SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any? Unfortunately, we are web, mobile, software, database guys. What Is This?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

And do I fit as a Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO ? Consider what Ryan Waggoner tells us How to Find a Technical Cofounder : When I was doing freelance development, I had about one pitch per week for an equity-only opportunity. Go to tech (or other relevant industry) events. Go to user groups.

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

InfoChachkie

MAY 5, 2014

I hesitate to write about design, as I have never considered myself to be a "color or font" person. Like most legacy software solutions, 15-years after its release, Symantec''s pcAnywhere had become bloated with features most users never accessed. Unlike pcAnywhere, GoToMyPC required no technical expertise.

Symantec 227

Symantec Technical Review Software Review Design 227

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 3, 2018

All of the benefits of a cryptographically secured, publicly verified, anonymized transaction system can be erased by errant code, malicious actors, or poorly defined parameters of an executable agreement. Hoping to beat back the tide of bad contracts, bad code and bad actors, Sagewise , a new Los Angeles-based startup has raised $1.25

Software Review 159

Software Review Outsource Development Services Technical Review 159

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 6, 2022

Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review ! This writeup from industry analyst Karl Guttag showcases how Magic Leap has turned away from several of the key technologies it raised billions of dollars to develop with its latest hardware which he nevertheless believes will “blow away” the HoloLens 2 in image quality.

Marketing 246

Marketing Newsletter Technical Review News 246

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

James (chairman of the Althea Foundation) and appointed Adam Sroka as Senior Vice President of Technology in a move to make business transactions simple and secure. . Jackson , “This financing round, coupled with hiring Adam Sroka as our head of technology, puts CapLinked in a position to further enhance our enterprise product offerings.”.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

China is indelibly an important part of the future of the global technology system. Write things down. 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. Be gracious. Don’t ignore your losses.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. Brad on blogging.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

China is indelibly an important part of the future of the global technology system. Write things down. 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. Be gracious. Don’t ignore your losses.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

We hired a head of technology, a head of customer service, a head of marketing, a head of strategy (which no startup should ever hire) a CFO and, ugh, 33 developers. One the one hand I feel great because we went out and built software that solved an industry problem. I’m not trying to take credit beyond where credit is due.

Startup 299

Startup Venture Capital Technical Review Training 299

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. 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. but: Something is Still Missing.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

There were startups and a software industry but barely. SEEING THINGS FROM THE VC SIDE OF THE TABLE While I was a VC in 2007 & 2008 those were dead years because the market again evaporated due the the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Starting in 2009 I began writing checks consistently, year-in and year-out. It was 1991.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2010

Bill Gates once famously said that people tend to overestimate the impact of technology in the 1-year timeframe and underestimate its impact in the 10-year timeframe. I tend not to go into heat when I hear the latest buzz on the tech blogs about the latest gadgets. My favorite new software tool is DailyBurn. We’ll see.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2010

I was an early user of Quora and like all new technologies they take a bit of playing with them for a while, discussing them with others and reflecting on them to let them sink in. Fred talks about it here – he beat me to the punch because I always wanted to write about how awesome this is. really understand it.

Blogging 301

Blogging SEO Startup Writing 301

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

It is code word for “I’m not ready to invest for whatever reason … I need more proof.&#. They get positive product reviews on TechCrunch, GigaOm or Paidcontent.org. It’s marketing 101 for tech companies in terms of how you market to customers. They tell you they’re going to ship product and they do.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

socalTECH

OCTOBER 31, 2011

One of Urbandig's co-founders, Mike Macadaan -- the former VP of User Experience at MySpace, and creator of the technology conference Twiistup--sat down to talk to us about the company. There are lots of knowledgeable people that we find to write these guides--people who grew up there, and who are experts in the area.

Guide 203

Guide Software Review Twiistup Technical Review 203

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

I recommend you first review Dharmesh’s article and then listen to Naval’s thoughts. These days, thanks to code and community, we can productize almost any process done by humans. 3) If you were writing your book Pitching Hacks today, how would your advice differ ? AngelList is the productization of that.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

One is obvious, without protection, such IP might prove to be of little worth, as other companies can mimic the technology without recourse. The very nature of formal IP approval process ensures that some level of vetting has been performed to assess whether the IP is infringing on another company’s technology. Provisional Approach.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

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

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. You need to have passionate tech entrepreneurs who want to build businesses locally. The ingredients are all here.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

. - Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - But more broadly it got me thinking to one of the biggest mistakes tech executives get into in the first place.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

I plan to write a whole separate blog post about this quote because it’s always stuck with me. An external consultant helping the procurement team overturned the decision and got the company to select a small software company owned by the consultancy. Tags: Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

InfoChachkie

JUNE 11, 2012

As Clay Christensen aptly points out in The Innovator’s Dilemma, a large company’s defense of its legacy clouds its ability to appropriately assess the potential impact of disruptive technologies. Bill Gates – “The best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Education Entrepreneur 279

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2013

“Scope creep” (or feature creep) is an insidious disease that kills more good startups than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off. Change requests must be visibly reviewed by executives frequently.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Startup Software Review High Tech 110

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

I write this post as a warning to pick your VC’s carefully. Many years ago I worked at Andersen Consulting, originally developing software for large corporations and then as a strategy consultant. He also had experience in setting up tech development centers in India. This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 297

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2020

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. If your software or your manufacturing process is your “secret sauce,” you need to keep the work in-house. The same applies to manufacturing and almost any process these days.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 122

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2015

“Scope creep” (or feature creep) is an insidious disease that kills more new business solutions than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off. Change requests must be visibly reviewed by executives frequently.

Technical Review 104

Technical Review Product Software Review High Tech 104

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2011

We actually built that about a year and a half ago, and are bringing that back due to overwhelming demand. In April of 2010, we put up Dealcurent.com, and we started indexing number one on Google for daily deals software. We had our contest software, ArtisticHub, driving some revenue. How do clients license your software?

Platform 263

Platform Training Software Review Advertising 263

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

I’m writing this post to make sure you’re all on that same playing field. Fortunately I was mostly a technology consultant, which meant that I coded computers, designed databases and planned system integration projects. Here’s how I learned my lesson: I started my life as a consultant.

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

InfoChachkie

JUNE 20, 2011

Due to their lack of practical experience, this delegation/efficiency tradeoff is especially acute with respect to hiring Interns. However, many of the characteristics of our Intern Programs were also applicable to non-technical positions, as follows: Meaningful Work – Treat your Interns as adults and magical things will happen.

Startup 244

Startup Software Review Technical Review Class 244

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2011

“Scope creep” (or feature creep) is an insidious disease that kills more good startups than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off. Change requests must be visibly reviewed by executives frequently.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Startup Software Review High Tech 96

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

Verifying Looking for regular tech news straight to your inbox? Writesonic Writesonic is an AI writing tool designed to help writers overcome writers block and level up their skills. Brightwheel is a SaaS childcare management solution that provides technology to preschools. Writesonic Library screenshot.

Startup 195

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 195

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

Ghost is not alone in developing technology focused on inventory. Last week, Syrup Tech raised $6.3 Syrup Tech bags $6.3M to develop some sweet inventory-planning software. She went on to write, “Dee and Josh are the exact right team to tackle it.

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

TechZulu caught up with co-founder Calvin Schemanski chat about their upcoming launch, their product and why Long reviews suck. myfab5 is a platform that reinvents the restaurant review. Unlike typical review sites, our platform does not use star ratings or long reviews. What is myfab5?

Software Review 79

Software Review Technical Review Writing Startup 79

socalTECH

OCTOBER 30, 2008

We're always interested in how technology is influencing the business of Hollywood, and recently ran across Los Angeles-based Scripped. to the business of script writing, and is looking to combine a free online tool for writing scripts with matching those scripts with content producers. What's Scripped?

Content 138

Content Writing Software Review Hollywood 138

socalTECH

OCTOBER 28, 2010

How do you take a business you started as your own personal web site, and turn it into an online powerhouse, completely bootstrapped, from the little town of Ojai, California--not exactly known as a technology town? Lynda Weinman: With the downturn due to the dot com crash, our school business died on the vine. It was going crazy.

Startup 242

Startup Web Design Writing Web 242