Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

Angels invest in one out of every forty deals they review (2.5%) versus the one out of 400 by VC’s (0.25%). They are professionals with full-time jobs, who often don’t have time for due diligence (and may not even know how to do it) and often make decisions through trusted referrals or based on gut feelings (more on gut feelings later).

Angel Investor 159

Angel Investor Technical Review Software Review Accredited Investor 159

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

I told her that I believed America’s best asset – driven initially from software innovation mindset in the San Francisco Bay Area and media innovation driven from Los Angeles – was our willingness to accept failure. We hired outside experts. Are we right in all of our assumptions and diligence? It is safe.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review South Korea San Francisco Software Review 417

Gust

DECEMBER 22, 2011

So you’ve chosen a name for your startup, product, or both. It’s possible to have a company with literally millions of customers (users) that employs only a handful of people, working in a small rented office, with hardware and software costing in the tens of thousands rather than millions of dollars. Instagram is a textbook example.)

Intellectual Property 149

Intellectual Property Technical Review Software Review IP 149

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 5, 2019

Many companies hire remote teams, and this comes with plenty of advantages. But, with the right hiring strategies, tools, and communication, you can experience all the positives of this structure while reigning in the challenges. The first step to creating a successful remote team is hiring people who can work independently.

Software Review 113

Software Review Due Diligence Hiring Employee 113

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

Even when someone is aware of what a CTO does, they often have limited context due to the wide variety of CTO roles. A CTO will guide your product strategy, market validation, architectural decisions, process optimization, recruiting, and hiring. Not all CTOs perform all of these duties but some do.

Fractional CTO 54

Fractional CTO CTO Hire CTO Technical Review 54

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 1, 2017

The Architect: This is the maker who takes ideas and thought into motion and product. Since your business is in infancy, have those who believe in your product, who would invest equal time and money, by your side — it’s how top businesses like Apple, Harley-Davidson, and Google started out. Alright, so what? How do I assemble my team?

Software Review 54

Software Review Technical Review CTO Hire San Antonio 54

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

This term refers to an initial venture-capital investment, often wrongly sought to seed early product development. After viewing your slide deck, if investors are still interested in your startup, they will ask for a deep-dive meeting to drill in on any hard questions before commencing due diligence. Seed-round investment.

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 120

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

. #4 : Can you tell me a story about a customer using your product? The best pitches are the ones that open with a story about how your product or service is helping your customer. 6 : How can I connect with 5 customers who have used your product or service?

Software Review 147

Software Review Technical Review Due Diligence Exit Strategy 147

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

Brett Miller is the president of Custom Software by Preston (CSP). For more than 10 years CSP has impressed clients with highly effective software solutions and teams of multi-talented software engineers. There are multiple approaches you can take to staffing when it comes to IT projects.

Software Developers 79

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Software 79

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

For both origination and due diligence, a host of companies aspire to be the “Bloomberg of private companies”, including CB Insights , Crunchbase , DataFox , FuelUp , fundsUP , Mattermark , Qodeo , Quid , Tracxn , Unomy.com , and Zirra. 5) Due diligence. 4) Manage deal flow. Talent Relationship Management tools (e.g.,

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

“…if you look at a lot of the early stage investors, whether it be Union Square Ventures or First Round or Jeff Clavier at Softtech or Dave McClure – we want to try the product, we want to experience the product, we want to get a sense of how the entrepreneur is thinking about it. You still need the presentation to back that up.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

In addition, I’ve noted a few multi-product lending firms, e.g., Kapitus and United Capital Source , which provide RBI as one of many structural options to companies seeking capital. . We have a special program if you are pre-seed and need product development. I’ve listed below all of the major RBI venture capitalists I’ve identified.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

mashable.com

MARCH 20, 2014

Because there is often a lot at stake for a new company, its wise to ask where you will fit in among founders and first hires — and how you can make a direct impact on the companys success. Proceed — if at all — with extreme due diligence and caution. How does your product apply to my role? Manpreet Singh , Seva Call.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Software Review Exit Strategy San Francisco 103

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

It's like saying that diversity of perspective in any business is a good thing--only if you say "We should hire/fund/promote more women" that's when you stir up the peanut gallery into a tizzy. I also (as Fred describes us youngins) "work hard, put in ridiculous hours, are on top of all the latest trends, companies, technologies, etc.

Technical Review 102

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Venture Capital 102

Software By Rob

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

Could you talk a bit about the diligence you did during the acquisition? How long into the discussion before you commenced diligence? Due diligence is the most important part of the process because it dictates whether you should move forward with the acquisition, and at what price. Plug the marketing funnel.

Acquisition 53

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review NDA 53

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

However, in private markets, there is more room to optimize across all 11 steps of the investing process: firm management , marketing, fundraising , origination , manage relationships, due diligence, negotiation, monitoring, portfolio acceleration , reporting, and.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

He or she might call himself a “consulting CTO,&# “freelance CTO,&# “on-demand CTO,&# “CTO on call,&# “CTO for hire,&# or just a “technology strategy advisor.&# Investors use a consulting CTO for technical due diligence. And why would you hire a technology guy who launched a failed startup?

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Hiring is a chapter unto itself, but it deserves to lead off any discussion of context. Compensation decisions obviously affect hiring and retention. You can’t be too careful in determining comp packages for your new hires. Make your choices only after you’ve done some due diligence with other companies where they’ve served.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 17, 2010

The team hired only the best and the brightest. The art team would often be involved in the specification phase of a new feature, since they were responsible for the look-and-feel of the product. Meanwhile the drawbacks of functional departments can cause real and lasting harm. I remember one such meeting vividly.

Technical Review 164

Technical Review San Francisco Lean Software Review 164

www.xconomy.com

JUNE 9, 2012

Q&A: Group Commerce Plans Hires, European Growth with $21M Funding. In fact, by using analytics software that relies on a different way of measuring risk, the San Diego firm is becoming known in some circles as “the Moneyball of venture capital,” according to David Coats, a co-founder and managing partner. View More in Boston ›.

San Diego 40

San Diego Venture Capital Technical Review San Francisco 40

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

” Bill Gross, who is one of the Godfathers of the Internet, once told me, “ If you don’t design a product that is 10x better than the competition then you’ll never build anything truly big or amazing.” After 9 months it was time to raise seed capital and go test drive our new software and processes.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review Cofounder CTO Hire 380

Up and Running

MAY 28, 2015

We recently had Tim Berry, Palo Alto Software founder and business planning expert, present our Bplans audience with his latest advice on lean business planning. You add that, now that they’re interested, you told them the story, they see the market, you’re demoing the product, you’re showing traction, they get it.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

www.mint.com

MARCH 9, 2010

If the answer to the question centers around “We will achieve revenue soon so our net will improve and give us more runway,” it means the company is in trouble because no product ever ships on time nor achieves the company’s “conservative forecast.” Life is challenging for a company that has undistinguished products and services.

Software Review 68

Software Review Startup Post-Money Valuation Technical Review 68

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

While I do fill that role at the moment, I'm a little hesitant to refer to myself as a CTO as we still haven't launched a product, acquired a single user, or turned or a penny in profit. How are we going to manage the product roadmap? When will key hires come on? What are the biggest areas of technical risk? Accounting?

CTO Hire 231

CTO Hire Technical Review Developer Software Review 231

Rob Go

OCTOBER 6, 2013

Great teams, transformative opportunities in attractive markets, and excellent products. For additional reading on this topic, check out this great article at the FRC review from Neil Roseman on Technical Hiring at Amazon. Even experimenting with different tools, software, internal apps. For example, this. Data Analysis.

Venture Capital 74

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence 74

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 20, 2016

As an investor, I’ve sat on both sides of the table in more than a dozen acqui-hire situations. Companies that successfullyleverage acqui-hires can save years of work and gain a competitive advantage by adding skilled technical and operational talent, deep local market knowledge and an accelerated time-to-market.

Global 48

Global Hiring Technical Review Due Diligence 48

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

This is Sabrina Parsons, the CEO of Palo Alto Software. You need to understand that your personal credit is key to you eventually having business credit and you must, must, must validate the market, you must make sure that there is an actual paying client for your product or service. Now let’s talk about how you look at yourself.

Social Media 60

Social Media Small Business Software Review Technical Review 60

David Teten

MARCH 24, 2014

As the CIO, I am constantly looking to improve productivity of my office, and I have created many productivity tools and processes that have saved a lot of money and time since I first started. Addepar is precisely trying to collect and convert into software these best practices. (ff In fact, Melchisedec is a placebo.

Software Review 114

Software Review Due Diligence Venture Capital Portfolio 114

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

I wassurprised recently when I realized that all the worst problems wefaced in our startup were due not to competitors, but investors.Dealing with competitors was easy by comparison. Then you can gradually transformyourself from a consulting company into a product company, and haveyour clients pay your development expenses.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

” Our featured speaker was Caroline Cummings, the VP of Business Development at Palo Alto Software. Not only because it’s a product that Bplans and Palo Alto software makes, but because before I joined the company, I used LivePlan to pitch and raise my investment capital. Pretend that you are the investor.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Exit Strategy 60

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

JUNE 19, 2010

In fact, I based myself in Toronto for a couple months over the summer there and did a product launch while I was there. THE POWER OF OUTSOURCING & CREATING YOUR OWN PRODUCT. I didn’t have a product of my own, and I spent a whole lot of time essentially wasting time. They love you already, so put a product out the door.”.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Software Review Prospectus Audience 76

The Startup Toolkit

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Github – repository for your source code plus task lists and collaboration with your developers. Physical products and print-on-demand. elance – various freelancers (assume you’ll hire several for trial projects before finding good ones). Product Hunt – daily new products. Team collaboration.

Software Review 56

Software Review Founder Widget SMS 56

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

Video Games At SuperMac , Peter Barrett was the witty and creative 24-year old Australian engineer who had designed several of our most successful products, culminating with the software for the Video Spigot. But I wonder if the success is due to or in spite of VCs. Little did I know.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2018

Your company’s brand is a promise you make to customers and prospects about your products, your services, and your company. Branding is a process designed to develop, among other things, a unique business name and custom logo design for a company, product, or service. How they interact with your products or buy your services.

Marketing 162

Marketing Charlotte Naming Design 162

www.women2.org

MARCH 8, 2012

After quitting my job and starting Sorced , I spent a few months validating my business concept by creating the product mockups and doing customer development. My delusions of coding grandeur quickly subsided and realized that I was not going to hack it. You might as well hire an outsourced team.

Cofounder 47

Cofounder Technical Review San Francisco Founder 47

www.reincubate.com

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Share this: net c# development django java language php software Were often asked by entrepreneurs which language their startups should adopt when developing their technology. It can be difficult -- without experience building software -- to make an informed choice which is most suitable. PHP is insecure? Ruby on Rails doesnt scale?

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 40

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Also worth a read after you review these startup failure post-mortems. But none of them matter if the product is harder to use, since most people simply won’t care enough or get enough benefit from long-term features if a shorter-term alternative is available. deprecated the old feature-complete product (ACS 3.4)

Software Review 79

Software Review Startup Technical Review Vesting 79