Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2020

As I was watching the investor show, Shark Tank , on TV the other night, I was struck by how quickly and how extensively the sharks focused on the background and character of the entrepreneurs, compared to time spent evaluating their products. Today’s world of business is highly driven by social issues and environmental concerns.

Entrepreneur 168

Entrepreneur Mentor Metrics Customer 168

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

A group of Southern California businesses are attending the Entrepreneurs Festival taking place in Tech City UK , looking to potentially set up shop and foster business partnerships in London. Today marks the start the festival, an effort to establish a center of technology entrepreneurship in England.

Southern California 180

Southern California Entrepreneur Mentor Mobile 180

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 18, 2010

Find the best and brightest next generation of entrepreneurs and help them to be more successful. Encourage the most successful LA tech entrepreneurs who had previously started companies to get involved as mentors, instructors or just informal advisors. We decided to be less formal about the mentor / mentee relationships.

Technical Review 259

Technical Review Venture Capital Southern California Tech Coast Angels 259

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2021

As an angel investor in early-stage startups, I’ve long noticed my peers apparent bias toward the strength and character of the founding entrepreneurs, often overriding a strong solution to a painful problem with a big opportunity. Find and enjoy the company of one or more mentors. Virtuoso leaders know their life story.

Entrepreneur 165

Entrepreneur Mentor Ideas Invest 165

socalTECH

JANUARY 31, 2013

It was standing room only at StartEngine 's Demo Day Wednesday afternoon, held at Santa Monica's Cross Campus , as the startup accelerator launched eight of its latest startups into the world, after a 90 day process of mentoring, honing their business model, and heads down development. Standing room only crowd at StartEngine). It's unclear.

Startup 256

Startup Commerce Santa Monica Mentor 256

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 8, 2014

It is common sense that entrepreneurs should cultivate friends outside of work. However, too often, entrepreneurs allow their non-work friendships to wither, as they struggle to maintain a healthy relationship with their family while nurturing their startups. Healthy adult friendships have an element of mutual mentoring.

Mentor 220

Mentor Study Entrepreneur Startup 220

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2012

The dictionary definition of a mentor is “an experienced and trusted advisor,” or “leader, tutor or coach.” The big difference, of course, is that a mentor looks ahead to help you, while a critic looks backward to tell you what you did wrong. One of the key characteristics of a successful mentor relationship is trust.

Mentor 96

Mentor Entrepreneur Tips Coach 96

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

I actually like finding entrepreneurs who are more circumspect, less braggadocios and generally more planned about their actions. Where Stealth is Bad – I do meet entrepreneurs who clearly fall on the other side of spectrum and are totally closed. That’s fine if entrepreneurs are your target market.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

InfoChachkie

MARCH 5, 2012

If you use the mentor-driven model that we pioneered at TechStars, you get entrepreneurs who are deeply connected with the broader entrepreneurial landscape. ” Brad went on to address the issue of a diluted entrepreneur talent pool and its potential impact on the efficacy of new accelerators.

Startup 270

Startup Incubator Doc Mentor 270

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

chapter of the Media, Entertainment and Technology Alliance (METal) and the voice of KenRadio's World Technology Roundup on CBS Radio, Rutkowski has recruited a roster of mentors to coach entrepreneurs who enroll in the institute's programs in LA. You also provide the Institute, the mentors and your classmates with warrants on 3.5%

Mentor 185

Mentor Class Entertainment Technical Review 185

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most have the technical challenges well understood, but many are a bit short on some basic street smarts , or basic business realities. Planning for the future must be a regular activity, not just an early-stage or once-a-year event. Survival requires regular updates.

Entrepreneur 173

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Technical Review 173

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2012

We asked the same four questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next week. In addition to Silicon Beach Fest, we also held Digital LA events at Sundance, SXSW, E3, Comic-Con, and in London during the Olympics.

Dollar Shave Club 272

Dollar Shave Club Technical Review Santa Monica Southern California 272

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

which programs are--and aren't--worth looking at has become very difficult, if not impossible, for startup entrepreneurs. However, with the proliferation of incubators, the difficulty in figuring out.

Southern California 246

Southern California Incubator Guide Startup 246

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. One senior mentor to Launchpad LA recently said, “I got more out of Launchpad LA than I even put in. For the past 2.5

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

At every entrepreneur event I through between 2008-2012 I invite Hamet because he was a great mentor for entrepreneurs. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, himself was an entrepreneur earlier in his career and has been a mentor to us all at VC having backed too many billion dollar exits to name. I stayed close.

Invest 340

Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2010

The dictionary definition of a mentor is “an experienced and trusted advisor,” or “leader, tutor or coach.” The big difference, of course, is that a mentor looks ahead to help you, while a critic looks backward to tell you what you did wrong. One of the key characteristics of a successful mentor relationship is trust.

Mentor 91

Mentor Tips Coach Entrepreneur 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2021

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. I hope all this seems obvious to you, but I still get a good number of notes from “entrepreneurs” who have been busy inventing things all their life, but can’t find a partner to start their first business, and others trying to find an executive, an investor, or a lawyer.

Entrepreneur 140

Entrepreneur Startup Social Network Mentor 140

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

Although many are entertaining, most fail to provide entrepreneurs with a sufficient return on their time investment. Unfortunately, most business books do not offer entrepreneurs an adequate payoff. Ask For Mentoring. This inclusive approach motivates emerging entrepreneurs by demystifying the paths to success.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2013

There''s been a lot of activity over the past two years in the Southern California accelerator/incubator market, with numerous groups (Amplify, EvoNexus, K5, LaunchpadLA, MediaCamp, Science, StartEngine, and many, many others) looking to help entrepreneurs start and fund their companies. which had thirteen funding events in the time period.

Southern California 222

Southern California Incubator Report Startup 222

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

The core of the investing job of course is investing dollars into startup companies and helping as a mentor, advisor and board member on the companies in which you’ve invested. Marketing, recruiting, building data products & tools, event management, analyzing the portfolio, etc. So What Does All This Mean? I’m only 52!

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. On the one hand, an entrepreneur should not be overly paranoid and should know the ropes that VCs and other professional investors generally will not sign NDAs to see the concept or a prototype--and even if they did, it would not provide much protection.

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

Mike Napoli: Actually, we are seeing entrepreneurs. Mike Napoli: I think it was the entrepreneur. But, the entrepreneur really understood the space, had extreme passion, and understood the challenge he was going to undertake. We've heard some entrepreneurs who have had some difficulty figuring out how to work with angels.

Tech Coast Angels 231

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Southern California 231

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

It really is possible for an introvert to succeed as an entrepreneur, even though you can’t expect to start and build a business alone. Every entrepreneur, especially an introvert, can benefit from the perspective of another business person, ideally one who has prior experience in the domain you are about to enter.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2012

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. As a startup, you as the entrepreneur are the brand, the brand builder, and the major lead generator.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Media Customer Custom 126

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2015

Thus smart business professionals are rapidly becoming the new entrepreneurs. As a mentor to startups, I see more and more startups that are really an individual professional, marketing themselves as a consultant or freelancer. For existing trained professionals, it’s an opportunity to become an entrepreneur. Sales Professional.

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Startup Mentor Social Media 99

socalTECH

AUGUST 10, 2012

At a recent accelerator event on the West Side, a friendly young founder told me that he had been coached by his mentor not to talk to Angel groups. The entrepreneurs in startups are trained to go fast and run lean. As a Pasadena Angel, I wanted to be shocked, but I wasnt. The Angel funding process can be arduous.

Angel 174

Angel Southern California Pasadena Angels Coach 174

socalTECH

JANUARY 11, 2013

StartEngine announced the new location in an invitation to an opening event January 15th for its mentors and companies. StartEngine said the new office is a split-level loft, with access to such locations as the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and a few metro stops from Pasadena.

Activision 174

Activision USC Mentor Los Angeles 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2023

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. This fallacy, often called historical myopia, essentially involves extrapolating only from recent positive events, and ignoring the reality that markets saturate or evaporate. But I’m not convinced that it’s as simple as that.

Entrepreneur 125

Entrepreneur Netflix Social Media Startup 125

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2020

One obvious alternative is to become an entrepreneur. As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m often asked what it takes to switch and get real satisfaction from this lifestyle. In fact, Mehta focuses on a special class of entrepreneurs that he calls disruptors. So don’t be afraid to take a hard look in the mirror.

Entrepreneur 123

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Writing Startup 123

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2013

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. It does mean that you need to look, listen, and participate in the business world around you, and network through all available channels, like business-oriented social networks online (LinkedIn), local business organizations (Chamber of Commerce), and events or conferences in your domain.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Social Network 108

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2015

If an entrepreneur can’t build a culture of excitement and commitment at a startup, the chances of long-term success are negligible. As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I often get asked what you can do to build the right culture. Mentoring and training programs need to be put in place early. Every investor knows this.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Technical Review Mentor Training 102

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

The accelerator said that the demo day is a culmination of its latest three month program, which included ten new companies in mentoring, collaboration, funding, and access to its network of investors and entrepreneurs.

Class 159

Class Startup Incubator Los Angeles 159

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

Here’s the thing: entrepreneurs who aren’t at all of our private meetings really didn’t know what do think about the situation. They could chat about it with their peers or mentors. It sure wasn’t when I was a first-time entrepreneur. Should entrepreneurs have convertible debt or priced equity?

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

One of the biggest complaints you hear from both entrepreneurs and investors in Los Angeles, is the lack of a credible, visible startup accelerator in the Los Angeles area. We're providing seed funding, office space, and put them through a three month, structured program. Everything they need to launch and grow their business.

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2013

If an entrepreneur doesn’t find themselves in over their head at least 20% of the time, they are probably not pushing the limits, not taking enough risk, and probably not working on an idea that’s worth doing. Unfortunately, too many entrepreneurs I know are terrible at finding and accepting help. Seek help or get out.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Startup Mentor Ideas 110

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. It does mean that you need to look, listen, and participate in the business world around you, and network through all available channels, like business-oriented social networks online (LinkedIn), local business organizations (Chamber of Commerce), and events or conferences in your domain.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Social Network 96

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 24, 2013

tech entrepreneurs. This event is for VCs, early stage funds, angel investors, mentors as well as a number of esteemed guests. This is your chance to hear their stories and support a new batch of L.A. See [link] (more)

Santa Monica 124

Santa Monica Commerce Class Mentor 124