Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. While many tech startups do this intuitively (say, SnapChat thinking it would be much better if our photos out partying disappeared) it still happens. Of course reciprocity matters so they would all leap into action. But it wasn’t to be.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any? What Is This? Send brief bios.

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

And do I fit as a Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO ? Consider what Ryan Waggoner tells us How to Find a Technical Cofounder : When I was doing freelance development, I had about one pitch per week for an equity-only opportunity. Go to tech (or other relevant industry) events. Go to user groups.

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2010

It profiles one little girl who finished her course work at a private Christian school in her neighborhood but was unable to attend graduation because her mom got behind on payments. Lawrence) both helped me master the rules of writing and tap into my creativity. So what is the problem and proposed solutions from the film maker?

Class 340

Class Education Technical Review Writing 340

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

The main thrust of the post is that with YouTube taking a 45% of revenue and talent taking 70% of the remaining revenue, YouTube Networks didn’t have sustainable businesses unless they invested heavily in technology as a tool to increase margin and provide defensibility. That is the definition of Disruptive Technology.

Companies 339

Companies Company Technical Review Content 339

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

And it’s the latest in a series of investments we’ve made in building out our practice as the LA technology market continues to grow robustly and attract entrepreneurs and investors. Of course – some people can be remote. He of coursed required me to lobby on his behalf as well. Help us review a few deals.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” Of course that was a wrong narrative for both companies. Mostly kidding. Another firm funded them.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

Santa Monica-based Demand Media (www.demandmedia.com) has seen its share of ups and downs as one of the highest visibility technology and media companies to come out of Southern California's technology ecosystem in recent years. But, they could not write, and did not know what to write from the travel perspective.

Demand 240

Demand Media eHow Content 240

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Of course I have. 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. You need to have passionate tech entrepreneurs who want to build businesses locally. I’m in Seattle this week.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

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. Well, obviously if you knew that in advance it would be big of course that would be true.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2014

” I have been weighing in slowly on the topic over the past few weeks on Twitter but have avoided writing a blog post about it until now. I have thought a lot about anonymity over the years and actually have enjoyed debating the topic with those passionate about anonymity’s benefits because of course that’s how I learn.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Blogging Examples Startup 329

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 13, 2011

For the next four days if you’re in the tech industry you’re going to hear a non-stop stream of information about SXSW. They have fun & meet tons of interesting people and they confuse this with the need to do be at every major tech event. Write them in advance and request meetings. We just hung.

Conference 289

Conference Startup Technical Review Writing 289

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Other times the partner wants to test whether there is support before sinking in tons of due diligence time. tip: write it down when asked / parked).

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

One is obvious, without protection, such IP might prove to be of little worth, as other companies can mimic the technology without recourse. The very nature of formal IP approval process ensures that some level of vetting has been performed to assess whether the IP is infringing on another company’s technology. Provisional Approach.

IP 256

IP Patents Companies Company 256

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Of course you could start your own company. Of course I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t start a company. For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.”

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

If you’re not familiar with the term it’s basically trying to help all of us who are deluged with technology to find ways to cope with the masses of information without having it ruin our lives. Want to take a year pursuing your dream to write a screenplay, travel through Asia, run a triathlon or start your own fashion line?

Startup 295

Startup Email Technical Review Course 295

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

I reviewed a deal for a friend of mine tonight. He wanted to know what I thought of his technology deal. Of course I ask more politely that than. I’ve seen you write a $10 million check before. He’s an incredibly smart investor and somebody that I actually consider to be a mentor to myself. But I always ask.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Email 333

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2010

Bill Gates once famously said that people tend to overestimate the impact of technology in the 1-year timeframe and underestimate its impact in the 10-year timeframe. I tend not to go into heat when I hear the latest buzz on the tech blogs about the latest gadgets. There is, of course, a paid version. We’ll see.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? A few reasons. You should read this post. Isolated incident?

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). And they have access to some of the most talented technology entrepreneurs so this is a worthy goal for them. They do this because they have amazing skills at writing business plans.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

Value is created through diligent hard work. Once you prove that a substantial number of people are willing to pay more for your solution than it costs you to provide it, you can then consider licensing your underlying technology. Your commitments to investors must be significant enough to compel them to write you a check.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2012

Of course, this has to be in concert with a variety of visible characteristics that indicate that you as the entrepreneur have the attitude and practical skills to make it happen. Here are some key ones they look for: Talks and writes well. Allows sufficient time to find capital, including due diligence time for investors.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Technical Review Course Patents 117

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

In fact, they are probably in such a hurry to give you money that they don’t want you to waste time writing anything down and passing it along to new investors. Most professional investors, even if they like your story, and were properly introduced by a friend, will ask for a business plan at the due diligence stage.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. I had worked as a tutor for Princeton Review, and Jake for Kaplan. We thought, we could put out a better product than Kaplan or Princeton Review, which would be more compelling, and also would tie in a strong social mission.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

It’s obvious that we can be too late to these decisions of course. Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets. If — and it’s a big if of course — they can do that on the cheap, then why should an LP care at all? Quality tech news from around the web. How can you practice timing?

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

And of course we help with business development introductions and with fund raising events. I have been meaning to write this for a while as I’ve noticed that much of my board time is involved in trying to be an independent referee for founders who themselves are trying to resolve their own conflicts. What prompted this post?

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2013

Of course, this has to be in concert with a variety of visible characteristics that indicate that you as the entrepreneur have the attitude and practical skills to make it happen. Here are some key ones they look for: Talks and writes well. Allows sufficient time to find capital, including due diligence time for investors.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Course Patents 109

Eric Greenspan

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Today, I received this email from the BBB: We’re writing to let you know that during the past month the Reliability Report that we publish on Make It Work was accessed 6 times. link] we have been unable to resolve this issue due to technical issues on your site and yet this remains on our profile. First, we remain an A-.

Santa Barbara 265

Santa Barbara Technical Advisors Email Technical Review 265

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

They cite sources like a recent BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this NY Times article. Of course there are scenarios where a written business plan is not critical, but I haven’t seen one yet where a well-written 15-page document, or at least a 10-slide pitch, is a negative.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). And they have access to some of the most talented technology entrepreneurs so this is a worthy goal for them. They do this because they have amazing skills at writing business plans.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

The company--which is in the business of operating a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web graphics, multimedia, applications, and more to end users-- recently disclosed it more than doubled its revenues in 2012, and has grown to over 230 employees--all due to a huge amount of demand for CDN services by its customers.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

They cite sources like the BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this Forbes article. In fact, they are probably in such a hurry to give you money that they don’t want you to waste time writing anything down and passing it along to new investors. You need money, and plan to do crowdfunding.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 109

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. Of course that’s not true. They want technical sales to help with customer objections.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

The reason for that, is in my opinion, the majority of the innovations that have improved our nation in the past 150 years have been due to technology and engineering innovations. One of the attributes of this prize, is that USC is going to also conduct a business plan preparation and entrepreneurship course for the students.

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 11, 2010

This month’s big question is Examples of Big Impact from Technology and I’ve taken it as an opportunity to go back and look at the elements of different projects that I’ve worked on over the years that have had a big impact. I’ve seen that in courses and in design specs many times, and it’s a HORRIBLE IDEA.

Satisfaction 167

Satisfaction Examples Course Technical Review 167

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2014

I would start by asking the candidate, “How did you decide on these five people” as part of your review process. Most people delay reference calls until that point both due to expediency of time (why make phone calls unless you think you might hire the person?) You expected no less. Having an accomplice.

Startup 302

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Report 302