Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I often hear the desire to run their own company, to avoid having someone else telling them how to run the business. Although board members should be compensated to assure commitment, I suggest company shares rather than cash. Avoid family members and close personal friends.

Technical Advisors 125

Technical Advisors Startup News Resource 125

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. Show focus and your understanding that your company is something more than just a good idea. Be concise as well as complete.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Conversely if you’re burning $600,000 per month (yes, some companies do) then you only have 5 months of cash left. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

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. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 105

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 105

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I had a picture in the office of my first company with the logo above and the capital letters JFDI. (In In case it’s not obvious it’s a play on the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.&# ) I believe that being successful as an entrepreneur requires you to get lots of things done. Good entrepreneurs are wrong often.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

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. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

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. The company has since gone public, and is still a market leader.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

One of the biggest complaints you hear from both entrepreneurs and investors in Los Angeles, is the lack of a credible, visible startup accelerator in the Los Angeles area. First and foremost, we're focused on making companies become successful. How much are you investing in the companies who are part of the program?

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. Show focus and your understanding that your company is something more than just a good idea. entrepreneur startup equity bank loan'

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Entrepreneur Equity Ideas 75

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

In my business of mentoring new entrepreneurs and advising small company owners, I recognize that most don’t start as experienced leaders, and most don’t realize that people leadership is a primary key to their future success. Building a business is not a one-person job, and leading by edict rarely works today.

Develop 124

Develop Development Technical Advisors Satisfaction 124

socalTECH

AUGUST 28, 2017

She told us about why so many Los Angeles investors are supporting the company and gave us an overview of what PartySlate is all about. I tapped my co-founder, John Haro, who I worked for at Agency.com, and at another mobile marketing company, and we talked about the idea, ideated, and I brought him on as co-founder.

Technical Advisors 100

Technical Advisors Technical Review Metrics Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

As a self-made entrepreneur and former chairman of Diamond Resorts International, he asserts that the five biggest companies by market value today, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, aren’t really tech, but hospitality companies. Cloobeck, “ Checking In: Hospitality-Driven Thinking, Business, and You ”.

Technical Advisors 82

Technical Advisors Artificial Inteligence Customer Custom 82

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

In the Beginning … This is a very important post to me because I find myself giving this advice all the time and if you don’t follow the basic advice here you can cause yourself much heartache down the line – even if your company ultimately becomes über successful. It’s hard enough to build a successful company.

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2018

While spending years in a big company as an employee and an executive, I heard many people talking about jumping the corporate ship, dreaming of being an entrepreneur, and totally in charge of their own destiny. I’m not saying success is rare, but the list of famous entrepreneurs who started their career in a big company is small.

Startup 52

Startup Technical Advisors Entrepreneur IBM 52

Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 28, 2017

But your company is only eligible for the boot camp if it’s generating a minimum of $200,000 in annual revenue with a primary focus on dairy. 125 entrepreneurs in the food or drink business rely on the incubator’s food entrepreneur knowledge base to steer them in the right direction. The California Spirits Company.

Incubator 70

Incubator Santa Clarita Technical Advisors FAQ 70

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2014

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. This patent holding company has charged infringement and demanded royalties from every app developer for the iPhone and Android, for a feature most agree has been in apps for many years. Marty Zwilling.

Patents 100

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 100

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Before his career moved online, Len worked on major marketing campaigns for credit card companies and rolled out MCI’s highly successful “Friends and Family” marketing campaign. Despite this technical glitch, I opted to publish our discussion, given the high-quality content of his comments.

Google 220

Google Technical Advisors Technical Review Equity 220

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. Get out of dead-end jobs, and don’t be afraid to move on to a new company if the current one is not healthy. Recognize career growth requires changing with the business.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Most of the entrepreneurs I advise today are ready to declare success when they get that first surge of traction with a real customer. The specialists to support these may speak different technical as well as communication languages, and be physically dispersed around the world.

Technical Advisors 83

Technical Advisors Tool Software Product 83

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2011

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The bad news is that patent trolls can squeeze the lifeblood out of innocent and unsuspecting entrepreneurs, as exemplified by the current mess around Lodsys patent No. Different rules around the world.

Patents 91

Patents Software Technical Advisors Innocal 91

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

The truth is – there isn’t a “right&# answer so for your company. Most people totally advise against stealth. And these ideas have ways of seeping into board discussions with portfolio companies as in, “have you ever thought about trying A, B or C?&# You need some guidelines to make decisions.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

I often have career discussions with entrepreneurs – both young and more mature – whether they should join company “X&# or not. at a startup that has already raised $5 million the chances of you making your retirement money on that company is EXTREMELY small. This is part of my Startup Advice series.

Startup 418

Startup Technical Advisors Venture Capital Santa Monica 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2016

I still generally advise software startups to file a patent as a barrier to entry from competitors and to increase their valuation by investors, but every entrepreneur needs to understand the tradeoffs. Patent lawyers know how to frame claims broadly, with legal wording, to negotiate the success of some at the expense of others.

Patents 53

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 53

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2012

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. This patent holding company has charged infringement and demanded royalties from every app developer for the iPhone and Android, for a feature most agree has been in apps for many years.

Patents 93

Patents Software Technical Advisors Startup 93

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. Show focus and your understanding that your company is something more than just a good idea. Be concise as well as complete.

Technical Advisors 80

Technical Advisors Startup Equity Ideas 80

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.” When I was raising money for my first company we had closed a seed round in 1999 and were working on our A round. But we weren’t optimizing for dilution – we were building a $1 billion+ company and we wanted the runway to succeed.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2011

I was once asked by a top executive of a major software company why we were not selling more products in Finland. Companies became creative by selling and trading foreign exchange licenses. We retained legal council in Milan and were advised that we would loose if the case went to trial. HR rules are local.

Startup 90

Startup Technical Advisors Sales Examples 90

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. I funded them 8 weeks later.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2010

I was once asked by a division manager of a major software company why we were not selling more products in Finland. Companies became creative by selling and trading foreign exchange licenses. We retained legal council in Milan and were advised that we would loose if the case went to trial.

Technical Advisors 48

Technical Advisors Sales Startup Coach 48

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Of course you could start your own company. As I talked about in “ Is it Time to Learn or Time to Earn ” – overwhelmingly the best economics go to those that start successful companies. Of course I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t start a company. For many people that’s the right answer.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Such attorneys can also add tremendous value in your negotiations with Big Dumb Companies (BDCs), as they can ensure that you focus on the deal points that are of most significance to a small entity. It is surprising how often entrepreneurs forget this simple fact. In Search of an Oxymoron – The Ideal Lawyer.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 10, 2012

Here are just a few: Nolan Bushnell , a seasoned entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc. 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. for ourselves, our culture, and our planet.

Technical Advisors 89

Technical Advisors Design Education Study 89

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2010

I used to fear that this would put me at a disadvantage in starting my own company, but now I’m convinced that it may be the other way around. More importantly, as a parent or mentor, what should you advise young potential entrepreneurs about getting an MBA? Tags: entrepreneur startup MBA business. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 60

Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Education Social Network 60

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

. ► November (1) 2 Ears and 1 Mouth: There's a Reason ► October (2) Be Best at Something Tear Down Your Firewalls ► September (3) Elements of Sustainable Companies We're Not Saving Lives. Web Development & Marketing Technology) Exit: evolved into L90 (next company) Lesson: What you dont know cant stop you.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

The best companies are built on common beliefs and culture – a common sense of purpose. And slowly, over the years, those crazy stories about Danny passed out in the company bathroom after the Summer party get replaced by weddings, births and family picnics. He downs cold ones with the head of biz dev.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

. ► November (1) 2 Ears and 1 Mouth: There's a Reason ► October (2) Be Best at Something Tear Down Your Firewalls ► September (3) Elements of Sustainable Companies We're Not Saving Lives. Web Development & Marketing Technology) Exit: evolved into L90 (next company) Lesson: What you dont know cant stop you.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

Not the successful companies themselves but the entire b t culture of swash-buckling startups who define themselves by hitting some magical $1 billion valuation number and the financiers who back them irrespective of metrics that justify it. My fear isn’t whether these companies will be valuable in the future. ” No.

Technical Advisors 150

Technical Advisors Startup Writing Blogging 150