SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication? 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication?

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

InfoChachkie

APRIL 9, 2013

The worlds of standup comedy and business presentations are not as disparate as they may appear at first glance. They often write their own material, book their gigs, arrange their travel and negotiate and collect their compensation from club owners. The presenter must respond respectfully. Comedians are entrepreneurs.

Tips 241

Tips Entrepreneur RSS Startup 241

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

Passion is also the featured heavily in nearly every presentation I give to entrepreneurs or on college campuses or in talks with MBA students. We live in interesting times where working at a startup is glamorized to the point that many founders even refer to their team members as “rock stars,” which to my ears is cringe worthy.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

Recently I’ve been debating with a number of young startup companies that are raising money in the next few months, “what is the right about of capital to raise at a startup?&#. Who started this meme? I say define a strategy, test it up front and pivot if you’re not getting the traction you had expected.

Startup 319

Startup Venture Capital Capital Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

If you’re an early investor like I am that often means writing the first $2-3 million check into a business that previously had either survived on fumes or on a $500,000 angel round. In a VC business when you raise additional capital you need to “level up” and act the round you are. Act your stage. Flipper of burgers.

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

When talking to startup founders or other innovators, we always ask questions to better understand their business as a core. Start by building just enough of your product to get early CAC and CLV signals (they won’t be perfect). Be sure to check out the entire presentation. Focus on building an MVP to gather startup metrics.

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Slides Technical Review 260

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Her post is short & well written so definitely worth a read if you’re a startup person and want to hear some sensible views on sales. The idea that the course asks students to write public blog posts is a testament to its more modern teaching style. I wrote about the four types of sales people here. ” She’s right.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” I hope to publish that deck and a full write up in the next 10 days in partnership with Dan Primack at Fortune (if my write up doesn’t suck, I guess ;-)).

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

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

TechEmpower

AUGUST 7, 2023

What does it mean to be a CTO for a startup? Should a startup CTO spend their time programming? Here’s a graphic from Socal CTO that illustrates the roles as they change over time: In its earliest days, a startup’s top need is often to produce a product. What does the role demand? Exploring new technologies? It might be.

CTO Hire 260

CTO Hire Develop Development Fractional VPE 260

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A It’s why I always work hard to find images for my blog posts & why all of my keynote presentations are visual rather than bullet points with words. This applies equally to VCs, startups & big company executives.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

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

OCTOBER 31, 2015

Let me start the post with three statements. Many people with ADD don’t work well in corporations & with bureaucracy, people with ADD have a bias towards action, people with ADD often speak up & take action and have strong bursts of creativity. I can’t write a blog post and then wait 3 days to publish.

Startup 384

Startup Writing Class Orange County 384

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2010

As a startup entrepreneur you’ll have many demands for your time. Especially if you start to have a degree of success or build a high public profile. “Thank you for writing to me – it’s nice to hear from you (or meet you) via email. I just wanted to tell you up front so you’d pace yourself.&#.

Startup 305

Startup Venture Capital Writing Conference 305

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

Don’t blog about what you think would be “cool.&# I don’t think that most startup blogs should be about how to build a startup. The new stuff: How do I get started? The advantage of the hosted version is that it’s easier to get started. Slice it up enough to do many posts.

Blogging 287

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 287

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. Next on the checklist.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Start-up Lessons”. Tonight I was reading a good blog post ( here ) from Sean Powers with Alistair Croll on preparing yourself for the TC50 “bump” – the rise in traffic that a company gets from presenting at TechCrunch 50. I could be TC50 or any other high profile event. We closed a $16.5

Startup 310

Startup Press Venture Capital Journal 310

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

When Nivi published the series he titled it “the top 10 things I look for before I write a check.&# As a result I felt compelled to add this final attribute because it matters a lot to me. If we’ve seen a company present where we feel that the CEO is shady. That in itself will be controversial, I know.

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Funding 284

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

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

of all statistics are made up. I’m writing this post to make sure you’re all on that same playing field. Here’s how I learned my lesson: I started my life as a consultant. I had to read each report, synthesis it and then come up with our best estimate of the markets going forward. I say it deadpanned.

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2020

Even in this age of videos and text messages, the quickest way to kill your startup dream with investors, business partners, or even customers, is embarrassingly poor writing. You have to be able to communicate effectively in all the common forms, including business writing, as well as talking, presenting, and producing videos.

Writing 125

Writing Entrepreneur Summary Email 125

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

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Startups that are backed by professional financial investors almost always have a Board of Directors that consists of some set of founders, investors and sometimes independent directors. It is worth pointing out that there are actually three levels of governance in venture-backed startups. This is often called “corporate governance”?—?in

Startup 204

Startup Writing Framework Summary 204

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

This does not mean you shouldn’t solve big, complex problems or write complex code. Partisan rancor aside, we had just come off a boom decade – especially in tech – and many people at the start of the election thought Al Gore was a shoe in. Before that he was a US senator. WTF does that even mean? Al Gore was not.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

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

MAY 16, 2010

A couple of years ago an entrepreneur had requested a meeting with me to present his business. And that’s why he stood me up! But as a gentleman I would have picked up the phone in advance and personally called the appointment to apologize for cancelling at the last minute – no matter whom I was meeting.

Startup 346

Startup Conference Century City Email 346

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2019

Should You Allow Board Observers on Your Startup Board? Note: This is part of a series on Startup Boards. Often partners like to bring along an analyst or associate both as a way to help train younger staff (it’s an apprentice business) and also to have somebody to follow up on action items. Types of Board Observers 1.

Startup 255

Startup Venture Capital Writing Training 255

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). I was telling him that it was much easier when I started because there were fewer deals, life was less public and somehow the world seemed to be spinning more slowly. I don’t.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

My pal Dave occasionally presents “headline risks” for investors. I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. And so are most startup CEOs for that matter. He picks up the phone when he wants to discuss a deal with you.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I started with a Top 10 list for Nivi (at VentureHacks), but I couldn’t cram it into 10 so it became a Top 11 list. There’s one attribute (coming soon) that I need to have in order to write a check but I don’t believe is vital for success. OK, it’s not really my final part.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

For our Insights and Opinions section today, we have a piece from GRP Partners' Mark Suster , who--after watching and judging pitches at last week's Twiistup event--gives some hints and tips about how not to suck at presentations. Most people suck at presenting to big groups. I'll put up the video when they post it on their website.

Twiistup 124

Twiistup GRP Partners Tips UCLA 124

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 11, 2011

That’s why people turn up to Buzzfeed. We talked about a lot of great stuff in the video including how to do sales calls and a how a new “culture of writing&# is emerging as a critical skill set in business today. we started this convo at minute 47]. But of course we also focused on making content go viral.

Buzzfeed 354

Buzzfeed Content Tips Blogging 354

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. I started feeling panic attacks.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 12, 2010

If I were to re-write the original post I would have taken out the section on “how to get better intro’s from VC’s&# and made it it’s own post. Once I was done writing my post and had re-read it I started thinking more abstractly about decision making. Tags: Start-up Advice.

Startup 267

Startup Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur 267

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. ” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 13, 2010

I started blogging in 2005 and then re-started blogging about a year ago. You can start in a lightweight, community friendly way like on Tumblr or Posterous without much effort. I’ve always believed that you learn a great deal when you’re presenting, teaching or writing about what you know.

Blogging 250

Blogging Social Media Writing Startup 250

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

Even in this age of videos and text messages, the quickest way to kill your startup dream with investors, business partners, or even customers, is embarrassingly poor writing. You have to be able to communicate effectively in all the common forms, including business writing, as well as talking, presenting, and producing videos.

Writing 109

Writing Entrepreneur Summary Email 109