Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2010

Writing down your weight from your scale is obviously a manual process and it’s tedious. My favorite new software tool is DailyBurn. Problem is – Weight Watchers software TOTALLY SUCKS. And the starting price for WW is $18 / month … DailyBurn is free. We’ll see. Enter Withings.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. But that doesn’t mean that people are paying rational prices as investors based on intrinsic value. Rational people can disagree and some may argue that today’s prices are rational and under-pinned by economic drivers. I believe that. That’s fine.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. I had worked as a tutor for Princeton Review, and Jake for Kaplan. We thought, we could put out a better product than Kaplan or Princeton Review, which would be more compelling, and also would tie in a strong social mission.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. I’m writing this post to explain to entrepreneurs what you should be thinking about in terms of the VC’s you approach and the size and stage of their funds.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

The process for retailers and brands to liquidate excess inventory hasn’t changed very much, if at all, and while some retailers were able to build operational infrastructure to service the off-price channels, it continues to be a constant pain point. to develop some sweet inventory-planning software. Syrup Tech bags $6.3M

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

There’s one attribute (coming soon) that I need to have in order to write a check but I don’t believe is vital for success. We made lots of assertions about what features we thought people would want, how to price them and how to overcome the objections that people have to managing data in the cloud. Another example.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Two weeks after winning the deal and well into implementation planning we released a new version of our software. How could a company like ours be so callous as not to support their software (even one more than 4 years out of date)? we would support 6.0

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

Source: gumroad.com Gumroad really started to take off in 2023, smashing revenue records for three months straight, a feat that was attributed to a price hike it carried out at the start of the year. Writesonic Writesonic is an AI writing tool designed to help writers overcome writers block and level up their skills. Gumroad homepage.

Startup 194

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 194

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

The company--which is in the business of operating a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web graphics, multimedia, applications, and more to end users-- recently disclosed it more than doubled its revenues in 2012, and has grown to over 230 employees--all due to a huge amount of demand for CDN services by its customers.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. Jamie’s ethos led him to price at just $3 / user / camera / month at a time when traditional home security companies’ monthly fees were so unaffordable.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

You can write this as a narrative in 3–5 key bullet points. Create a Short Strategy / Discussion Deck Create a 5–10 page presentation in your favorite presentation software on any key issues you are grappling with. Some members probably want most of the board meeting to be a review of financial information.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

In no expert in Seattle but when I look around I see: enterprise software (Microsoft), the market leader in cloud services (Amazon AWS), games (Xbox), some of the most innovative retailers in the country (CostCo, Starbucks, REI) and what is left of Boeing (HQ moved to Chicago). I don’t write about LA but I write from LA.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

Image via Flickr by Phil Gyford Starting a new venture still costs real money, even though the entry price has come down dramatically in last few decades. For example, I come from a software background, and back in the early PC days, it could easily cost half a million dollars for a team of professionals to produce a commercial product.

Startup 105

Startup Software Review Technical Review Social Media 105

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

As I write these words I’m aware that I could practically change the words AOL and Facebook for much of this section and with a few factual tweaks it might not be noticeable to the reader which of the firms I was talking about. Was it massively better software, better companies, better markets? It was mostly timing.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Web 2.0 Startup 318

InfoChachkie

MAY 18, 2015

I reviewed and approved hundreds of employment offer letters at my various startups, all of which included stock option grants. I am sorry to disappoint the MBA crowd, but estimating the value of your startup stock options is not something you can do using the Black-Sholes option pricing model. That is wonderful…or is it?

Startup 100

Startup Software Review Pricing Capital 100

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 19, 2012

The industry had seen unprecedented growth in the past decade due to a combination of factors, one of which was the United States’ economic recession. Due to the combination of these factors, marketers began to more heavily fund digital platforms. As the combination of the three provide the ultimate benefit.

Mobile 85

Mobile Software Review Statistics Technical Review 85

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

I am in the middle of writing up some of my thoughts on this and will post about it and let you know. We have been using LinkedIn for both sourcing recruits and reviewing backgrounds for recruits. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

For parents, if you're interested in how your kids are doing, you can find out what their schedule is like, what homework is due when, what their grades are, and how they are progressing, plus you can communicate with their teachers. In the meantime, I was getting frustrated with the software being used at my son's school.

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

We didn't wanted to create new project management software--everyone uses Microsoft Project--but we wanted to make it more collaborative. So, our software takes a Microsoft.mpp file, and allows a whole team to manipulate it. Every company that did try it or buy it gave rave reviews, and said that this was what they wanted.

Startup 100

Startup Software Review Technical Review Software 100

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

Tech Diligence - Consider The Source. Rather, we value entrepreneurs' time and thus our diligence generally includes introducing them to potential customers and partners. Although the expert’s startup and Twilio never formed a partnership, our collaborative approach to diligence did benefit Jeff and his team.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

In order to prepare for TechCrunch Disrupt 2012 I reviewed company bios via the official site and read taglines that said “cool” rather than what the company does. I first reviewed the “Alleys and Pavilions” company list provided by the TechCrunch site. With booth prices up to $9,500 , it blew my mind how vague the taglines were.

Press 97

Press Startup Technical Review Email 97

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

There were startups and a software industry but barely. In those years I learned to properly build product, price products, sell products and serve customers. Starting in 2009 I began writing checks consistently, year-in and year-out. I admit that my writing style back then was a bit more carefree, provocative and opinionated.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

It's the same as when I've created financial models and then have it reviewed by a hard-core CFO, sophisticated investor or similar kind of expert. And in the case of defining mobile/web/software, there is even more variability in terms of form and format. You likely are writing your first one of these. I know how it feels.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

This is why investors really like SaaS software companies where you have recurring revenue and your largest customer accounts for < 5% of your revenue and your renewals rates are > 90%. Many software companies have > 80% gross margins which is why they are more valuable than say traditional retailers or consumer product companies.

Startup 383

Startup Companies Company .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. I’m a software guy so I’m sure there are cases where building isn’t feasible. How much to raise?

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. But I didn’t write it for you; I wrote it for myself.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

As I have pointed out in previous posts , 91% of VCs surveyed believe prices are declining (30% believe substantially) and 77% believe that funding will take longer than it has in the past. Remember those party rounds that became so popular over the past few years because they allowed higher prices and more favorable terms for entrepreneurs?

Startup 150

Startup Capital Funding Invest 150

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. The vast majority of those are nowhere up to modern codes. ” Climate resiliency .

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

socalTECH

APRIL 29, 2014

We were looking at it, and saw that if we could take all these off-the-shelf sensors, and put it all together, and write some code, and make a user interface, it''s basically done. Unfortunately, those providers decided the gold leads were expensive, and decided to use a Chinese vendor which would provide them at half price.

Startup 262

Startup Competition Software Review UCLA 262

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

If you have the proper mechanisms to accurately calculate your Cost Per Customer / Lifetime Value Equation, you will happily purchase as many customers from affiliates as your cash flow constraints will allow, as long as the average acquisition price is less than the customers’ average lifetime value.

Custom 164

Custom Customer Advertising SEM 164

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It says that selling an airplane ticket for $500 and getting paid a $5 fees by the airlines (1% gross margin) is not the same thing as selling $500 of software that you built (>90% gross margin). The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself. Market Size.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150