Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” He or she has worked at some very successful big technology or media companies and went to a great school. Being a CEO begets the network to be a CEO.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 7, 2019

Due to the overwhelming demand to pitch at our last event in Orange County, we're throwing an exclusive PitchFest speed dating event where you will be pitching to over 20 investors one-on-one! There will be plenty of time for networking with the Investor panelists, both before the panel and after the panel at the Cocktail Party!

Orange County 100

Orange County Venture Capital Angel Tech Coast Angels 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

When you think about the trends of faster-growing startups due to social networking, credit card enable and mobile first consumers – the reality is that many startups are becoming very large financially before needing to go public. From a technology perspective our journey is nowhere near over. 2007 was the watershed year.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 5, 2019

Due to the overwhelming demand to pitch at our last event in San Diego, we're throwing an exclusive PitchFest speed dating event where you will be pitching to over 20 investors one-on-one! There will be plenty of time for networking with the Investor panelists, both before the panel and after the panel at the Cocktail Party!

San Diego 100

San Diego Venture Capital Angel Summary 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2021

Publish a regular blog, contribute to relevant social networks, and highlight several videos, podcasts, or eBooks of you and your technology. Highlight interviews and reviews from recognized industry sources, and news sources. In summary, a startup with no website, or a website with no credibility will kill your business.

Web 117

Web Search Engine Optimization eBook Advertising 117

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. Anybody who has worked in venture can tell you that if you took every intro that came your way you’d simply spend all of your time in meetings reviewing new deals sent to you.

Startup 317

Startup Technical Review Venture Capital Email 317

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Let’s review all of our existing investments. tl;dr summary. If you want a comprehensive summary of the industry in this era it’s worth a read: VC Ice Age Part 1 – What Happens When a Market Comes to a Standstill? Summary version? My year-over-year summary sounds very similar upon re-reading them.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

Partially due to the economy, but also due to longer, healthier lives and changes in job tenure, 60% of working Boomers are now expected to stay in the labor force, with real power and influence, for at least seven more years, to 2020. The immigrant rate of entrepreneurial activity seems to be declining each year (now about.5%),

Entrepreneur 118

Entrepreneur Technical Review Startup Technical Support 118

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

The app, dubbed HomeHero Connect, supports phone timesheet tracking, daily activity summaries, emergency alerts and automated payments between a user and an independent home caregiver. Like LinkedIn, HomeHero Connect aligns families with new or existing caregivers across the country over its reliable network. LinkedIn for Caregivers.

Software Review 77

Software Review Technical Review Southern California Summary 77

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2014

Here are a few: Business networking. For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. It doesn’t work if you don’t follow up on networking opportunities, networking referrals, and ongoing networking relationships. Investor negotiations. Product development.

Ideas 108

Ideas Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 108

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2010

What Quora has done is wrap social networking around Q&A with the more clever next-gen UX I’ve seen. I stumbled upon the Question, “ What-is-the-motivation-behind-writing-public-reviews-and-tips-as-on-Amazon-Yelp-Foursquare-StickyBits-etc &# and took the bait. Design the product to accomodate needs of all three.

Technical Review 294

Technical Review Writing Content Sites 294

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Publish a regular blog, contribute to relevant social networks, and highlight several videos, podcasts, or eBooks of you and your technology. Highlight interviews and reviews from recognized industry sources, and news sources. In summary, a startup with no website, or a website with no credibility will kill your business.

Search Engine Optimization 88

Search Engine Optimization eBook Advertising SEO 88

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2012

Partially due to the economy, but also due to longer, healthier lives and changes in job tenure, 62% of working Boomers are now expected to stay in the labor force, with real power and influence, for at least nine more years, to 2020.

Startup 112

Startup Technical Review Technical Support Study 112

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2014

Here is a summary of some key items to think about as an entrepreneur before approaching friends, family, or even fools: Don’t be afraid to ask, carefully. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs.

Startup 106

Startup Funding Technical Review Ideas 106

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

are eliminated during due diligence. Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. Build an investor presentation and summary. Investors expect a one or two-page executive summary sheet for the initial screening, backed up by a ten-slide Powerpoint investor presentation.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

I think you'll enjoy hearing him, but if you're in a rush check out the summary notes below. In the early 80’s he left academia to work on venture capital investing with Jim Simons, Renaissance Technologies. CEO Network – CEO’s from the portfolio companies are introduced to each other. and Half.com. How to run a board meeting?

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

I recommend you first review Dharmesh’s article and then listen to Naval’s thoughts. What follows is a summary which paraphrases Naval’s responses. There’s going to be more and more of these early stage networks forming. You can watch my interview with Naval below or on YouTube here: [link]. The whole environment has changed.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2013

Here are a few: Business networking. For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. It doesn’t work if you don’t follow up on networking opportunities, networking referrals, and ongoing networking relationships. Investor negotiations. Product development.

Ideas 110

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 110

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2013

Here is a summary of some key items to think about as an entrepreneur before approaching friends, family, or even fools: Don’t be afraid to ask, carefully. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs.

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Technical Review Startup Ideas 109

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

People said this about Ring (which went from startup to selling to Amazon > $1 billion in around 5 years), Facebook, YouTube, Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, Instagram and many other great behemoths of the technology industry. Ah, but Bird doesn’t have network effects! There is nothing viral! Anybody can launch a scooter service!

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

are eliminated during due diligence. Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. Build an investor presentation and summary. Investors expect a one or two-page executive summary sheet for the initial screening, backed up by a ten-slide Powerpoint investor presentation.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Thus founders seeking funding for a good cause or a new technology often seize on grants from universities, government agencies and philanthropic organizations as free money to solve their problems. After months of preparation, you should expect another six to nine months for reviews and funding cycles. Technology is not enough.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2011

Here is a summary of some key items to think about as an entrepreneur before approaching friends, family, or even fools: Don’t be afraid to ask, carefully. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs.

Startup 98

Startup Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

In fact, the focus on social networking platforms, starting with Facebook, has destroyed the meaning of the word friend and even changed it from a noun to a verb. Here is my summary of how business relationships relate to friends. Social networking friends have real business value. Everyone needs private friend relationships.

Entrepreneur 66

Entrepreneur Social Network Technical Review Social Media 66

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Let me start by saying two things: Events like this are invaluable to startups because the significant value comes from building the network across portfolio companies and the discussion one can have with your peer group. The Greycroft event was a 10 out of 10 so I’ve diligently taken notes.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. Link has a summary of his argument plus a great video). While many tech startups do this intuitively (say, SnapChat thinking it would be much better if our photos out partying disappeared) it still happens. It’s worth a quick read.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2010

Here are a few: Business networking. For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. It doesn’t work if you don’t follow up on networking opportunities, networking referrals, and ongoing networking relationships. Investor negotiations. Product development.

Ideas 95

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 95

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. If you spent the 3 years perfecting some hugely differentiated technology IP that may also be different. Fast early growth in a market is often eroded when competition gets fierce and prices are forced down due to competition.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2013

Publish a regular blog, contribute to relevant social networks, and write a “white paper” on your technology. Highlight interviews and reviews from recognized industry sources, and news sources. In summary, a startup with no website, or a website with no credibility will kill your business.

Search Engine Optimization 105

Search Engine Optimization Startup Advertising SEO 105

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

Here is a summary of some key items to think about as an entrepreneur before approaching friends, family, or even fools: Don’t be afraid to ask, carefully. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs.

Funding 93

Funding Technical Review Startup Ideas 93

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Publish a regular blog, contribute to relevant social networks, and highlight several videos, podcasts, or eBooks of you and your technology. Highlight interviews and reviews from recognized industry sources, and news sources. In summary, a startup with no website, or a website with no credibility will kill your business.

Search Engine Optimization 54

Search Engine Optimization eBook Advertising SEO 54

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

He knows the ad management and ad network businesses. But I believe it’s a very comprehensive solution and our due diligence with large app developers confirmed as much. At its core it provides a free and open “mediation&# layer that can work with any ad network or ad exchange. What does it do?

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2012

Intros.They’re the lifeblood of networking – the currency of mavens. It’s best if you send a deck so that the investor can review it for a fit before the introduction takes place. The tech world is filled with these kinds of intros. In Summary. They are your route to angel money. These drive me bonkers.

Email 359

Email Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 359

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 22, 2011

If you’re a startup and you haven’t read my summary of Clay Christensen’s seminal work please do. The new entrant keeps margins low but suddenly has a lot of profits due to large volumes of business. I met with our network experts to figure out whether we could launch a competing service. How does the incumbent respond?

Startup 386

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 386

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2012

Publish a regular blog, contribute to relevant social networks, and write a “white paper” on your technology. Highlight interviews and reviews from recognized industry sources, and news sources. In summary, a startup with no website, or a website with no credibility will kill your business.

Search Engine Optimization 96

Search Engine Optimization Entrepreneur Sites Advertising 96

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 8, 2018

Steven Johnson, author of How We Got To Now , analyzes technological breakthroughs, looking for patterns that allow entrepreneurs to identify “How We’ll Get To Tomorrow.” We all have hunches, but if we do not diligently document them, we risk losing them. You’re As Smart As Your Network. Slow Hunches Lead To Breakthroughs.

Ideas 69

Ideas Startup Technical Review Santa Barbara 69

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Executive Summary. If you want to watch the video version summary of my advice on fund raising it’s here. I get approached about clean tech or biotech periodically – I don’t focus on these. In ad tech there’s Seth Levine at Foundry Group and both Dana Settle & Ian Sigelow at Greycroft.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366