Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

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. Of these 19 have received funding (10 have received significant amounts of VC funding) and 5 have been acquired (2 for more than $30 million).

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

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. Collaborative efforts with local companies, like Siemens Venture Capital, are available for certain technology and focus areas.

Incubator 172

Incubator Mentor Class Resource 172

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

Qualcomm Labs , the incubator subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies , has announced the first set of companies funded through its new QualcommLabs@EvoNexus program today, saying that it has funded three companies with a round of seed funding.

Incubator 140

Incubator Companies Company Seed Funding 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2013

More and more entrepreneurs are hearing about the successful graduates and investors queued behind a few well-known startup incubators, including Y Combinator, TechStars, and the Founder Institute. According to the National Business Incubator Association (NBIA) , there are currently over 1250 incubators today in the US alone.

Incubator 115

Incubator Help Startup Technical Review 115

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 29, 2012

And no wonder, lately he and his partners are on a tear, investing out of their $200+ million VC fund. We also spent a fair bit of time talking about the changing nature of venture capital and in particular the hand-on practitioner role of early-stage VC led by accelerators such as YC, 500Startups, Betaworks and the like.

Rustic Canyon 279

Rustic Canyon Venture Capital Southern California Userplane 279

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.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Satisfaction Equity 129

socalTECH

MARCH 8, 2013

he's been spinning out of his incubator. What's the idea behind the incubator? I've been a serial entrepreneur for about 20-odd years, and I didn't want to sit at a big company. I decided to become a parallel entrepreneur, and started a whole series of companies in big data. Now, we're turning into a formal incubator.

Incubator 208

Incubator Startup CTO Hire Ideas 208

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. As well, these companies usually bring real new venture funding opportunities to the startups they sponsor.

Incubator 98

Incubator Startup Help Resource 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2020

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

Entrepreneur 137

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Education 137

Berkonomics

JANUARY 17, 2019

My favorite story of a fast failure was of a technology incubator started in the year 2000 with optimistic money from several angel investors, including me. He volunteered to close the incubator and he returned 96% of our investments to all of us angel investors. There should be no shame to the entrepreneur in admitting such a failure.

Incubator 120

Incubator Venture Capital Invest Capital 120

Berkonomics

JANUARY 17, 2019

My favorite story of a fast failure was of a technology incubator started in the year 2000 with optimistic money from several angel investors, including me. He volunteered to close the incubator and he returned 96% of our investments to all of us angel investors. There should be no shame to the entrepreneur in admitting such a failure.

Incubator 120

Incubator Venture Capital Invest Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2016

A question I often get as an adviser is whether or not to join a business incubator or accelerator as a way to move forward faster and smarter and increase the odds of business success. I find that this type offers the most value to new entrepreneurs or startups in the early idea stage. Costs, returns in equity and funding access.

Incubator 58

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Equity 58

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. But, how successful have they been? Science Inc.

Southern California 222

Southern California Incubator Report Startup 222

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

Cornerstone Innovation Fund will give startups between $250,000 to $1 million after approval by Cornerstone’s board of directors alongside select leading venture capital firms. The post Cornerstone OnDemand Launches Incubator & Innovation Fund appeared first on TechZulu.

Cornerstone OnDemand 88

Cornerstone OnDemand Incubator Santa Monica Funding 88

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 8, 2013

is one of the most common questions I hear from early-stage entrepreneurs. To new entrepreneurs, this can seem like one of those vicious cycles: “I don’t have any connections to VCs so therefore I can’t make any connections.”. Once you have your list, talk to other entrepreneurs to get their impressions and feedback.

Venture Capital 86

Venture Capital Tips Incubator Startup 86

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? If you are looking for money, this question will certainly come up in one form or another when you approach professional or organized angel or VC investors. Early stage investors have been arguing over this for years. This is serious stuff.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? If you are looking for money, this question will certainly come up in one form or another when you approach professional or organized angel or VC investors. Early stage investors have been arguing over this for years. This is serious stuff.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Early or embryonic stage.

Startup 122

Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 4, 2016

Meet Tech Executives, Entrepreneurs, Inventors, Angel/VC Investors, Joint Venture Partners, Deal Makers, Start Up Mentors, CTC and 101 Incubator founders. Bring your friends and join CTC members for loads of fun, games, great food and drinks (5-6pm earlybird specials!) Hear new Fast Pitch and Kickstarter proposals.

Technology Council 100

Technology Council CTC Technology Incubator 100

Berkonomics

JANUARY 12, 2012

If they are not achieved within the expected time, the reasons must be analyzed and acted upon to avoid loss of capital beyond plan or expectation. My favorite story of a fast failure was of a technology incubator started in the year 2000 with optimistic money from a number of angel investments, including mine.

Incubator 149

Incubator Venture Capital Invest Entrepreneur 149

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. I had to laugh a bit reading it.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 18, 2012

TechZulu is proud to announce that we are a sponsor of the Variety 2012 Venture Capital & New Media Summit and will be there in full force bringing you all the action. Variety is pleased to announce the return of its Venture Capital and New Media Summit on June 27 at the Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles. Speaker List.

Venture Capital 68

Venture Capital Media Capital Steamboat Ventures 68

socalTECH

JULY 1, 2020

has backed a new company, looking to incubate startups from the music industry. According to Heavy Sound Labs , it is a music technology company looking for "today's next emerging stars" and helps them to develop themselves into creative entrepreneurs. Santa Monica-based startup studio Science Inc. READ MORE>>.

Santa Monica 124

Santa Monica Incubator Tool Entrepreneur 124

Steve Reich

FEBRUARY 14, 2012

Wild times in Southern California—VC firms contracting and incubators/accelerators exploding! You can’t turn around in SoCal without running into new incubators. Ben Kuo at SoCal Tech did us all a big favor by publishing his Complete Guide to Southern California Incubators.

Southern California 40

Southern California Incubator SoCal Entrepreneur 40

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. Join a startup incubator. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start? Marty Zwilling.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 24, 2016

This is especially true for first-time and early-stage entrepreneurs not yet ready to pursue venture capital or who lack certain critical capabilities. To meet these needs are emergent alternative accelerators, incubators and preccelerator models.

Startup 100

Startup Resource LAVA Seed Funding 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 17, 2016

This is especially true for first-time and early-stage entrepreneurs not yet ready to pursue venture capital or who lack certain critical capabilities. To meet these needs are emergent alternative accelerators, incubators and preccelerator models.

Startup 100

Startup Resource LAVA Seed Funding 100

socalTECH

AUGUST 14, 2014

com, and other local startups); Marc Geiger (Lollapalooza, William Morris Endeavor); Irwin Federman (US Venture Partners, NVCA), along with both Mucker Capital and Amplify.LA. vadio music video streaming technology advertising venture capital investment vevo amplify muckerlab incubator' READ MORE>>.

Capital 138

Capital Funding Seed Funding Incubator 138

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 22, 2018

Founded by Steve Poizner last year to accelerate the growth of a startup entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southern California, The Alliance is building a network of investors, entrepreneurs and universities to provide ballast in the south to the dominance of the Northern California tech industry.

Southern California 224

Southern California Dollar Shave Club SoCal Develop 224

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

According to a Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with a majority of new ventures that don''t attract investors failing within the first three years. My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Early or embryonic stage. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2022

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. m are not for crowdfunding, but actually are matchmaking sites between entrepreneurs and professional investors or banks, or incubators.

Funding 141

Funding Startup Outsource Development Satisfaction 141

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. Incubated by Clearstone Ventures in 2008.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. This is serious stuff.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Summary Entrepreneur Incubator 240

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Even if you work every day in the world of new-venture funding, as I do, the options are confusing, and their meanings seem to change on a regular basis. I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. A micro venture capital firm.

Funding 104

Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104