Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

As a tech startup grows it needs to develop more process & management if it is to scale. Some objections are real and they end up becoming changes to your product, your service plan or your pricing / bundling. All-in-one solutions may initially seem appealing but you end up getting inferior innovation.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2012

When I started my first tech company in 1999 I had pretty good tech chops and had led teams but had very little exposure to many other things that matter in a startup including sales, marketing & business development. Negotiating was a subset of every activity in a startup – it really was a way of life.

Startup 322

Startup Training Outsource Development Design 322

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. Despite the importance of creativity, there seems to be almost no focus on teaching it, encouraging it, training at it & incorporating it into our daily routines.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

There are certain topics that even some of the smartest people I talk with who aren’t startup oriented can’t fully grok. It’s common cocktail party chatter to hear people confidently pronounce that some well known startup is sure to blow up because, “How could they succeed when they’re not even profitable!”

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

When to start PR? So my simple advice is to start PR as early as possible (and certainly earlier than most of your investors will advise) when you have your head around your product plans and are well into execution (or ready to launch) precisely because your recruiting, seed funding and initial user base may depend on it.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

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. We were based in London.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

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

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. My first startup was no different. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2011

Jimmy Hendricks: We actually started two and a half years ago. So, we took that contest and crowdsourcing platform, and started ArtisticHub. In the meantime, Groupon came along, and our media customers started to lose advertising. In the meantime, Groupon came along, and our media customers started to lose advertising.

Platform 263

Platform Training Software Review Advertising 263

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 23, 2020

The proposal sets out four big initiatives, including zero-emissions vehicle manufacturing, assembly and adoption; zero-emissions infrastructure investments; commitments to public transit investments; workforce development; and job training. Light-duty charging infrastructure occupies another $10 billion of the suggested stimulus measures.

Southern California 261

Southern California Los Angeles Rosemead Incubator 261

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 2, 2011

Several people have been asking me to weigh in publicly on the “20 under 20″ initiative announced by Peter Thiel in which he will award up to $100,000 to 20 people under the age of 20 who agree immediately to pursue entrepreneurship (the implication of which is that they’d drop out of university to do so). Experience life.

Education 322

Education Startup Incubator Class 322

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

There’s an old saying that if I’m talking with you and I start the conversation by saying, “whatever you do, DO NOT think about Elephants &# then you can’t help but thinking about elephants while we’re speaking. Your A round investors are not stepping up. - You raised $1.5 Today you have 2,000 users. -

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Startup Training Sales 264

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

My friend Ethan Anderson put it best to me after the panel, “You probably shouldn’t have been up there. I wrote about it here (mostly starting at point 7) and Chris Dixon wrote a great post about it here. So in the past we needed VC to really get a startup going. I said almost nothing in the 30 minutes.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

Xconomy

MAY 31, 2019

But tech companies are already writing the novel kinds of software these revolutionary computers will need in order to operate—and businesses are even helping to train the workforce for a future era of “quantum speed-up.’’ For that training task, Microsoft and X, the cutting-edge research arm of.

Training 106

Training Google IBM IBM 106

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

Understand Personality Types – One of the benefits of working for a big company (Accenture) was that we had lots of speakers come in and train us in topics like leadership, creativity, presentations, strategy, etc. We had a training session from somebody who put up the four-quadrant graph you see above.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2010

I grew up believing that human behavior was 20% nature, 80% nurture. I wasn’t going to write about it since he had just covered the topic and echoed my point of view. of all data is made up. OK, not literally made up. So going into a startup scenario you bring these innate skills or you don’t.

Startup 289

Startup Statistics Entrepreneur Study 289

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

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.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

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

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 7, 2019

While current technologies are not quite advanced enough to make Westworld a reality, startups are attempting to replicate the sort of human-robot interaction it presents in virtual space. I think in this age and time, that’s not what we want to get into,” Xinjie Ma, who heads up marketing for rct, told TechCrunch.

Startup 235

Startup Artificial Inteligence Los Angeles Software 235

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

Santa Monica-based Demand Media (www.demandmedia.com) has seen its share of ups and downs as one of the highest visibility technology and media companies to come out of Southern California's technology ecosystem in recent years. Joanne Bradford: The first thing we start with everyday, is listening to the signal of what people are doing.

Demand 240

Demand Media eHow Content 240

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

Last night I co-hosted a dinner at Soho House in Los Angeles with some of the most senior people in the media industry with executives from Disney, Fox, Warner, media agencies and many promising tech & media startup CEO’s. He started selling the mixtapes out of his trunk and even gave away some of his music. He was riveting.

Entrepreneur 356

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Email 356

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2010

And his stated goal at his young age is to get an education so his kids can grow up in a better neighborhood. All of the kids end up in a lottery system to try and get into public charter schools where their odds were between 5-10% of being accepted based solely on numbers. I grew up in public schools and so did my wife.

Class 340

Class Education Technical Review Writing 340

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Rarer still is the startup CEO who can make the transition effectively on their own. Unwillingness to devolve power is the bane of many management teams at startup companies. I see the problem directly at many startups I know. The problem is that we started with an SLA that was too favorable to us. This seldom works.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2012

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Now, even the earliest stage startup can rise to visibility or be forever lost by their first media spotlight, so it behooves us all to know the rules early. Prepare, prepare, prepare for every media event.

Training 93

Training Media Entrepreneur Social Media 93

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Every so often I find myself caught up in a really hectic 3-4 week schedule where it seems like I float endlessly betweens meetings. I get sucked up in “Do” mode. Startups Are for Doers. But getting caught up in the doing can often leave you directionless. Or quit their startup to do something different.

Venture Capital 400

Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

socalTECH

APRIL 30, 2009

Most companies, when they're looking to raise company morale, might set up a company picnic, Friday night beer bash, or maybe go on a ski trip. Lyman said the firm now has 17 employees signed up for the event. What do employees get out of beating each other up? The firm is giving the winner two free weeks of vacation.

Culver City 140

Culver City Startup Training Class 140

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. We then spoke about startups.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

This is an updated post from my ongoing series on Startup Advice that I learned from founding two companies. . I wanted to be sure that they felt they knew all of my partners well so they could see why I joined up with them in the first place – they are smart guys who have a 20-year track record of winning. Write things down.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2012

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entree for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. Yet you may not be so sure where to start, and how to put it all together. In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. Don’t stand still.

Startup 96

Startup Writing Metrics Marketing 96

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. The training becomes “adaptive.&#. Really!). LendingClub. 24.5mm in Series C.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

Image via Flickr by Phil Gyford Starting a new venture still costs real money, even though the entry price has come down dramatically in last few decades. Ramp-up facilities and utilities required. It’s amazing how fast your startup will outgrow your garage or home office. Unanticipated pivots, quality write-offs, and shrinkage.

Startup 105

Startup Software Review Technical Review Social Media 105

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

They are not the generalists required for new product startups. As your business starts up, you need marketing programs, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a modern “pull” strategy based on social networks, and lead generation. Writing specialists. Administrative specialists. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Services Search Engine Optimization Startup 106

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

We sat down with Kelly ahead of the announcement to chat about the new fund, why they think military veterans are particularly well suited as startup entrepreneurs, why the two went from organizing individual deals for funding to a formal fund, and more. Tell us about this new announcement? That's whole bunch of stuff.

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2013

We caught up with Tara--who some might know from her efforts on RepresentLA--on what LA Makerspace is all about--and how places like LA Makerspace are key to bringing the technology and technical community together. My husband started Crashspace, the first hackerpsace in LA. Tara Tiger Brown: It was a couple of different things.

Startup 227

Startup Tool Ideas Class 227

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2011

In these changing times, if you already have a startup, with no plan, maybe it’s time to think ahead for a change. Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Education and training roadblocks. Money should not be the big driver here.

Startup 94

Startup Resource Training Ideas 94

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Now, even the earliest stage startup can rise to visibility or be forever lost by their first media spotlight, so it behooves us all to know the rules early. Prepare, prepare, prepare for every media event.

Press 105

Press Social Media Startup Training 105