Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). ” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. So I asked Ethan to build his product first and then we would fund.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

An alternate outcome that I also unfortunately observe in some cases are companies who had extreme early success with an initial product adoption but failed in key areas that limited the growth and therefore the ultimate financial outcomes. They look for people who fill in their gaps and together the team can make a whole.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

Facebook popularized the short-form “status update&# and this initially is called the “feed&# but over time starts to become known as the “ stream.&# Twitter then popularizes the idea of having only a stream (e.g. My firm was an early investor in Overture (then called GoTo.com) who created this category.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2018

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that their idea and passion are so great that failure is not a possibility. They relate quickly to one of the big successes out there today, including Facebook, Airbnb, or Snap, and can give you a dozen reasons that they are in the same category.

Startup 99

Startup Competition Examples Ideas 99

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2014

How do you bring an outside perspective and a startup''s nimble perspective to your products, if you''re a big, established company? Are developers willing to invest their time and energy in building solutions around your products, company, or organization? Tell me a little bit about your hackathons, what they are all about?

Edmunds 172

Edmunds Southern California Ideas Startup 172

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2012

Brian Norgard , co-founder of Chill, sat down with us to talk about the new front page, and also how the company has made a name for itself with a highly product focused, agile development of its service. The second is the casual video consumer, where we found we're not really offering a great product for them.

Startup 254

Startup Guide Redpoint Content 254

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2017

How to you take the recurring revenue model--which has been popular with software and other online services--an apply that to physical products and services? What's the idea behind SnackNation? We are also launching beverages and coffee, two new categories, next month. Sean Kelly: We think of ourselves as Snacking-as-a-Service.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Services Sales Customer 124

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. Gogii is the creator of the 36th most downloaded application in the history of the iPhone app store – a product called textPlus.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

The idea that the course asks students to write public blog posts is a testament to its more modern teaching style. My list of excuses includes: product, pricing, competition and lack of sales support. However, I advocate a more nuanced approach for early-stage startup teams” 1. As you grow you need process-driven people.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 5, 2015

As a Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship at UC Santa Barbara , students ask me dozens of times each quarter, “What do you think of my idea?” My response is typically, “What I think of your idea is irrelevant. The reality is that what I think about anyone’s nascent idea is totally meaningless. Wise And Feld To The Rescue.

Startup 100

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 100

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2016

We're trying to save companies money, and increase the productivity of employees. The idea of waiting, asking, and waiting for answers is gone. That can be a subject matter expert, product head, a sales head, any category in the enterprise, and they can use our lightweight platform for answers.

El Segundo 169

El Segundo Southern California Startup CTO Hire 169

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

The fact that I invest less just means the company is earlier stage and needed/wanted less or without a product/market fit we weren’t yet prepared to invest more heavily. The investor strategy is really determined by the management team. million in split into $5 million of “primary&# investment and $2.5 More on this later.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2019

Every aspiring entrepreneur I know is convinced that his or her idea could be the next big startup, blossoming into a billion dollar unicorn. Most trend watchers agree that it is time for a revolutionary new category of medicine treatment devices and customized healthcare solutions.

Startup 91

Startup Customer Custom Examples 91

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2011

We know the mantra: Team matters. Team is the only thing that matters. Whatever you’re working on now, the half-life of innovation is so rapid now that your product will soon be out-of-date. Your ability to keep up is dependent on having a great team of differing skills. Individuals don’t build great companies, teams do.

Startup 399

Startup Class Blogging Company 399

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2013

I called 1-855-DOG-VACAY and spoke with Killina Benson from their concierge team and explained my circumstances. He and his wife hatched the idea for DogVacay and decided to go for it. I absolutely loved the idea from day one and told Aaron so. I said, “This category is going to be huge. I’m sure of the value.

Venture Capital 344

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review San Diego 344

socalTECH

AUGUST 25, 2015

How did the idea to launch your own accelerator come about? Those companies wanted to partner with us, and to put commercial arrangements in place with the Dodgers, to better validate their product and why they were building what they were to solve industry issues.

Startup 100

Startup Invest Resource Entertainment 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2019

We don't provide specifics of how you did with your level of unconscious bias, but as a member of a certain demographic category, your information shows up in a bucket along with forty nine other people. Michele Ruiz: In the last year and a half, we have been putting together our product and content. Where is the company now?

Content 150

Content Training Education Outsource Development 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

There are many investors who are not looking to build enormous businesses who value the fact that you can run a business profitably). While Google and Facebook will buy “acquihires” (at least as of Dec 2011), many acquirers hate the idea of buying companies that aren’t profitable. Is it one product line or multiple?

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 28, 2013

In this yearly event put on by the Stevens Center for Innovation , 30 teams, selected from a pool of 70 applicants, presented their unique ideas to crowds of students, parents, and judges. While the teams were all given a table and poster stand, each team used the booths differently.

USC 91

USC Ideas Southern California Platform 91

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

Well obviously that’s meaningless if your startup idea sucks. I don’t think it takes book smart people to build great companies – sometimes it’s a hindrance. They spot opportunities that aren’t being met and the design products to meet these needs. I loved that story because it’s so true.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

socalTECH

JUNE 9, 2014

We have a team of people and technology which scours the Internet, and looks for videos we like and think would be a perfect fit for our Youtube channels. That''s relevant, because of our third piece, where we have been hired by traditional media companies, to basically provide them a turnkey, outsources content acquisition team.

Media 235

Media Content Startup IP 235

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

Greg knows consumer businesses and customers, which has added tremendously to our team where I admittedly have more of a background in enterprise software, data and online video. The Draft team will answer questions there and so will Greg and I if you have anything for us.

Startup 150

Startup Outsource Development Mobile Southern California 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Of course none of these funds (my own included) want to be lumped into just one category because we all move across the spectrum. An obvious example that comes to mind is Roger Ehrenberg, whose fund Information Arbitrage , is looking at companies in these categories. It will be tough for there to be many huge winners in this category.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 31, 2014

The competition started early February with a voting and crowdfunding portion as several teams from both schools gathered votes from fans on the host crowdfunding platform. Votes came from both the teams’ network as well as natural visitors to the website. At the end of the event, the judges crowned the winners.

Startup 101

Startup USC UCLA Southern California 101

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? I wish Paul & team could see my views in why Demo Days are not right for me as more of my style than anything I think is wrong with them. They know how to build pitch decks. What stage? What price?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

The idea was right but the timing was early and required a pivot into being a software company. But ultimately great people drive the ideas and Highland Capital is proactive in reaching out to entrepreneurs even at early stages. It has become a short form premium destination that is verticalizing content in category channels.

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2011

In 2009, I teamed up with my partner, co-founder Eden Warner. When I shoed up with a few pages of conceptual, early stage ideas around consumer finance, it was immediately captivating, and it really lined up with what he wanted to do. There are three main components of the product. What does that look like to consumers?

Startup 197

Startup Ideas Southern California Social Network 197

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? I wish Paul & team could see my views in why Demo Days are right for me as more of my style than anything I think is wrong with them. They know how to build pitch decks. What kind of deals should I be doing?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

Myth: If the idea is good, then the money will follow. The truth about ideas is that we don’t know if they are good; only customers know that. Entrepreneurs often express surprise at funding challenges, confident that their good idea would attract money on its own merits.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Design Ideas Competition 103

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It turns out that to build a successful company you ultimately need this strange thing called “revenue” that people don’t just hand you: You need to earn it. It’s ok to target a small market and you can probably build a niche business that is extremely valuable to you as an individual. Market Size.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2012

Myth: If the idea is good, then the money will follow. The truth about ideas is that we don’t know if they are good; only customers know that. Entrepreneurs often express surprise at funding challenges, confident that their good idea would attract money on its own merits.

Startup 94

Startup Design Entrepreneur Ideas 94

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2017

Santa Monica-based Tala , backed by Google Ventures and Lowercase Capital, has developed a tool that allows anyone with a cell phone to build a financial track record, specially for people in emerging markets. It really goes into two categories, around capacity and affordability. It took me 2.5

Startup 100

Startup Santa Monica Customer Custom 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2011

Myth: If the idea is good, then the money will follow. The truth about ideas is that we don’t know if they are good; only customers know that. Entrepreneurs often express surprise at funding challenges, confident that their good idea would attract money on its own merits.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Design Ideas Competition 103

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

There are too many deals to look at, too many seed funds or angels asking you to look at deals and weekly “demo days” with manicured and monocultural presentations crafted by experienced story tellers to help even the mundane idea sound like it will. I promise it’s not just you and I hear it from nearly everybody I know.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

So part of playing an effective coach is helping the team to see the answer for themselves. ” He has publicly espoused building products for “non logged in users” and has benefitted greatly from his thesis of large networks of socially connected & like minded individuals. Again, Fred. This is classic Fred.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

And I would rather, even before the executive summary, have something to play with (a demo)…” It falls in the category of show don’t tell. And that’s very different than a firm where you have an IT team and a Clean Tech Team and a Bio Team or an early stage team and a late stage team.”.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 2, 2011

At the Technovation Challenge LA Pitch Night hosted by Iridescent , we saw six teams of high school girls from various Los Angeles City Schools pitch a number of mobile app ideas to a panel of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Team Rise, and their app to help teens manage their budgets and time. Musical Gears – BUSavvy.

Technical Review 82

Technical Review Entrepreneur Software Review USC 82