Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2023

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.

Startup 128

Startup Tips Writing Summary 128

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Friday, February 16, 2018 --.

Writing 100

Writing 100

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

A report Tuesday in the Financial Times said that investment giant Fidelity has written its investment in Los Angeles-based Snapchat by 25 percent, citing data from a Morningstar report. Snapchat--arguably, the most visible "unicorn" startup in Southern California--had been valued at $15 billion in its last fundraising round.

Snapchat 100

Snapchat Invest Los Angeles Southern California 100

InfoChachkie

MARCH 8, 2011

I write a bit more about how entrepreneurs can protect their ideas here: Spilling The Beans. As described in Buzz Kill , many college-educated professionals tend to write at a level that is uncomfortable for most people (including college graduates) to read. I was shocked that my pedestrian answer was so well received.

Writing 150

Writing Entrepreneur Social Network IP 150

SoCal Tech Calendar

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

Friday, November 14, 2008 -- "Writing Your Press Releases" SDSIC. If you're writing your press releases like it was still 1994, you're not maximizing the value of this tool in this Internet-centric age. Discover how to write for the 3 audiences that delivered-by-Internet releases can reach: media, search engines, and direct-to-public.

Press 100

Press Writing Media Education 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2012

No one is born with business writing skills, and everyone can learn them. Thus, I thought a quick refresher on business writing basics might help you more than any tip on the next big thing on the business horizon: Select clear purpose and focus. Tailor writing to your audience. Develop a friendly business writing voice.

Writing 90

Writing Email Startup Tips 90

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2023

Mark Twain said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter so I wrote a long one instead.” It has become a long running joke between us, as I often remind him that most of us have a very limited attention span and ability to recall important points from a presentation. Note the title and tone of these insights. Short, to the point.

Writing 177

Writing 177

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

As money poured into our industry, it encouraged many VCs to write $20–30 million checks at increasingly higher and higher valuations where it is unlikely that they had substantively more proof of company traction or success. Some investors may have succeeded with this strategy but at Upfront we decided to stay in our lane.

Startup 408

Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 408

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

million, our Seed Funds mostly between $200–300 million and have delivered median ownerships of ~20% from the first check we write into a startup. By 2021 we had to write a $3.5m It forced extreme disciple to “stay in our swimming lanes” of knowledge and not just write checks into the latest trend.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Technical Review Marketing Seed Funding 416

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2017

If you want people to invest in your idea, then my best advice is first write a business plan, and keep it simple. This means writing at the level of an average newspaper story (about eighth-grade level). Don't confuse your business plan with a doctoral thesis or the back of a napkin.

Writing 56

Writing Tips Entrepreneur Summary 56

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

No one is born with business writing skills, and everyone can learn them. Thus, I thought a quick refresher on business writing basics might help you more than any tip on the next big thing on the business horizon: Select clear purpose and focus. Tailor writing to your audience. Develop a friendly business writing voice.

Writing 91

Writing Content Email Startup 91

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Here is my edited summary of their ten principles, which I like and may convince you that you don’t need a business plan at all, or at the very least will help you write a better one later: A new venture is a means, not an end.

Writing 103

Writing Startup Entrepreneur Capital 103

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

When you first start your career as an investor (or when you first start writing angel checks) your main obsession is “getting into great deals.” You’re thinking about one bullet at a time. When you’ve been playing the game a bit longer or when you have responsibilities at the fund level you start thinking more about “portfolio construction.”

Funding 294

Funding Startup Angel Seed Funding 294

Eric Greenspan

OCTOBER 22, 2018

I looked at it for a bit and started thinking about writing it. Why did I write a book? I’m going to keep writing books; many of them. Give it a read, a review, help me write more books. Woke up and there it was, my book cover. She just made it and sent it to me. Then I did. Smart lady this Angela.

Pricing 186

Pricing Writing Social Media Ideas 186

socalTECH

OCTOBER 19, 2009

He recently landed a round of funding, and shares his experience here: Before you start bitching about investors not writing checks in this economy let me just say this  bullshit. I just finished our capital raise for our new company, Affordit.com and can tell you first hand that I've never seen more people eager to write checks.

Santa Monica 100

Santa Monica Writing Venture Capital Entrepreneur 100

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

Please write us at blog@techempower.com ! Then use what you’ve learned in this blog post to decide if the numbers validate your business model, or if you need to rethink your approach. If you know of more resources on this topic, or want to talk about anything startup or tech related, we’d love to hear from you.

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Web 2.0 Acquisition 260

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. If you’re going to play in the big leagues you need to be writing checks from a $700 million?—?$1 Are we in a bubble?” By definition?—?I’m of the fund.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Capital SpaceX Funding 471

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

You may recall that Microsoft planned a new file system for Vista but pulled the file system from the product before release, and has not released the WinFS file system yet as of this writing, years later. It is interesting to note that not many of us even remember this “feature” let alone miss it.

Los Angeles 156

Los Angeles Angel Product Customer 156

Berkonomics

JUNE 29, 2023

Write these steps down in any form for now. Assess your current resources and attempt to calculate the resources needed to accomplish the goal. Do you need to raise money, focus spending upon only core projects that advance the company toward the goal, or bring in new management talent to make it happen? The post So, what’s the plan?

Summary 156

Summary Resource Writing Email 156

TechEmpower

AUGUST 7, 2023

Please write us at blog@techempower.com ! Aspatore Inside the Minds Series, Leading CTOs Mark Minevich , The CTO Handbook Tom Berray and Raj Sampath, the Role of the CTO: Four Models for Success Werner Vogels – The Different CTO Roles Role of the CTO If you know of more resources on this topic, we’d love to hear from you.

CTO Hire 260

CTO Hire Startup Fractional VPE Develop 260

TechEmpower

AUGUST 14, 2023

Please write us at blog@techempower.com ! Conclusion Bottom line – if you are an early-stage startup with online or mobile technology as part of your solution, you ABSOLUTELY NEED a technical advisor. If you know of more resources on this topic, or want to talk about anything startup or tech related, we’d love to hear from you.

CTO Coach 260

CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire Startup 260

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2023

I was most impressed with the steps he outlined for turning ideas into goals into results, which I paraphrase here for aspiring entrepreneurs: Write down your goals or your dreams. Writing something down is the first step toward moving forward and making it real.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Ideas Writing Startup 93

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2013

On my most important ones I spend as much time figuring out what to cut out as I do putting into the writing of it. Many people write email without a “call to action” or reason they’re writing the email. Write to one person at a time. This is critical and was the reason I sat down to write this post.

Email 415

Email Startup Software Review Writing 415

Berkonomics

AUGUST 17, 2023

The other investors are probably in the unhappy never land of not being able to see liquidity after a decade and unable to write off the investment as a loss for tax purposes. Mother is surely satisfied as a passive investor who probably would have given her son the money without structure.

Invest 296

Invest Capital Entrepreneur Startup 296

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. I often hear the excuse that writing a book takes precious time away from building and running your business, which you cannot afford.

Writing 19

Writing Entrepreneur Technical Review Advertising 19

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

And those that are total write-offs in which no one except perhaps the bank and lenders receive anything. Consider the kinds of exits. Email readers, continue here…] Now, there are three kinds of exits. The marginal exit is most difficult, and it would be rare for an entrepreneur to willingly share with other managers.

Venture Capital 480

Venture Capital Angel Entrepreneur Sales 480

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

When I first started writing this blog several years ago I had less followers than you have right now. But the realist in me knew I couldn’t write daily nor could I convince you to think to check out my blog with regularity. In Gabe’s post he explained why TechMeme was having editors write headlines. I should know.

Buzzfeed 326

Buzzfeed Startup Social Media Writing 326

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 31, 2020

The effort to write a grant request is not trivial. Email readers, continue here…] Grant writing takes skill and immense amounts of time. Often, grants require that you partner with other organizations to deliver the results or measure the effectiveness of your special project.

Equity 156

Equity Patents Funding Writing 156

Berkonomics

APRIL 27, 2023

Everyone who manages a company, a workgroup or a sales force wants to write as many new deals as possible and is usually wary about doing anything that might threaten the positive outcome of a pending sale. We hesitate to enforce our own rules.

Sales 156

Sales Tool Custom Customer 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2023

Both sides should write down the shared objectives and vision. If there is nothing to write down, or the results are quite different, that’s a big red flag. During the “dating period,” look hard for those characteristics that suggest complementary strengths, compatibility, chemistry, motivation, and values.

eHarmony 101

eHarmony Sites Startup Summary 101

socalTECH

JANUARY 27, 2022

We're building a survival game in an all-new universe.Join us in writing our next chapter: [link] pic.twitter.com/vWtkDYh1kX— Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) January 25, 2022. The announcement linked to a Blizzard job postings page, and included a few pieces of conceptual art. It's unclear when the new title will hit the market.

Santa Monica 113

Santa Monica Activision Entertainment Writing 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2023

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. The person who can demonstrate that he or she can effectively manage a project can write their own ticket for success. Crossing the finish line is the milestone in a project that really counts.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Startup Networking Equity 107

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 26, 2021

Then fans would be tasked with writing their own stories, submitting them to the Realms of Ruin universe by minting them as NFTs on the Solana blockchain. If the authors are inviting fans to write fan fiction about a universe they created, who owns the derivative works? Another unabashed proponent of fan fiction is N.K.

Outsource Development 199

Outsource Development Venture Capital Technical Review Writing 199

Berkonomics

MAY 4, 2023

And Ai is now writing computer code in many languages. And how about the new jobs to be created for “prompt-masters” and others manipulating or analyzing or checking AI query results. How will college professors or newspaper editors know that content submitted is or should be original? Predictable work is highest on the chopping block.

Entrepreneur 296

Entrepreneur Class Education Coach 296

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Starting in 2009 I began writing checks consistently, year-in and year-out. I admit that my writing style back then was a bit more carefree, provocative and opinionated. I was in it for the love of working with entrepreneurs on business problems and marveling at technology they had built.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Capital Funding 466

socalTECH

APRIL 23, 2021

The company said it plans to write checks of between $100,000 and $250,000 in digital marketing startups. Hawke Ventures, a new, venture capital fund that is part of marketing company Hawke Media, said Friday that it has raised $5.6M for its first, venture capital fund.

Funding 113

Funding Venture Capital Invest Angel 113

TechEmpower

JULY 2, 2013

In preliminary tests, we experimented with more requests per pipeline but doing so caused socket write buffer overflows. The wrk tool was later enhanced to allow larger write buffers, but we ultimately decided to retain a 16 requests per pipeline test configuration.

Framework 521

Framework Software Review Los Angeles Technical Review 521