Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

A continuing question I hear from young entrepreneurs is whether a university degree is important to startup success, or just a distraction in achieving their purpose in the world. Most colleges have now added classes in entrepreneurship to include the necessary business focus to technical majors that usually drive innovative ideas.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2021

Sometimes entrepreneurs are so focused on making change happen for customers that they forget that continually changing themselves and their company is equally important. Here are the key recommendations from both of us, based on my own business mentoring insights: Re-launch using your enhanced core competency.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2021

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs probably have long searched for that special idea that will catapult you and your startup to success. Yet, my experience as a business advisor and investor has convinced me that the magic is not the idea, but you and the execution. True entrepreneurs are born, not made.

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Entrepreneur Ideas Examples Satisfaction 171

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2021

The message I hear publicly from most entrepreneurs is that you have to think outside the box and take big risks to ever beat the odds and be among the less than ten percent that experience real success. They know there is nothing wrong with having passion for a new idea, but they don’t let it influence business decisions.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

The idea immediately resonated. As more consumers were skipping commercials the idea of authentically integrating brands into media seemed obvious to me and ended up informing a lot of my investments in 2009 and 2010. At every entrepreneur event I through between 2008-2012 I invite Hamet because he was a great mentor for entrepreneurs.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” There must be something deeper that slows people down. Irrational fear of failure or embarrassment.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2023

Over my many years of mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs and business professionals, I often hear a desire to start a new business, with a big hesitation while waiting for that perfect idea and perfect alignment of the stars. So don’t wait for that “idea of the century” that no one has ever thought of before.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2021

In my role as mentor to business professionals, I often get the question about your potential of going out on your own as an entrepreneur, versus your current role of working for a boss at an established company. Most people think success depends on first having that innovative and unique idea, but I would beg to differ.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 31, 2013

The core idea behind the event is to tap into the hacker spirit in each community in a way that leverages the latest tech and open data to strengthen our democracy and communities across the country. Tech leaders from NASA JPL, to the Census Bureau will share inspiration and ideas. Not a coder? Register at [link] eventbrite.com/#.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

In the early days you don’t really want 3 extra teams hearing your ideas and gearing up to compete before you feel you’ve got a solid head start. They think that only by being open and testing your ideas in an open marketplace can you be successful. But once a VC has heard your idea he can’t “un-think&# it.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2021

As an entrepreneur mentor, my mission is to foster the attributes in you as a startup founder that I believe will lead to success. For example, I worked with an entrepreneur a while back who was clearly intelligent, had a great idea, and communicated well. Paul Allen was the idea visionary.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2019

As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, the most common question I get is, “I want to be an entrepreneur -- how do I start?” The obvious answer is that you need an idea first, but I’ve come to realize that the process is really much more complex than that. Are you confident and disciplined in facing tough challenges?

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2020

Many aspiring entrepreneurs I mentor can talk at length about their innovative ideas and passions, and ask lots of good questions, but never make much progress in building a real business. In my experience, building a business is much more about getting things done than having great ideas.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

One thing I have learned the hard way in business is that implementing new ideas is usually much more difficult than conceiving the idea in the first place. That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person. For example, I have a friend with a Ph.D.

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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. Even the best college degree is not a substitute. Intellectual property is required for a competitive edge.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

I then got my MBA at University of Chicago so I secretly pull for local entrepreneurs as long as they don’t make me visit in the Winter any more. Local mentors matter. That was my original idea behind Launchpad LA. People often say, “Great entrepreneurs will build a community and the capital will follow.”

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socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2012

There is a large menu of startup accelerators in the Los Angeles, but one of more established efforts in the area is LaunchpadLA ([link] The effort actually started as an informal mentoring program, but has grown and expanded to follow the accelerator model. It was really just something built for the community to help support entrepreneurs.

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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.

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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.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2021

Knowing all too well how hard it is to start a single new business, I’ve always wondered how several well-known entrepreneurs, including Richard Branson and Elon Musk , have managed to successfully lead dozens of startups to success, and thrive on the process. Serial entrepreneurs embrace the risk, gather the relevant facts, and move forward.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2021

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2013

.” It is one of the easiest pieces of advice to give as it is almost always valuable if entrepreneurs follow it as a guideline. So when you’re in your resource allocation meeting, think about what things you can say “great idea, let’s add it to the long-term suggestion list” as opposed to actioning it.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2020

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. are not for crowdfunding, but actually are matchmaking sites between entrepreneurs and professional investors or banks, or incubators.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2020

As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m always surprised by the fact that some never seem to be able to that first startup going, while many others never seem to stop, starting their second or third initiative before the first one is fully hatched. Real entrepreneurs start experiments.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2022

With the cost of entry at an all-time low, and the odds of success equally low, more and more entrepreneurs are starting multiple companies concurrently. Other prolific entrepreneurs, like Richard Branson and Elon Musk , simply have several startups on the table at any given moment. Advisors and mentors are busy people.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2021

These resources are definitely not limited to students, since every university seeks out and needs the real world exposure and experience of entrepreneurs who already are active in the real world marketplace. Connections to a mentor. Product research and prototype development. Business plan assistance. Early-stage funding.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2021

In my role as mentor to many of you aspiring entrepreneurs, I often find you convinced that all you need to start is a unique innovation or idea , and now you are ready to jump in with both feet and enjoy the ride. Remember that being an entrepreneur is all about starting and running a business, after the initial invention.

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Satisfaction Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 135

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

According to most definitions, an entrepreneur is one who envisions a new and different business, meaning one that is not a copy of an existing business model. Many entrepreneurs have a passion and an idea, or even invent a new product, but are never able to execute to the point of creating a startup. Funding and rollout stage.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

The road to becoming an entrepreneur is a journey , and it’s not a short trip. In my efforts of assist aspiring business owners like you, I find that too many see it as a short sprint to get over that one hurdle, like finding that innovative idea, or attracting an investor. An occasional discussion with a mentor won’t do it.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I challenge them to think beyond what I call linear extensions to a current trend, such as another “easier-to-use” app for smartphones, a new dating site for pets, or another niche social network. Great social entrepreneurs are rare. Do you have the resources to build a business?

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

Even though I’m a big proponent of becoming an entrepreneur, it is definitely not for everyone. In my view, entrepreneur roles need to be planned carefully rather than made on the spur of the moment. Adopt the Silicon Valley entrepreneur family model. Test your entrepreneur instincts through crowdfunding.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2020

In my experience as a business mentor, one of the biggest challenges I see is a failure to focus. Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have new ideas on a regular basis, and find it hard deciding which to pursue, or try to tackle several at the same time. Highlight results and urgency, rather than variety of activities.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2011

About a month ago I was meeting with a seasoned entrepreneur. If you think you’re on to a really big idea and everybody else thinks so, too, then most likely it’s already conventional wisdom and you’re too late. If – and this is a big IF – you have other ideas. This “fuck” is to him.

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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. We launched a Digital LA - Women series with four panels starring female founders, entrepreneurs, developers and PR, which will also continue into the new year.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Competitors see the value of your idea, and the good ones move fast.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it. The company was called Red Beacon.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Seth’s interest in helping others grew out of his lack of having a mentor. He was drawn to Stanford by the people ecosystem- access to professors and mentors. He knew he was an entrepreneur because he couldn’t stop thinking about ideas. On the west coast, generally the response is how to improve on an idea.

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