Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. For 1991 I was very technical and also had a lot of practical business implementation experience in technology.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

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. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

Tech.Co

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Yet, whether you’re looking to start a business or take an existing venture to the next level, there is actually a wealth of opportunities out there to help you reach your potential. While the prize fund varies per year, this year a cash sum of $2,250 is up for grabs. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Design News 160

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

Many believe that entrepreneurs are born, not made. While I agree that successful company builders usually have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, a good education helps polish that apple. Of course, there's no law saying you have to go to college to start a business. Why not try to follow in his footsteps?

Technical Advisors 90

Technical Advisors Startup Course Entrepreneur 90

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Many of the entrepreneurs I advise or invest with spend considerable time on the Internet, keeping up with technology, customers, and competitors, but very few feel the need for an early personal presence. Every future entrepreneur should start by networking.

Product 127

Product Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Technical Review 127

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I often hear the desire to run their own company, to avoid having someone else telling them how to run the business. Sure, this may limit the type and scope of your startup, but it’s the only way to get the control and freedom you want. Avoid family members and close personal friends.

Technical Advisors 125

Technical Advisors Startup News Resource 125

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. The sales professional.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

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. Focus first on finding more of the right customers.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

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. Marty Zwilling

Equity 121

Equity Technical Advisors Funding Ideas 121

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. The sales professional.

Technical Advisors 105

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 105

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. In case it’s not obvious it’s a play on the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.&# ) I believe that being successful as an entrepreneur requires you to get lots of things done. Good entrepreneurs can admit when their course of action was wrong and learn from it.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Companies Company .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

I made every textbook mistake at my first startup, which is why I believe I was much more effective at my second one. The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. Most people totally advise against stealth. “ We need to learn from doing, by trial-and-error.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

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 caught up with Erik to hear more about MuckerLab, and its efforts to grow the Los Angeles technology ecosystem. Erik, thanks for the time.

Technical Advisors 176

Technical Advisors Startup Southern California Los Angeles 176

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

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. Marty Zwilling.

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. Register Internet and social media startup names.

Platform 94

Platform Equity Invest Technical Advisors 94

socalTECH

AUGUST 28, 2017

PartySlate (www.partyslate.com)--which is backed by a slate of LA area investors--offers up a place to browse photos on events, find venues, and most importantly, planners who put those events on, so your next big event can be an unforgettable one. That's how I came up with the idea. I said, that's what we need for the event industry.

Technical Advisors 100

Technical Advisors Technical Review Metrics Startup 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. I often have career discussions with entrepreneurs – both young and more mature – whether they should join company “X&# or not. at a startup that has already raised $5 million the chances of you making your retirement money on that company is EXTREMELY small.

Startup 418

Startup Technical Advisors Venture Capital Santa Monica 418

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

I’m convinced that is why many great business leaders remember working their way up the ranks. For example, Howard Schultz was not the founder of Starbucks, but started his career in one of their first 60 shops. This starts with picking your roles carefully – to be in the right place at the right time.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

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

DECEMBER 13, 2012

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. A lot of companies, like Lodsys above, buy up software patents that are over-broad, and hold startups hostage, after the fact, through royalties and litigation.

Patents 93

Patents Software Technical Advisors Startup 93

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.” Let me start with a story. We ended up agreeing a term sheet for $16.5 We had people hearing through the grapevine that we were about to raise money and new investors started calling us to get in on the deal.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2016

For a software startup, a patent can be the intellectual property providing the key competitive advantage, or it can be an expensive non-defensible bureaucratic nightmare -- or both. Even if you start with the U.S. Patent offices can’t keep up with software technology. That’s more than a lifetime in today’s technology.

Patents 53

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 53

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. We retained legal council in Milan and were advised that we would loose if the case went to trial. You may recall the Chevy Nova, a compact car from GM.

Startup 90

Startup Technical Advisors Sales Examples 90

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. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Advisors 80

Technical Advisors Startup Equity Ideas 80

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2014

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. A lot of companies, like Lodsys above, buy up software patents that are over-broad, and hold startups hostage after the fact, through royalties and litigation. Marty Zwilling.

Patents 100

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 100

Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 28, 2017

Here at TechCo, we’ve done plenty of lists rounding up the most impressive incubators, accelerators, and coworking spaces in plenty of major cities and across a variety of sectors, from the best healthcare accelerators to a collection of the top women-only coworking spaces. The Land O’Lakes Dairy Accelerator. Brooklyn Foodworks.

Incubator 70

Incubator Santa Clarita Technical Advisors FAQ 70

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. In fact, this is where your startup has to move from an initial project to a complex product business. Here again, it’s important to measure value, rather than project cost.

Technical Advisors 83

Technical Advisors Tool Software Product 83

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. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 10/22/2018.

Technical Advisors 82

Technical Advisors Artificial Inteligence Customer Custom 82

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Len Short is truly an online marketing pioneer, heading up marketing at Charles Schwab, AOL and then (PRODUCT)RED. I recently caught up with Len outside of George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch. Despite this technical glitch, I opted to publish our discussion, given the high-quality content of his comments.

Google 220

Google Technical Advisors Technical Review Equity 220

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2011

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The bad news is that patent trolls can squeeze the lifeblood out of innocent and unsuspecting entrepreneurs, as exemplified by the current mess around Lodsys patent No.

Patents 91

Patents Software Technical Advisors Innocal 91

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Of course you could start your own company. As I talked about in “ Is it Time to Learn or Time to Earn ” – overwhelmingly the best economics go to those that start successful companies. But not everybody has the right skills to build a highly successful and valuable startup from scratch.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

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. I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

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. We retained legal council in Milan and were advised that we would loose if the case went to trial. Respect local customs and practices.

Technical Advisors 48

Technical Advisors Sales Startup Coach 48

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 10, 2012

Here are just a few: Nolan Bushnell , a seasoned entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc. There are already hundreds of cultured Angelenos signed up and ready to converge on downtown LA’s Arts district to experience the mind-meld of Mindshare 50. for ourselves, our culture, and our planet. Don’t worry TechZulu has your back.

Technical Advisors 89

Technical Advisors Design Education Study 89

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Johnnie Cochran was an effective, albeit smarmy, defense lawyer who would say or do anything to defend his clients (anyone up for a glass of OJ?). A startup-oriented lawyer may not be able to convince a jury of a guilty man’s innocence, but they can guide your adVenture through the menacing legal shoals it will no doubt face.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124