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There are certain topics that even some of the best journalists can’t fully grok. One of them is profitability. 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!” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”
Article first published as Eleven Startup Tips From Mark Cuban on Technorati. Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos , Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. Mark Cuban is a lifelong serial entrepreneur, launching his startup career with a variety of teenage schemes, including buying and selling collectable stamps to pay for college.
The Digital Family group said this week that they will be honoring Eric Pulier with its Outstanding Achievement Honor at its event Thursday. The group has previously recognized Nolan Bushnell, Scott Painter, and William Quigley with the award. Pulier is the founder or co-founder of IVT, US Interactive, Desktone, and SOA Software. The Digital Family is running its fourth annual holiday party, the Digital Family Reunion , on Thursday, gathering together a collection of over 30 different local orga
People argue over whether an entrepreneur with a sense of fairness, a desire for collegiality, a want to share the profits can succeed in the long run within a business world full of lions and tigers that eat timid entrepreneurs for lunch. First, let’s separate the “good heart” from the issue of whether an entrepreneur is driven to succeed. A sense of values that allows for sharing and fairness is not at odds with a ‘type A’ entrepreneur driven for success.
Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 -- Meet The Team: BetterWorks. LetsDo. Want to know how an idea turned into a revolutionary company perks program? Interested in learning how to kill it with business development? Join Betterworks to learn how to sell your product before it launches.
First things first – your startup needs a name! This may seem a silly and frivolous task, but it may be the most important decision you make. The name of your business has a tremendous impact on how customers and investors view you, and in today’s small world, it’s a world-wide decision. Please don’t send me any more business plans with TBD or NewCo in the title position.
Fred Wilson recently posted a great video on his blog with the CEO of Forrester Research, George Colony. The money slide is the graphic below. The chart shows three scarce resources and their improvements over time. The top line is available storage (S), the middle line represents processing power (following Moore’s law) or (P) and the bottom line is the Network (N).
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Fred Wilson recently posted a great video on his blog with the CEO of Forrester Research, George Colony. The money slide is the graphic below. The chart shows three scarce resources and their improvements over time. The top line is available storage (S), the middle line represents processing power (following Moore’s law) or (P) and the bottom line is the Network (N).
Article first published as Unlike You, Mark Zuckerberg And Bill Gates Can Go Both Ways on Technorati. Karch Kiraly (pronounced “cartch kur-ai”) is an anomaly. He is the only person to win Olympic gold medals in both indoor and beach volleyball. . Just as Karch is a rarity, so are entrepreneurs who are equally facile at startups and Big Dumb Companies (BDCs).
Have you ever been sitting around in an airport or public place, and wonder if there is someone around you should be introducing yourself to and meeting? That's the problem that the mobile app ntro is looking to solve. Josh Resnick is a serial entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of nProgress , the company behind ntro. Josh was formerly the President of Pandemic Studios, and helped co-found the company, merge it with Bioware, and eventually sell the combined firm to Electronic Arts for $860M.
Fifty percent of all businesses formed fail within the first two years. . There are many variations of this number since there are a number of ways to measure failure. But the number is a startling reminder that creating a business is not easy, nor is it any assurance of success. . After speaking with many entrepreneurs over the years, each defines success in his or her unique way.
Thursday, January 5, 2012 -- LA CEOs, an education and support group for CEOs presents: Banking on the Difference; Changes and Strategies for Businesses AFTER The Great Recession After the summers Debt Standoff, Sand Ps Downgrade of the U.S., and this falls European Credit Lockup - whats in store for business in the New Year and beyond? If you want to know more about where things are headed and what YOU should know about banking from a commercial banker that has worked with start-ups
TechZulu is excited to invite you to the 2012 Startup and Entrepreneurial Forecast taking place on Tuesday Jan. 24 7pm at Coloft in Santa Monica. We have a line up of amazing speakers who will share their insights and forecast for startup trends in 2012. Topics of discussion will be Saas, Cloud, Mobile, Gaming, Social Markets, what surprises are coming for 2012, creating value with your company, hiring problem solvers, and building sensible businesses.
A few weeks ago I was reading a blog post by MG Siegler that really struck a chord. The title was “The Jerk,” which is a reference to both the Steve Martin film but more precisely to Robert Scoble’s interpretation of Steve Jobs having just read his biography. The gist of MG’s argument is that he’d rather work with people who are openly critical of his ideas if it helps him to perform better than to have a bunch of “yes men” around who just say what a gre
I just got off the phone with someone who wanted my help getting networked into the Santa Barbara business community. Little did I know when the call began, that it would end up being the worst networking call in which I have ever partaken. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. free weekly Infochachkie articles! A Little Research Goes a Long Way.
Fans of Hawthorne-based SpaceX , the commercial rocket firm of Elon Musk, have been riding high this week, with the approval of its NASA launch mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for February. Plus, the firm has also just been tapped by new space startup Stratolaunch--backed by Microsoft billionaire Paul G. Allen--to help power that company's own space efforts.
Look this up sometime in your browser: “Success is a byproduct, not a goal.” You will find it attributed to tens of originators. I first heard this in an episode of Friday Night Lights , when sage Coach Taylor began a locker room speech with those words. And yet, when I facilitate strategic planning sessions, I often lead executives to create a goal for their enterprise, one which can be reached by successfully accomplishing a series of strategic actions, each of
Many believe that entrepreneurs are born, not made. While I agree that successful company builders usually have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, a good education helps polish that apple. There are people who are natural musicians, but that doesn't mean we don't try to teach them music. Of course, there's no law saying you have to go to college to start a business.
I am a big believer in VC pitches that the bio slide should come up front. Actually, I think the advice in this post applies to any sales meeting also. The short answer is that by knowing the key members of the management team the VC firm can quickly identify strengths on your time and know whether you have some competitive advantage in your chose field relative to other people with whom you will compete.
I recently reviewed Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson’s book Venture Deals , in THIS ENTRY. I concluded that it is an effective tool for leveling the playing field between sophisticated investors and emerging entrepreneurs. I have subsequently recommended the book to number of students as well as emerging entrepreneurs, all of whom expressed positive feedback. .
San Diego-based Qualcomm is planning to rename Qualcomm Stadium to "Snapdragon Stadium", as part of a promotion of the company's mobile Snapdragon mobile processors, the company is announcing today. The firm said the move, the San Diego Chargers, the City of San Diego and The San Diego Bowl Game Association, will be unveiled today at the stadium. Qualcomm did not say how much it is spending to replace the exterior signs, scoreboard, and other brand assets at the stadium.
Too many startup businesses, especially in the technology world, are built upon brand new concepts that have not yet been proven in the field with products from other companies that have revenues flowing. As a rule, creating a product that does not fit into an existing space, cannot be defined against one or more competitors, or which needs a long description to understand, will require considerably more marketing capital and entail much more risk than one that follows an existing trend, even i
Saturday, December 17, 2011 -- Teens in Tech Conference. The Teens in Tech Conference is about connecting youth and technology with entrepreneurship, startups and the web. We'll achieve just that in front of an audience of young entrepreneurs, developers and designers.
Mid-level or even top executives who “grew up” in large companies often look with envy at startups, and dream of how easy it must be running a small organization, where you can see the whole picture and it appears you have total control. In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations thrive in the early-stage startup environment.
A year ago I invested, along with Dana Settle at Greycroft Partners , in a startup company called Maker Studios. What excited me was that they had an immensely talented team that understood how to produce & distribute low-cost videos, initially via YouTube. It was founded by Danny Zappin, Lisa Donovan & Ben Donovan. They know this model of YouTube production & distribution better than anybody else that I’ve met in my 5 years in Los Angeles.
I began publishing my blog in 2008. For the first couple years, I wrote under the pseudonym Uncle Saul. I was hesitant to use my own name, as I did not want my blog to be perceived as a self-promotional vanity project. By early 2010, I found my stylistic voice and identified my audience of emerging entrepreneurs and thus dropped my penname. In addition, my role as Partner at Rincon Venture Partners provided me with a business reason to invest additional time and effort into my humble blog.
Los Angeles-based Start Engine , the business accelerator being spearheaded by Activision co-founder Howard Marks, said today that it has created a new, $15M investment fund for its portfolio of startups, and added former Governor Gray Davis as an advisor. The accelerator--just one of the many accelerators to emerge in Southern California in recent weeks--also said it has added John Maataa, the COO of the CW; Hayward D.
Eighty percent of all businesses purchased by another company or by a new investor-operator fail to meet the stated expectations of the buyer after one year. As with the fifty percent rule, this rule is hard to find an author willing to be quoted as the source. But it is within the range of experience by many who have acted as brokers, serial purchasers or consultants for acquisitions.
It’s that time of year again. You know what I’m talking about – scrambling to buy gifts because you blanked on Cyber Monday, pulling late-nighters to debug your software and push a new version before everyone checks out, and refusing to count the calories you’ve consumed since turkey day. You’ve been working like a maniac, so why not take a break to reflect, relax and raise a glass with some of LA’s most successful technology entrepreneurs?
Since the days of Henry Ford, mass production has been the Holy Grail of business, rather than build-to-order. Too many businesses haven’t noticed that we have come full-circle, where mass customization is required now to win. Customers have come to expect immediate and tailor-made responses to their needs, and the businesses that fail to deliver quickly fall behind.
In Everything (Including Startups) Is A Remix , I discuss the brilliant series of films created by Kirby Ferguson, which focus on the origin of creativity in music, film and business. Kirby’s videos entertainingly illustrate that the building blocks of creativity, irrespective of the creation, are: copying, combining and transforming. In my recent interview with Kirby, he discusses the origin of his videos and how he called upon his entrepreneurial muse to bootstrap their creation.
Santa Monica-based TrueCar , which provides automotive pricing information and powers automotive buying programs with its software and systems, said Friday that it is in an extensive, multi-year commitment to support female race car drivers. The firm said it is launching a "Women Empowered" initiative to back five female auto racing drivers, including Shea Holbrook (Pirelli World Challenge), Ashley Freiberg (Star Mazda Series), Shannon McIntosh (USF2000), Verena Mei (Rally America), and Emilee T
My son Jacob (14) and his pal David Schaeman (15) perform at TEDxAmericanRiviera 11/11/11. Needless to say, I’m very, very proud of this. But don’t take my word for it, listen to these boys play, they are phenomenal.
Thursday, December 15, 2011 -- Women Transforming Los Angeles. Broads Circle. Panelists: Jane Pisano, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County; Ann Samson, Westside Family YMCA, Los Angeles; Regina Birdsell, Southern California Center for Nonprofit Management; Carline W. Nahas, Korn/Ferry International.
It’s always interesting to see how we’ve progressed over the years in industry. The most rapid of those industry’s being technology. Over the last 15 years we’ve seen a surge of industry and even overall life changes that have come from the tech space. From the created services that altered how we communicate and interact with one another.
A common misconception I often hear in the startup world is that non-profits are easy and safe, since they don’t have to pay taxes, and they don’t have to make a profit for their shareholders. In reality, from the feedback I get from non-profit executives, exactly the opposite is true. Technically speaking, in the United States, a non-profit corporation or association is one which has been exempted from Federal income taxes by meeting the criteria set out Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue C
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