Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 105

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

You have to get past how great the product is to address clearly what your business rationale is, why it is different from the competition''s, and why it will succeed. Provide a simple yet complete description of your product or service and its competitive marketplace. Be concise as well as complete. A winning product or service.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Entrepreneur Equity Ideas 75

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

Unfortunately, too many of the technical entrepreneurs I mentor and advise are focused on their technology, and assume that the value will be self-evident to customers. Tech may be the tool, but hospitality – making life a little easier, more comfortable, and more enjoyable for your customer, is the winning focus.

Technical Advisors 82

Technical Advisors Artificial Inteligence Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

Steve Jobs started his technical career creating circuit boards at Atari, before joining Steve Wozniak to build personal computers in his garage. I advise owners that they have to know when to give up a business, as well as when to buy one. This starts with picking your roles carefully – to be in the right place at the right time.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2016

For a software startup, a patent can be the intellectual property providing the key competitive advantage, or it can be an expensive non-defensible bureaucratic nightmare -- or both. The reason that lawyers get large fees for patent filings is that legal negotiation and strategy have become more important than technical merit.

Patents 53

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 53

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

You have to get past how great the product is to address clearly what your business rationale is, why it is different from the competition's, and why it will succeed. Provide a simple yet complete description of your product or service and its competitive marketplace. Be concise as well as complete. A winning product or service.

Technical Advisors 80

Technical Advisors Startup Equity Ideas 80

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

But the biggest thing to know is this: Companies who are scaling quickly in revenue and with a high gross margin often should invest as much capital in growth as they can manage responsibly because when you find a product / market fit and your company is growing at a very fast scale you want to capture market share before competition sets in.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Tech.Co

MAY 22, 2018

I’ve had many startup founders tell me that their startup literally has no competition,” said Frank Gruber, Cofounder of Tech.Co, Startup of the Year , and Established. “In What startup teams don’t realize is that having competition is good. I would advise trying not to get into an argument with an investor.

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 28, 2012

The team needed would consist of at least 1 non-technical business person (me) and 2 or more technical people—designer and developer. I was only able to create a team with non-technical business people and a designer. The next day, the technical team started coding away, building a cool game for developers to battle skills on.

Startup 99

Startup Technical Advisors Ideas USC 99

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2011

Our own subsidiary, of a major technology company, started to repair and service competitive products in order to maintain our own technical staff and service capabilities. We retained legal council in Milan and were advised that we would loose if the case went to trial.

Startup 90

Startup Technical Advisors Sales Examples 90

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I would argue that this mostly consists of consumer Internet companies (although not exclusively) and it is predominantly early-stage people who are product gurus and have a mildly technical bend to them. Talk about the existing solutions, the market opportunity and the competition. I’m sure there are many more. Mobile app?

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2010

Our own subsidiary, of a major technology company, started to repair and service competitive products in order to maintain our own technical staff and service capabilities. We retained legal council in Milan and were advised that we would loose if the case went to trial. Respect local customs and practices.

Technical Advisors 48

Technical Advisors Sales Startup Coach 48

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Based on my experience advising new entrepreneurs as well as more mature businesses, I recommend the following strategies for building business momentum, while still optimizing the limited resources of every small business: Find more customers that like what you do best. Track competition to stay ahead of copycats.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Your lawyer is a trusted advisor, but in the end, you run your business, your lawyer does not. In other words, find a lawyer who will take the time to understand the issues underlying your business and advise you how to best accomplish your objectives while minimizing your legal exposure. but They Make Great Guard Dogs.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 10, 2012

Effects Artist and Technical Director, Dreamworks AnimationJason hails from Kentucky, where his parents met at a Renaissance Faire, hooked up at the Wicca Coven, and raised him at sci-fi conventions. 12pm: BODY. Jason Porath / @JasonPorath. He is a founding member of the creative collective Syyn Labs and loves to make new things.

Technical Advisors 89

Technical Advisors Design Education Study 89

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Each company is investing untold billions of dollars in developing AI technologies, betting on a future defined by computer systems that can perceive, reason, advise, and decide. As the technology has advanced, so has the competitive landscape.

Artificial Inteligence 40

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Technical Advisors Research 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Don’t over shop – If the deal you’re involved with involves raising venture capital or selling your company you naturally want some competition. Push hard to set up the technical reviews, the due diligence meetings, the reference calls – whatever. On the VC front, I advise other VCs I know to also be careful about over grinding.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

I decided that I was going to consult/advise a few companies and relax for a bit. He went from recruiter to IT manager to technical sales… Then, he did such a great job in sales that we had to build up more infrastructure for our ad-serving and email delivery platform to support the increased demand.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

The conversations bleed into the sales messages the next time, they wend their way into software designs and form the plan of attach against competition. I often advise these CEOs to make the tough choices early in the company’s history – either move up North or build your tech team in LA. What about offshoring?

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

The interesting thing is that we never looked at our competition, we never did any kind of competitive analysis on the products we wanted to be leaders, so we acted like leaders – we focused on our customers, not our competition. The company is still technically in business, awaiting the final stage of the liquidation.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40