SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 10, 2012

I did a presentation recently for a graduate class from The Founder Institute around getting online/mobile products out the door. I LOVED it because, the presenting part was over quickly and we got into specific issues that the founders had in terms of getting things built. Review the code being built.

Technical Review 332

Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO Software Review 332

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2020

by Zain Jaffer, serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Zain Ventures. This is especially true for startups, which operate on the basis of customer traction to solidify expectations with investors or lending institutions. Conduct a post-action review. Assess both the short- and long-term financial impact.

Customer 347

Customer Development Team Review Advisory Board Private Equity 347

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Two developments have changed the face of startup investing in the UK in recent years. The first development is increased capital efficiency. The second development is SEIS and EIS. Both of these schemes use the tax code to make it more attractive for high-net-worth individuals to invest in startups.

Early Stage 119

Early Stage Development Team Review Technical Review Software Review 119

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. 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. Do you have a Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

Fractional CTO 264

Fractional CTO CTO Hire NDA Technical Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. 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. Do you have a Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

Fractional CTO 259

Fractional CTO CTO Hire NDA Technical Review 259

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Cash is the fuel of every startup. It continually amazes me how two startups, seemingly comparable in stage and objective, can be so far apart in their burn rate. Here are some recommendations on how to keep the rate low, and help your startup to prosper at the same time: Measure it and manage it. Which would you bet on?

Burn Rate 232

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 232

The Next Web

MARCH 6, 2014

Here’s a problem I bet every non-technical founder has experienced: the communication gap between what the biz dev team wants and what the tech team thinks they want, and vice versa. It’s disruptive, and for founders, very frustrating to watch. You need to build trust between these teams. Phil Chen , Givit.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Development Team Review Developer Agile 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2011

Cash is the fuel of every startup. It continually amazes me how two startups, seemingly comparable in stage and objective, can be so far apart in their burn rate. Here are some principles on how to do that, and help your startup to prosper and live another day: Measure it and manage it. Which would you bet on?

Burn Rate 231

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 231

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2016

Entrepreneurs need to be effective team leaders, since no one can transform an idea into a product and a business without some help. Unfortunately many founders I work with as a mentor are experts on the technical side, but have no insight into leading a team. Otherwise, in my experience, the startup will fail.

Technical Review 136

Technical Review Development Team Review Leadership Cofounder 136

Up and Running

JULY 6, 2016

I get involved in detail when the group is looking at startups in software, web, mobile apps, or financial forecasting. I’ll join in the due diligence for my angel group, test for myself, and develop my informed opinion. The detailed look at the technology comes during due diligence, not in the plan or during the pitch.

Technical Review 72

Technical Review Software Review Business Plan Development Team Review 72

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2013

[and of course I use "we" loosely as the hard work of course was the entire MyTime team sans me]. It got quite good reviews in the media: TechCrunch , LifeHacker & PandoDaily and many others. The team has put in a huge effort to get to this day – and I hope they’re sleeping well tonight. Startup Advice'

Development Team Review 324

Development Team Review Los Angeles San Francisco Mobile 324

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2015

Entrepreneurs need to be effective team leaders, since no one can transform an idea into a product and a business without some help. Unfortunately many founders I work with as a mentor are experts on the technical side, but have no insight into leading a team. Otherwise, in my experience, the startup will fail.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Development Team Review Leadership Cofounder 120

YoungUpstarts

MAY 30, 2014

by Sam Bahreini, co-founder and COO of VoloForce. Automated testing assesses the designed boundaries of your product. The feedback gathered during beta testing can provide a direction for future updates or versions of your product, which can cut costs down the line and improve the turnaround time for your development team.

Customer 231

Customer Development Team Review Cofounder Agile 231

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

Cash is the fuel of every startup. It continually amazes me how two startups, seemingly comparable in stage and objective, can be so far apart in their burn rate. Here are some principles on how to do that, and help your startup to prosper and live another day: Measure it and manage it. Which would you bet on?

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 120

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. And I tried to evaluate the idea and figure out: What did the founder really need here? Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? Did they really need a Startup CTO or Developer or both?

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

David Cohen

JULY 18, 2017

Of course nobody wants their startup to fail, but the fact is that it happens and it’s a completely normal part of company building. The founders go on to do other things, their email addresses change, and the failed business is never officially declared dead. Failing is a normal part of startups. ” Exactamundo.

Software Review 83

Software Review Development Team Review Leadership Founder 83

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 8, 2016

by Martin Hunter, co-founder of Free Event Finder. What was born as a year long backpacking trip in Asia evolved into something a lot more meaningful, and 5 years and two startups later we can look back at the mistakes we made and the lessons we learned along the way. Make risk assessments based on potential geographic location.

Philippines 100

Philippines Finder Software Review Asia 100

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Startup Advice: When to Use a Consulting CTO There are not many to be found. Most likely, this is a person who is a serial entrepreneur and was the chief technology officer for two or more web startups. .&# I’ll list other consultants I know about, as well.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

Up and Running

JULY 11, 2017

Whether you’re considering launching a new business or looking to develop a new product in an established company, you may have a vision of a new technology will that expose a vulnerable flank in an entire industry or against key competitors. The ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 development team pushed battery technology to the bleeding edge.

Technical Review 80

Technical Review Development Team Review Differentiation Leadership 80

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 31, 2010

Every founder frets about competition from a big company, me included. What if a huge company with a hundred software developers and a million dollars in marketing budget decides to copy my idea? What is scary is another scrappy, smart startup like yours — another tree-shrew. By then where will you be?

Software Review 243

Software Review Development Team Review Technical Review Software Developers 243

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 20, 2009

Take the example of a design team prepping mock-ups for their development team. Give the dev team your very first sketches and let them get started. And over time, the development team may be able to start anticipating your needs. That frees up even more development resources, and so on.

San Francisco 161

San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment Development Team Review 161

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

I did a presentation this week at Coloft that looked at how Non-Technical Founders can go about getting their MVP built. Even with these, you will have paper-tested your MVP, but the reality is that customers will not be able to assess the value to them until they actually use it. It had a passionate group of 50 people attending.

Technical Cofounder 338

Technical Cofounder Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 338

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 20, 2023

New startups are created every day – each with fresh ideas and solutions. However, the reality is stark: up to 90% of startups fail, with the average failure rate for the first year standing at 10%. Understanding the Tech Startup Landscape The tech industry today is a mixed bag of opportunities and obstacles.

Technical Review 137

Technical Review Startup Silicon Valley Agile 137

View from Seed

MARCH 19, 2015

If you’re in the tech startup industry today, you get the sense that every one of your peers wants to take on the entire world. Founders laud their own “end-to-end” thinking. ” Startups launched around seemingly mundane, insular problems glow about their abilities to change the world. Another success.

Product 120

Product Technical Review Marketing Lean 120

The Next Web

JULY 20, 2013

Editor’s note: Jonathan Saragossi is the founder of IM Creator , a free website builder, and AppSite , an editor and website collection for promoting mobile applications. Jonathan is also a UX and marketing consultant for major startups including Any.Do and Playscape. You can contact him by email or on Twitter.

PR 157

PR Development Team Review Viral Mobile 157

thenetsetter.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Archives Team Badges & Banners Netsetter Directory Twitter Updates Email Updates Rss Updates Do You Need to Be a Developer to Found a Web Startup? If you read a lot of these though you start wondering if the only route into the world of web startups is to be a developer or computer engineer of some kind.

Web 40

Web Technical Review Developer Cofounder 40

mashable.com

MAY 9, 2011

With development teams often based around the world, being the center of communication and progress can either lead to a tremendously successful strategy or a bottleneck that can slow down an entire company. As a non-technical founder of an IT company, it’s important to know when to dish responsibilities off.

CTO Hire 73

CTO Hire Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review 73

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

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 -. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? . Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, October 5, 2008 The product managers lament Life is not easy when youre working in an old-fashioned waterfall development process, no matter what role you play. I met one recently that is working on a really innovative product, and the stories I heard from their development team made me want to cringe.

San Francisco 158

San Francisco Management Software Review Product 158

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

This theory has become so influential that I have called it one of the three pillars of the lean startup - every bit as important as the changes in technology or the advent of agile development. You can learn about customer development, and quite a bit more, in Steves book The Four Steps to the Epiphany. Heres the catch.

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, November 17, 2008 The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: part one Ive written before about some of the advantages startups have when they are very small, like the benefits of having a pathetically small number of customers. A "startup within the startup" feeling is a good thing.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 8, 2009

You constantly assess the situation, looking for hazards and timing your movements carefully to get across safely. That’s what most startup decisions are like. Because of the extreme unknowns inherent in startup situations, we are all blind – to the realities of what customers what, market dynamics, and competitive threats.

San Francisco 84

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 84

VC Cafe

JULY 21, 2020

If you’re a startup founder, you’re probably looking at Google in some way, maybe in terms of partnership or acquisition, but maybe some level of suspicion and fear. A relationship with Google can take many forms, which I will detail in this post as a guide for founders exploring their relationship with big tech.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Startup Early Stage Cloud 131

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 11, 2015

Whether you’re a conversion optimization agency, consultant, or in-house at a startup or enterprise, investing in the right conversion optimization tool is a big decision. Vlad Malik from www.goodui.org gave a review of A/B Tasty: Vlad Malik : “The things I like about ABTasty I like a lot. It’s really ideal for startups.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Conversion 48

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 26, 2009

But I want to talk about a different kind of leverage, the kind that you can get in product development. Its a force that allows startups to build products at parity with much larger companies - cheaper and much faster. Its a key lean startup concept. Open APIs and data-oriented architecture (aka "web 2.0").

Product Development 88

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 88

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 20, 2008 The engineering managers lament I was inspired to write The product managers lament while meeting with a startup struggling to figure out what had gone wrong with their product development process. In teams that have a business culture, the MBAs pick time.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

We’ve heard this from startup founders, product managers, development team leads, CTOs, and others who see their product gaining traction, but simultaneously see performance falling off a cliff. Too often though, it’s the result of performance needs not being properly assessed at the start of work.

Web 200

Web Technical Review Architecture Caching 200