Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans take too much time, are inaccurate, and rarely add value. The size of the document should be based on your style, but 10-20 pages or slides are usually more than adequate to outline even a complex business.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For the more traditional investor, or for that chance meeting in a real elevator or meeting, you need a two-page brochure (two-sided page).

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

I can’t change who your board members are so let me offer some thoughts on how to make your interactions with your board more productive. Nothing drives me more bonkers than board members who want to hold dissertations on 409a valuations, product feature minutiae or spend 30 minutes on how many people they know that they can introduce you to.

Tips 212

Tips Slides Startup Technical Review 212

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Regular non-work breaks, like a trip to the gym, or time with family will be ultimately more productive than slugging it out all night on a given problem. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity.

Tips 86

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Mentor 86

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For the more traditional investor, or for that chance meeting in a real elevator or meeting, you need a two-page brochure (two-sided page).

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

There are lots of resources available for the challenge of that activity, including the Internet and mentors like me. I love good causes and social entrepreneurs, but a recent pitch to me about eliminating world hunger with a new product (harvesting algae at low cost) seemed to forget that really hungry people don’t have any money.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

Every startup mentor has his favorite list of basic strategies to avoid pitfalls, and I’m no exception. Every new startup needs to fight the urge to get the product out, and then start selling it. Visit [link] to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business. Make marketing and sales a priority.

Tips 102

Tips Help Startup Blogging 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Regular non-work breaks, like a trip to the gym, or time with family will be ultimately more productive than slugging it out all night on a given problem. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity.

Tips 107

Tips Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 107

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Regular non-work breaks, like a trip to the gym, or time with family will be ultimately more productive than slugging it out all night on a given problem. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity.

Startup 59

Startup Entrepreneur Tips Mentor 59

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

Unfortunately, too many of the technical entrepreneurs I mentor and advise are focused on their technology, and assume that the value will be self-evident to customers. Improve the whole customer experience, as well as the product.

Technical Advisors 82

Technical Advisors Artificial Inteligence Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Regular non-work breaks, like a trip to the gym, or time with family will be ultimately more productive than slugging it out all night on a given problem. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity.

Tips 101

Tips Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 101

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

Often I find that experienced investors flip to the management page of a business plan, even before they read the product description. The most common solution is that you “bootstrap” your business, or fund it yourself, at least to the point that your “traction” is evident (you have a product, you have customers, you have revenue).

Startup 94

Startup Resource Social Network Mentor 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2013

Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Regular non-work breaks, like a trip to the gym, or time with family will be ultimately more productive than slugging it out all night on a given problem. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity.

Company 96

Company Companies Startup Entrepreneur 96

Jason Nazar

MAY 2, 2016

If you are inventing or creating a product, understand patents and register for one at the USPTO. Check Google , Yellow Pages , and local directories to ensure your business name is not taken. Business Mentors. Speak to entrepreneurs and leaders in your industry and consider asking them to be your mentor.

Outsource Development 40

Outsource Development Startup Google Mentor 40

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2015

Develop written business plans as detailed as product plans. Good technologists produce written product specifications, to help them personally be confident that all the technical requirements are covered. Yet their business plans rarely get more than a page or two written.

Technical Review 54

Technical Review Product Activity Technology 54

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2011

Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Regular non-work breaks, like a trip to the gym, or time with family will be ultimately more productive than slugging it out all night on a given problem. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Startup Tips Mentor 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2016

Entrepreneur examples include Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Google, who turned a new search technology into a tool that most of us couldn’t live without. Great leaders are mentors to everyone on their team. The quickest way to great results is to build a great team , and let it multiply your productivity. Drive innovation.

Examples 76

Examples Startup Coach Patents 76

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

For example, goods for sale – people add items that are for sale, their contact details, images of the product. Using our quick export function – he can embed this on a website or facebook page. Who are the founders, investors, mentors behind the Mimiboard? There are also a few influencers in the Product lifecycle.

Advertising 91

Advertising Media News Content 91

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Seth’s interest in helping others grew out of his lack of having a mentor. He was drawn to Stanford by the people ecosystem- access to professors and mentors. Again, he stressed the importance of good mentors. Why do you love speaking to students at universities? Why did you pursue an MBA at Stanford? I totally agree.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

I felt this myself as we went from a few founders huddled into a tiny room to the front page of the Financial Times, an influx of VC interest, magazine covers, invitations to high-profile events and the pressures of trying to live up to this perception and the economic opportunities everybody expected. Advisors / Coaches / Mentors.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2010

Often I find that experienced investors flip to the management page of a business plan, even before they read the product description. The most common solution is that you “bootstrap” your business, or fund it yourself, at least to the point that your “traction” is evident (you have a product, you have customers, you have revenue).

Startup 93

Startup Resource Mentor Writing 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2013

Entrepreneur examples include Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Google, who turned a new search technology into a tool that most of us couldn’t live without. Great entrepreneurs are mentors to everyone on their team. The quickest way to great results is to build a great team, and let it multiply your productivity. Drive innovation.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Examples Ideas 104

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. The size of the document should be based on your style, but 10-20 pages or slides are usually more than adequate to outline even a complex business.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 109

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

We were doing this one product called “Small Business Hires”, similar to the employer app we launched today, all web-based. We were trying to raise money for this product, but then the unthinkable happened. It was cool that I spoke at the White House last year about mentoring. We have been able to develop a good product.

Mobile 86

Mobile Marketing Writing Startup 86

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

If you are a leader at a startup and you are reading a business book, you are not closing customers, raising capital, improving your product, or spending time with your loved ones. Ask For Mentoring. Cover Story – After the index, Guy includes a few pages that describe the “making of” the book’s cover. Underpromise, Overdeliver.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2012

Entrepreneur examples include Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Google, who turned a new search technology into a tool that most of us couldn’t live without. Great entrepreneurs are mentors to everyone on their team. The quickest way to great results is to build a great team, and let it multiply your productivity. Drive innovation.

Startup 104

Startup Examples Entrepreneur Ideas 104

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

YOU Selling – My wise old friend & mentor, Ameet Shah, once told me after a meeting we had with clients (when I worked at Accenture), “there are two ways to run a meeting: asking or telling. But DO NOT crocodile into your solution page. They are seldom productive. So you’ve identified a problem.

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Customer 314

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 9, 2014

Having a clear focus means it’s easier to communicate what your product is and who it’s for. By trying to appeal to everyone and adding features left, right and centre, you will actually dilute your message and could end up with a complex, bloated product. Here are two examples. Quote from John Wilshire, Artefact Cards 4.

Startup 78

Startup Design Customer Custom 78

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2012

Because we are still in idea stage, it is in the best interest of the company to keep only a few key people to work on executing the product. RED FLAG #3, 4, 5, 6, 7… : I asked this person to send me over the access info to the domain, as I wanted to create a launch page, and his response was, “I’m working on it.”

Startup 100

Startup Ideas San Diego Mentor 100

SoCal Delicious

AUGUST 28, 2012

View Staff Page. Software Engineer, Front End Games.com Mid-Senior Full Stack / Front-End Engineer (HTML5, CSS3, JS, Ruby) John McNeil Studio Senior Ruby on Rails Engineer Universum USA Product Manager - Local Business Products Yelp. Dial-A-Mentor Service Clarity Talks Stats: 12K Calls Across Nearly 50 Countries [TCTV].

SoCal 77

SoCal Southern California Startup Tips 77

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 16, 2014

You can be an entrepreneur and at the same time you can be a mentor or an investor to someone else’s project. Entrepreneurs who have a startup upload their company’s information and create a startup page. You can create your startup page in two clicks. Again, we’ve made this very easy. Yes that has changed.

SoCal 104

SoCal Southern California Startup Platform 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2010

Multiple pages of work items won’t get done anyway. Regular non-work breaks, like a trip to the gym, or time with family will be ultimately more productive than slugging it out all night on a given problem. Discuss the tough ones with a mentor. Don’t let it lead to anger and frustration, or loss of productivity.

Tips 55

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Mentor 55

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2014

This was a chance to blow open the story on their companies, to address a room full of potential investors, mentors, partners, customers, and press. To learn more about all the companies, be sure to visit 500 Startups’ official demo day page. In turn, Ohmconnect incentivizes its users with direct payments.

Startup 111

Startup Mobile Commerce Education 111

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

As a mentor to young aspiring entrepreneurs , I often get asked for tips on a strategy to get started. Don’t be shy about networking for advisors with business experience for coaching and mentoring. The challenge is when and how to make the switch to the entrepreneur lifestyle. The ability to pivot quickly is a key to success.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2020

In my experience as a business mentor, one of the biggest challenges I see is a failure to focus. Here are the key elements that I look for as an entrepreneur mentor, as indications of a top level of focus: Willing to share your personal story to build credibility. Key parameters always include opportunity size and forecast.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Startup Patents Resource 126

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Though this was 2000 , and all startup & VC blogs we've grown to love didn't exist yet, I did have mentors available. These are the top linked domains from Facebook pages. Automating the Path to a Better User Experience - The Product Guy , July 5, 2010 I started writing about Quick-UX in 2008. Customer Care Today.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217