Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

As a mentor to young aspiring entrepreneurs , I often get asked for tips on a strategy to get started. Don’t be shy about networking for advisors with business experience for coaching and mentoring. Sources should include local startup incubators, blog owners, and government support organizations, such as SCORE.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. I divided success into the phases of venture capital and 18 months into writing my first check here was my view (details on each in the link above). Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10. The monkey on my back. ” Yup.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. Fred has of course been a public mentor to us all with his market-defining terminology that he popularized including “freemium” and “mobile first.”

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

I don’t feel like canceling LinkedIn just because occasionally a well-meaning but slightly not-clued-in person from a faraway place wants me to be their personal mentor, answer 3-questions for their high-school entrepreneurship project or take a sales pitch for their recruiting services. By the way, I don’t spell check my blog posts either.

Email 250

Email Writing Conference Mobile 250

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2021

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. Disciplining yourself to write down the plan is actually the best way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. Pitch your company, not your product.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Tips Funding Startup 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

I have found that the process of writing down your idea, with a plan for implementation, and reviewing that plan with a business advisor, will force you to learn and acknowledge the real requirements for implementation. Build your own personal brand image through blogging, industry forums, and networking.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2021

As a mentor to many entrepreneurs, I don’t believe that it is only a birthright, and there are several key strategies, including the following, that you can learn and practice which will lead to success: Give your own judgement a high priority in decisions. Make sure everyone knows your expertise.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Course Satisfaction Guide 132

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 8, 2011

I began our discussion by asking Brad what motivated him to co-author Venture Deals , rather than continuing to share venture capitalists’ secrets via his Ask The VC blog. Writing a book is very different from writing a blog. One, I wanted to know what it was like to write a book. There were a couple motivations.

Venture Capital 224

Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur Blogging 224

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Tracy is knowledgeable enough to talk tech and swap design & product stories with other founders, but she realized early that networking amongst this group and reading and writing in their journals would not bring her more customers. So Tracy began keeping a blog about … (what else?)

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write and 9 Tips To Get Started - OnStartups , September 27, 2010 "The best part of blogging is the people you will meet"- Hugh MacLeod repeating wisdom from Loic Lemeur to me at the Big Pink at 2 am in South Beach after the Future of Web Apps 2008. Why You Should Write. Kanye West.

Startup 191

Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

It has also influenced my thoughts, as evidenced by the six infoChachkie blog entries which reference Art. The second most referenced author on my blog, after Kawasaki, is Robert Cialdini, co-author of Yes! At the beginning of the index, Guy writes, “I hope Robert Cialdini checks this index.” Ask For Mentoring.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

It goes without saying that if you find yourself in a really negative headspace PLEASE reach out to any trusted mentor, friend or family member. If your company can help with job search, or resume writing or providing references or calling other companies to tell them you did redundancies?—?you I imagine many of you are, too.

Demand 215

Demand Guide Customer Custom 215

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

And he has acted as a personal mentor for Justin ever since. There has been all sorts of discussions about marketing on blogs lately. The media eats it up as they always need something to write about. But when I write a blog post I always allocate a certain amount of time to having debates in the comments section.

Entrepreneur 398

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Blogging 398

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

They certainly struggle to find mentors as there is nothing more frustrating than trying to help a company who is afraid to tell you anything. Market to Your Target Audience – I’ve seen a lot of startups who like to write blog posts on life as an entrepreneur. You’re reading their press releases or blog posts.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2017

What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Build a two-way relationship with several people who can help you, and then kick it up a notch with one or more, by asking them to be your mentor. That’s usually the important relationship part.

Startup 75

Startup Social Network Networking Mentor 75

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2015

What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Build a two-way relationship with several people who can help you, and then kick it up a notch with one or more, by asking them to be your mentor. That’s usually the important relationship part.

Startup 108

Startup Social Network Mentor Entrepreneur 108

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2010

Ask me something very narrow that I can answer without typing a whole blog post length response. If I AM an investor, mentor, friend or advisor I accept the email being longer. Fred Wilson nailed this in his “double opt in&# blog post. this is all more work for me. More work for me – sure.

Help 332

Help Email Mentor Blogging 332

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Amplify Mentor Panel in full swing. Amplify’s close mentoring is by design. Like good mentors Paul, Jeff, Richard, Oded and David as well as Chris and Kris create an atmosphere in which the motivated founders can take advantage of the knowledge base to which they are exposed. Setting up for Eric Garcetti.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Use blogging, outside publication, and speaking or mentoring opportunities to establish credibility and stand out above peers. Write down some target objectives and milestones. Market yourself both inside and outside your current job. The days of being somehow found as a hardworking introvert in the back room are gone.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2013

What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Build a two-way relationship with several people who can help you, and then kick it up a notch with one or more, by asking them to be your mentor. That’s usually the important relationship part.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Social Network 108

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Recently the firms two founding partners (and also Managing Partners) —  Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham  — decided to transition management of the firm to Andy Weissman (who joined in 2012) and Albert Wenger (joined in 2008 and writes one of the most thoughtful blogs in our industry ).

Venture Capital 161

Venture Capital Funding Capital Startup 161

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

There are lots of resources available for the challenge of that activity, including the Internet and mentors like me. I suggest you use social media, blogging, crowdfunding, or documented research to quantify a real demand from people who can afford it, and don’t have a better alternative already out there.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2012

What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Build a two-way relationship with several people who can help you, and then kick it up a notch with one or more, by asking them to be your mentor. That’s usually the important relationship part.

Startup 97

Startup Tips Social Network Networking 97

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Build a two-way relationship with several people who can help you, and then kick it up a notch with one or more, by asking them to be your mentor. That’s usually the important relationship part.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Social Network 96

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. Writing a book will be fun. David is also frequently an inspiration for a story on my blog. You hire people who look good on paper.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

This continues my series of posts: Top 30 Startup Posts for July 2010 Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March Here they are: How to Minimize Politics in Your Company - Ben's Blog , August 24, 2010 “Who the f@#k you think you f$&kin’ with.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. Brad on blogging. How did you start blogging? “My I decided well if I am going to be investing in this stuff at least I need to understand what it’s like to have a blog, to be generating content, and it was quite interesting at the very, very beginning.“.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2018

As a mentor to aspiring business owners, I often get asked to find that partner for them, since founders are usually too busy with their solution. Thus I always recommend a common series of steps that I have seen working for other entrepreneurs: Write a partner description for that ideal co-founder.

High Tech 55

High Tech Entrepreneur Writing Startup 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. Disciplining yourself to write down the plan is actually the best way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. Pitch your company, not your product.

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2017

Based on my current role as a mentor to entrepreneurs, I will paraphrase and recommend Whiddon’s top techniques in business terms: Build an image of likability and rapport. You can also establish authority by writing and public speaking. We all relish working with and buying from people we can relate to on a personal level.

Social Media 58

Social Media Customer Custom Entrepreneur 58

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2018

I was happy to see a real focus on preparing for tomorrow highlighted in a new book, “ Start a Successful Business ,” by Colleen DeBaise, who has made a career of studying and writing about entrepreneur challenges. Regularly follow reviews and influencers in your industry. Use tools and analytics to identify trends and directions.

Customer 57

Customer Custom Technical Review Software Review 57

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2017

In my long-time role as a mentor and business advisor, I still see too many people who are waiting to be found as a candidate for their dream role, or waiting for investors to find their startup. Start a blog and write for industry forums and newsletters. Every business community sponsors a plethora of these events.

Startup 55

Startup Organization Newsletter Content 55

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Amplify Mentor Panel in full swing. Amplify’s close mentoring is by design. Like good mentors Paul, Jeff, Richard, Oded and David as well as Chris and Kris create an atmosphere in which the motivated founders can take advantage of the knowledge base to which they are exposed. Setting up for Eric Garcetti.

Web Design 40

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 40

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Nominate someone as your mentor. Build a two-way relationship with several people who can help you, and then kick it up a notch with one or more, by asking them to be your mentor. That’s usually the important relationship part.

Entrepreneur 58

Entrepreneur Startup Social Network Mentor 58

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

A huge shout out to Ricky Wong of NYCSteals for helping me with the write-up. Seth’s interest in helping others grew out of his lack of having a mentor. He was drawn to Stanford by the people ecosystem- access to professors and mentors. Initial traffic was driven by word-of-mouth, specifically blogs and a bit of luck.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

In the original version of his post, Andy writes. And hard for me to imagine the Fred Wilson and Albert Wenger weren’t instrumental mentors to David. They see how hard she does her job. They know her personally and know she cares about her constituencies even if she has to make tough trade-offs from time-to-time.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Aaron is also the Program Director for Entretech’s Nitro.la , a non-profit mentoring network in partnership with USC, UCLA and Caltech, to help develop LA’s entrepreneurial community by “getting more companies funded in greater Los Angeles&#. Just write me). Date & Time: Friday, March 13. Location: FinaVentures.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40