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Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Use data analysis and metrics to measure for results. Subjectively measuring employee engagement.
I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. What technology research is required? What technologies will we use? What metrics are going to be the key startup metrics and how do we get those metrics without too much cost?
My cofounder, Steven Elliott, was CTO of a company doing artificial intelligence and automated chat technology. We will be opening up a a round of funding soon, as soon as we have some metrics and have been live in the market, and hope to raise some money and capital in the next thirty days. We're also funding it out of pocket.
He’s an incredibly smart investor and somebody that I actually consider to be a mentor to myself. He wanted to know what I thought of his technology deal. He called me 15 months later excited to show me his metrics and wanted to talk about his A round. I reviewed a deal for a friend of mine tonight. Fair enough.
It’s important to define your growth strategy, document it, communicate it to your team, and align metrics and employee rewards to target goals. For example, Mark McClain, cofounder and CEO of SailPoint Technologies , created an employee growth culture resulting in growth of forty percent a year, with more than $100 million in revenues.
In my own business career, many years as a business advisor, and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I have validated the following strategies to practice and guide you. Elon Musk often talks about identifying all the dimensions of a problem, such as lower cost battery technology, as the key to moving the electric vehicle industry ahead.
That means making sure you are utilizing coaching and mentoring, as well as training to keep up with changes in technology and the marketplace. Adopt some key metrics to measure your change agility. Make sure you are fostering people development to their full potential, for them and for your business.
Thus, in my mentoring of potential technical entrepreneurs who have a real passion for their technology, I often recommend that they find a co-founder who can manage the marketing and execution elements of the new venture. Balance of passion with reality and customer feedback. Build business relationships and a personal brand.
community in many ways, including his weekly Internet TV program on entrepreneurism, and participation in several mentoring programs. . Access to new technologies. Clarify operation responsibilities and metrics used to measure performance. JJ is a successful entrepreneur and technologist giving back to the entrepreneurial.
As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.
As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.
As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.
As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.
Yet, as a business consultant, I still find many of you business leaders relying primarily on your technology, word-of-mouth , or location to attract necessary customers. For example , Bill Gates shared a mentoring relationship with Warren Buffett that increased the credibility of both, although their business domains were quite different.
Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Use data analysis and metrics to measure for results. Subjectively measuring employee engagement.
As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I challenge them to think beyond what I call linear extensions to a current trend, such as another “easier-to-use” app for smartphones, a new dating site for pets, or another niche social network. Examples I have seen include atomic battery technology, or how marine algae could help feed the world.
One of the attributes that I often recommend to the business professionals and entrepreneurs I mentor is to always be totally accountable for your actions and ideas. Setting your own metrics, and measuring yourself , will facilitate accountability. Be available for mentoring and coaching to others.
He introduced me to Wavemaker, also in LA, and also Halogen Ventures, which is led by Jessie Draper, which invests in women-run technology companies. Julie Novack: The number one lesson learned, maybe it's obvious, is you need to have your technology in house. Don't be enamored with vanity metrics like for us, growth of photos.
As a mentor to entrepreneurs over the years, I see many of you who don’t communicate enough, others who seem to do all the talking, and some that are hesitant to be direct and open. You as the leader have a responsibility to define goals, strategy, and operational metrics. Always open to be influenced by new information.
It’s your job as a leader to be the model high performer, quantify the team view with metrics, and expand awareness to the best outside competition and new tools. Get outside the company regularly to get feedback on future customer needs, emerging technologies, and the views of influencers and experts in the field.
In my role as a mentor, I challenge every business leader to be more open-minded as they face the challenges of change and new competitors entering their space. Technology, competitors, and customers are changing every day, so the “ tried and trusted ” ways you do things need to be reviewed and updated regularly.
Great business leaders, including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett , are constantly asking questions and reading books about new technologies, new cultures, and new business opportunities. They mentor each other, and seek out experts in domains outside their current expertise and experience.
to work on an entertainment-related technology project and have stayed ever since. This is a novel user interaction that embeds casual entertainment directly into the operating system experience, based on some fairly interesting underlying technology. After BITSource was successfully acquired, I moved to L.A. Details coming soon!)
For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. We make it trivial to quickly aggregate and monitor your key metrics in real-time! in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. SuperDemo: Bill Gross.
Los Angeles-based BiasSync (www.biassync.com) was founded by three, very experienced serial entrepreneurs-- Michele Ruiz (broadcast journalism), Robin Richards (CareerArc, Internships.com, NTI Group, MP3), and Dan Gould (former VP of Technology for Tinder). It's clear that Hollywood people speak a different language from technology people.
The real value of a written business plan is that it forces you to think through all the elements of a new business in specific terms, to balance your focus on aspects you love, perhaps technology, and not overlook the ones you dislike, such as financials and hiring. Assess who you can get for value and mentoring.
Cody Simms: Ultimately, our mission is to be the best, global ecosystem for bringing new technology to market. We select ten per class, and help those startups connect with mentors and other people in that local environment who can be helpful to the business. We have around 24 or 25 programs running across the world now.
As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs and business owners, I rarely find someone who doesn’t proclaim that the business world is changing rapidly, with new technology, new customer expectations, and new cultures. You need to communicate quantified and updates goals quarterly, including the metrics to assess progress and success.
Yet, in my experience as a mentor to entrepreneurs, the majority of failures I see are related to starting and growing the business, not developing the solution. In today’s world, the market evolves even faster than the technology. Manage the business with metrics and goals. Time is of the essence in everything you do.
There are lots of resources available for the challenge of that activity, including the Internet and mentors like me. Some dreams sound great, but may not yet be viable or proven with today’s technology. This is the point where you must manage to metrics, work on the culture of the organization, and look for partner-based growth.
Working with professional athletes combined with my natural leadership ability and experience in business development makes me uniquely suited to lead a technology company in the health and fitness industry. Sergey Belyankin is our Chief Technology Officer. I am ( Michael Piermont ) co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer amSTATZ.
As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.
According to many observers , we can thank or blame technology for these higher expectations, providing information at the speed of light, leading everyone to expect more. Some entrepreneurs are so focused on their technology, they assume their customers think the same way. Provide coaching and mentoring as well as training.
Powered by blockchain technology, this groundbreaking fintech company is one to watch, no matter what you’re invested in. The freight shipment marketplace will match shipper and driver, book loads, optimize routes, track metrics, and manage payments. The Washington, D.C. Read more about innovative startups at TechCo.
In my years of mentoring and advising business leaders, I find that real planning for the future always gets the short shrift. Data technology facilitates more fact-based decisions. Technology is now much more than speeding communication and automating work processes. It’s not enough to merely talk about these changes.
Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Use data analysis and metrics to measure for results. Subjectively measuring employee engagement.
As a startup investor and mentor, I look beyond the façade to find these eight keys traits in the mindset of every entrepreneur. It’s not enough to invent a new technology because you can, want to be your own boss or see an opportunity to get rich, unless these are preceded by an innovative vision of solving some real-world problem.
In the same way, you may think that people assessment is all about skills and experience, but as a mentor to business owners, I have learned to look more for the right attitude, persistence, and determination, as success factors. Smart business executives learn to use new technology software to give them new insights and more free time.
What technology research is required? What technologies will we use? What metrics are going to be the key startup metrics and how do we get those metrics without too much cost? Learning, Networking, Mentors From the question, this person is clearly looking at the issue of how to grow into this role.
And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics. I was in it for the love of working with entrepreneurs on business problems and marveling at technology they had built.
As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I often get asked for the magic that has made Amazon the world's most valuable brand , from a total unknown only twenty years ago. My simple answer is that they keep their focus on customers, rather than technology. Incorporate AI-powered data and metrics systems.
The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered. Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. There is no cushion.
The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered. Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. There is no cushion.
The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered. Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. There is no cushion.
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