Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

I think I’ve read Paul Graham’s post on “ Startup = Growth ” three or four times now. “The growth of a successful startup usually has three phases: There’s an initial period of slow or no growth while the startup tries to figure out what it’s doing. I talked about some of that here.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

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

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

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

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

MARCH 30, 2016

But the story started more than 6 months ago. 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. Jason himself had enjoyed “the art of the start” as I think Guy Kawasaki once coined. September started easily enough.

Funding 150

Funding Startup SaaS Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2011

I was recently approached by Fast Company to comment on “crisis management&# at startups in the wake of the Airbnb “ranksackgate&# story. Obviously they wish they would have figured this out a bit more quickly, but as a young team I personally cut them a little bit more slack than I would if it were Oracle, for example.

Startup 329

Startup Press Training Media 329

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. I will also outline how to select them and incentivize them.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

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 recommend starting the meeting with a VERY brief introduction of your company, your background and why it’s relevant to the job you currently have.

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Custom 314

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Based on my years of experience in both startups and large companies, trusted relationships are more the key to success than a great business model, how smart you are, or how much money you have. Start practicing it today wherever you are. Building relationships is not rocket science, and can be learned by anyone. Marty Zwilling.

Oracle 113

Oracle Entrepreneur Outsource Development Mentor 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). Before I tell you the reasons I’m concerned about investment banking intros, I should start by saying I think bankers are enormously helpful for entrepreneurs in raising money. start-ups are overvalued. I spent time on college campuses.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

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

MAY 4, 2013

I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). I think my mentality to banker pitches was best summed up in this article about Y Combinator in which Paul Graham apparently made the following quotes. start-ups are overvalued. How good they were at follow up. I attended events. I hustled.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Come listen to a distinguished panel, Jeffrey Kinderman, Director of Oracle Capital Advisors, Ralph J. Barry, Partner in WSGR, David Russian, CFO of EvoNexus, and William Dunn, Partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers discuss what start-up companies need to know regarding 409A regulations and guidelines. See [link] (more).

Capital 100

Capital Oracle Marketing Startup 100

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. What is Neogov?

Software Review 243

Software Review SaaS Startup Technical Review 243

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

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. You no longer work for Google, Oracle, Salesforce.com or McKinsey where everybody calls you back.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

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

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

There’s no doubt (at least anecdotally) that the pace of VC investments in early-stage technology companies has picked up in the past few months. I hear from several sources that Sequoia is very active in the market aggressively chasing several deals and even driving up prices on some early-stage deals.

Venture Capital 255

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

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. entrepreneur startup investor focus business' Solve one problem really well. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 103

Startup Competition Technical Review Oracle 103

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

Let me start with Professor Christensen’s definition: “An innovation that is disruptive allows a whole new population of consumers access to a product or service that was historically only accessible to consumers with a lot of money or a lot of skill.&#. Let’s start with the incumbents position in a market.

Startup 376

Startup Framework Marketing Custom 376

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

MARCH 16, 2020

Based on my years of experience in both startups and large companies, trusted relationships are more the key to success than a great business model, how smart you are, or how much money you have. Start practicing it today wherever you are. Building relationships is not rocket science, and can be learned by anyone. Marty Zwilling.

Oracle 124

Oracle Entrepreneur Outsource Development Mentor 124

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 18, 2015

What do Oracle, eHarmony, and Rubicon Project all have in common? Started at Oracle as one of its first employees. Founded a series of successful startups resulting in IPOs and acquisitions. Have a startup? Startup Exhibitor Space Available starting at $1,500. Mark Douglas, CEO of SteelHouse !

eHarmony 40

eHarmony Oracle Acquisition Startup 40

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2014

When you think about hot sectors for startups, the construction industry is not typically the first place you''d expect. We caught up with CEO Todd Davis to learn why the company and its investors think mobile apps for construction are the next big thing. What''s your background, and how did you get into this? READ MORE>>.

Mobile 133

Mobile Startup Oracle Los Angeles 133

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. Usually, that piece isn''t thought of very clearly, and you end up having to put a billing system together. What is Thaeres about?

Startup 159

Startup Oracle Custom Customer 159

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 21, 2014

The company started here in 2002, and we were basically an agency. We started looking to see if we could use technology disrupt the agency business, for companies serving the performance marketing area, the cost-per-sale area. Starting in 2010, we started focusing on that. Who we are today, is an ad technology company.

Media 162

Media Advertising Startup Platform 162

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 133

Marketing Conference Startup Oracle 133

socalTECH

AUGUST 24, 2009

One of the startup areas where we've been seeing renewed activity in the last few months is in the enterprise software space--specifically, in software-as-a-service applications targeted at corporate customers. We spoke with the firm's CEO and co-founder, John Hanna : How'd you end up starting the company, and what is FunnelSource all about?

Oracle 145

Oracle Sales Startup Screening 145

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2009

We caught up with Therese to hear about her company and why it's growing. So, if you want to validate the balance in a bank account, someone opens up a spreadsheet and does work on it. What's the story behind Blackline, and how did it start? I had actually retired from SunGard as CTO before starting BlackLine.

Startup 124

Startup Software Review CTO Hire Oracle 124

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2017

In the last couple ofyears, we've seen more enterprise technology and software locally here, and software is starting to grow up. Los Angeles is a place that has a higher proportion of females starting companies than elsewhere, due to the nature of the businesses here. I think that is a big strength for us.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Conference Silver Lake Cornerstone OnDemand 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

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 awards dinner on Thursday night I started reflected on what it would take to “change the trajectory&# for Seattle or for any regional market, really.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. My first startup was no different. I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. Startups are the art of the possible.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Custom 316

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 14, 2016

How did you start the company? Ryan Costello: I started out as an event producer in Washington DC. I actually tried to put on an event to raise money for a charity in Washington DC, and at the time I was super young and super na�ve, and helping that charity ended up turning into a ten year long project.

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. That data can come from an existing business intelligence system, like SAP, Oracle, IBM, or Salesforce.com. You started in the age of the iPhone.

Mobile 170

Mobile Oracle Startup Content 170

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 25, 2015

I take my hat off to people like Adam Miller , the CEO of LA-based Cornerstone on Demand, who started at the exact same time as I did (November 1999) and is still the CEO but now of a public company valued at around $2 billion. I asked Jason one important question before he made up his mind: Do you really want to IPO this company?

Demand 150

Demand SaaS Startup Sales 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

It's another big week for startup launches, this time in San Diego at DEMOfall. How did you start NativeTung? I realized we had to build our own for the social network, and after we started buildling the technology in-house, and months and months of trial and error, we figured it out. The last place I worked was at Yahoo.

Startup 133

Startup Technical Review Social Network Content 133