Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets. Did anybody hold patents that would prevent us from using this technology? Could we produce this at cost? We hired OSHA regulatory lawyers.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer. Second: Market risk. Are you ahead or behind the market with your product or service? Third: Management risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Writing down key parameters will force you solidify the specifics, and mentally commit to them. Any startup with no patents, trade secrets, or other secret sauce is very high risk today. Prepare your marketing story for customers and investors.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2015

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. Finish the product before marketing begins.

Startup 105

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Ideas 105

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I have been meaning to write this for a while as I’ve noticed that much of my board time is involved in trying to be an independent referee for founders who themselves are trying to resolve their own conflicts. This is similar to the role that public markets play in helping shape publicly traded companies. What prompted this post?

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

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. Indeed, there are some success factors that are common to both environments. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2016

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. Finish the product before marketing begins.

Startup 57

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Ideas 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

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. Indeed, there are some success factors that are common to both environments. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

If you want the full SlideShare deck with many slides not in either post it’s in this link –> The LA Tech Market. Has it begun to mature or is it just better marketed than in was say 5 years ago? Given how efficient markets are when a large market like LA starts to blossom it attracts capital pretty quickly.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

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. Indeed, there are some success factors that are common to both environments. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

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. Mann had long sold the company and patents, but one of their providers which had been installing them surgically, and had started installing parts from China.

Startup 262

Startup Competition Software Review UCLA 262

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2010

Broadly speaking, the Opportunity is a description and analysis of your potential market. How will you price it and position it in the market? Have you patented it? What is your plan for completing the development of your product and getting it ready to market? Solution: This is your brilliant idea.

Startup 91

Startup Oracle Entrepreneur Ideas 91

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support.

Tips 88

Tips Startup CTO Hire Press 88

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

Most companies use Microsoft Project, and although there are a bunch of other projects, Microsoft has the most market share. So we built this product, and we believe we're the first ones to have it in the market. Everyone wants to read a PDF, but few want to write or change them.

Startup 100

Startup Software Review Technical Review Software 100

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2009

Instead of writing a book, we wanted to develop a platform to bring our methods to life, and scale our knowledge. We have patents filed on this process. Can you talk about the pricing and how the business model works? Milo Sindell: There are three broad markets. But, it didn't seem scalable.

Geni 100

Geni Web Guide Platform 100

Tech.Co

MARCH 1, 2018

Their platform helps couples improve their communication and interactions through their “LoveTips,” and will help support planning and executing activities such as ordering flowers and writing love notes. Price: $1.99 The Mentor Method (Washington, D.C.). Quirktastic Media (Durham, NC).

Startup 80

Startup Mentor Platform Help 80

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

There are hundreds of entrepreneurs here in Los Angeles who are building awesome companies, writing awesome books, making awesome movies and are trying to solve important problems to help make this world a better place. Here are 62 63 Los Angeles entrepreneurs we can be proud of. Lori Deschene – Founder of Tiny Buddha.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

It was a pleasure to write them myself. He said it was better than the Yellow Pages because he would provide pricing transparency. they can build teams that really focus on building & marketing great products. We talked about patents. His impact has even helped a small country gain admission to the United Nations.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350