InfoChachkie

APRIL 7, 2014

Startups are an emotional rollercoaster; moments of sheer terror interlaced with bone-crushing, mind-numbing and highly addictive exhilaration. As Capitan of the startup rollercoaster, you must manage your company''s mood swings, while doing your best to not puke (at least not while your team is watching). Little Wins Add Up.

Startup 262

Startup Oracle Journal Email 262

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

We all like to think of startups as “non hierarchic&# organizations and to some extent that should be true. I see two common mistakes in companies (not just in startups, in fact). By going on sales calls you pick up directly the feedback of what customers want and also what they’re telling you about competition.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

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.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

If you’re interested in recruiting sales people, I wrote on the topic of startup sales people: who to hire & when – understanding the roles of Journeymen, Mavericks & Superstars. Evangelical sales – Understanding startup sales people and process. Here is my recommended approach. You learn by asking.

Sales 346

Sales Startup Technical Review Custom 346

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. If you’re an early-stage enterprise startup services revenue is exactly what you need. We like software.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

When you set up a board it is often initially a combination of the founders and the early investors. It can start 2–1 founders to investors and then sometimes moves to 3–2 but sometime around the A, B or C round the idea of “independent” directors comes up. This is really a checklist in my mind of how I think about independents.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2010

I believe that this is a major new area of growth & innovation for the Internet as Cloud Services start to form deeper & richer layers. You can think of even your PC as a stack in which the hardware manufacturers handled physical layers, Microsoft handled the OS layer and application companies built higher up in the stack.

Startup 343

Startup Technical Review S3 Services 343

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. Of course, there are always exceptions, but how much added risk do you need for your startup? billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. How can you get exposure?

Startup 97

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2023

Larry Ellison (Oracle) preferred a candidate who had accomplished something genuinely difficult over one with formal qualifications. The best business leaders never wait until a position opens up to start searching for talent to fill it. Take chances on unconventional talent. Always searching for new talent sources.

Oracle 94

Oracle Organization Examples Coach 94

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

I will argue that when the dust settles, although we will have fewer firms, each type well end up more focused on traditional stage segments that cater to the core competencies of that firm. When I built my first company starting in 1999 it cost $2.5 million in infrastructure just to get started and another $2.5 Enter Amazon.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software Capital Startup 334

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I’m not saying that lawyers were my screening process – simply that they knew about deals early on and they had voted with their time and pocketbooks so I knew I had a degree of filtering. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). no, I''m not talking about SVB, Comerica, Square1 and the like.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. Of course, there are always exceptions, but how much added risk do you need for your startup? billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. How can you get exposure?

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2013

Today’s startup innovators come from about six hours south of Silicon Valley. Fun Fact: One of the most prominent figures from their firm, Mark Suster t, runs a blog startups follow religiously. Mark Douglas, Steelhouse President and CEO, is formerly from Oracle and was the VP of Technology at eHarmony. Silicon Valley?

Startup 111

Startup Snapchat Venice Social Media 111

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

This is part of my series on Startup Advice. I love working with Aussies because their outlook on life seems very similar to what I grew up with in California. I’d like to talk about Crocodile Salesmen in 3 scenarios: 1) when YOU are selling (or someone on your team), 2) when you are trying to recruit a sales person.

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Custom 314

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

Many people bandy about the definitions of “disruptive technology&# or “the innovator’s dilemma&# without ever having read the book and almost universally misunderstand the concepts. It should affect how you think if you are an incumbent but also if you’re a startup. It is not a beach novel to be sure.

Startup 376

Startup Framework Marketing Custom 376

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

This post covers the first out of 10 that I’ll write about. It’s the person who never gives up – who never accepts “no&# for an answer. If you’re already running a startup you know all this. But some founders have that extra quality that makes them never give up. I called Ismael directly.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

But the story started more than 6 months ago. And the narrative may tell you something about your own journey one day. We started planning our fund raising as much as 14 months ago. Many had started IPO’ing and we started to think about our future. September started easily enough.

Funding 150

Funding Startup SaaS Venture Capital 150

socalTECH

DECEMBER 3, 2012

The firm recently showed up as one of the fastest growing companies in LA as part of the Deloitte Fast 500 rankings. We caught up with Damir Davidovic, CEO of NEOGOV, to hear about the rapidly growing (and hiring) company. Damir Davidovic: We started working with government agencies in the area awhile back.

Software Review 243

Software Review SaaS Startup Technical Review 243

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2020

Larry Ellison (Oracle) preferred a candidate who had accomplished something genuinely difficult over one with formal qualifications. The best business leaders never wait until a position opens up to start searching for talent to fill it. Take chances on unconventional talent. Always searching for new talent sources.

Oracle 124

Oracle Organization Examples Coach 124

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

I was recently interviewed for an article that appeared in Fast Company titled, “ Why you should start a business in LA.&# If you’re interested in the topic it’s worth a read, but I thought I’d elaborate on the topic since it comes up all the time. Zorik Gordon is tearing it up at ReachLocal.

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. Of course, there are always exceptions, but how much added risk do you need for your startup? billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. How can you get exposure?

Startup 109

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 109

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2014

When you think about hot sectors for startups, the construction industry is not typically the first place you''d expect. So, we were surprised to learn about the backing that Los Angeles-based mobile app provider TRUCKAST (www.truckast.com) has from investor Gary Winnick (who co-founded Global Crossing). READ MORE>>.

Mobile 133

Mobile Startup Oracle Los Angeles 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2013

One of the most common failures I see in startups is lack of focus. Investors hear this as trying to do too many things with limited resources, meaning the startup will not shine at anything, and will not survive the competition. Solve one problem really well. Limited goals and priorities. Prioritize marketing channels.

Startup 103

Startup Competition Technical Review Oracle 103

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2017

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. Of course, there are always exceptions, but how much added risk do you need for your startup? billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. How can you get exposure?

Sites 59

Sites Startup Technical Review Oracle 59

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

To address that disaster, Ken Button and Randy Bishop�two veterans of the startup industry�created ContractSafe (www.contractsafe.com), a new online service aimed at helping companies to tame that mess and manage and store their contracts in the cloud. So how'd you end up starting the company? It's not what people need.

Doc 100

Doc Software Review Help Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2013

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. Of course, there are always exceptions, but how much added risk do you need for your startup? billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. How can you get exposure?

Startup 102

Startup Technical Review Oracle Entrepreneur 102

InfoChachkie

JUNE 24, 2013

The CEO of Expertcity (creator of GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting, acquired by Citrix) was born in Germany and grew up in South Africa. Although his English was impeccable, he was occasionally tripped up by colloquialisms. Startups must economically counteract the pervasive drone of large incumbents'' messaging.

Marketing 239

Marketing Conference Startup RSS 239

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2022

Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting long rambling texts about the weather, or “Hello, how are you?” Just like consumers give top priority to peer feedback and experiences on social media or Yelp, you need to incent your clients to tell others about you and become your advocate. Maximize online referrals and positive service reviews.

Services 121

Services Technical Review Social Media Case Study 121

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 18, 2011

In this interview, Mark discusses how his experiences at Oracle, eHarmony and the Rubicon Project contributed to the creation of his latest venture, SteelHouse Media. 5) Mark, why does the startup world need SteelHouse? . 4) Did I read correctly that you were part of the original development team for Oracle Financials?

eHarmony 204

eHarmony Media Oracle Commerce 204

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. This post highlights some of the reasons why the market is moving again and what entrepreneurs should do about this.

Venture Capital 255

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

It conjures up a range of emotions anytime I’ve privately expressed my opinion to thought leaders in our industry that I believe it is one of the most innovative companies in digital media. Wasn’t Jonah worried about “platform risks?” Others are skeptical, “Ha! An obvious vector for me would be software for the media industry.

Buzzfeed 210

Buzzfeed Media Content News 210

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Yesterday I wrote about how to talk to investors about your competitors. In short, acknowledge they exist, be transparent about strengths & weaknesses and use your differences to talk about how you want to position yourself in the market. But forget talking about them, how should you actually treat your competitors?

Cloud Computing 320

Cloud Computing Competition Press Startup 320

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. I’m inspired by the enthusiasm of the young, emerging startup ecosystem that is here. As I gear up to give a keynote at the annual Seattle 2.0 I will start recruiting soon. Of course I have.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

For our pitch today, we have an interview with Taher Scherzay , founder of Thaeres (www.thaeres.com), a Los Angeles area startup developing subscription and recurring payment processing services. What is Thaeres about? Usually, that piece isn''t thought of very clearly, and you end up having to put a billing system together.

Startup 159

Startup Oracle Custom Customer 159

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2017

What most excites you about the technology industry here today? In the last couple ofyears, we've seen more enterprise technology and software locally here, and software is starting to grow up. We're also excited about the areas around artificial intelligence for certain verticals. I think that is a big strength for us.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Conference Silver Lake Cornerstone OnDemand 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 14, 2016

We spoke with co-founder Ryan Costello about Santa Monica-based Event Farm (www.eventfarm.com), on how its software technology is being used to power high end, VIP events for large companies. How did you start the company? Ryan Costello: I started out as an event producer in Washington DC. So how did you end up in Santa Monica?

Sales 100

Sales Santa Monica Startup Orange County 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

We caught up with Quinton Alsbury , president and co-founder of the company, to learn more about what Roambi is doing for enterprises, and where it's going. For those not familiar with Roambi, can you tell us about the product? So, we set out to do that, and after a year and a half developed the first version of our product.

Mobile 170

Mobile Oracle Startup Content 170