Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

There were startups and a software industry but barely. SEEING THINGS FROM THE VC SIDE OF THE TABLE While I was a VC in 2007 & 2008 those were dead years because the market again evaporated due the the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Starting in 2009 I began writing checks consistently, year-in and year-out. It was 1991.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

The end of the product lifecycle is where Murthy and Kaplan feel Ghost has “an enormous opportunity to help people be more efficient in that process,” Murthy added. Ghost is not alone in developing technology focused on inventory. to develop some sweet inventory-planning software. Last week, Syrup Tech raised $6.3

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term.

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

For example, I come from a software background, and back in the early PC days, it could easily cost half a million dollars for a team of professionals to produce a commercial product. Now, with powerful high-level tools and open source software, winning smartphone apps can be built by a good hacker for a few thousand dollars.

Startup 105

Startup Software Review Technical Review Social Media 105

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term.

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

These are industries where structural impediments to technology adoption have only recently been broken down by the advent of incredibly powerful mobile devices. As Fifth Wall’s newest partner Greg Smithies noted last year, there’s a massive opportunity in building retrofits and startup technologies to improve efficiency.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

He eventually founded and sold consumer health firm ViSalus to a public company and is now back making investments, in technology companies, as a venture capitalist here at Los Angeles-based HashtagOne (www.hashtagone.com). As a result, I really saw Visalus as a technology company. I know all of that.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2014

If you have a software development background like mine, Im sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. If your software or your manufacturing process is your secret sauce, you need to keep the work in-house. The same applies to manufacturing and almost any process these days.

Outsource Development 95

Outsource Development Outsource Offshore Software Review 95

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. Are we right in all of our assumptions and diligence? “A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

socalTECH

JULY 22, 2016

Rufus Labs is one of a number of hardware startups which have started to proliferate in the community, due to low cost hardware, 3D printing, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Gabe Grifoni: At Rufus Labs, we are focused heavily on building wearables and technology in a wearable platform for the enterprise.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Startup Software Review CTO Hire 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2016

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. If your software or your manufacturing process is your “secret sauce,” you need to keep the work in-house. The same applies to manufacturing and almost any process these days.

Outsource Development 53

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 53

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

I plan to write a whole separate blog post about this quote because it’s always stuck with me. An external consultant helping the procurement team overturned the decision and got the company to select a small software company owned by the consultancy. Tags: Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. I had worked as a tutor for Princeton Review, and Jake for Kaplan. We thought, we could put out a better product than Kaplan or Princeton Review, which would be more compelling, and also would tie in a strong social mission.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

InfoChachkie

JUNE 11, 2012

As Clay Christensen aptly points out in The Innovator’s Dilemma, a large company’s defense of its legacy clouds its ability to appropriately assess the potential impact of disruptive technologies. Bill Gates – “The best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Education Entrepreneur 279

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. China is indelibly an important part of the future of the global technology system. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Be gracious.

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. China is indelibly an important part of the future of the global technology system. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Be gracious.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

We typically do not ask entrepreneurs to visit our offices in Santa Barbara, but Jeff wanted to meet with Kevin, an investor in our Fund who helped us vet opportunities and occasionally invested alongside of us. Tech Diligence - Consider The Source. Also, I'm curious if you could help us out a little. billion).

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. I commented briefly on his blog and made a mental note to write a blog post. At the time he granted me permission to write about his story. We then moved our Chief Software Architect over.

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Startup High Tech Software Review 282

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2010

I was an early user of Quora and like all new technologies they take a bit of playing with them for a while, discussing them with others and reflecting on them to let them sink in. Fred talks about it here – he beat me to the punch because I always wanted to write about how awesome this is. really understand it.

Blogging 301

Blogging SEO Startup Writing 301

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. Brad on blogging.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

Yet, it does nothing to help you execute your business model. One is obvious, without protection, such IP might prove to be of little worth, as other companies can mimic the technology without recourse. It is often a feature or set of features which enhances the overall efficacy and value of a more comprehensive technology.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2012

Tech Reporters: These individuals will write and edit informative and practical articles on a range of topics including Startups/Entrepreneurs, Gadgets, Mobile Tech, Tech in Entertainment, Gaming, Apps & Software, productivity, and cover breaking tech news. Think you may be interested? Take a look below and give us a shout.

Technical Review 71

Technical Review Software Review Writing News 71

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2010

Bill Gates once famously said that people tend to overestimate the impact of technology in the 1-year timeframe and underestimate its impact in the 10-year timeframe. But when I read thoughtful pieces on the future of technology I start to imagine where our lives will be in 10 years. My favorite new software tool is DailyBurn.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

socalTECH

APRIL 29, 2014

We were looking at it, and saw that if we could take all these off-the-shelf sensors, and put it all together, and write some code, and make a user interface, it''s basically done. They wanted to do 3-D X-rays, but at the time, there was not technology available to do that. As software interface guys we think that''s our lead.

Startup 262

Startup Competition Software Review UCLA 262

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Richard Wolpert is a well known investor in the Los Angeles technology community, through his own fund, Chance Technologies; as a Venture Partner at Amplify.LA I have sold companies of my own, companies I have invested in, and helped companies I've run or invested in with corporate development partnerships to help their business.

Startup 147

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Software Review 147

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. It became a huge kerfuffle with many VC partners writing to thank me for the post, which exposed those that gave their industry a bad name. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

socalTECH

OCTOBER 28, 2010

How do you take a business you started as your own personal web site, and turn it into an online powerhouse, completely bootstrapped, from the little town of Ojai, California--not exactly known as a technology town? Lynda Weinman: With the downturn due to the dot com crash, our school business died on the vine. It was going crazy.

Startup 242

Startup Web Design Writing Web 242

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

It is code word for “I’m not ready to invest for whatever reason … I need more proof.&#. They get positive product reviews on TechCrunch, GigaOm or Paidcontent.org. And I know many stories of Benchmark or similar investors writing term sheets after the first meeting. They hire key staff. They make progress.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

We helped the write out their requirements for a system. We felt this was a marquee account and one that would help us take our collaboration tool global as Thames owned assets all over the world. Two weeks after winning the deal and well into implementation planning we released a new version of our software.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2010

Al Eisaian: IconApps is built around simplifying people's lives through mobile technology. As of the last four months, we've had about 200,000 plus downloads, a bunch of great write ups, and a lot of mom bloggers who have been reviewing the app and writing stories on it. It's the same business, over and over again.

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

We've basically taken advantage of all the new technology out there--especially, the web-based service model. For parents, if you're interested in how your kids are doing, you can find out what their schedule is like, what homework is due when, what their grades are, and how they are progressing, plus you can communicate with their teachers.

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory. As I naturally get asked all the time why we invested in Company A or Company B, I thought I’d just put forth my thesis in writing. I’ll explain in detail below.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market. ” The Details.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

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. I am in the middle of writing up some of my thoughts on this and will post about it and let you know. I definitely check people out using LinkedIn.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Yet, despite his exceptional courtroom theatrics, you would be foolhardy to hire good old Johnnie to review your software cross-licensing agreement. 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. They make mistakes.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. Who’s going to help you with improving your marketing / positioning to become a clear platform category leader like Twilio? As I gear up to give a keynote at the annual Seattle 2.0 There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

We hired a head of technology, a head of customer service, a head of marketing, a head of strategy (which no startup should ever hire) a CFO and, ugh, 33 developers. One the one hand I feel great because we went out and built software that solved an industry problem. I’m not trying to take credit beyond where credit is due.

Startup 299

Startup Venture Capital Technical Review Training 299