Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Always-on connectivity of mobile (164m US smartphone users). The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know that you can use an email system with this to track my open rate, whether I forwarded the email, the IP address where I read it, whether I was on a mobile device or a wired computer and you can tell who else read the document. Your deck should be so good that a VC asks you for permission to show it to his or her portfolio companies.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

It’s building a product that is substantially differentiated, and, as Bill Gross, one of the most prolific tech entrepreneurs of our era says, “ It needs to be 10x better than the competition ” (because if you shoot for that then in competitive markets you might achieve 3x. Look at Viddy & SocialCast.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? More strategic.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. It’s insanely competitive to get into our industry so most have degrees from institutions like Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and University of Chicago (blatant plug ;-). Think of web vs. mobile. Most VCs are book smart.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

In the Los Angeles startup world, there are lots of high profile, buzzy companies which have lots of attention and funding--but which haven''t earned a dime of revenue. However, this town is also full of very profitable, growing, and revenue generating companies-- which have for the most part been below the radar.

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time. .” ” The approach was clever and novel. It was impressive.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

She was leaving IAC to start a company. Competitive sportswoman. Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. She helps write press releases. Note: if you’re a parent please check out their website.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 15, 2012

I was the proud owner of a Psion, founded by the company Bill Gates once famously said he feared more than any other. Yet their business was disrupted entirely by email because a small company called Research in Motion came out with a device that did email flawlessly – the Blackberry. And it turns out that – duh!

Email 386

Email Startup Marketing Competition 386

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

Los Angeles-based Maple Media (maplemedia.io) recently announced a big, $30M funding from Shamrock Capital, to assemble a collection of mobile applications in the utility, productivity, games and entertainment verticals. After I sold my last company, Shift, in May of 2015, I took some time off to look for the next thing to do.

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures wrote a great post the other day that reminded me I’ve been meaning to write about this topic. And that has had me thinking about the tech sector and how dismissive both startup teams & VCs can be about both their competition and the “hot” companies in any sector.

Startup 313

Startup Press Writing News 313

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

Tech companies have spent the past decade or more developing innovations that can be applied to old-world industries like agriculture, construction, energy, education, manufacturing and transportation and logistics. As with most of Biden’s big infrastructure initiatives, there are startups tackling these issues.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

It means the “ torso TV ” consumption patterns will be more important than the head or the long tail for the next era of media companies. You should only worry about this if you’re a large, traditional media company with fat margins. TV of the future will not always have linear stories. Harlem Shake. million views).

Startup 380

Startup Media Content Platform 380

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. Offer tools to allow content producers to build their own websites & mobile apps.

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2010

For our interview today, we caught up with Al Eisaian , CEO of Pasadena-based IconApps (www.iconapps.com), which is developing mobile applications for the iPhone market. Al Eisaian: IconApps is built around simplifying people's lives through mobile technology. We caught up with Al recently to hear about his latest startup.

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

What is it to start up a company, and run it to the brink of shutdown�only to have it acquired and restarted immediately? That's the fascinating story behind Los Angeles-based Earbits (www.earbits.com), which offers up a mobile music streaming service focused on discovering both new and talent. So, we decided to shut down the company.

Software Review 100

Software Review Startup Metrics Content 100

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2020

The other nice thing about that, is as things are happening on the same computer, there is no server code to write. It's really simple to write an application, compared to the complexity of an application that is multi-user. Are Android and iOS then your competition? What are the biggest challenges for your company?

Platform 168

Platform Startup Examples Web 168

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2012

Tech Reporters: These individuals will write and edit informative and practical articles on a range of topics including Startups/Entrepreneurs, Gadgets, Mobile Tech, Tech in Entertainment, Gaming, Apps & Software, productivity, and cover breaking tech news. Think you may be interested? Take a look below and give us a shout.

Technical Review 71

Technical Review Software Review Writing News 71

socalTECH

MAY 20, 2016

Laura Wagner: Digitz is a payment company. On the far right, you have companies like Stripe, which is absolutely killing it in the e-commerce area, with online shopping carts. Those are the single merchants, who use Stripe to build a website, and also for mobile apps. This is my third payment company. What is Digitzs?

Platform 113

Platform Startup Ticketmaster Writing 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

But the press (and I suspect many of the senior execs of these companies) don’t really explore the corrosive downside of these acquisition. I’m supposed to believe that my best innovation can only come from scores of startup founders who just made millions and have now become CVOs at my company? So I thought I would.

Press 357

Press Startup Yahoo Venture Capital 357

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

I’m writing this post to make sure you’re all on that same playing field. One of our core tasks was “market analysis,&# which consistent of: market sizing, market forecasts, competitive analysis and then instructing customers on which direction to take. So, where is this all coming from, Mark? What are you on about?

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

On myfab5, people rank their favorite places instead of giving them star ratings and write bite-sized reviews instead of writing long reviews. When talking to review site users, we found the top two reasons people don’t write reviews is because it takes too long and it is confusing. Any competition? Any funding raised?

Software Review 79

Software Review Technical Review Writing Startup 79

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2012

The clean technology sector is infamous for taking a big toll on startups--requiring large investments, risky technology propositions, steep international competition, and fickle government policies. How did the company start? That was the genesis for the idea for the company, which was to build tools for that new market.

Help 178

Help Startup San Fernando Southern California 178

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

So that we’re speaking the same language I would define “exclusive” as a period in which your company is prohibited from doing business with certain customers or business partners, which is why many incorrectly assume this is necessarily bad. I need to give credit for the topic to PR Malloy who Tweeted me this question.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Customer Custom 150

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

Working with professional athletes combined with my natural leadership ability and experience in business development makes me uniquely suited to lead a technology company in the health and fitness industry. Any competition in LA? We haven’t identified any competition in LA, specifically. Athletes can join for free.

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

InfoChachkie

JUNE 20, 2011

In several cases, we eventually productized summer Intern projects, including a mobile version of GoToMyPC which we called PocketView. Despite the fact that both companies were comprised of about 100 – 150 employees at the time, we routinely recruited 30 to 50 Interns each summer.

Startup 244

Startup Software Review Technical Review Class 244

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

And for many companies a good deal of their business is still closed over the phone–through their call centers. This is especially true for companies with expensive and complex products or services that are more consultative in nature, like insurance, financial services, home services, education and travel, etc. You’re right.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Tech.Co

MARCH 1, 2018

What you’ll also find is that of the 25 companies, our founders represent an inclusive group with 40 percent female, 52 percent minority and 12 percent veteran founders from 14 states and 5 countries. Beast Mobile (Kirkland, WA). How will Beast Mobile cut down the cost of your ever-increasing cell phone bill?

Startup 79

Startup Mentor Platform Help 79

socalTECH

DECEMBER 15, 2010

For a big company, that might be through their own sales force, and for a smaller company it might be a small team which is operating the site themselves. We manage that competition through an aucton process. I can imagine that there are lots of ad serving companies by now. How is the competitive landscape is nowadays?

OpenX 242

OpenX Advertising Yahoo Pasadena 242

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 15, 2013

I love competition. Or just write this off as incremental improvement. I was still a “schemer” – like throwing mobile keg parties at the golf course. I did a newspaper interview last week where the journalist asked me what big splurge I did when I sold my first company. But I sure felt like it.

Course 407

Course Help Writing Blogging 407

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

Bijan Sabet – investor & board member in some small companies you might have heard of like Twitter, Tumblr, Boxee & OMGPOP – took issue with the whole notion that you even need a Powerpoint deck anymore. First, if it’s an early stage company, I don’t need to see a powerpoint deck. Mobile app? Bijan is right.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2010

They taught us to write down questions when they came up and batch them together in point sheets. They take all incoming calls on my mobile phone and work phone, transcribe them for me and send me an email with a text transcription and a.WAV file to listen to messages if I feel the need to. Unfortunately I was wrong.

Product 280

Product Startup Email Technical Review 280

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 22, 2012

Formerly an area considered PayPal ‘s domain, new companies are setting up shop in the online payments sector and capitalizing on what they say is the giant’s weaknesses. The company was founded in 2008 but launched publicly in March 2010. Rich oversees the company’s product and marketing effort.

Startup 71

Startup Tool Capital Customer 71

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. eCommerce is an enormously competitive search term. Do you have an application that helps mobile developers build HTML5 apps?

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

socalTECH

JULY 13, 2009

The company was founded by the head of the North America investments for Carrefour, the second largest retailer in the world, the head of the retail banking practice at DLJ, the investment bank. The new fund is focused entirely on technology companies. Those companies are doing phenomenally well, and in a normal market was IPO.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Southern California Santa Barbara Rustic Canyon 157

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 25, 2014

James Citron – Outspoken , pioneering the combination of mobile messaging and advertisements. Erin Korogosky – Beckon , Performance management for marketing companies. Susan Etlinger – Altimeter , research and consulting company for business disruption. Chris Cox – Invoc , inbound call analytics.

Entertainment 99

Entertainment Google Entrepreneur Course 99

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’ve always been a big believer that just a couple of key individuals make all of the difference in a company’s success. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. Patron Companies. The ingredients are all here.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317