Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2012

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 98

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Training 98

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

The market was down considerably with public valuations down 53–79% across the four sectors we were reviewing (it is since down even further). ==> Aside, we also have a NEW LA-based partner I’m thrilled to announce: Nick Kim. First in late-stage tech companies and then it will filter back to Growth and then A and ultimately Seed Rounds.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

socalTECH

JUNE 12, 2012

Santa Barbara, one of Southern California's technology centers, has a unique problem: how do you scale out your technology staff, despite intense competition from the firm's large number of technology companies, expensive cost-of-living, limited real estate, and a fairly long trek from the rest of the region for commuters?

Santa Barbara 145

Santa Barbara Technical Review Southern California Competition 145

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2010

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 91

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal. Some entrepreneurs do very little to prepare for due diligence, assuming all the talking has already been done, and the business plan and results to-date tell the right story. My best advice is to stick to the middle ground.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2014

I could have listened to her for hours as many of her lessons were ones I hadn’t heard before such as how she used online gaming when she was younger as a way of both teaching herself tech as well as learning to lead remote teams. Nanea Reeves has a storied career in senior leadership roles at technology companies.

Technical Review 315

Technical Review Blogging RSS Organization 315

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2012

San Diego-based Qualcomm has launched its third annual QPrize competition, the competition where the firm looks to vet and fund early stage technology companies from around the world. Qualcomm said entries are due by August 17th. READ MORE>>.

Competition 140

Competition Technical Review San Diego Funding 140

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. How do we need to structure the systems to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition? What are the biggest areas of technical risk? What technology research is required?

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

Usually after a Monday partner meeting you get a pretty strong: Yes, term sheet coming No, sorry we’re passing Maybe, we need to do more due diligence / analysis / work I always counsel founders that “good news comes early” so if you haven’t heard by Tuesday at noon chances are it wasn’t likely a clean “yes.”

Venture Capital 314

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest Slides 314

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. Periodically we do portfolio reviews to evaluate whether we have enough diversified risk across the fund. Far from it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). When you think about the trends of faster-growing startups due to social networking, credit card enable and mobile first consumers – the reality is that many startups are becoming very large financially before needing to go public.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal. Some entrepreneurs do very little to prepare for due diligence, assuming all the talking has already been done, and the business plan and results to-date tell the right story. My best advice is to stick to the middle ground.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 152

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Last week, the University of Southern California 's Viterbi School of Engineering announced that it had established a new, business plan competition, the Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition ([link] specifically aimed at students in the engineering school. Why a business plan competition, and why in engineering school?

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

It is often the fortuitous mixture of new technologies, customer awareness and then acceptance of the technology and then the slow adoption into our daily lives that leads to markets exploding. We technology leaders also make this mistake. I had my sales teams telling me we needed certain features to be competitive.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2012

I often hear the qualms of business-smart but non-technical entrepreneurs, wondering if they really have a chance in this high-technology marketplace. I tell them that if their idea or solution is technology intensive, they clearly need technology strength on the team. Outsource your technical requirements.

Technical Review 92

Technical Review Technology Startup Outsource Development 92

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. These are probably the two sites where I've posted the most reviews. One out of ten of Americans are out of work.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 9, 2020

The venture is also one of the few e-motorcycle companies drawing engineering tips from competition. Technology from the track is transferring to production models, according to Cevolini. Energica credits the application of race tech to production e-motos for some of the increased order flow it saw early this year.

Technical Review 277

Technical Review Competition Demand Sales 277

TechCrunch LA

MAY 20, 2021

Construction tech startups are poised to shake up a $1.3-trillion-dollar As more people spent time at home last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup saw its contract revenue spike by 5x, Wu says. Eano, she said, offers competitive and transparent pricing so that homeowners aren’t surprised as a remodeling project goes on.

Technical Review 185

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Software Review 185

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2011

I often hear the qualms of business-smart but non-technical entrepreneurs, wondering if they really have a chance in this high-technology marketplace. I tell them that if their idea or solution is technology intensive, they clearly need technology strength on the team. Outsource your technical requirements.

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Entrepreneur Outsource Development Outsource 94

socalTECH

MARCH 10, 2015

Santa Barbara-based Resonant , which is developing radio frequency filer technology for mobile front-ends, said yesterday afternoon that it has signed a second customer for its technology. Name of the customer was not disclosed.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Customer Custom Santa Barbara 100

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2014

According to a recent Forbes article , UC Santa Barbara''s Technology Management Program offers students a superior startup education over the University of Pennsylvania (home of Wharton), as well Harvard, Northwestern and even its acclaimed southern neighbor, the University of Southern California. Want to be an entrepreneur? Techpreneurs.

Santa Barbara 258

Santa Barbara Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 258

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

XPRIZE , the nonprofit organization which has been using large dollar prize competitions to spur innovation in a wide range of areas, has booted up a brand new, $2M prize around ocean health, the group said this week. xprize ocean health carbon dioxide emissions competition prize' The XPRIZE Foundation said that. READ MORE>>.

Southern California 204

Southern California Technical Review Competition Organization 204

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

How do we need to structure the systems to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition? What are the biggest areas of technical risk? What technology research is required? What technologies will we use? What do we need to do to make sure we can survive technical due diligence by investors and partners?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2013

Los Angeles does not have a great track record when it comes to technology companies colliding with government; even such common sense things as opening up bidding for providing Wi-Fi at LAX to local companies has been wrought with political wrangling. angeles politics uber lyft sidecar technology rideshare transportation taxi'

Legalzoom 221

Legalzoom Los Angeles Glendale Technical Review 221

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 8, 2019

Responding to Elizabeth Warren’s call to regulate and break up some of the nation’s largest technology companies, the venture capitalists that invest in technology companies are advising the presidential hopeful to move slowly and not break anything. This is not a new model, and it makes no sense,” says Narasin.

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Startup Chief Technology Officer Social Media 144

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. 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.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

From apps to hardware, to KickStarter successes and international startups, we’re inching closer to finding out who will take home the title of Startup of the Year competition at our annual Celebrate Conference in October. Among the dozens of participants that applied for the online competitions, only a few progressed into the semifinals.

Competition 110

Competition Mobile Startup Technical Review 110

socalTECH

MARCH 27, 2013

Burbank-based eSolar is developing utility-scale, solar thermal power technology used for generating power on a large scale. Solar power--once the darling of the clean technology industry--has seen an intense shakeout due to extremely low cost competition from Chinese manufacturers. READ MORE>>.

Burbank 178

Burbank Idealab Technical Review Competition 178

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

But when you create a product for a large segment of users who previously couldn’t afford products due to price or complexity and if that product can work at “Internet scale” you have the chance to do something truly amazing. I have written this up before if you’re interested – I call it Deflationary Economics.

Startup 401

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 401

socalTECH

MARCH 22, 2019

Los Angeles-based XPRIZE , the nonprofit which runs competitions to encourage the development of new technology to solve some of the world's problems, has put its efforts behind forest health, saying it has put together an outline of potential breakthroughs required for healthier forest ecosystems. READ MORE>>.

Technical Review 133

Technical Review Competition Research Los Angeles 133

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

If I’m interested I get to spend more time with them, if I’m not I don’t have to – A few companies per month come in that have fascinating business ideas that warrant my spending more time trying to understand their people, company, technology and market. Tags: Tech Market Analysis VC Industry.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

socalTECH

MARCH 7, 2012

Energy Innovations had originally been targeting the residential market with its CPV panels, which it had expected to be more efficient and cheaper than conventional solar panels; however, the firm failed to deliver its products before prices for PV modules dropped due to economies of scale, plus competition from China and thin film modules.

Technical Review 145

Technical Review Idealab High Tech Pasadena 145

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2010

In an effort supported by the Goleta Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Barbara Airport and local technology firm Citrix Online, the groups said they're trying to reach out to local businesses to try to address the issue in a forum later this month. SkyWest had been providing service after United pulled out of the market several years ago.

Santa Barbara 202

Santa Barbara SoCalTech Technical Review Commerce 202

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2016

The XPRIZE Foundation , the group which has been organizing prize-based competitions to help advance critical areas of technology to benefit mankind, announced on Thursday that it has 32 teams from 22 countries who are competing for its $7M Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE. READ MORE>>.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Competition Organization Technology 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. Use competition to make sure you get a fair price. I acknowledged this in the article.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336