TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s noteworthy news pertaining to startups and venture capital. Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit. Last week, I profiled an e-commerce startup Part & Parcel. Startup Spotlight: Landline. IPO Update.

Services 207

Services Startup Venture Capital Redpoint 207

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. We then spoke about startups.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2021

Unfortunately, these goals are often mutually exclusive, and focusing on the wrong ones won’t bring you that business success and satisfaction you crave. Timing is critical for every startup. Of course, if you wait for the perfect time, you may never start. Should I start out alone, or assemble a team first?

Startup 159

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Equity 159

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2014

I’ve always wondered who started the urban myth that the best way to start a company is to come up with a great idea, and then find some professional investors to give you a pot of money to build a company. Don’t give up a chunk of your company and control before you start.

Startup 110

Startup Entrepreneur Satisfaction Legalzoom 110

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2019

While starting a new business always involves tackling many new challenges, I’ve personally found myself reluctant to ask for help. Thus, in my consulting with entrepreneurs, I always encourage them to get more comfortable asking for help. Of course, there are good ways and bad ways to ask for help.

Help 123

Help Entrepreneur Course IBM 123

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

As an advisor to many startups today, I still see that most of you entrepreneurs see yourselves as the sole driver of your new solution, and the key driver of your new business. Today, modern teams are engaged by a higher purpose , such as improving the environment or helping the underprivileged, more than just money and profit.

Startup 147

Startup Customer Custom Ideas 147

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. The world has changed much since I started my first company in 1999. Tim started to change our processes. Tim encouraged us to set up a blog and start talking openly about what we were doing as a company and inviting comments. Back then it seemed foreign.

Organization 280

Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Yet as I mentor entrepreneurs around the country, crowdfunding still seems to be one of the least understood approaches to startup funding, with more myths than accredited angels and professional venture capital investors combined. The crowd gets the satisfaction of helping, with minimal risk, and no expectation of any high return.

Funding 141

Funding Startup Outsource Development Satisfaction 141

InfoChachkie

JULY 4, 2011

He is so confident in his green eggs and ham product that he cannot help but smile. Right from the start, Sam must endure the most painful of all forms of sales rejection, the personal attack. However, typical of an Optimistically Pessimistic entrepreneur, Sam never loses hope, and does gives up. However, Sam remains undeterred.

Sales 219

Sales Entrepreneur Startup Product 219

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2013

I’ve always wondered who started the urban myth that the best way to start a company is to come up with a great idea, and then find some professional investors to give you a pot of money to build a company. Don’t give up a chunk of your company and control before you start.

Startup 105

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Legalzoom 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2020

If you are seriously looking to start the next billion-dollar startup, you need to get beyond the realm of enhancing a current solution. Rather than starting from a mindset of pushing the limits of technology, be determined to first find a customer need that can only be solved by the technology you know.

Startup 134

Startup Artificial Inteligence Ideas Entrepreneur 134

TechCrunch LA

JULY 15, 2021

Startups attempting to help address the shortage in a variety of ways abound. One such startup, Abodu , has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners. It also claims to offer a cheaper and faster process than if one were to build an ADU from start to finish. housing market persists.

Los Angeles 322

Los Angeles Customer Custom Startup 322

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

One of the most stressful and unanticipated challenges that comes with starting a new business is hiring and managing employees. While this approach appears to cost more on the surface, it often actually costs you less, when you consider the hidden costs of rework, poor customer satisfaction, employee management, and training required.

Outsource 123

Outsource Startup Technical Review Training 123

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Everyone knows that startups are risky, but they also expect that the job will be exciting and potentially very lucrative (think early employees at Facebook and Google). The truly indispensable person in a startup is a problem solver, because every startup has plenty of problems. Educate yourself one notch up.

Startup 125

Startup Journal Outsource Tips 125

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2020

Entrepreneurs need to be effective team leaders, since no one can transform an idea into a product and a business without some help. Otherwise, in my experience, the startup will fail. If you are not, your team will see right through it and you will be worse off than if you stayed locked up in your office.

Technical Review 130

Technical Review Startup Development Team Review Activity 130

socalTECH

MAY 1, 2014

The startup--led by Bernard Louvat--said the new product helps reduce call volume and increase customer satisfaction, by leading customers off traditional call center calls via online, self-service options.

Agoura Hills 147

Agoura Hills Agoura Satisfaction Customer 147

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2022

Like any coach would ask, you need to brainstorm and write down the short list of things that are getting in the way of your joy and satisfaction at work, as well as the single biggest thing that would grow your joy in business and personal life. Open up to growth and refuse to prejudge yourself. Change your “nots” to “not yets.”

Coach 105

Coach Help Satisfaction Metrics 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2020

Most of you will start your business with plenty of passion and purpose, but all too often I see both disappearing after months of facing unanticipated setbacks and challenges. They feel the same passion that you and your team need to be reminded of on a regular basis to keep up the necessary level of energy, positivity, and commitment.

Startup 127

Startup Coach Satisfaction Training 127

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2021

At some stage of your education, you realize that you can learn faster, and get more satisfaction, in the real world than in a academic environment. Thus you drop out of school to start the business of your dreams, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Advanced degrees won’t help you run your startup.

Entrepreneur 171

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Demand Customer 171

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

Created by consultants to generate additional fees, such scores attempt to rate a company’s overall customer satisfaction. The higher your company’s NPS, allegedly the higher your customer satisfaction. BDCs can afford to fixate on such esoteric measures, while startups must generate tangible financial results.

.Net 168

.Net Satisfaction Customer Custom 168

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Social media is so pervasive in today’s world that every entrepreneur believes instinctively that they know how to use it for their startup. Many soon find that what you do in a personal context doesn’t necessarily translate to your business, and measuring business value is quite different from measuring personal satisfaction.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Startup Tips 108

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

Out of curiosity, I often ask aspiring entrepreneurs like you, who come to me for help, what drives them to take on the workload and risk of a new startup. In my experience, entrepreneurs with an overwhelming desire to save the environment, or feed the hungry, have a huge head start in building a business.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Startup Technical Review 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2020

After you have heard a few startup success stories, like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, you may be tempted to invest some money yourself, maybe by pooling your funds with other investors who claim to have a great track record. My advice is to leave the investing in startups to the professionals (or friends and fools). By commission?

Tips 141

Tips Invest Offshore Startup 141

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

One of the myths I often hear as an advisor to many entrepreneurs is that their lifestyle would somehow be better if they could more easily find other people’s money to build their startup. Usually it pays to move a startup slower rather than risk relationships. Many times friends and family have been broken by failed investments.

Startup 124

Startup Satisfaction Venture Capital Entrepreneur 124

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

Due to the pervasive Internet, the scope of most successful startup teams today has become global. According to recent reports , these come from all the way up and down the age and experience spectrum, including up to ninety percent of the current Baby Boomers, as well as Millennials. Higher worker engagement and satisfaction.

Competition 168

Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 30, 2021

Based on my own long experience in business, team satisfaction, engagement, and productivity continues to be a challenge. Help people uncover and apply their strengths. Most people don’t recognize their own strengths, and need your help, as well as strength assessment tools, to capitalize on them.

Satisfaction 168

Satisfaction Coach Resource Tool 168

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Even entrepreneurs who have built many startups, or sold their last one for millions of dollars, know they make occasional people leadership mistakes. These can trip up even the best, often at the cost of more than a good night’s sleep. Engagement drives performance and satisfaction. What causes a star to fade? Marty Zwilling.

Startup 106

Startup Case Study Entrepreneur Competition 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2015

By definition, every startup is predictably unpredictable, since new solutions have no proven track record, startups are usually building a new market, and the world around them is changing faster than ever. The market changes faster than your startup. The money runs out before revenues start.

Startup 105

Startup Entrepreneur Marketing Satisfaction 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2022

In my consulting work with small businesses and startups, I find that real teamwork is still a rare commodity. Fortunately, it’s a skill you can start to develop at any stage in your career, which will pay off now, as well as in future leadership roles. Help other team members reach their personal goals.

Startup 119

Startup Technical Review Activity Social Media 119

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2020

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is. Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics.

Entrepreneur 137

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Education 137

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2019

Many experts have tried to clearly lay out the criteria for survival in a way that allows you to judge your own situation and your own temperament, and make a rational decision before starting down this path. In other words, make sure your solution will scale up. In a startup, the entrepreneur leader has to do two things.

Satisfaction 78

Satisfaction Startup Ideas Entrepreneur 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2021

As I work with aspiring you new venture leaders, I always wish I had a definitive checklist of all the right attributes that I could share with you, encourage you to develop and highlight in your efforts with potential investors, and guide your own actions in starting the next billion dollar company.

Funding 152

Funding Startup Ideas Resource 152

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Each of these will help you in achieving success and satisfaction while tackling your toughest business issues: Stop attacking symptoms – dig first for the root cause. A broken process or a subtle quality issue can generate a flood of customer satisfaction problems, cost overruns, and loss of market share.

Satisfaction 152

Satisfaction Mentor Study Startup 152

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2019

Don’t you wish you were better at saying “no” to all those extraneous requests for a bit of help at work? For example, as a software executive, I once had a talented engineer working for me who was always helping others, to the extent that he consistently missed his own project deadlines, and was ruining his health through lack of sleep.

Help 94

Help Software Review Startup Examples 94

InfoChachkie

APRIL 21, 2014

It wasn''t until I turned 50 that I fully adopted basketball legend John Wooden''s definition of victory: "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.". I travelled up the Killer Curve by incrementally celebrating extremely small successes.

Activity 275

Activity Santa Barbara Startup Tips 275

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2020

Based on my own experiences in startups, and many years of advising new business owners, I’m convinced that there are a few common frustrations that we all need to anticipate and prepare for, rather than let them be a surprise and a painful dent in your enthusiasm and personal satisfaction from living your dream.

Entrepreneur 122

Entrepreneur Startup Course Examples 122

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2013

No matter how smart or experienced this person may otherwise be, things must change or they will kill your startup. Make a concerted effort to wake yourself up to the positives, and re-engage in processes that once excited you. Start a log on your efforts and progress. Therefore, it’s up to you to fix it. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 101

Startup Mentor Satisfaction Writing 101