

This ended up developing into Visual Basic for Applications , the strategy for programmability in Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office ended up beating its competitors because it was able to read and write to file formats other than its own. It helps with sales cycles because customers know that they can switch away if they so choose.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software Blogging Startup 285

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

Content delivery networks are there to help improve the performance, and serve up that content more intelligently to devices, to thd network, and to users, as they consume the Internet. The other thing that helps diffentiate us, is we help our customers with costs, save them money, and allow them to get to market faster, with scale.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

socalTECH

JULY 22, 2016

For our interview today, we have an interview with Gabe Grifoni , CEO and founder of Rufus Labs (www.getrufus.com), which has has developed an Android-based, wearable device which is aimed at use in the enterprise, warehouses, and factories. Gabe Grifoni: I had actually transitioned to the writing side, and focusing on tech.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Startup Software Review CTO Hire 100

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. First Principles. Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. -

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2012

When I started my first tech company in 1999 I had pretty good tech chops and had led teams but had very little exposure to many other things that matter in a startup including sales, marketing & business development. Persuading a journalist to write about you rather than the 1,000 other companies bugging them. I talked too much.

Startup 322

Startup Training Outsource Development Design 322

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2013

Assignmint is a web-based platform to list freelancing work for employers and help writers find the right freelance job for them and standardizes the paperwork between the two parties. On the flip-side, Assignmint is a tool for editors, which we are in the process of developing right now. I believe we can help do that.

Journal 90

Journal Startup Writing Media 90

TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 14, 2017

If you write a lot of Java code, then you should read that book and follow its advice. If you've ever used primitive collection libraries like fastutil or Trove , then it may help to think of Enum{Set,Map} like those primitive collections. Write a benchmark afterwards to confirm your assumptions. forEachRemaining(.).

Java 330

Java Class Ideas Writing 330

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 2, 2010

As a VC I’m acutely that a “yes&# decision to support an entrepreneur can do just that, yet I only write 2-4 of them per year and maybe another 3-4 as an angel. Being helpful doesn’t mean telling every person their ideas are great. I’m sure somebody helped you along the way – you can pay it forward.

Startup 352

Startup Help Blogging Entrepreneur 352

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

Clearly a startup should consult its lawyer before filing or not filing.But the attorneys I relied on to write this piece told me that they’ve done lots of Section 4(2) deals in the past, and would recommend it to clients who had relatively simple financing agreements (not tranched-out, not too many investors, etc.) Rumored to be appox.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Now, he ‘outsources’ his investments through John Frankel of Frankel Asset Management. I appreciate the write-up and your continued support of this blog. After AltaVista, Mike spent a year doing business development for USA Networks ( now IAC – Interactive Corp ). Thank you, John.

Google 302

Google Startup Advertising Acquisition 302

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

Today I’m announcing that GRP Partners is doubling down on the Twitter ecosystem by investing in DataSift , a company who provides a real-time data platform and tools to third-party developers and corporations. You’re simply an @message away from my reaching out and asking for your help in putting pressure on our local congressman.

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

He writes with a great perspective and is well worth reading. I programed macros to help my mom with her Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets for work. I helped program my college’s recruiting office’s software system. My first job after college was as a developer at Andersen Consulting. I installed Windows 3.1

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

InfoChachkie

JULY 30, 2012

I always enjoy a great guerilla marketing story, such as TestFlight’s use of T-shirts and Tacos to gain Steve Jobs’ attention at Apple’s 2011 developers’ conference. Her company has since signed a contract with Central Desktop. This article originally appeared on Forbes HERE. However, do not confuse frugal with cut rate.

Marketing 209

Marketing Conference RSS Angel 209

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. there is a nascent industry to try and help you with this, too. Don’t get my wrong – a great looking product can really help support a sale. We have 12 developers and they have 3.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Custom 316