Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

These things outside your control do happen, but based on my years of experience as a startup advisor and angel investor, I still see too many strategies leading to failure that are inside the entrepreneur decision realm. I certainly agree that starting a business is fraught with risk, and none of us get it all right the first time.

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Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 124

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Harry was gracious enough to invite me back so this past week we recorded an episode discussing the current market environment. if you listen you’ll pick up much more than my quick notes below). We talked about what startup CEOs should do in these situations and how to think about these renegotiations.

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 17, 2023

Preparing for the game… If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and more.

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TechCrunch LA

APRIL 22, 2019

Beyond Meat , the meat replacement company whose packages of Beyond Burgers line grocery store aisles across America, has priced its initial public offering. The meat processor and marketer invested in Beyond Meat back in 2016. Another winner from the Beyond Meat public offering is the corporate investment arm of Tyson Foods.

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TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 19, 2019

The startup has raised $1 million in seed funding from RXBAR founders Peter Rahal and Jared Smith, CXT Investments, and Lean Luxe founder M. Mullenax told me he became interested in this market after working as a finance and operations analyst at Bonobos, where he “fell in love with the [direct-to-consumer] model.”

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Startup Seed Funding Los Angeles Competition 217

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2021

La Jolla-based biopharmaceuticals startup Janux Therapeutics said early this morning that it has priced its IPO, offering up 11,400,000 shares of its common stock at $17.00 The company begins trading this morning on the Nasdaq Global market under the ticker symbol JANX.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2022

Unfortunately, without your proactive efforts to counter predictable market challenges , early growth can quickly stall. No matter how excited your initial customers appear to be, every market has a saturation point on new and repeat sales. Start today with new customer acquisition efforts.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Most experts agree that the pace of business change is increasing , and all the business owners I know are struggling to keep up, much less surpass the wealth of global competitors now entering the market. Highlight the competitive edge you bring to the market. Use test marketing to identify changes before scale-up.

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Marketing Resource Training Startup 116

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series called “ Start-up Lessons.&#. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I paid up for the diploma but can’t say that I saw better results. So back to MBAs.

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Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

As an angel investor, I see plenty of startups focusing on building an innovative product, but I’m looking for the few who are also leading with an exponential growth strategy, to put them in the category of the next Amazon or Google. Let your highly motivated customers be your best marketing advocates for new customers.

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Marketing Examples Startup Custom 170

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan. Per the words of an old country song, “if you don’t know where you’re going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” If you are losing money on every unit, it’s hard to make it up in volume. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

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Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 147

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2021

As a business consultant, I often have to remind small business owners that their marketing needs to be more interactive, versus the traditional “ push ” model, where you broadcast your message to as many people as possible. Marketing must be everyone’s top priority. Market solutions as an experience or an event.

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Custom Customer Marketing Social Media 168

socalTECH

JULY 18, 2014

TubeMogul , which develops software to help advertisers with their online video buying, priced its IPO last night, offering up 6,250,000 shares of its common stock at $7.00 The company will starts trading this morning on the NASDAQ Global Select Market as TUBE. READ MORE>>.

Pricing 147

Pricing Advertising Startup Acquisition 147

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Lessons. I started my first company in 1999 in London at the height of the dot com craze. Buzzsaw (owned by Autodesk) raised $90 million and was making weekly noise in the market. It didn’t add up to me. Bad morale is the enemy of any company let alone a start up.&#.

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Startup Press Custom Customer 331

TechCrunch LA

MAY 25, 2019

Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a newsletter published every Saturday that dives into the week’s most noteworthy venture deals, fundraises, M&A transactions and trends. Let’s take a quick moment to catch up. Haus, like any good consumer startup in 2019, is shipped directly to your door. Fundraising.

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Startup Venture Capital Newsletter Tips 223

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

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Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

In fact, subscription pricing has been around for a long time for magazines, cloud-based software, and gaming, but now I’m seeing it used for just about anything, including for more stylish clothes via Taelor Style , gourmet foods via TryTheWorld , and toys for your kids via KiwiCo. Private club model. Front-of-the-line model.

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Startup Pricing Netflix Custom 117

socalTECH

MAY 29, 2014

Santa Barbara-based Resonant , which is developing radio frequency filters (RF) used for mobile devices, has priced its IPO, saying it is offering up 2,700,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $6.00 The company is slated to start trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market as RESN today.

Pricing 138

Pricing Santa Barbara Startup Mobile 138

socalTECH

DECEMBER 7, 2017

San Diego-based Odonate Therapeutics , a pharmaceuticals startup focused on chemotherapy drugs, has priced its IPO, saying on Wednesday afternoon that it has priced its IPO at $24.00 per share was on the low end of its initial estimated pricing range of $24.00 The $24.00

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Pricing San Diego Capital Funding 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2020

In reality, a simple Excel spreadsheet model customized around your assumptions can save you hours and avoid a wasted expense in validating alternative vendor and marketing decisions. For maximum value with the least effort, focus on only the “what ifs” that are the highest priority in your mind for your own startup.

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Startup Pricing Sample Customer 123

TechCrunch LA

MAY 3, 2022

” She grew up in Houston and went on to attend Stanford and major in engineering. The company Winters was working for sponsored her MBA to Harvard Business School, and it was there that she came up with the idea for Upgrade. All of the stylists are independent contractors and set their own pricing. Remember Mary J.

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Tool Custom Customer Marketing 179

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entrée for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. Yet you may not be so sure where to start, and how to put it all together. You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service.

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Startup Metrics Coach Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

In fact, there are a host of reasons why a non-focused startup business is more likely to struggle for survival, lose market and investor attention, and miss out on the opportunity to capitalize on their scope: Time to market is tied to the size of your offering. Ongoing market leadership requires continuous innovation.

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Startup IBM IBM Social Media 114

Tech.Co

APRIL 20, 2020

Wix has announced a limited-time half price sale on its website builder plans, with a 50% off deal beginning today and ending on Wednesday. The half price sale is open to new users and anyone currently using Wix's free plan. With the deal, budding website owners will be able to save 50% on all Wix pricing plans. 50% Off Wix.

Pricing 139

Pricing Sales Template Technical Review 139

Tech.Co

JUNE 22, 2021

Shopify is planning to strike a blow at Amazon by entering the affiliate marketing space. But, it also represents another swipe at Amazon's near-monopoly control of the affiliate marketing space. Understand the costs with our complete Shopify Pricing Guide. Why Would Shopify Expand into Affiliate Marketing?

Marketing 179

Marketing Buzzfeed Guide Platform 179

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2014

San Diego-based precision medicine developer Ignyta has priced its IPO, saying last night that it is offering up 5,245,000 shares of its common stock at $9.15 Ignyta will trade on the NASDAQ Capital Market as RXDX, starting today. The IPO will raised $48.0M for the company.

Pricing 138

Pricing San Diego Startup Acquisition 138

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. Innovate In the early years of a startup there is a lot of kinetic energy of enthusiastic innovators looking to launch a product that changes how an industry works.

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Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. Because I’ve asked more than 100 VCs similar questions I start to notice patterns in thinking.

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Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. My first startup was no different. They are the lifeblood of many companies yet they are different than the traditional technology startup DNA so the ways that you hire, motivate, compensate and assess performance of these individuals will be different.

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Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan. Per the words of an old country song, “if you don’t know where you’re going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” If you are losing money on every unit, it’s hard to make it up in volume. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

socalTECH

JUNE 26, 2014

Action sports camera maker GoPro priced its IPO at $24.00 per share, and will start trading today on the NASDAQ Global Market as GPRO. The company priced its IPO at the high end of its estimated initial IPO range, which was between $21.00 Woodman came up with the idea for GoPro while surfing off of San Diego.

Pricing 157

Pricing Steamboat Ventures San Diego Southern California 157

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

I’m fully convinced that both inspiration and perspiration are always required in a startup. Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. Starting a business may be fun, but it’s not easy.

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Startup Patents Competition Social Network 160

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2022

Wouldn’t you like to be one of the lucky people who joined Google and Facebook when these were startups, and now be a multi-millionaire or better? So people ask me “How many shares should I ask for or expect when I join a startup today?” Thus, options don’t “pay the mortgage” today, so to speak. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

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Startup Equity Pricing Marketing 137

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

San Diego-based medical device manufacturer Tandem Diabetes Care priced its IPO last night, saying it will offer up 8,000,000 shares of its common stock at $15.00 The company--which develops an insulin pump--will start trading today on the NASDAQ Global Market as TNDM.

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Pricing San Diego Startup Acquisition 153

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Even the strongest relationships are often tested and broken by the stresses of a new startup.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Conduct your own customized market research. Modern libraries are still worth a visit.

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Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2013

In real life, you can just about bargain a price for anything you want to buy--a car, a house, even that new stereo from your local electronics store. We caught up with CEO and Co-founder Joe Marrapodi to hear more. Joe Marrapodi: GreenToe is a name your own price marketplace for products. But, online, that''s not the case.

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Pricing Product Help Sales 273