Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A This applies equally to VCs, startups & big company executives. The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. So no whinging about what a long post this is!

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Upon graduation from Wharton, John and Kyle launched a startup based upon a simple, pedestrian product: a computer mouse shaped like the head of a golf driver. However, a number of them wanted to vicariously experience the startup world through John and Kyle''s venture. It''s gonna highlight our emotions, our ups and our downs.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Start-up Lessons.&#. My starting line with every entrepreneur is that everything I learned about being an entrepreneur I learned from F’ing it up on my first business. I even put that in the the preamble to my Start-up Lessons outline.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 15, 2010

Last night I attended the inaugural Open Angel Forum event started by Jason Calacanis , a fellow LA resident. Jason started the Open Angel Forum in response to his frustration that entrepreneurs were being charged by some angel organizations to present at their events. He wrote an excellent blog post on this topic.

Angel 254

Angel Startup Tech Coast Angels MyShape 254

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 20, 2013

So I thought I’d write a piece on how not to suck when you give a presentation. Many of them have their iPhones and laptops ready to command their attention the moment that you start sucking. Stories have starts, middles and ends. I They all start to blend together. Show some energy! Get out of your comfort zone.

Slides 399

Slides Startup Conference Writing 399

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Brad wrote up his answer here – you should read it because it’s very instructive for how I believe communities ought to think about naming conventions. I recommend that you start by writing down the attributes you would want people to think about when they think about your brand. This is the list I would start with.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

2023 hasn't been an easy year to be a startup. In fact, according to Crunchbase more than 212 startups closed their shutters in the third fiscal quarter alone – the highest number recorded in the firm's history. Yet, while many early-stage startups crumbled under the pressure, diamonds also emerged.

Startup 194

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 194

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

It’s the first EIR that we’ve had in the years that I’ve been with the firm and I hope will be the start of our investment in this program. I became aware of Sam several years ago as I started noticing his name repeated in the comments section of my blog. Sam later decided he wanted to do a startup.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 29, 2014

I often describe “chutzpah” as being able to skate right up to the line of acceptability without crossing over it. Years ago I started using the term “politely persistent” to remind people that you still need to be likable even if you have gumption. It’s your job to persist. Nothing beats a warm intro.

Venture Capital 389

Venture Capital Email Startup Conference 389

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

When I had a startup I had a method for avoiding these BSAK errors. I would write the email and be as scathing as I wanted to be. Truthfully, it’s a great idea to write it if you can be disciplined and not send it. I’m not talking about mild sarcasm – I’m talking about a right swift kick up the arse.

Writing 292

Writing Email Startup Ideas 292

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. The challenge is finding and using qualified affordable support organizations for each stage. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

InfoChachkie

APRIL 16, 2012

Article first published as Steve Blank Discusses Origin And Future Of Lean Startup Movement on Technorati. I recently spoke with Steve Blank, author of the new book The Startup Owner’s Manual. He is credited with pioneering the Lean Startup Movement in 2005 via the publication of his bestselling, Four Steps To The Epiphany.

Startup 229

Startup Class Press Custom Development 229

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

OCTOBER 25, 2014

Very few investors understand this and even fewer startups. When you’re an early-stage business every dollar matters and because many startup teams these days are very product & technology centric they often miscalculate the importance of PR. PR is an insanely valuable activity in early-stage companies. They are silent.

Press 415

Press Google Course Writing 415

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

The pain was that somebody senior in the organization had read about the importance of Facebook for business and had begun asking loud questions about why the organization didn’t have a strong Facebook presence. The goal is to get the customer speaking about their organization. That is still “pain.”

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. The challenge is finding and using qualified affordable support organizations for each stage. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it.

Organization 93

Organization Startup Incubator Ideas 93

socalTECH

JANUARY 18, 2011

We caught up with Julie Schoenfeld , the firm's CEO, to hear about how the firm's offerings have evolved, an interesting comparison of the firm's software to what Demand Media is doing, and what this new funding will go towards. The first thing we do, is we start with great content. So, we start with that.

Marketing 232

Marketing Funding Content Writing 232

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2009

The power to me was that I had already been blogging about my personal life and my children as well as separately about my startup. And Facebook continued to innovate while all this time I have continued to wonder WTF LinkedIn was up to. It’s also how Jason Nazar and I started communicating. Powerful stuff.

Startup 276

Startup Blogging Social Network Networking 276

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 Customer 314

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. Importantly we also discussed: should startups raise small amounts of money or large? how should you organize teams in a startup? And make sure to pick up a copy of his book.

Social Media 301

Social Media Startup Metrics Media 301

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. The start of marketing is figuring out a market need and a way to solve that need better than anybody else.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2019

A Startup I’ve Been Excited to Tell You About for Years A few years ago I spent time in prison with Trevor O’Brien , the founder of Projector. When we got out of prison Trevor began describing the startup he and his co-founder, Jeremy Gordon , wanted to build. you can sign up if you want to try the service.

Startup 191

Startup Social Media Slides Design 191

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 20, 2010

Today I want to write about a related topic: not taking the little things in life for granted. But eventually I started zoning out on the drive in – just another day in the office. And then I started reading the International Herald Tribune lest I miss my daily dose of international politics. More later in the post.

Blogging 335

Blogging Manhattan Beach Startup Writing 335

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity. Street Smarts - OK, so you’re a tenacious person – you never give up. Well obviously that’s meaningless if your startup idea sucks. He was at a startup that was in a super hot sector.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

In the Los Angeles startup world, there are lots of high profile, buzzy companies which have lots of attention and funding--but which haven''t earned a dime of revenue. We caught up with CEO and co-founder Brett Rossman to learn more about the company and how it''s been able to grow, profitably, all without raising a dime of outside capital.

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 14, 2009

Cliff Allen is someone I've known for quite a few years and he's a go to person for me when I'm thinking about issues around marketing, sales, technology, startups and networking. I moved into writing software to analyze audience data, and wrote a lot of computer graphics software. What keeps you up at night? Hey, radio.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Networking Marketing Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

You submitted news to a website like Digg and if it was interesting content with a great headline and newsworthy text it would get driven up to the masses. Here’s how I learned: When I first started blogging 18 months ago or so I started asking people the best way to get distribution. Traffic rolled in.

News 284

News Blogging Search Engine Optimization SEO 284

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

In addition, the discipline of producing it, like writing a business plan, will help you immensely in understanding the key elements that drive you and your business. Yet, most good business people I know agree, but don’t know where to start. What’s holding you back from starting today?

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

TechCrunch LA

JULY 21, 2020

When Upfront Ventures partner Kara Nortman first met Natalie Portman a few years ago to talk about ways their non-profit organizations All Raise and Time’s Up could collaborate, she never realized they’d eventually be partners on a sports franchise. “We’re venture capitalists. ” Nortman said.

Writing 171

Writing Los Angeles Equity Startup 171

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. My starting salary was $27,000. I can’t make this up. I have published many of these PR Tips before. ” F**k.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 22, 2018

Founded by Steve Poizner last year to accelerate the growth of a startup entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southern California, The Alliance is building a network of investors, entrepreneurs and universities to provide ballast in the south to the dominance of the Northern California tech industry.

Southern California 224

Southern California Dollar Shave Club SoCal Develop 224

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2008

Anne Walls and John Singleton are co-founders of WordHustler (www.wordhustler.com), a local Hollywood startup looking to help writers connect with publishers. We caught up with both Anne and John to learn more about the company. Even the most organized writers have difficulty with the process. Anne Walls: Everything.

Writing 209

Writing Hollywood Startup Sites 209

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

If you need to know how to do something, just look it up online. My message today is to avoid the consultant stigma by signing up to do the job, not just talk about it. My message today is to avoid the consultant stigma by signing up to do the job, not just talk about it. But certainly the Internet doesn’t do the job for you.

Startup 150

Startup Slides Email Customer 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2014

I’ll try to get write-ups shortly but for now here is an overview of my interview with Nanea Reeves – President and COO of textPlus. In our video we discussed leadership topics such as managing product and engineering teams, communication and company organization. Company Organization.

Technical Review 315

Technical Review Blogging RSS Organization 315

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. The challenge is finding and using qualified affordable support organizations for each stage. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it.

Startup 122

Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 2, 2010

As a VC I’m acutely that a “yes&# decision to support an entrepreneur can do just that, yet I only write 2-4 of them per year and maybe another 3-4 as an angel. I’m not a saint who wakes up every day trying to make the lives of other people better. I started blogging because Brad Feld blogged.

Startup 352

Startup Help Blogging Entrepreneur 352

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2020

One of the biggest impediments to starting a new venture is the “ terror barrier ,” as popularized by Bob Proctor, a 85-year-old millionaire and world renowned entrepreneur. If you want to be an entrepreneur and start a new business, you must be willing and able to break through your terror barrier. Work on one step at a time.

Startup 173

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Mentor 173