Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

As an experienced business advisor, here is my current summary, with some of the pros and cons or special considerations for each: Product is free, revenue is from advertisers. This doesn’t work well with “nice to have” offerings, like social networks, but does work for new drugs and medical devices that solve critical health problems.

Pricing 66

Pricing Customer Custom Advertising 66

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

It’s not uncommon for incredibly smart and talented Phd’s or CS majors from Stanford to raise $10 million on an early-stage “platform&# that if it succeeds it will be huge. Summary – there is a lot of talent here. As a result many funds are OK with big bets. LA investors are more pragmatic.

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. This is how you will make money, who pays you, and gross margins. Executive team.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. This is how you will make money, who pays you, and gross margins. Executive team.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it requires at least 100M users and $50M investment. This is how you will make money, who pays you, and gross margins. Executive team.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2011

While Google stopped Facebook in their tracks when they built a social networking company. And Facebook stomped out Twitter from building an open social network. The golden rules to live by are: Platforms are channels not businesses. If you put all of your eggs into one platform shame on you, not them.

Google 325

Google Press Marketing Content 325

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Executive Summary. If you want to watch the video version summary of my advice on fund raising it’s here. He’s focused on that sector (not exclusively but predominantly) and therefore has an amazing network at large financial services firms to help you with business development. Fund raising is bloody hard.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2015

Some images will draw in viewers more than others and as it turns out the headlines & images that convert at different in each social network or distribution partner. It’s one of those things that even smart, socially-liberal people fall prey to. They also know how to a/b test images. I hate weightism.

Company 150

Company Companies Startup Buzzfeed 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

tl;dr summary. If you want a comprehensive summary of the industry in this era it’s worth a read: VC Ice Age Part 1 – What Happens When a Market Comes to a Standstill? Summary version? My year-over-year summary sounds very similar upon re-reading them. On your tech platforms. And Social.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

On the one hand innovation is clearly at an all time high unleashed by smart phones, fast telecom networks, social networks that spread commerce and the fact that we are all one click away from buying things on Amazon, Apple, Google or PayPal. The platforms often get paid fees. The platforms often get free carry.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Platform Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 22, 2011

Socially connected individuals and platforms that enable faster roll-outs of successful products. If you’re a startup and you haven’t read my summary of Clay Christensen’s seminal work please do. LinkedIn – Lots of people talk about LinkedIn as a social network. Unprecedented transparency of information.

Startup 386

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 386

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

The 30-minute interview of Jonah Peretti is here but my summary in the notes below. Around 2001 Jonah was studying at MIT Media Lab and began running experiments in viral stories in an era before smart phones (2007) and before social networks took off (2004–2007) and before YouTube (2005). Back then there were “email forwards.”

Buzzfeed 210

Buzzfeed Media Content News 210