Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

There is no perfect answer to the competitive advantage question, but investors are looking for how your offering will keep ahead of competition, not just at this moment, but throughout the life of their three to five-year investment. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor.

Competition 120

Competition Patents Resource Invest 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

There is no perfect answer to the competitive advantage question, but investors are looking for how your offering will keep ahead of competition, not just at this moment, but throughout the life of their three to five-year investment. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

In fact, I think the evidence is clear that many entrepreneurs started their journey while still in college, and capitalized on all the resources there, before moving on: Extend your technology focus with business basics. Every school recognizes the power of “hands-on” work to help you develop your own ideas into a business.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Find technical and legal guidance and advisors.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Each decision you make to commit resources – your money or your use of corporate or personal time – affects the future value of your business. But each commitment of resources of any substantial size for acquisition of new products, talent, even new companies, changes the value of your enterprise perhaps to a great degree.

Companies 120

Companies Company Acquisition Resource 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

There is no perfect answer to the competitive advantage question, but investors are looking for how your offering will keep ahead of competition, not just at this moment, but throughout the life of their three to five-year investment. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2012

The startup--which has the backing of such high profile investors as Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary's A-Grade Investments, Dreamworks, and Live Nation--also has some major partnership with entertainers like Madonna and No Doubt to create crowdsourced videos of their events. They've been pulling resources from all over Europe.

Startup 235

Startup Entertainment Los Angeles Ideas 235

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2021

No new venture can muster the resources and expertise to attack all these opportunities concurrently, so I recommend a clear and quantified focus on one to maintain credibility. Unfortunately, startups with an innovative product but no protection are quickly overrun by larger competitors with more resources.

Funding 132

Funding Template Resource Competition 132

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Chief Human Resources Officer (VP Personnel). If your business is managing contracts and patents, it makes sense, but the CLO for most startups is LegalZoom on the Internet. But here is another example of a role that everyone carries in a startup, so investors can’t imagine paying anyone uniquely to do that job. Chief Legal Officer.

Startup 97

Startup Invest CTO Hire Cloud Computing 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2020

Both have obviously been able to expand their focus and impact, based on learning from early challenges, availability of additional resources, and early success applied more broadly. Every investor will tell you that they invest in the person, more than the product, because they have learned that people with focus find success.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Startup Patents Resource 126

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon their comfort with each. Another is to gain the support of a core vendor who is willing to offer special extended terms to the company as its investment in creating the product in a finished state. Fourth: Financial risk. .

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. The investor perspective is that no manufacturing or inventory implies a minimal need for capital up front.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

These days, you can find existing patents and trademarks through Google and the US Patent Office online site without spending thousands of dollars with your favorite patent attorney. Of course, existing patents don’t stop you from innovating, but charging ahead into a wall is no fun. Minimize infrastructure dependencies.

Ideas 106

Ideas Entrepreneur Technical Review Patents 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2023

These days, you can find existing patents and trademarks through Google and the US Patent Office online site without spending thousands of dollars with your favorite patent attorney. Of course, existing patents don’t stop you from innovating, but charging ahead into a wall is no fun. Minimize infrastructure dependencies.

Ideas 106

Ideas Technical Review Patents Startup 106

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Find technical and legal guidance and advisors.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

The same is true for filing patents, registering trademarks, and filing copyrights. Minimize investment in prototypes and tooling. Almost anyone can start a company today on a shoestring budget, following these cost-cutting recommendations: Establish a solid legal structure for your business.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Outsource Development 162

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. Our patent will protect us.” Patents are worthwhile, so this answer is far better than the first five.

Patents 90

Patents Competition IBM IBM 90

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

My first suggestion is that entrepreneurs need to forget the old myth that all they need to do is sketch an idea on a napkin, and investors will line up to invest. The most investable ventures stem from painful needs by customers who have money to spend. Investors invest in people, often more so than in the product.

Funding 123

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Invest 123

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2010

One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. Our patent will protect us.” Patents are worthwhile, so this answer is far better than the first five.

Competition 89

Competition Patents IBM IBM 89

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. It is not helpful to you for funders to love an idea that does not fit the criteria for their investing capability.

Software Review 123

Software Review Seed Funding Funding Startup 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

There are lots of resources available for that question, including the Internet and mentors like me. As an example of a good resource, I enjoyed the classic book, “ Idea To Invention ,” by Patricia Nolan-Brown, that does a great job on the key steps. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

In many cases, growing the ecosystem is so important that your best competitive move may be to invest in facilitating “competition,” such as Tesla Motors giving away their battery patents to other auto providers, without royalties, to build the ecosystem. These have the vision and the resources to fund long-term digital success.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2013

Helping solicit new business ideas and patents from individuals, federal research labs, universities and other R&D organizations countrywide. Members submit ideas and patents, the JumpStartFund community members and the JumpStartFund team vets them. Social network for investors.

El Segundo 76

El Segundo Social Network Startup Patents 76

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

Professional investors normally like to invest only in billion dollar opportunities, with double-digit growth rates. Don’t try to explain your technical implementation, your patent algorithm, or your unfair competitive advantage here. Is the opportunity large and growing? Do include some quantification.

Startup 166

Startup Education Ideas Customer 166

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

There are lots of resources available for the challenge of that activity, including the Internet and mentors like me. Unfortunately, I see good startups fail simply because they don’t have the resources or intellectual property to stay ahead of copycats or big players who see the potential as soon as you step into the marketplace.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2011

It may buy you a few months, but if you show traction, competitors with deep pockets will catch up and bypass you quickly, jeopardizing all your investments. We can all argue the shortcomings and non-defensibility of patents, but these are still your best competitive protection, sustainable for twenty years. Marty Zwilling.

Competition 102

Competition Patents Startup Social Network 102

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2023

Customer data, as well as internal data, is a key resource for every business that must be secured and protected. You need to address these concerns early, by highlighting patents, encryption capability, or other features which mitigate these risks and costs. Payback on investment. Customer data integrity and security.

Social Network 108

Social Network Training Startup Technology 108

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

Obviously, where you need to be is somewhere in the middle, and certain that you are the right person with the right resources to win. The right answer to this question is that you bring some new intellectual property to the table – like a patent or other secret sauce. Do you have the resources to build a business?

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Ideas Resource Examples 126

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

My first suggestion is that entrepreneurs need to forget the old myth that all they need to do is sketch an idea on a napkin, and investors will line up to invest. The most investable ventures stem from painful needs by customers who have money to spend. Investors invest in people, often more so than in the product.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Invest Funding Patents 108

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2012

It may buy you a few months, but if you show traction, competitors with deep pockets will catch up and bypass you quickly, jeopardizing all your investments. We can all argue the shortcomings and non-defensibility of patents, but these are still your best competitive protection, sustainable for twenty years. Marty Zwilling.

Competition 97

Competition Patents Startup Social Network 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2015

For example, “I have patented a new LCD with double the intensity at half the cost, already proven locally, and I just need resources to scale for this market.” For example, “Unlike all the other LCD providers, our patented high intensity light has no blue tint or glare that looks unnatural.”

Startup 104

Startup Summary Patents Examples 104

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2013

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. It is not helpful to you for funders to love an idea that does not fit the criteria for their investing capability.

Software Review 106

Software Review Funding Startup Seed Funding 106

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 30, 2012

Although their book is written for businesses of all sizes, I believe the principles apply especially to startups as follows: Increase return on equity invested. The first purpose of a strategy is to organize and reallocate your resources to increase return on the amount of money invested in your startup to-date. Scalability.

Startup 99

Startup Competition IP Patents 99

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2014

Customer data, as well as internal data, is a key resource for every business that must be secured and protected. You need to address these concerns early by highlighting patents, encryption capability or other features that mitigate these risks and costs. Payback on investment. Customer data integrity and security.

Customer 98

Customer Custom Technology Startup 98

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2014

This raises a big red flag with potential investors, who conclude that no competitors means no market, or you haven’t looked, and the new startup is likely not investable. They simply don’t have the resources to keep ahead of large competitors who see initial traction and go after it. Investors are wary of a crowded space.

Competition 93

Competition Startup Patents Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

Here are some of the key new rules I have learned by starting my own company, investing as an angel in other startups and mentoring many more new entrepreneurs over the last few years: Do incorporate a company, but keep it simple. Trademarks, copyrights and even patents can be completed online by anyone through the U.S.

Startup 108

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Outsource Development 108

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

These days, you can find existing patents and trademarks through Google and the US Patent Office online site without spending thousands of dollars with your favorite patent attorney. Of course, existing patents don’t stop you from innovating, but charging ahead into a wall is no fun. Minimize infrastructure dependencies.

Ideas 83

Ideas Technical Review Patents Startup 83