Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Do you have a Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA). We feature a prominent speaker at every event.

Venture Capital 241

Venture Capital Technical Review Southern California Companies 241

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Do you have a Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2010

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 91

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 91

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

You might like to think that a bunch of savvy venture capitalists saw a market niche for raising smaller funds or perhaps there was a generational shift where disgruntled junior partners spun out of bigger firms to start their own gigs. I launched my first startup in 1999 so I know the economics of launching from first-hand experience.

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Invest Seed Funding Startup 328

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. If you don’t read it and you care about tech & entrepreneurship, you should. I think you’ll really enjoy this video , but as always I have summary notes for those with less time.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2013

I’ve written a lot about recruiting and hiring at startups including my controversial post on whom not to hire and my rapid response to the flame war. We will have to build (or buy) technology in this area.” She might gladly tell you who gets decisions made, who is a pain in the arse, who is super technical, etc.

Sales 375

Sales Technical Review Organization Case Study 375

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. For years I saw myself as the new guy in VC but then you wake up one day and realize that 50% of your peers have been doing it for less time than you and time has moved on.

Startup 317

Startup Technical Review Venture Capital Email 317

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

If you’re funding the same stuff as everybody else and if you started your activities when the clues were obvious you’re much less likely to drive enormous returns. In other words, if it seems this obvious to us then it must be this obvious to many other investors and probably to many other teams gearing up to compete.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Get your product/market fit working before you ramp up your costs (or raise too much money). 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.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 152

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Or, as always, summary notes available below. Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. How did you start blogging? “My In 2004 / 2005 I was starting to get intrigued with user-generated content. was starting. But, in fact, I would rather have an executive summary than a pitch deck. Brad on blogging.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. Innovate In the early years of a startup there is a lot of kinetic energy of enthusiastic innovators looking to launch a product that changes how an industry works.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

I started showing my partners more deals that I found interesting and doing loads of analysis on the future of markets I thought were ripe for disruption. Let’s review all of our existing investments. Come 2009 we felt really bullish about the future for startups because the froth was gone and so, too, were wantrapreneurs.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

Many startups fail before reaching that magic “cash-flow positive” position they have been striving for, despite seemingly reasonable financial projections. A closer analysis often indicates the cause to be a lack of diligence in handling common business finances. A startup must ensure that the payments are collected per agreed terms.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Summary Pricing 151

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Reviewing financial & operational performance. As You Start to Mature.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This is a long post, so I put an executive summary here if you want to get the point without reading all the detail. If you plan to read the post you can skip the summary if you want. This applies equally to VCs, startups & big company executives. Just 12 bullet points & you’re done.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

What people don't know is how First Round got started and often people know less about the amazing background of one of its co-founders, Howard Morgan (everyone tends to know Josh Kopelman as one of the highest profile players in our industry overall). Josh and Howard began co-investing as angels and in 2005 they started a $10 million fund.

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. Value Prop Twitter Style : AngelList is the productization of raising startup funding. 6) Naval, why does the startup world need AngelList and Venture Hacks? . “As

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

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. Link has a summary of his argument plus a great video). It’s worth a quick read.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

Few investors these days have the time or patience to read a full business plan, so a better way to catch their eye is with a tightly written and well formatted two-page executive summary. I see too many executive summaries that are simply heavy-duty customer pitches, or lightweight visions of the future.

Summary 101

Summary Patents Technical Review Competition 101

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2013

LaunchpadLA Opens Up Spring Applications. How to find a startup mentor. Southern California's Most Popular Tech Stories. Broadcom Powering New Mac Wireless. Surf Air Gets First Aircraft. In the latest roundup of fundings (big few weeks for San Diego, apparently): PatientSafe Solutions ($20M, San Diego, mobile health).

Southern California 168

Southern California Technical Review SoCal San Diego 168

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 16, 2012

Some of the highlights from this week from socalTECH's video section , where we're currently featuring community videos from and about local startups: Peter Pham of Science Inc. Peter Pham, of Los Angeles technology studio/incubator Science Inc., apparently likes not just his startups to move fast, but also his cars.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Santa Barbara Software Review Activision 157

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2012

More likely they either end up finding an excuse not to meet, delaying a meeting indefinitely or in most cases actually taking a meeting. If I do it to them twice it may start to affect our relationship or at least their willingness to take more meetings from me. The tech world is filled with these kinds of intros.

Email 359

Email Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 359

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2012

Many startups fail before reaching that magic “cash-flow positive” position they have been striving for, despite seemingly reasonable financial projections. A closer analysis often indicates the cause to be a lack of diligence in handling common business finances. A startup must insure that the payments are collected per agreed terms.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur Summary 109

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Of course you could start your own company. As I talked about in “ Is it Time to Learn or Time to Earn ” – overwhelmingly the best economics go to those that start successful companies. But not everybody has the right skills to build a highly successful and valuable startup from scratch.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

If you want to watch the show click the image above or this link , but if you want a quick read – here’s a summary: 1. Mike Stern (wasn’t sure which one so leave a comment if it’s you): Q: “is it possible to sell your startup without venture investment if the company has big traction and a large user base?&#

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2022

Successful startups seem to follow similar paths to greatness, and unfortunately all too often that path leads them back down the hill much faster than they went up. Thus it behooves every entrepreneur to start watching these things more carefully from the very start. Geographic expansion.

Startup 142

Startup Web 2.0 IBM IBM 142

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

When someone introduces me to an “idea person,” I automatically jump to the down-side conclusion that this person doesn’t do follow-up. I can think of several related aspects of starting and running a business where follow-up, or lack of it, can make or break your startup. They expect prompt formal follow-up to questions.

Activity 133

Activity Startup Ideas Technical Review 133

socalTECH

JUNE 21, 2013

I think there is something very encouraging and sustaining about getting income from an investment, and participating in a loan, and where you''re paid immediately, rather than waiting for three to five years for a startup to hopefully exit, get to an IPO, or go raise more capital. How''d you come up with the idea for the site?

Startup 247

Startup Software Review Entrepreneur Equity 247

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. Business-startup rates in America increased the most in the Midwest and South.

Startup 112

Startup Technical Review Technical Support Study 112

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Are specific technologies or platforms involved in your project? Do they have experience with the technologies involved in your project? Although noteworthy, working with large corporations differs remarkably from working with startups. What are the review periods and your responsibility in the process?

Software Development 297

Software Development Software Review Develop Development 297

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2014

In fact, most investors “require” that you already have some investment from friends and family before they will even step up to the plate. 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. Don’t be one. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 106

Startup Funding Technical Review Ideas 106

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

Many startups fail before reaching that magic “cash-flow positive” position they have been striving for, despite seemingly reasonable financial projections. A closer analysis often indicates the cause to be a lack of diligence in handling common business finances. A startup must insure that the payments are collected per agreed terms.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Entrepreneur Summary Pricing 100