Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Yet, in the interest of full disclosure, and an honest intent to save future entrepreneurs some grief and money, I would remind you that starting any business has key dependencies on at least five major elements, including product design and delivery, the right people on the team, adequate funding, a sizable market opportunity, and marketing.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

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

APRIL 9, 2017

There are hundreds of consultants out there who will take your money for guidance in this area, but I recommend that you start with some free resources on the Internet, or one of the many recent books on this topic. Assess social media relevance to your product or service. Communication and writing skills are required.

Social Media 66

Social Media Media Tips Platform 66

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2017

There are hundreds of consultants out there who will take your money for guidance in this area, but I recommend that you start with some free resources on the Internet, or one of the many recent books on this topic. Assess social media relevance to your product or service. Use strong communication and writing skills.

Social Media 58

Social Media Media Platform Tool 58

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Jim Semick: I’ve been launching and managing software products for 15 years now, going back to when you and I worked together at Expertcity before it was acquired by Citrix. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

It’s a hard topic to write about because it’s almost an accepted norm that total transparency is good. They told you, “Yeah, man, I’ll gladly write the first $250,000. How can you show “traction” on a product that just launched? CEO transparency. It almost sounds uncontroversial. Are tacking.

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2012

There are hundreds of consultants out there who will take your money for guidance in this area, but I recommend that you start with some free resources on the Internet, or one of the many recent books on this topic. Assess social media relevance to your product or service. Communication and writing skills are required.

Social Media 95

Social Media Media Startup Platform 95

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

Joey Flores: For starters, we're smart enough not to believe anything until it is in writing. We had some investors very interested but wanted us to validate some metrics, so we spent time building things to prove those metrics. So, our priorities are to improve the product and catalog for listeners.

Software Review 100

Software Review Startup Metrics Content 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2011

There are hundreds of consultants out there who will take your money for guidance in this area, but I recommend that you start with some free resources on the Internet, or one of the many recent books on this topic. Assess social media relevance to your product or service. Communication and writing skills are required.

Social Media 93

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Platform 93

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

In the media NYC is “hot” right now yet having just spent 6 days in NY I heard many similar stories as I get in LA: not enough VC and hard to get great tech resources. We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. We discussed NY vs. Silicon Valley and NY vs. Boston.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Product development process. Funding process.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

And if you’re lucky and hit product/market fit straight out of the gate – awesome. Money when you find product / market fit is an extreme differentiator. Overfunding after product / market fit is essential to competing and winning. why do I write p.s.’s sometimes? You grow from 8 to 45 people over night.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process.

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Product development process. Funding process.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2016

If you have board members you respect you owe it to yourself to run more productive sessions where board members contribute. What you Before Sets the Course for How Well the Day Goes Make sure you send your financial and operating metrics no less than 72 hours before the board meeting — even better if it can be a week in advance.

Guide 196

Guide Startup Metrics Conference 196

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Admittedly, that last part is an exaggeration but they were bad enough that I am writing this essay in the hopes that you will read it and not make these mistakes. Tip: After writing you answer, re-read the question and ask yourself, “Is there anything in what I wrote that is not actually answering that question?”. The #EpicNovelFail.

Tips 70

Tips Startup Statistics Metrics 70

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” To grow faster businesses need resources in today’s financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

I know it sounds obvious but just so you understand: There are more capital sources available for earlier-stage capital, the information on which they are evaluating the investment is less (it is almost certainly just team and product) and the risk of the investor getting things wrong is diminished.

Startup 150

Startup Capital Funding Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself. So when Sam Rosen came to me with the idea of disrupting storage with a product that is priced cheaper than existing incumbents and he could build a product that is a better service I was intrigued. Market Size.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

socalTECH

JANUARY 15, 2009

We also provide the consumer a slew of tools, that will help them upload their resume and manage their online identity, plus we also have a resume builder function, detailed metrics on exactly who is viewing their resume, and the ability to create and manage multiple versions of their resume. Plus, we will provide resume writing services.

Startup 140

Startup Yahoo Sites Oversee.net 140

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 30, 2012

We write and create our own content for the game. We make it trivial to quickly aggregate and monitor your key metrics in real-time! Everything happens in the browser (no software to download) and the finished product looks amazing on large screens! Rapid Fire Trivia is a game owned and operated by Danger Room Gaming.

CalTech 91

CalTech Company Companies Idealab 91