SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. Lots of thoughts here. What is Stealth? " Ummm.

NDA 198

NDA Stealth Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement 198

The Next Web

JUNE 8, 2014

Yoav Leitersdorf and Ofer Schreiber of are partners at YL Ventures. Developing an enterprise-grade SaaS product is not easy. The keys are maintaining capital efficiency, launching early versions to the SMB market and constantly applying customer development methods. And more importantly, B2B companies.

B2C 132

B2C B2B IP Technical Review 132

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

by John Vrionis, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. This article highlights their advice on issues ranging from financing to patent trolls: While startups may believe lawyers are too costly, working with one early on avoids potentially serious problems later. Lightspeed is in the business of encouraging entrepreneurship.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

Max and his partners interviewed and analyzed over 650 early-stage Internet startups. Today they released the first Startup Genome Report — a 67 page in-depth analysis on what makes early-stage Internet startups successful. Founders overestimate the value of IP before product market fit by 255%. .

Technical Cofounder 333

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 333

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

Your contractor wrote a great V1 of the product and it helped you get angel funding. Shame about not getting it in legal writing that you owned the original IP. They want to lock in future clients at an early stage. Focus on the partner you would be working with. Our lives are intertwined.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

As an early stage investor in the world of gaming and metaverse technology at Remagine Ventures, I find these companies have the potential to set the agenda, become the potential platforms for developers building in this space and future acquirers/consolidators of startups building the next generation of the Internet.

IP 206

IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206

NZ Entrepreneur

DECEMBER 5, 2019

The reality faced by entrepreneurs is that legal services can be expensive and IP protection may not be an initial priority. But having an IP strategy can help you get the most from your IP and help minimize common pitfalls and legal expenses. Trade marks. It’s best to select a mark and use it consistently.

IP 62

IP Non-disclosure Agreement Intellectual Property New Zealand 62

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. Similar to the explosion of seed funds in the past decade, we (and some limited partners too ) believe these Flexible VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5% return cap.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 29, 2016

These businesses are full of new ideas for services, new products – and improvements to existing ones. Ironically, though, many early stage cyber security companies initially target their offerings to the Fortune 500 and look to move down market to SMBs much later in their product life-cycle – and, sometimes not at all.

Differentiation 100

Differentiation Security Intellectual Property Non-Compete 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. I can’t tell you how many people have thanked me for this advice and say their productivity increased exponentially. Legal threats from other IP holders?

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I had just left Salesforce.com where I was VP, Products, after they had acquired my second startup. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. Over the past 2.5

IP 223

IP Intellectual Property IRR Cofounder 223

David Teten

FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Please note that we expect our members to invest at least $25,000/year in early-stage investments, although there is no contractual commitment to do so. C8 Sciences ( [link] ) markets web-delivered cognitive development programs based on Yale IP of integrated computer and physical exercises.

Technical Review 128

Technical Review New York Accredited Investor IP 128

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 17, 2017

Two of them made some major product directional changes based on the founder’s judgment and the feedback he was getting from partners and customers. The youngest of the litter has been busy tuning a very attractive general idea into a very specific and more IP-based product offering. Yes, that has multiple meanings!)

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Atlanta Software Review Early Stage 48

A Crowded Space

OCTOBER 3, 2018

Very shortly after I joined, Greg Gretsch (now my partner at Jackson Square Ventures) co-led oDesk’s Series A along with Venky Ganesan (partner at Menlo Ventures and lead investor in Rev.com). But you need simplicity to build a great enduring product and company. Since then, the company has gone through an amazing journey.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Bangladesh Ukraine Philippines 60

www.greenhornconnect.com

OCTOBER 3, 2011

” Transitioning from partners in an informal collaboration to co-owners of an actual business may seem like a big step, but it is a necessary one that every successful startup eventually must take. 1) You and your partners have developed IP critical to your business. 5) You’re ready to launch your product.

IP 40

IP Intellectual Property Limited Liability Company Boston 40

Scalable Startup

JANUARY 15, 2015

I’d like to build a europe based high quality partner agency, but not sure how to build the trust required for both sides. They keep you involved even from the early stages of the value chain including selecting the right engineers and taking direction and input on the future technical growth plan for those engineers.

Offshore 20

Offshore Web Development Europe Web 20

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. There is, indeed, a competition between angel investors and venture capital firms, which can only be an advantage for entrepreneurs who are thus stimulated to choose wisely their future business partners.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

by Ralph (Buddy) Arnheim , partner at Perkins Coie. Key to any early stage fundraising effort is a well-crafted Executive Summary, or Exec Summary. Your Solution – Use this to highlight the product or service you are building and why it will address the void you see in the market.

Elevator Pitch 154

Elevator Pitch Early Stage Venture Capital IP 154

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. There is, indeed, a competition between angel investors and venture capital firms, which can only be an advantage for entrepreneurs who are thus stimulated to choose wisely their future business partners.

Angel Investor 83

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

NZ Entrepreneur

AUGUST 12, 2020

This includes new methods, products, expressions of ideas, trade secrets, brands and logos. Intellectual property can create trouble for startups in their early stages, and getting it right is a crucial aspect to running a successful business. Some intellectual property rights exist automatically upon creation such as copyright.

Intellectual Property 91

Intellectual Property New Zealand Startup Early Stage 91

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 18, 2019

But early-stage startup founders can’t think this way, because when immediate goals are unrealistic or unachievable, a startup is bound to crash and burn. Instead of having everyone focus broadly on a universal goal, companies should focus on helping each employee become their best, most productive self.

Cofounder 127

Cofounder Startup Private Equity Equity 127

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

Moonlight Responsibly - If you are still employed please be very careful not to use your company’s resources to produce your product and please do not work on your next idea during business hours. To the best of my knowledge US law allows you to work on your own resources and in your own hours and let you personally own your IP.

Founder Vesting 365

Founder Vesting Intellectual Property Stock Options IP 365

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

Use social media to link with influencers in your niche, sponsor them and watch them put your product in front of the eyeballs of millions of their followers, gaining your company further brand awareness. #2 2 License Your Product. 3 Mergers, Partnerships and Acquisitions.

LBO 65

LBO Merger Social Media Startup 65

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

One question that keeps coming up when speaking with early stage entrepreneurs when it comes to funding, is what metrics the company needs to hit to raise seed/series A/B etc: What’s a good conversion rate? With the explosion in DTC products (see my post on VC Cafe), they probably deserve a category of benchmarks on their own.

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Basing a consultant’s compensation on the incremental revenue they generate is a great example of a deal that is on The Fringe (for other creative approaches to partnering, see Agreements on The Fringe). Performance-based deals can effectively mitigate your monetary risk of entering into a non-productive consulting relationship.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 40

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

On July 27th, 2001 Accenture IPO’s and many of the partners grew fabulously wealthy. Investment in training, adherence to process, global knowledge sharing systems, quality control / partner reviews and campus recruitment programs that attracted the right talent. Double-down on great people, process & IP.

Turkey 302

Turkey Differentiation IP Technical Review 302

Scott Edward Walker

DECEMBER 13, 2018

An acquihire is essentially the acquisition of a startup for its talent/team (rather than for its products or services). The acquirer is typically a large successful company, and the target is typically a failing early-stage startup. What is an Acquihire? How is the Deal Structured?

Founder 45

Founder Merger IP Liquidation Preference 45

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. Everyone has their own definition of momentum (user numbers, revenue, channel partners, biz dev deals, whatever).

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. I know it’s not single-handed as he has both fantastic partners at Foundry Group and many other community leaders. They haven’t launched their next gen product – watch this space.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 7, 2007

But each stage needs to be completed, if you are to reasonably expect a quality product. Running through a process such as this is what it means to be an “entrepreneur&# , so I‚Äôll be going through each of these stages in plenty of detail in the coming posts. But producing a professional and slick product costs money.

Bootstrapping 41

Bootstrapping Offshore Startup EC2 41

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2020

I'm general partner at MarsBio VC and Director of The Corona Initiative. I invented the nutrition beverage product known as Soylent, which a company continues to grow and flourish today. I liked dealing with the bomb, and I wanted to find this intersection of software and hardware that would lead to a really great product.

Technical Review 68

Technical Review Software Review Finance Technology 68

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 8, 2015

These corporate Innovation Outposts monitor Silicon Valley for new innovative technologies and/or companies (as emerging threats or potential tools for disruption) and then take advantage of these innovations by creating new products or investing in startups. Startups are developing IP relevant to the disruption. Does it get spun out?

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Acquisition Boston Early Stage 120

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

What is the best advice you can give for finding a business partner? Don’t quickly choose any business partner. Building Product 2. Product/Metrics (70%/30% time) * Get your product activation (sign-up + meaningful action) to 60% * then, Get your product retention to 20% weekly. Do something together.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

www.metamorphblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

The difference between your initial idea and your ultimate product is the difference between a slab of rock and the David. You may or may not have a working product. Your product may or may not suck. What matters is your vision of what the product will be and how it will change the world. Pitch like a mofo.

Founder 51

Founder Startup Cofounder Vesting 51

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 7, 2007

In this post, we show you how to go from idea to specified product. Not only that, but the end product will be better architected, more coherent and easier to maintain. Ill soon be ready for developers to come on board, and theyll see a very clear vision for the product (it looks and functions very much like a finished app).

Web 40

Web AJAX Software Review Development Team Review 40

www.currentlyobsessed.com

MAY 28, 2010

It hardly deserves any attention at all in the early stages. For some closing thoughts, I’ll just add that: Valuation tends to be too much of a focus for most early stage companies. cthomaschase i was not, however my partner jeff did a session and there were a bunch of people from the team there.

Valuation 42

Valuation Channel Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 42

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

When I meet with Tom offline it’s obvious that he immediately is thinking about product issues, technology trends, funding rounds, etc. Thomas and his partner lived off of credit cards, and used crappy data centers and open source software (LAMP). The team, of course, is just as important as the product or idea.

Angel Investor 302

Angel Investor Cofounder Southern California .Net 302