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'Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. My first startup was no different. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual.
'There was a lot of passion in the room last week when I presented Working with Developers at the Stubbs Precellerator. I guess it should not be a surprise that Founders have lots of challenges working with developers. So I promised that I would provide a follow-up after the session. This is that follow-up and hopefully it’s useful to people outside of the session as well.
'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. I have a confession: I used to quickly become frustrated whenever I tried something new and I didn''t quickly excel. Rather than attempting to master the new activity, I would moved on to another task, seeking a gentler learning curve. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles!
'Remember the the Star Trek Tricorder--that handheld, sci-fi device which could be waved over someone and instantly figure out what was wrong with their health? A number of teams have recently been looking to turn that vision into reality, as a result of the Qualcomm Tricorder Prize , a $10M competition being run by the X Prize Foundation to create a real life Tricorder.
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.
'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. Although that is still a good idea in many cases, there is a recent alternative available to some entrepreneurs on a competitive basis that seems most attractive and positive.
'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.
'One of the interesting things about being a VC is that you often see companies in transition. If you’re an early investor like I am that often means writing the first $2-3 million check into a business that previously had either survived on fumes or on a $500,000 angel round. I also see companies as they move from having taken $1-5 million from me to their next round where they raise $8-15 million from Series B investors and sometimes I lead at this round (we’re stage agnostic but 8
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'One of the interesting things about being a VC is that you often see companies in transition. If you’re an early investor like I am that often means writing the first $2-3 million check into a business that previously had either survived on fumes or on a $500,000 angel round. I also see companies as they move from having taken $1-5 million from me to their next round where they raise $8-15 million from Series B investors and sometimes I lead at this round (we’re stage agnostic but 8
'When you think technology, you probably think Silicon Valley. But have you ever seen a stadium filled with 1500 student programmers in Silicon Valley? Los Angeles is the only place in the US with a collegiate hackathon, an event where programmers spend hours together programming and building, of that scale and the LA Hacks team from UCLA made sure it was awesome.
'A version of this article previously appeared in The Wall Street Journal. Startups are an emotional rollercoaster; moments of sheer terror interlaced with bone-crushing, mind-numbing and highly addictive exhilaration. However, if unmodulated, the highs can become too high and the lows way too low. Long-hours, uncertainty and the never-ending pressure to survive can cause you and your team to overreact to wins, as well as setbacks.
'What do you do if you''d like to become a web developer, but can''t afford to pay for the courses to learn those skills? One aspiring Los Angeles web developer has come up with a unique idea, an Indiegogo campaign to help raise money for a coding camp --in exchange for donating 10 percent of his income for the next two years to scholarships. Lex Alexander says he wants to launch the Code It Forward Scholarship by raising $9,000 to help him pay for coding boot camp at General Assembly, and wants
'We’ve spoken of financing a young company through friends and family, known as “inside angels.” There are three classes of equity investors for early stage businesses that we have not yet considered. Often grouped into formal organizations, these investors are sophisticated, helpful, and connected. First, angel investment groups come in all sizes from a few organized angels to large groups of three hundred or more.
'The entrepreneur’s challenge is to effectively communicate their value proposition, not only to customers, but also to vendors, partners, investors, and their own team. Especially for technical founders, this is normally all about presenting impressive facts. But in reality facts only go so far. Stories often work better, because humans don’t always make rational decisions.
'I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. 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.
'A few scenarios for us to consider: You’re looking to grow the business and want to scale into new territory. You need to research the possibilities in a new landscape but your personal research has been well, a bit fruitless. Perhaps it’s time to raise a round of Venture Capital funding and want a pitch presentation a bit more composed than the dusty Keynote you put together last year for your friends and family round.
'Much has been written about social entrepreneurship; ventures in which an explicit goal is the betterment of society. However, far less attention has been applied to entrepreneurial philanthropy, in which a startup mindset and accountability is applied to issuing non-profit grants. Intrigued by the concept, I was turned onto one of the leaders in this emerging field of philanthropy, A Better Chicago (ABC), by friend and ABC Board Member, Brent Rasmussen.
'BitAngels , the angel investment group which invests in BitCoin related startups, has launched a new, 10,000 BTC structured fund--approximately $4.1 million US dollars at press time--the first, dedicated fund for its BitCoin investments. The angel investment group, whose members include such local Los Angeles investors as Michael Terpin and Brock Pierce, said the new fund is aimed at helping to grow the Bitcoin ecosystem, and is being run with actual Bitcoin.
'With help from JJ Richa. Can you imagine having 300 shareholders? With recent legislation and new portals on the Web, it’s entirely possible, perhaps for the first time for small businesses. Simply stated crowd funding or crowdfunding is the raising of capital in small amounts, from a broad base of investors. Usually the investors are non-accredited, and only invest a small amount.
'A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One ”. The feedback was good, but some readers asked me to be a bit more specific on attributes that might indicate an ideal startup partner. Even if you are looking in all the right places, it helps to know what you are looking for. In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.
'There’s an old joke in software development, “How much time does it take to design software?” Answer: As long as you have scheduled for the design phase. I know. Not funny, “ha, ha” but pretty apropos. If you’ve been involved with a number of software projects you already have an intuitive sense for this. We’ve all been involved with projects that seem to drift and drift and make progress.
'The University of Southern California is home to many innovative students and companies. In order to support all of these teams, there are several on-campus startup competitions every year, from the Silicon Beach USC competition to the New Venture Seed Competition, with prize funds to help build the companies. One team, a travel company that has built a discovery and planning tool that will make it easy and fun for travelers to find and book trips, was a winner of not just the New Venture Seed
A string of big acquisitions, public offerings, and a pipeline of growing young startup companies has venture investors saying “I love L.A.” The recent acquisitions of Maker Studios and Oculus VR, as well as the planned public offering for TrueCar that’s finally going through, all point to a healthy investment ecosystem, but there’s still one industry that rules over… Read More.
'Costa Mesa-based Airwolf 3D , a developer of 3D printers, said today that it has begun shipping a product that allows its 3D printers to print using materials like polycarbonate, Bridge nylon, and Nylon 645. According to the company, the support make it possible to print engineering-grade parts, allowing its "prosumer" grade 3D printers to print parts which previously would require expensive, high end industrial 3D printers.
'With help from JJ Richa. The next logical step in our analysis of financing tools is to analyze asset-based lending, in which you pledge or assign your short term assets, such as accounts receivable or inventory, to the lender. Often, the lender then tracks the pledged assets until money is received or inventory sold, expecting repayment from the proceeds of sale.
'Entrepreneurship is more about building a business than inventing a product. It’s more about the quality of the execution, rather than the quality of the idea. Most importantly, it’s more about being a proactive leader who connects to customers and the team deeply, rather than a bright light that struggles to be seen amidst the glare of a million other bright lights.
'If you’ve watched any industry in the last 20 years where technology has begun to transform how the industry works the results are always predictable driven by what Clay Christensen appropriately called “ The Innovator’s Dilemma ” (one of the most influential books that changed my thinking about markets). Young startups claim they are going to change the world, large companies that dominate that sector scoff at how low quality these new entrants are, until l ike frogs bo
'What is a wearable? If you said wrist worn pedometer, you’d be correct, but only partially. Wearables are in fact much more than that, and the category is rapidly expanding thanks to the likes of big Fortune 500 companies, as well as small time startups and crowdfunded projects on Indiegogo. Checkout some of our past events: REACH Connected Future: Home Recap.
'Trying to define leadership is like defining music. Trying to improve your leadership skills is like trying to write a song. There is no recipe, guidebook, or formula; it is art much more than science. You can sure learn the basics and some good fundamentals but at the end of the day, it’s about practice, learning from mistakes and learning from others.
'Venice-based ZEFR said Thursday that it has named a new set of VPs. According to the company, it has named Rick Song as its new Global Head of Media Solutions Sales, and named Michael Saperstein as Head of Media Sales (East, Central, Canada). Song was previously Executive Vice President at Clear Channel Media + Entertainment, and Saperstein is a former Vice President from Machinima.
'Reference calls. We all have to make them. Whether you’re considering hiring a new employee or as an investor whether you’re looking to do a background check on the founders of a company. My friend Jason Hirschhorn Tweeted about this today. Here are some pointers that I’ve learned over the years: 1. Ask for at least 5 references. As your candidate for at least 5 references.
'Carpinteria-based online video education site Lynda.com said today that it has acquired Compilr , a developer of a software coding and development environment which lets people learn how to write, compile, and test code from their web browser. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. According to Lynda.com, it will use the acquisition to expand its programming learning tools.
'There seems to a perpetual shortage of local venture capital investors in the region, despite the huge growth in startup activity here, particularly along Silicon Beach. However, that''s slowly starting to change, as investors have started to realize the opportunities in the area, and have started setting up operations here to tap into the wealth of startup talent.
'Los Angeles-based TeleSign , the developer of security and identification technology headed by serial entrepreneur Steve Jillings, has raised $40M in a Series B funding round, the company announced this morning. According to the company, the funding was led by Adams Street Partners, and also included March Capital Partners and Summit Partners. TeleSign said that it will use the funds for its growth strategy, as well as "aggressive" hiring of its product development and engineering teams.
'Look out, Uber--another, smartphone-driven ride service, Taxi Magic , is looking to get into the Los Angeles market, saying that it will offer up free rides to people in Los Angeles who need a ride, starting on Tuesday (April 22nd) and running until Friday, April 25th. According to Ride Charge, the Virginia company behind the Taxi Magic app, everyone in Los Angeles who books a ride with the app for the rest of the week will ride free, as long as they include a special code (TAXIBACK) in their b
'Los Angeles looks to be a hot market for online dating apps, as yet another, mobile dating app-- Hinge , said it has launched in the city. Hinge--which comes out of New York City--said it is launching in LA today, to help single, young professionals meet others in the city. Hinge is focused on connecting people via their extended, social network, saying it uses Facebook validated profiles and a user''s social links to help them meet people they will actually like.
'A new report, released over the weekend, says that Los Angeles should look towards New York and San Francisco and what they have done to help strengthen the community here for technology startups. The L.A. Tech Agenda report, edited by David C. Murphy, says that although LA''s tech community "is on fire", the community could learn from those other markets, by addressing funding shortages, retaining engineering talent from loca luniversities, building closer ties with the community, and by addre
'Preact , a developer of software to help software companies reduce churn in their subscription customers which came out of Los Angeles-based startup incubator/accelerator Launchpad LA , has raised $4.6M in a funding round. The company said the funding came from Trinity Ventures. Preact--which was formerly known as FolioHD--was founded by Christopher Gooley and Cory Watilo.
'Valencia, California-based Solid Concepts , a provider of 3D printing and prototyping services, has been acquired by Stratasys Ltd. in a deal worth $295M. According to the companies, Stratasys will pay $172M in cash on closing, plus deferred payments of $60M and up to $63M in retention-related payments for Solid Concepts. Solid Concepts operates six, U.S. facilities and employes a total of 450 employees, which uses 3D printing technology for prototyping parts for the medical, aerospace, industr
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