Berkonomics

JANUARY 5, 2017

In the non–profit world, the term, “time, talent and treasure” has been used so often it is almost at the edge of being trite. Take, for instance, time. Corporate time” is quite different from individual time management. “Corporate time” is quite different from individual time management.

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TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 25, 2022

The startup has received €50 million (just under $57 million at today’s rates) from the European Investment Bank, the funding arm of the European Union. It is not disclosing its valuation with this investment, but Alastair Westgarth said that this doesn’t rule out raising further funding from investors.

Invest 233

Invest Technology Startup Los Angeles 233

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROI). One of these experts, David T. Email marketing. Cold calling.

Marketing 114

Marketing Invest Social Media SEM 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

For the rest of us, we need a business plan, as well as a product plan. Some of you may be convinced that your product specification communicates the product message even better than a business plan, so why be redundant? Professional investors and even customers invest in people, rather than just a product.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. Here is my perspective on the highest risk elements, from my years of working with investors and watching startups come and go: All the co-founders are first-time entrepreneurs.

Invest 98

Invest Sites Technical Review Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). But they are also a tax on your time with portfolio companies, looking for new investments, running your shop and honestly they are a tax on your family life.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 12, 2022

In 2018, co-founders Schuyler Deerman and James Chan started selling healthy meals at WeWork offices around Los Angeles out of giant Yeti coolers, standing around the kitchens during lunch time. “At At the time, Positive Food had its meals in 70 coffee shops around Los Angeles. Then the COVID pandemic hit.

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Invest Los Angeles Startup Funding 175

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Just this past September was a year with Amazon, when I left, and we started investing in September under the new name, ScOp Venture Capital.

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Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable. how to market our products and company. how to market our products and company. Mentorship. As You Start to Mature.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Berkonomics

MAY 9, 2024

If your vision is for a product or service that fills a need in a mature industry, you may be flying against the prevailing winds as a market shrinks over time, taking your business with it. If the market is ten times that size, there is probably room for competitors to fight for dominance and still succeed if you are not number one.

Patents 156

Patents Pricing Ideas Marketing 156

socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2018

Here's Alon Goren , founder of 805 Startups and the Crypto Invest Summit. Many of my friends made a killing (in the short-term) investing in these deals and because of the network that I have built with Crypto Invest Summit, I had access to most of them. You'll be able to browse all of those contributions here.

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Invest Southern California Startup Incubator 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2020

There are many ways to add levity to a tough challenge, and engaging the team occasionally in some fun activities will work wonders for your team’s productivity and motivation. Investors have long agreed that you invest in the team, more than the product. Building morale is not a one-time task.

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Product Examples Mentor Activity 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2020

Revenue performance needs to be applied to each individual program, and also rolled up to show the overall performance per dollar invested. Return on investment for demand generation. Obviously, you are looking for demand generation programs that have a positive return on investment (ROI). Marty Zwilling.

Marketing 174

Marketing Invest Demand Metrics 174

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Kardashian is launching private equity firm SKKY Partners in conjunction with ex-Carlyle consumer head Jay Sammons to invest in business across consumer products, hospitality, luxury, digital commerce and media, the Wall Street Journal first reported. billion with her stake at over $1 billion. billion with her stake at over $1 billion.

Equity 299

Equity Journal Venture Capital Los Angeles 299

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. I had been thinking a lot about this recently because I’m often asked the question of “what I look for in an entrepreneur when I want to invest?” I had invested in myself for years.

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Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Many of the entrepreneurs I advise or invest with spend considerable time on the Internet, keeping up with technology, customers, and competitors, but very few feel the need for an early personal presence. In fact, some totally avoid it, assuming their product or solution will speak for itself later.

Product 127

Product Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Technical Review 127

socalTECH

JUNE 9, 2014

Los Angeles-based online advertising technology developer OpenX Technologies said this morning that it has launched a new product, the OpenX SSP (Supply Side Platform). OpenX said that such customers as YP, TVGuide.com, and the New York Observer are already using the product. READ MORE>>.

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OpenX Product Advertising Demand 159

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2021

If you want people to invest in your idea, then my best advice is first write a business plan, and keep it simple. The one-page Oprah plan is a good executive summary, but it’s not enough to get the investment. Stick with the simpler words and phrases, like "use" instead of "utilize" and "then" instead of "at that point in time."

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Invest Tips Writing Content 135

Berkonomics

MARCH 25, 2012

For those of us who’ve invested in early stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem. There are many ways to project the value of a company for purposes of pricing an investment, but all rely upon the revenue and profit projections of the entrepreneur as a starting point.

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Invest Startup Email Competition 321

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

But as sweet as that success has been (we invested pre-revenue in a small team) today my even more important news was the further expansion of our partner ranks. It was a software platform for allowing advertisers to purchase brand integration (product placements) as a standardized unit through a marketplace. Startup DNA.

Invest 340

Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2017

Wallach on investments out of a new fund, Inevitable Ventures. How did you end up here in Los Angeles doing investments? I tragically lost my mom to cancer, my girlfriend (who I was living with at the time) and I broke up, and then my team and I were laid-off when the market crashed in 2009. Chris Hollod: For sure.

Invest 157

Invest Startup Hollywood Echo Park 157

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2021

In fact, most investors “require” that you already have some investment from friends and family before they will even step up to the plate. You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. If they won’t do it, they why would I as stranger invest in you? Nobody likes a downer.

Invest 135

Invest Technical Review Startup Ideas 135

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2020

Carey tells us a bit about what OC4 is doing, how it invests and works with companies, and also gives startups some advice about how to approach moving forward in light of the pandemic. Carey Ransom: The way I think about it, is it is really the culmination of almost two decades of software and technology company building and investing.

Invest 124

Invest Startup Ideas Examples 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2020

Here are some key principles that I recommend to keep you on a track to maximum business results in the shortest period of time, in the unstructured world of startups: Don’t do “easy” tasks before “challenging” ones. You may see this as a quick way to shorten your task list, but it usually means that important things don’t get done on time.

Product 123

Product Startup Tips Entrepreneur 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.

Product 159

Product Technical Review Pricing Software Review 159

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

The entrepreneur cannot wait to show me their product via a demo. As politely as I can, I dissuade them and explain that there are other ways I prefer to spend our precious time together. You’re the first one I’ve met who didn’t want to see our product.” Note: I invest almost exclusively in b-to-b software companies.

Venture Capital 176

Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” We knew about it before people up North because it’s our job to know about everything local at the time of creation.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

TechCrunch LA

JULY 29, 2020

Heal, Desai says, also works with the digital technologies to provide more remote and persistent patient monitoring, so that doctors can have a better sense of a patient’s health over time, rather than at an acute moment of care. “You want to talk to the doctor and get continuity of care,” said Desai.

Services 244

Services Invest Demand Los Angeles 244

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

However, to be a great VC you have to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. The market today would barely be recognizable by a time traveler from 2011. That used to be called A-round investing.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to build the business. Second, almost no professional investor will consider putting that much into a startup until there is proof of market demand, product viability or some other mitigation of failure.

Startup 120

Startup Invest Summary Resource 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

Three Rules of Fundraising “Sales” One of the common mistakes I see startups as well as VCs make is spending too much time on top of funnel prospecting. So I encourage first-time fundraisers to qualify, qualify, qualify. OK, so you’ve found your target LPs who invest in funds at your stage. Let me explain. Why Buy Me?

Sales 375

Sales Startup Invest Funding 375

socalTECH

OCTOBER 30, 2013

Funding data reveals that more companies get VC investments at the revenue generation stage and profitable stages than at the start up or product development stage. Read the rest of Jeff''s article, Venture Capital: The Times, They Are-A-Changin''. invest opinions investments insights capital venture' Continued.).

Venture Capital 159

Venture Capital Capital High Tech Southern California 159

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

Last year at this time, SpotOn was on the brink of announcing a $60 million Series C funding round at a $625 million valuation. Advisors Douglas Merritt, CEO of Splunk, and Mike Scarpelli, CFO of Snowflake, also made individual investments as angels. With the new capital, SpotOn has raised $628 million since its inception.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Software Review Invest Acquisition 296

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2013

To bring that ability to name your own price on products, Los Angeles-based Greentoe (www.greentoe.com) recently launched, allowing consumers to name their own price to retailers of everything from electronics to baby products. Joe Marrapodi: GreenToe is a name your own price marketplace for products. What is Greentoe?

Pricing 273

Pricing Product Help Sales 273

Berkonomics

JUNE 22, 2023

If your vision is for a product or service that fills a need in a mature industry, you may be flying against the prevailing winds as a market shrinks over time, taking your business with it. If the market is ten times that size, there is probably room for competitors to fight for dominance and still succeed if you are not number one.

Patents 286

Patents Pricing Ideas Marketing 286

socalTECH

OCTOBER 9, 2019

There's a new opportunity in clean technology investments, according to venture capitalist Aaron Fyke , the head of a new, Pasadena-based venture capital investment fund, Thin Line Capital (www.thinlinecapital.com). Aaron Fyke: I believe we're in a second wave of clean tech investing. Talk about the new firm and the new fund?

Invest 113

Invest Capital Venture Capital Idealab 113