SoCal CTO

MAY 14, 2012

Ben Kuo just posted on SoCalTech: Are the good times for startups back? That seemed to be the mood running through the cloud at the more-than-sellout crowd at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica Thursday at the first LA Demo Day. At the event, the enthusiasm for startups was palpable.

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Los Angeles Angel Startup Miramar 254

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

Francisco Dao came up with the idea of letting 10 companies that weren’t selected for Twiistup to do a presentation the night before to a group of people and let the audience pick one company to win the final slot at Twiistup. I’ll put up the video when they post it on their website. Stories have starts, middles and ends.

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I asked for intro’s from entrepreneur friends. start-ups are overvalued.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I asked for intro’s from entrepreneur friends. start-ups are overvalued.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. This post was prompted by an email exchange I had with a young entrepreneur. I was interested in learning more.

Startup 360

Startup Venture Capital Invest Slides 360

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

Most technology startups seem to be founded by three types of people: product managers, engineers or biz dev types (MBAs and the like). Very few of them are started, in my experience, by sales people and very few early stage companies really understand sales. Here’s mine: Let me start with a few biases. LOVING Balsamiq!

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Startup Sales Framework Organization 350

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I’m comfortable with introductions and then getting into the demo.&#. I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post. Can you just show up without one? If you want to go quickly to the demo – knock yourself out. Mobile app?

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Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. Entrepreneurs. ” **. . ” **.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 -- Startup Demo. Please join us for an evening of fun mingling with other startups, VCs, entrepreneurs, and technology enthusiasts, as we host our first Startup Demo event in Los Angeles. Social Media Week. See [link] (more).

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Startup Social Media Los Angeles Media 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are. I felt the exact same way when I was an entrepreneur. Lines vs. Dots is all about people.

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Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 24, 2012

Thursday, March 1, 2012 -- Schmoozd Startup Demo and Mixer. Schmoozd is back and is ready to rock the Los Angeles tech scene by showcasing a handful of killer startups at the vLounge, on Thursday, MARCH 1, 2012. Please join us for an evening of fun mingling with other startups, VCs, entrepreneurs and others.

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Startup Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Some readers have commented that in today’s world you shouldn’t even need a PowerPoint presentation – in this era you should always just demo your product. I also recently wrote a post about a company that came in for a presentation and never even got the slides out or presented a demo. Act III – The Demo.

Venture Capital 238

Venture Capital Slides Startup Sales 238

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

It’s a very important concept for me because in a startup you are constantly under pressure and have way too many distractions. Commitment & urgency are key drivers of success in startup businesses. I was recently talking with a startup company who wanted me to try their product. You already know it from your personal lives.

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Metrics Startup SEO Custom 346

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 7, 2013

The good news for entrepreneurs is that there have never been more office space options for early stage companies. If you use the mentor-driven model that we pioneered at TechStars, you get entrepreneurs who are deeply connected with the broader entrepreneurial landscape. Many Sizes, Many Fits.

Incubator 238

Incubator Startup News Entrepreneur 238

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. “Demo is changing the way it runs its accelerator to be rolling recruitment,” said Aaron Blumenthal , a 500 Startups venture partner.

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Startup Los Angeles Invest Platform 177

SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 4, 2012

Thursday, May 10, 2012 -- LA Demo Day (featuring 20 new LA startups). Come see the next crop of great LA tech companies demo their startups to the LA community of entrepreneurs, investors and techies as well as a number of esteemed guests. See [link].

Rustic Canyon 113

Rustic Canyon Startup Entrepreneur Product 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

One of the most common questions that entrepreneurs who meet me for the first time like to ask is, “Do you miss being an entrepreneur? If you’ve taken the roller coaster ride that is a startup – you know what I’m talking about. On Being an Entrepreneur. This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. Long hours.

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Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176

SoCal CTO

MAY 22, 2012

I recently posted about the Increase in Early-Stage Startup Activity in Los Angeles. In that post, I mentioned how one of the signals is the big increase in number of startup events and the number of attendees at those events. Of course, given the size of this list and having kids, I really can't attend a lot of these.

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Los Angeles Southern California Angel Enterprise Forum 198

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2014

The Disney Accelerator , the startup accelerator sponsored by Walt Disney and being run by TechStars, had its demo day Tuesday, showing off the nine companies to emerge out of the accelerator. Disney offered up up to $120K in investment capital, access to entrepreneurs and executives at Disney, and other resources to its startups.

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Class Startup Seed Funding Entertainment 185

socalTECH

AUGUST 14, 2012

It's a warm summer night in Westwood and 35 entrepreneurs are mingling with a collection of the new SoCal silicon-set. StartEngine , the startup accelerator, which launched earlier this year with ten hopeful businesses, is now in the middle of its third and largest class to date. They need a lot of practice. Marks advised.

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Mentor Entrepreneur Technology SoCalTech 178

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). I was telling him that it was much easier when I started because there were fewer deals, life was less public and somehow the world seemed to be spinning more slowly. Web Summit.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

MuckerLab , the Los Angeles startup accelerator headed by Erik Rannala, is presenting its newest startup class today in a Demo Day. MuckerLab's prior class included such hot Los Angeles startups as SurfAir, Retention Science, Wallaby, and InstaCanvas. READ MORE>>.

Class 159

Class Startup Incubator Los Angeles 159

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Rarer still is the startup CEO who can make the transition effectively on their own. Unwillingness to devolve power is the bane of many management teams at startup companies. I see the problem directly at many startups I know. The problem is that we started with an SLA that was too favorable to us. This seldom works.

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Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

My good friend Adam Lilling and I started Launchpad more than 5 years ago . I had witnessed a number of early-stage tech startups in LA raise seed capital from the Bay Area and relocate. By 2011 the market had started to change dramatically. Adam had a full time startup and then was doing consulting (he later raised a VC fund).

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

InfoChachkie

JULY 4, 2011

Right from the start, Sam must endure the most painful of all forms of sales rejection, the personal attack. Sam happily agrees, as he knows he will not have to continue selling, once the demo is completed. However, typical of an Optimistically Pessimistic entrepreneur, Sam never loses hope, and does gives up. Sam-I-Am.”.

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Sales Entrepreneur Startup Product 219

SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 1, 2017

Thursday, September 7, 2017 -- Startup UCLA Summer Accelerator Demo Day. After 10 weeks of intense preparation, Startup UCLA's Summer Accelerator teams will be showcasing their startups to Los Angeles and the surrounding community. Don't miss your chance to see UCLA entrepreneurs pitch their latest innovations.

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UCLA Startup Los Angeles Entrepreneur 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 24, 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 -- StartEngine is pleased to present our latest class of startups at our Demo Day on Wednesday, January 30th at CrossCampus in Santa Monica. tech entrepreneurs. This is your chance to hear their stories and support a new batch of L.A. See [link] (more)

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Santa Monica Commerce Class Mentor 124

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 20, 2017

Thursday, March 23, 2017 -- TCVN VR Demo Night - Eat + Talk + Demo. At the TCVN VR Demo Night, VR/AR industry professionals will be on a panel to share current thoughts and challenges. Also, innovative companies will showcase and demo the latest in VR/AR technology. See [link] (more)

TCVN 100

TCVN UCI Entertainment Entrepreneur 100

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2014

As our first time covering a 500 Startups demo day , we could only imagine the stratospheric levels of stress our Batch 8 founders must have gone through to get on stage and present their progress from their last four months of startup bootcamp. In true 500 Startups fashion, Demo Day had an almost cathartic feel.

Startup 111

Startup Mobile Commerce Education 111

Berkonomics

APRIL 24, 2014

Often I see executive summaries from entrepreneurs who have never managed any form of business, or even managed employees in their past life, and who don’t know the first thing about business formation and managing for growth. I used to tell them to find a partner with knowledge in business creation and management.

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Coach Seed Funding Summary Incubator 250

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking that funding is something you do in “funding season,&# some mythical 2-month period when you’re ready with a great Powerpoint deck and you hit up all of the VC’s at the same time so that you can quickly raise money and get back to the job of building a business.

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Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

Your product demo crushed. You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. You had an amazing meeting with an investor. The dialog was great. They told you how much they loved your space.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 -- Demo Day III - The Launchpad for Cleantech. Demo Days are informal events that give entrepreneurs a chance to showcase their green technology and fundraising needs to green industry stakeholders.

Rustic Canyon 100

Rustic Canyon Pasadena Angels SoCal Southern California 100

TechCrunch LA

MAY 12, 2020

This morning, Snap joined a host of startup accelerators shifting its demo day online amid the COVID-19 quarantine. With its third class of startups, Yellow, Snap’s in-house startup accelerator that launched in 2018, brought investors and founders together in private slack channels after a live-streamed presentation.

Invest 237

Invest Startup Artificial Inteligence Class 237

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

Last week I had two very contrasting presentations from entrepreneurs that gave me the idea for this post. Pitch 1: I had an awesome young entrepreneur come in this week to talk about his seed stage business. Needless to say I was positively predisposed to this individual before the meeting started. A Tale of Two Pitches.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Yahoo 288

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2010

launched earlier this year at DEMO. Alon Goren: What we did, actually, was when we launched at DEMO we got up on stage, and you're not allowed to show a PowerPoint--you have to demo your product. What were you doing before you started the site? What is the idea behind Invested.in? Thanks, and good luck!

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Sites Startup Invest SoCalTech 237

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Start-up Lessons”. I’m not going to cover in this post the obvious post-show marketing tasks such as following up on all those business cards you grabbed, communicating with all those people who registered at your site and leveraging your new found fame to score venture capital.

Startup 310

Startup Press Venture Capital Journal 310