Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Here are some tips which will signal traction to investors, as well as your team: Document your business plan. It’s hard to build a business without a plan, just like it’s hard to build a house without a blueprint. If you have a product description, that’s necessary, but not sufficient. Become a visible expert.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. There is no free lunch.

Mezzanine 244

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 244

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

OSEO validation in turn makes early-stage startups eligible for a variety of support services and funding options. OSEO can be involved during very early stage activities, such as business plan creation and feasibility studies. Plyce : Feature-rich location-based social network.

France 163

France Technical Review Incubator Early Stage 163

View from Seed

APRIL 21, 2015

On the heels of our research on HBS entrepreneurs , NextView’s Dimitri Dadiomov (HBS ’15) interviewed several top founders on the early stages of their companies. On Launching and Finding Early Traction. Clark (RelayRides): Business school is very broad. Prince: Business History. Tom Eisenmann.

Founder 120

Founder Las Vegas Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Write a business plan. After you’ve come up with answers concerning your future company and product, it’s high time to map out the business in a concrete and viable way. A business plan is a must for every startup. If you’ve never written anything like that, browse the Net for business plan samples and templates.

Startup 160

Startup Social Media Forecast Early Stage 160

YoungUpstarts

MAY 16, 2016

The good news is that there are also a ton of online resources that can help you get started and (hopefully) steer clear of common early-stage missteps. Plenty of highly qualified people find themselves held back by the same easily avoidable problems — laying out potential obstacles can help you plan your path around them.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Early Stage Social Network Acquisition 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. There is no free lunch.

Mezzanine 141

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 141

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 3, 2015

Early stage investing experience. Look for investors who have either been entrepreneurs themselves or have invested in early stage companies that have gone on to be successful. The size of their networks. No, not their social network, their investment network and their network of business contacts.

Angel Investor 100

Angel Investor Early Stage Due Diligence Cofounder 100

YoungUpstarts

MAY 14, 2012

Even home businesses have to have some overhead expenses. Many small businesses don’t bring in large profits when just starting out, so it is important to have the financing available both in the early stages of your business as well as when unexpected costs occur. Business Plan.

Early Stage 162

Early Stage Social Network Advertising Finance 162

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. There is no free lunch.

Mezzanine 240

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 240

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. There is no free lunch.

Mezzanine 120

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 120

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 6, 2022

You know, could you look at my business plan? See if the business model works, all these questions. That is the role of the CEO in an early stage company. You can also reach out to me on virtually any of the social networks, just search for Steve Hoffman or founder space. They're all there.

San Francisco 96

San Francisco Technical Review Incubator Silicon Valley 96

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 14, 2015

Similarly with Google and another search engine, or Facebook and another social network, and so on. That’s why we choose to play at these very early stages. When VCs invested in Apple the technology already worked they just didn’t know if anyone wanted computers. Venture Capital'

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Marketing Early Stage Social Network 60

VC Adventure

OCTOBER 12, 2011

I recently waked into a pitch meeting for a social networking related business and was surprised by what I saw. I had interacted with the entrepreneur over email – taking a look at the initial business plan and setting up the meeting – but we hadn’t met in person before.

LP 90

LP Venture Capital Early Stage Social Network 90

www.drowningamerican.com

JUNE 22, 2012

The business plan was starting to look great and all the idea kinks were worked out. Here is the original post: Early Stage Web Application Start-Up Seeking Developer/Designer. In the longer term we will compete with social networks and online advertising. Skip to primary content. Skip to secondary content.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Hiring Technical Review 40

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Lessons Learned – Business Planning Stage My advice to entrepreneurs working on a new business plan is to build a model similar to those above to estimate the cost of customer acquisition. So far we have been very effective using blogs, social networks, etc. I appreciate your input!

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

Darnell – If a back-end tech guy can copy it, you probably need to build the business idea more. Great points, though your bio does read “Personal investor in early-stage technology companies, including … a handful of other startups that are still in stealth mode!” link] Bruce Colwin. ” chris.

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

Professor VC

MAY 29, 2008

To the SEC, it means that you are an accredited investor and To the man (or woman) on the street, a minimum qualification would seem to be an interest and ability to invest in early stage ventures. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? ► January. (1). ► 2010. (7).

Angel Investor 28

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor San Jose 28

Babbling VC

MAY 20, 2010

All too often though I am surprised to see how often early-stage companies poorly analyze their market, especially when doing a competitive analysis. This is glaringly obvious especially when pitching your business plan to me. I personally only have so much time per day to invest in reading and updating social networks.

Social Network 60

Social Network Vertical Early Stage Networking 60

VC Adventure

OCTOBER 12, 2011

I recently waked into a pitch meeting for a social networking related business and was surprised by what I saw. I had interacted with the entrepreneur over email – taking a look at the initial business plan and setting up the meeting – but we hadn’t met in person before.

LP 48

LP Venture Capital Early Stage Social Network 48

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Preserve your equity by using a consulting CTO to ramp up your company before securing early-stage financing and hiring a permanent technology partner. Why Use a Consulting CTO A consulting CTO can help you complete a business plan by estimating costs and timelines for the company’s technology development and deployment.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

Professor VC

DECEMBER 18, 2008

Many entrepreneurial programs feature a business plan competition, which is a great exercise. At SJSU, we also have a business plan competition in the spring, which ideally allows the students to build a viable business model around their NIF projects. A Lot of Horn Tooting over a Kazoo sized deal. ► 2010. (7).

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Technical Review Angel Investor 28

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

This is a great example of why data businesses have substantial moats. Boardex and Relationship Science make it easier to understand and map social networks into potential limited partners. Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

I’ve worked with 30+ early-stage companies in all sorts of capacities (and spoken to many, many more), so I thought it might be worthwhile trying to classify the various ways that I’ve engaged in different technology roles in startups. So, you can easily get sold that there’s little to no Gap.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Fractional CTO Technology CTO Hire 170

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

As early stage investors, our goal is to eliminate as much risk as possible with the least amount of cash spent. I first met Jeff about 8 years ago when he was finishing his first year at the Stanford GSB and was beginning to raise money for a business plan he developed for a secondary market ticket exchange.

San Jose 31

San Jose Technical Review Venture Capital Angel Investor 31

Professor VC

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? Got around to seeing The Social Network this past weekend. I did a little searching around the web to try and find a truth vs. fiction comparison, but the closest I found was "The 10 Most Glaring Lies In The Social Network" on the Business Insider.

Social Network 28

Social Network Networking Software Review San Jose 28

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

They need to have a place where they can gain an understanding of their different options for financing the venture, how to determine exactly what is needed in the marketplace, how to negotiate, how to read contracts, the role of technology, how to write a business plan, understand what your ratios are saying. March 19, 2012 11:12 AM.

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Professor VC

AUGUST 26, 2011

To that last one, there is certainly some truth as the standard time vs. revenue chart in most business plans looks like this: Im not teaching Entrepreneurial Finance this semester for the first time since Fall 2007. Is the model consistent with the business plan? Does the business model make sense? ► 2010.

Silicon Valley 35

Silicon Valley San Jose Hockey Stick Venture Capital 35

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Rethinking “F@#$ You Money” - Tony Wright dot com , August 2, 2010 Now that I’ve stepped down from RescueTime, I’m pondering my next thing (whether it’s a product role at a very early stage startup or spinning up my own for the 3rd time). Retirement Plans. Develop your business plan. Why do startups?

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 13, 2009 Dont launch Heres a common question I get from startups, especially in the early stages: when should we launch? This is the usual reason given for a marketing launch, but for most early stage startups, its a failure. My answer is almost always the same: dont.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2008

It is certainly true that we can pick apart the financial projections or pour through contracts, legal and financial diligence, but none of those areas tend to be the most important areas in deciding whether to make an early stage investment. As I am quoted in the article, it is easy to pick holes in a business plan.

Angel Groups 28

Angel Groups San Jose Early Stage Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

MAY 30, 2009

We held our annual business plan competition at San Jose State this month and first prize was $10,000. Ryan was actually working on another business plan for my class when he came to discuss this concept with me a few weeks before the business plan competition. The last blogger in Silicon Valley.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley Bootstrapping 28

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

A Comparison Between Novice and Serial Entrepreneurs" Her research shows that there is a positive correlation between prior founding experience and new venture performance due to stronger and more diverse social networks, access to capital, reliance on collaborators and other factors. A Lot of Horn Tooting over a Kazoo sized deal.

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Venture Capital Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

Now that iControl has raised over $100M, this got me thinking back to our original business plan. The business model (OEM through broadband and home security companies for mass distribution) if not specific product functionality has remained largely the same. A Lot of Horn Tooting over a Kazoo sized deal. ► January. (1).

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2010

But disappointingly, dollars invested in early-stage deals fell nearly 21%. To me, this indicates that venture capitalists (VCs) are looking for business, but they are clearly moving away from early-stage (pre-revenue) deals. Create an investment-grade business plan. First of all, investors put $5.9

Venture Capital 123

Venture Capital Elevator Pitch Silicon Valley Massachusetts 123

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

Evaluate Business and Financing Needs - We initially went out seeking $10 million in financing, but listened to the prospective investors and watched the market. Mid-way through the process, we took another cut at our business plan and built a model where $5 million would be sufficient to get us beyond breakeven. ► 2010.

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Michael: Well, I’m very in the early stage, and my question reflects that. If you can’t get people to take it for free, even if it is early stage, then I think that’s a bad indication that you still don’t have enough differentiators from those other three. Jason: Nice. Jason: Alright. Jason: Great.

Cofounder 208

Cofounder Technical Review Software Review Differentiation 208