Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2015

The visibility of Google, Facebook and a few others continues to propagate the myth that the ultimate objective of every entrepreneur should be to take their startups public via an initial public offering at the earliest opportunity. For every entrepreneur, I recommend first a personal assessment of your goals and strengths.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2015

Most entrepreneurs I know want to do the right thing for their businesses, as well as themselves, but they are not always sure what that means. By demand, entrepreneurs are crisis managers, and can be busy reacting 24 hours a day to urgent short-term issues. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 9/30/2015.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of those demanding angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. Way back in 2015, the Kickstarter Pebble smartwatch raised $20.3 These groups are now largely run by volunteers at no cost to entrepreneurs.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

Most entrepreneurs are too stubborn to seek a mentor for guidance: They have so much confidence in themselves and their ideas that they don’t see the need to ask anyone for advice. Mentoring does not happen by accident, or require large stipends. Select mentors to fill your strength gaps.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. We have some announcements set for 2015. By 2011 the market had started to change dramatically. So we went for it.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2015

If you are like most entrepreneurs I know, there just aren’t enough hours in a day to get all your own work done, as well as run the many one-hour meetings each team member seems to demand for decisions and mentoring. For one-on-one coaching from the startup founder, I call this approach five-minute mentoring.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2015

Based on my experience as an investor and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, one of the quickest ways to kill your credibility and your startup is to offer a poorly written business plan, or none at all. An entrepreneur who can’t manage a plan, probably won’t be able to manage the new business.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 3, 2015

Scott Belsky (@scottbelsky) April 29, 2015. It spoke to me because it so resonates with my nearly daily advice to entrepreneurs and VCs alike. I went as far as to call it the best Tweet of 2015 so far because it encapsulated my advice so succinctly. I saw this Tweet recently by Scott Belsky, co-founder and CEO of Behance.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2015

The successful entrepreneurs I have met and worked with over the years all seem to share that passion for learning, and they see rapid market change not as a problem, but as an opportunity for them to move ahead of the crowd in changing the world. Successful entrepreneurs love to share, but they respond better to pull rather than push.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2015

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” Focus” is the key to success as an entrepreneur. Irrational fear of failure or embarrassment.

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Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 12, 2015

TechZulu is excited to invite you to the 2015 Startup and Entrepreneur Forecast taking place Thursday, January 29 from 7 p.m. We will have amazing panelists from March Capital, Greycroft, Machinima, Silicon Valley Bank and Amplify who will share their insights and forecast for start-ups in 2015. Sponsored giveaways and contests.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2015

Too many entrepreneurs tackle starting a business as a random walk into a business minefield, and they count on their street smarts, thick skin and pure determination to get them to their destinations alive. Some entrepreneurs run with passion into the minefield, only to find it’s harder to recover than to plan ahead.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2015

If you're an aspiring entrepreneur, you need to take a hard look at yourself before leaving that regular paycheck. The good and the bad news is that as an entrepreneur, you won’t have a manager charged with directing your efforts or peers helping you implement, and your new team will be quick to tell you only what you want to hear.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2015

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. are actually matchmaking sites between entrepreneurs and professional investors or banks. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 2/13/2015.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Lemkin (@jasonlk) January 31, 2015. In 2006 when I was a budding entrepreneur building my second startup I ran into a young (ish) enthusiastic founder of an electronic signature company called EchoSign. I know it will be hard for you to believe in 2015 but in 2006 Palo Alto (where I lived) was kind of dead. Some background.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2015

If you find problem-solving to be energizing, you could be the next great entrepreneur. The first challenge for many aspiring entrepreneurs is to put aside their passionate advocacy long enough to acknowledge an existing problem. Don’t hesitate to call in an experienced advisor or mentor to help. It never ends.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2015

Yet, as an advisor to startups, I see some common disasters, and recommend some anticipation and recovery moves that can save every entrepreneur some painful time and money. While every entrepreneur needs to remain upbeat and optimistic on all of these, it is also smart to anticipate the worst case scenarios that are possible with each.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2015

Many entrepreneurs forget that their success is more about helping other people than about personally becoming famous, or overcoming the odds and getting rich. These are lessons that every entrepreneur should take to heart: Hold the vision. Don’t forget to be a mentor as well as a leader. Stand for something.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

Many aspiring entrepreneurs are stuck in the idea stage, and only a few have the discipline and the insight to move on to the execution phase. The first and biggest stakeholder is you, the entrepreneur. Do you promote a culture of teamwork, mentoring, and training? What level of stakeholder commitment do you have?

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InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2015

Good news: a quick review of TechCrunch’s March 2015 List of Top 20 U.S. My Forbes co-contributor Geri Stengel concurs that something is happening in the Volunteer State, writing last month about that state’s emerging women entrepreneurs. Savvy entrepreneurs - seek out programs which incorporate these post-graduation activities.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2015

Too many entrepreneurs naively believe that candidates with lofty titles from a larger company can easily do the same job for their startups. Provide mentoring and self-learning opportunities. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 6/12/2015. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2015

Every entrepreneur realizes that building a great team is critical to the success of his or her startup, but many don’t realize that it takes more than multiple qualified employees to make an effective team. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 7/17/2015.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

It’s a new age for aspiring entrepreneurs, where anyone with a dream or a hobby should be turning it into a business. Too many entrepreneurs still think plans are for investors, and investors are required to build a startup. Many entrepreneurs today build and maintain their own websites, with powerful tools such as Shopify.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2015

When starting a new business, an entrepreneur has to take a “hands-on” role. In the context of a startup, there are many “hands-on” attributes that every entrepreneur must demonstrate and enjoy if he or she hopes to succeed in building a new business. The founder needs to be a mentor and advisor, as well as a leader.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. Most investors won’t touch a first-time entrepreneur at this stage. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 9/25/2015. Yet, knowing this distinction is important.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2015

By default, this role falls on the entrepreneur or a senior team member to establish a culture of openness to innovation and change. Less experienced team members will only really communicate with peers, and maybe their direct manager, while executives may interact more with mentors and outside experts.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2016

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. Mentoring and technical assistance from volunteer or paid experts. Direct seed funding, for a share of the equity, and introductions to investors.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

Entrepreneurs could learn about loneliness of success: nobody talks about. Mark Suster (@msuster) July 19, 2015. The Yo-Yo Life of a Tech Entrepreneur. Advisors / Coaches / Mentors. But needed to be seen. And the immediate reaction was obvious – that failure can be pretty lonely, too. Of course that’s true.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

Here are the key principles she espouses, extended to leadership teams, based on my own background and mentoring new entrepreneurs: Learn to trust yourself and your team. Marty Zwilling First published on IvyExec.com on 9/25/2015. ” by Erica Peitler, a well-known leadership performance coach. What gets measured gets done.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

Fred has of course been a public mentor to us all with his market-defining terminology that he popularized including “freemium” and “mobile first.” What you may not know is that Fred has been a behind-the-scenes mentor to many of the newer VCs in the industry including myself. Blogging is like Venus Fly Paper.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2023

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. Way back in 2015, the Kickstarter Pebble smartwatch raised $20.3 These groups are now largely run by volunteers at no cost to entrepreneurs.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

He provided all kinds of feedback from a product standpoint, and we found a lot more mentors like that at Techstars. We were super excited to participate, Christine and I moved to New York for three months, and graduated in the fall of 2015. What's the biggest lesson you've learned as an entrepreneur? Where is the business now?

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Tech Zulu Event

JULY 21, 2015

Hundreds of founders, speakers, mentors, and students flocked to the University of Southern California on March 28 th , 2015 to be inspired by female entrepreneurs. We did have over 500 registered for the event, and more than 60 speakers, mentors and judges. So she started a conference for girls. She didn’t stop there.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2015

Tuvia Elbaum (@Tuviae) July 14, 2015. How do you have time for all your entrepreneurs? Mark Suster (@msuster) July 14, 2015. I picked up take-out dinner on the way home, ran into an entrepreneur, Luke Kervin , that I really like and agreed to come by his offices in August to check out PatientPop’s progress.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2016

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of those demanding angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. In 2015, the new Kickstarter Pebble smartwatch raised $20.3 These groups are now largely run by volunteers at no cost to entrepreneurs.

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Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 7, 2015

One weekend, teams of newly formed entrepreneurs and who knows what products or big ideas can happen? This is a unique opportunity for software engineers, designers, and business-minded entrepreneurs to team up and build several startups in just 54 hours! Participants arrive the evening of Friday, Nov. 13 – Nov.

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