Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

“he quit his job and threw himself into a start-up company, which has him on the road in constantly changing environments. ” This sentiment is probably familiar to many entrepreneurs and it must certainly resonates with anybody who suspects he or she has ADD. Then she bought me a book that changed my life.

Startup 416

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Help 416

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

At least six, Southern California companies -- Nimble , ParkMe , Quarterly , Beachmint , Chromatik , and Dollar Shave Club -- have been named as one of Entrepreneur Magazine's 100 Brilliant Companies list today, a healthy share of the publication's annual look at the best ideas, hottest industries, and innovators.

Dollar Shave Club 231

Dollar Shave Club Southern California Entrepreneur Company 231

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2021

New entrepreneurs routinely jump into a startup with a full charge of passion and energy, but often find themselves drained of both after a few months by the workload and challenges. As a result, burnout and loss of passion are consistently listed among the top causes of startup failure, according to many experts. Don’t wait.

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Entrepreneur Startup Press Study 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2022

With the cost of entry at an all-time low, and the odds of success equally low, more and more entrepreneurs are starting multiple companies concurrently. Other prolific entrepreneurs, like Richard Branson and Elon Musk , simply have several startups on the table at any given moment.

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Entrepreneur Startup Resource Course 145

Berkonomics

AUGUST 17, 2023

Preparing for the game… If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and more.

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Berkonomics

MARCH 9, 2017

Starting a company is HARD – in so many ways. I read several years ago, that the average startup restaurant lasts only about a year. Here I am a professional investor in early stage companies, and I attempt to find those with the greatest chance of success and growth in value over time. And risky too. What does THAT mean?

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Startup Statistics Tech Coast Angels Study 266

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2023

I know that dates me a good bit, but it also shows that I have been hanging around startups and big companies for a long time. The honest truth is that I worked directly with him in the early days of Microsoft from my “safe” perch in big IBM, during the startup of the IBM PC. We all start out as regular guys. by Louis V.

IBM 82

IBM IBM Company Companies 82

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Raising capital for a female-led startup can be very diffiult--which is what Justine Lassoff and Melinda Moore found out when they started their own company, LovingEco, in Los Angeles. We actually started the organization in 2013. What is the most difficult challenge that women entrepreneurs face?

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors. Visibility to startup job opportunities and career guidance.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Berkonomics

MARCH 24, 2016

Dave’s note: This week we welcome guest author, David Friedman, to tell us about his favorite startup CEO, and his take after interviewing her – asking for her list of attributes for startup success. . I met Kirsten Mangers several years ago after she successfully sold her startup, Webvisible. By David Friedman.

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Startup Ideas Incubator Mentor 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2020

Every new venture that survives the first five years starts to drift away from their entrepreneurial thinking, and assumes they have achieved the path to longevity. In fact, even within Fortune 100 companies, almost 90 percent have encountered growth stalls or flirted with failure, or worse, in the last 50 years. Change is hard.

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Startup Company Companies Statistics 128

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2021

“Intrapreneurs” are entrepreneurs inside big companies, who do corporate spin-offs. A spin-off is merely a startup spawned by a mature parent (company), and conventional logic would dictate that it has a survival advantage over the lowly startup. Grow faster , which a spin-off can do outside the parent company.

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Company Companies Startup Examples 125

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. All the skills and instincts you needed to get to this level can actually start working against you, and you can fail to scale.

Entrepreneur 169

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Mentor 169

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2023

Technology is so key to every business these days that experienced business-smart but non-tech entrepreneurs are feeling deeper and deeper in the hole. Startups succeed most often when the founding partners know how to build and run a business, rather than how to build and run technology.

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Entrepreneur Technology High Tech Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

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Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company?

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. Almost anyone can start a company today on a shoestring budget, following these cost-cutting recommendations: Establish a solid legal structure for your business.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Outsource Development 162

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2020

As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m always surprised by the fact that some never seem to be able to that first startup going, while many others never seem to stop, starting their second or third initiative before the first one is fully hatched. You can’t win a race that you never start.

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Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2020

The era of stable lifetime jobs for business professionals within a single company are gone. Companies are rightsized quickly now as markets change rapidly, and business professionals are quick to jump to new opportunities for growth and survival, with no ties to special benefits or pension plans. Software Development Professional.

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Startup Social Media Course Entrepreneur 164

socalTECH

AUGUST 23, 2017

LA's technology startup industry has saw a surge in new companies and efforts from its serial entrepreneurs in the last few months. Here's a quick look at just a few of the new companies who are led by serial entrepreneurs from the LA ecosystem. Entering Startup image courtesy Mike @ flickr. Ground Control.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Company Companies Technical Review 113

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. There is no crowd of successful entrepreneurs. Successful startups are all about the right people with the right stuff.

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Entrepreneur Tips Funding Startup 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2022

Successful startups seem to follow similar paths to greatness, and unfortunately all too often that path leads them back down the hill much faster than they went up. Thus it behooves every entrepreneur to start watching these things more carefully from the very start. Product-line expansion. Consolidation.

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Startup Web 2.0 IBM IBM 142

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

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Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2021

Innovation is the key to long-term business success, both in startups as well as established organizations. Yet every business and every entrepreneur I know struggles with this challenge, focused on hiring the right people and implementing the right process. Elon Musk recommends this approach. Practice the one-sentence method.

Entrepreneur 158

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Design 158

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2021

Making the decision to start your own business is a major commitment, with huge implications for skills and lifestyle. These are not valid reasons to start a business. But if you're focused on solving a real problem, believe you can do it better than anyone else, and confident in wearing many hats, you have the right start-up mindset.

Entrepreneur 169

Entrepreneur Startup Statistics Guide 169

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2021

In fact, only 100 of the 10,000 multimillion-dollar consumer companies around the world can claim to be an “apostle brand” – one that inspires enduring trust, loyalty, and endorsement. The challenge of every startup is finding that balance between solving a real problem today, and giving customers the courage to make a leap forward.

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Company Companies Startup Customer 152

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Solicit venture capital investors.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 8, 2013

I met fellow hustler Brian Curliss about 2 years ago at a Startup Weekend event that I was covering. It came as no surprise whatsoever when I found out that his new company MailLift was called up to the big leagues to join the 500 Startups accelerator. So what is so special about 500 Startups you ask?

Startup 86

Startup CTO Coach Mentor Class 86

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

As a business advisor, I meet many business professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs who are anxious to be their own boss , or have an innovative idea to start or acquire a new business. Also, initiating a startup is quite different from taking over a thriving business, where the focus is on repeatable processes and quarterly profits.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2020

Entrepreneurs who experience success with their first startup are often amazed to realize that the risks and fears of doing it right the second time go up, rather than down. Encores are tough, especially in the high-risk world of startups, yet every entrepreneur I know can’t wait to start over and do it again.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Ideas 129

SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 10, 2012

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 -- Legal Challenges Or Pitfalls That Affect Start-ups And Entrepreneurs. Legal issues for an entrepreneur or small business, early in the companys formation, can have a serious impacts on a businesses future. TiE SoCal And SABA. https://s01.123signup.com/servlet/SignUpMember?PG=1521728182300andP=15217281911424641400andInfo.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur SoCal Southern California 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2020

For all entrepreneurs, starting a business is the route to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” no matter how risky. According to a classic article and poll by Startups.co.uk , having the independence to make your own decisions is considered the key benefit of being an entrepreneur. If you are here in the U.S.,

Entrepreneur 122

Entrepreneur Startup Satisfaction Competition 122

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2022

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. The classic book, “ Hunting in a Farmer's World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. Dini makes the case that entrepreneurs are hunters, while the rest of us (large majority) are farmers.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Marketing News Slides 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2023

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. With the success of Facebook and Twitter, I still see new social media startups almost every day, with most destined to fail. Never mix up what you like with what your customers will buy.

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Entrepreneur Netflix Social Media Startup 125

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

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. Most of these are non-profits, set up by a university to commercialize new technologies, or a municipality to foster business development for the local economy.

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Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 26, 2020

500 Startups is scrapping its cohort model for accelerating companies and moving to a rolling admissions process, the accelerator said during its latest demo day. One of the progenitors of the accelerator model in the US along with Techstars and Y Combinator , 500 has been a cornerstone of the early-stage company building platform.

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Startup Los Angeles Invest Platform 177

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2020

As an angel investor in startups, I’m a believer that smart investors invest more in you as the entrepreneur than the next billion dollar solution you are pitching. I’m not looking for words, but examples of how your habits and attributes have produced results, even before your startup.

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Entrepreneur Startup Examples Metrics 124