Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded early by one of the 318,000 active Angel investors in the USA alone. Most of these investors are members of Angel groups that have a rigorous filtering and screening process, to select the top 3% and most fundable proposals. Line up an experienced team. Build a prototype product.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

If you’ve taken the roller coaster ride that is a startup – you know what I’m talking about. The truth is that in my experience very, very few people really enjoy the “pure&# startup environment: months with no salary, months with no live product and lots of trial, error & rejection. Our user numbers are up.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2011

One of the hot new approaches I have seen around the country for assisting startups looking for funding has been “crowd-sourcing” sites ( Kickstarter ) or “crowd-pitching” events ( Funding Universe ). These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events.

Funding 92

Funding Startup Social Media Sample 92

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

I have started thinking about what the future might look like and I’ve started imagining what I call, “MMOV” or massive multiplayer online video. Maker’s talent started commenting on it and sharing it. In fact, that’s how Maker Studios got started in the first place. Why would it?

Startup 380

Startup Media Content Platform 380

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. The AngelSoft Deal Funnel from the last 12 months indicates is that 70% of the interested companies never make it past the initial screening process. Line up an experienced team. Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

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

MAY 21, 2010

One of the hot new approaches I have seen around the country for assisting startups looking for funding has been “crowd-sourcing” tools ( ProFounder ) or “crowd-pitching” events ( Funding Universe ). These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events.

Funding 59

Funding Startup Social Media Sample 59

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

We had an excellent opening panel on early-stage investing with Dave McClure (Founders Fund – NorCal), Brad Feld (Foundry Group, Boulder) and Andy Sack (Founders Co-Op, Seattle). The closing event was the filming of a live version of Jason Calacanis’ “This Week in Start-Ups” (appropriately named TWiST – episode is here ).

Twiistup 228

Twiistup SoCal Southern California Yammer 228

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

We caught up with EcoMom CEO Jody Sherman , to learn more about the company. Jody--an experienced entrepreneur who was most recently co-founder of a firm he sold to the Virgin Group, and has been involved with such firms as Lycos, Buydirect.com, and Xoom--told us the story of EcoMom, plus how he connected with McClure on the investment.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2010

Answers OnStartups- Shortly after I started blogging I noticed a website called “ Answers on Startups ,&# which I instantly loved and spent a bunch of time on. It was this sort of techie / geeky looking UI implementation of questions that anybody could ask about startups. And the system is really quite smart.

Blogging 301

Blogging SEO Startup Writing 301

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 22, 2013

Solaborate is a blend of great social network platforms, by taking in all the greatest bits and putting it all into one. Consumers all have access to social networks, but the business-side has never really caught on. Labinot Bytyqi: The whole idea came up when I was working in the corporate world.

Social Media 92

Social Media Social Network Tool Mobile 92

socalTECH

DECEMBER 13, 2012

Josh Hartwell: We officially incorporate in 2003, though we started laying groundwork for the company in 2002. We started back then, because my other co-founder and I had worked very closely with JAMDAT on JAMDAT Bowling and Fifa Soccer. Talk about how you went from JAMDAT to Mobile Deluxe? Can you talk about how you managed that?

Mobile 168

Mobile Java Google Startup 168

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 10, 2012

Insteegram is a startup that allows you to create amazing and unique t-shirts using your own Instagram photos. “I found it to be the best social network, connecting people on a deeper level. People stopped worrying about social status.”. Finding the right shipment fee using Lean Startup methodology.

Startup 98

Startup Customer Custom Pricing 98

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2010

But when I read thoughtful pieces on the future of technology I start to imagine where our lives will be in 10 years. Yet 2010 is already showing me how connected our lives and our health are starting to become. So I signed up for the online version of Weight Watchers. That’s always stuck with me.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2011

.&# And we’re here with Dan Martell , who like any great startup founder is wearing his company t-shirt for Flowtown. “Maybe,&# says Naval, “Certainly valuations are creepy up quickly in all stages of deals. It was a bunch of members of the Austin Startup Factory mixed with some out-of-towners like myself.

Ideas 294

Ideas Startup Marketing Pricing 294

socalTECH

APRIL 30, 2010

Let's start with the products. Instead of remembering a password, each time you try to log in an image grid comes up--and image shield, as we call it. It has nine pictures or more on screen, and in each location there are pictures that contain pictures from your category or have different letters in different locations.

Technology 124

Technology Web Sites Orange County 124

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Partners make investment decisions. Start by trying to narrowing the list of total prospective VCs. ” In VC terms that means the key questions you need to answer are, is this investor: Geographically focused and have they invested in my geography before? Already invested in one of my key competitors? Meet in person.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

One of the questions I’m most often asked as a VC is what I’m looking for in an investment. For me I’ve stated publicly that 70% of my investment decision is the team and most of this is skewed toward the founders. It’s the person who never gives up – who never accepts “no&# for an answer.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2011

This version has some additional details on a portfolio company I’ve invested in, which are disclosed below. No private head nods are given to small startup companies to help them prepare. What is a startup to do? While Google stopped Facebook in their tracks when they built a social networking company.

Google 325

Google Press Marketing Content 325

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

The idea was that if you could put up a consumer site that was seen as the best place to consume content then people wouldn’t go to lower-quality or free sites to get it. Hulu emerged in the social networking era and yet Boxee has been way out in front in terms of creating social viewing experiences.

Hulu 292

Hulu Technical Review Content Advertising 292