Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2023

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. If you don't have a team on staff, then a banker is going to want to hear about outsourcing and advisors. An impressive team.

Equity 121

Equity Technical Advisors Funding Ideas 121

Tech.Co

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Galaxy Grant Giveaway For: Minority and women entrepreneurs Grantor: Galaxy of Stars and Hidden Star Amount: $2,250 501(c)(3) nonprofit Hidden Star and its community for entrepreneurs Hidden Star have teamed up for the eight-year for their 2024 Galaxy Grant Giveaway. Deadline: October 31 Learn more and apply here 2.

Technical Review 163

Technical Review Technical Advisors Design News 163

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. Because market is such a broad topic, I’m restricting these lessons to PR marketing (as opposed SEO, SEM, product marketing, etc.). Most people totally advise against stealth. You need some guidelines to make decisions.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. If you don't have a team on staff, then a banker is going to want to hear about outsourcing and advisors. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Based on my experience advising new entrepreneurs as well as more mature businesses, I recommend the following strategies for building business momentum, while still optimizing the limited resources of every small business: Find more customers that like what you do best. The company has since gone public, and is still a market leader.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 105

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

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. Erik Rannala: We think Los Angeles is one of the most under-hyped, under-funded, and under-appreciated technology ecosystems and markets around.

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

In my business of mentoring new entrepreneurs and advising small company owners, I recognize that most don’t start as experienced leaders, and most don’t realize that people leadership is a primary key to their future success. Building a business is not a one-person job, and leading by edict rarely works today.

Develop 124

Develop Development Technical Advisors Satisfaction 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. If you don''t have a team on staff, then a banker is going to want to hear about outsourcing and advisors. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Entrepreneur Equity Ideas 75

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Recruit a team with complementary skills.

Platform 94

Platform Equity Invest Technical Advisors 94

socalTECH

AUGUST 28, 2017

I tapped my co-founder, John Haro, who I worked for at Agency.com, and at another mobile marketing company, and we talked about the idea, ideated, and I brought him on as co-founder. He and I connected, and walked through PartySlate and what we were doing, and he immediately said he wanted to invest and become an advisor to the company.

Technical Advisors 100

Technical Advisors Technical Review Metrics Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

As a self-made entrepreneur and former chairman of Diamond Resorts International, he asserts that the five biggest companies by market value today, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, aren’t really tech, but hospitality companies. I just finished a new book by Stephen J.

Technical Advisors 82

Technical Advisors Artificial Inteligence Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Most of the entrepreneurs I advise today are ready to declare success when they get that first surge of traction with a real customer. You need to find investors for funding, vendors for volume manufacturing, processes for repeatable execution, as well as marketing and distribution to attract customers far beyond your pilot rollout.

Technical Advisors 83

Technical Advisors Tool Software Product 83

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Len Short is truly an online marketing pioneer, heading up marketing at Charles Schwab, AOL and then (PRODUCT)RED. Before his career moved online, Len worked on major marketing campaigns for credit card companies and rolled out MCI’s highly successful “Friends and Family” marketing campaign.

Google 220

Google Technical Advisors Technical Review Equity 220

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2018

While spending years in a big company as an employee and an executive, I heard many people talking about jumping the corporate ship, dreaming of being an entrepreneur, and totally in charge of their own destiny. I’m not saying success is rare, but the list of famous entrepreneurs who started their career in a big company is small.

Startup 52

Startup Technical Advisors Entrepreneur IBM 52

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

I often talk with entrepreneurs who are kicking around their next idea. When I hear entrepreneurs say that they’re kicking around ideas with friends I ask, “have you legally registered a company?&# Research your market. DO NOT start with product, start with the market. Register a company. Get customer input.

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. We’re going to start aggressively spend money on marketing our product. (it is also the title of a fabulous book from Internet 1.0

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

Steve Jobs started his technical career creating circuit boards at Atari, before joining Steve Wozniak to build personal computers in his garage. I advise owners that they have to know when to give up a business, as well as when to buy one. Recognize career growth requires changing with the business.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. If you don't have a team on staff, then a banker is going to want to hear about outsourcing and advisors. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 80

Technical Advisors Startup Equity Ideas 80

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.” If you remember your history the market crashed the next week. By mid September the entire market was constipated. History repeated itself in September 2008 with that market crash. Anybody who didn’t close was dead.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

I often have career discussions with entrepreneurs – both young and more mature – whether they should join company “X&# or not. If you’re thinking about joining as the director of marketing, product management manager, senior architect, international business development lead, etc. Let’s face it.

Startup 418

Startup Technical Advisors Venture Capital Santa Monica 418

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2011

Our own subsidiary, of a major technology company, started to repair and service competitive products in order to maintain our own technical staff and service capabilities. A successful sales person wanted to become more familiar with the international market and requested a transfer to the Latin American sales group, based in the US.

Startup 90

Startup Technical Advisors Sales Examples 90

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I would argue that this mostly consists of consumer Internet companies (although not exclusively) and it is predominantly early-stage people who are product gurus and have a mildly technical bend to them. Something like, &# I was thinking about jumping into the demo first before discussing the market. How big is the market?

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

I wrote this conundrum and the need to take charge of how the market define your skills in my much-read blog post on “ personal branding.” ” If you don’t create the message about yourself, the market will. And if you want to be a CEO one day you need the messaging to reflect that.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2010

Our own subsidiary, of a major technology company, started to repair and service competitive products in order to maintain our own technical staff and service capabilities. A successful sales person wanted to become more familiar with the international market and requested a transfer to the Latin American sales group, based in the US.

Technical Advisors 48

Technical Advisors Sales Startup Coach 48

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Like most mature markets, the legal profession is highly segmented with respect to the services provided and markets served. It is surprising how often entrepreneurs forget this simple fact. Your lawyer is a trusted advisor, but in the end, you run your business, your lawyer does not.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

Web Development & Marketing Technology) Exit: evolved into L90 (next company) Lesson: What you dont know cant stop you. Go-to-Market 5. We provide turnkey digital messaging appliances for enterprises, service providers and software developers to send marketing, e-commerce, CRM and customer service email. Startup 3.0: Be scrappy.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

The CEO weighs in with his perspectives, the head of product management disputes his conclusions and the marketing VP has a different take. Because the formation of a business is so dependent on “product / market fit&# these are the critical roles for me. CEO, VP Products and CTO must all be in the physical location.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

Web Development & Marketing Technology) Exit: evolved into L90 (next company) Lesson: What you dont know cant stop you. They had products that were already in the market, piles of cash, tons of customers and revenue, seemingly endless resources and lots of employees. What is the Rubicon Project? Startup 3.0: Be scrappy. ReaXions, Inc.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

I was trying to tell a real story about grit and risk and determination and seeing the markets early but struggling to persuade others. The truth is that many “unicorns” have reached the status solely because the funding markets have said so. That’s how markets go. ” No. We f **g don’t.

Technical Advisors 150

Technical Advisors Startup Writing Blogging 150