Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. With this model, a startup pre-sells their product early, at a cheaper price, in exchange for a pledge. Startup equity model. Product pre-order model. In the U.S.,

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Accredited Investor Startup SEC Equity 352

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Even though the color of their money is always green, all startup investors are not the same. Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Personally visit another startup funded by this investor. It’s no fun for either side.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2022

Perhaps sparked by the recent pandemic, I’m seeing a new era of the entrepreneur, with startups springing up all around. Based on my own mentoring and investing experience, the best entrepreneurs are pragmatic problem solvers. Problems will occur in every startup, simply because you are stepping into uncharted territory.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2021

Some aspiring entrepreneurs are so desperate for funding, or naïve, that they ignore the obvious signs of scams and rip-offs on the Internet, praying for a windfall. Work at home to fund your startup. I’d much rather see your entrepreneur resources and energy focused on real opportunities to improve the world we live in.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Non-disclosure Agreement Term Sheet 371

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2022

Successful startups seem to follow similar paths to greatness, and unfortunately all too often that path leads them back down the hill much faster than they went up. Thus it behooves every entrepreneur to start watching these things more carefully from the very start. This business phase is where every entrepreneur starts.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

Every entrepreneur I know has their favorite excuse for a previous failure – an investor backed out, the economy took a downturn, or a supplier delivered bad quality. In that spirit, I offer my perspective on ten common startup failure sources that rarely get admitted by entrepreneurs: Choose to skip the written business plan.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2021, from 280 to 360 out of 100,000 of the adult population. Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. Set milestones and manage to those targets.

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VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

Drawing insights from ARK Invest’s Big Ideas report, Y Combinator ’s Requests for Startups, and market trends, this post explores the most promising opportunities for entrepreneurs looking to make an impact in 2025. This is an extension of the previous list with new sources and startup requests.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

One of the biggest myths in the business world is that startups are no place for Baby Boomers, that aging generation born between 1945 and 1964. Today people over 55 are almost twice as likely to create successful startups as Gen-Y, age 20 to 34. It’s time to think again that the domain of entrepreneurs is only for the under-35 crowd.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2022

Every new entrepreneur has to initiate the right actions to be perceived as a leader in their chosen business domain by their team and by their customers, or the road to success and satisfaction will be lost along the way. No entrepreneur can build a business alone. Constantly strengthening your network of relationships.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

In my experience, the Silicon Valley startup model, focused on disrupting established industries, has treated the USA well and created some great global businesses. It has played almost no role in the emergence of current non-US bred startups, including Alibaba in China, Waze from Israel, Paytm in India, and many more.

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The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

Canadian entrepreneurs are facing what can only be described as an unpredictable economic outlook in the coming year, with inflation, interest rates, and political turbulence combining to create a stew of spicy flavors that may be welcomed by those with a sense of adventure but dreaded by those who crave stability and security.

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The Startup Magazine

APRIL 21, 2025

For example, Thomson Reuters won a copyright lawsuit against Ross Intelligence , a legal AI startup, over its use of content from Westlaw. This adds to the promise of AI and LLMs for entrepreneurs. The post What Entrepreneurs Should Know About AI and Cybersecurity appeared first on The Startup Magazine.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

These approaches allow your startup to grow more rapidly, save costs, but costly mistakes can lead to business failure. He is regarded by many as the number-one authority on virtual staffing and personal outsourcing, and is himself a successful entrepreneur based in the Philippines. Bored and unmotivated teams are never cost-effective.

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Cost Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 346

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

Three types of organizations – Incubators, Accelerators and Venture Studios – have emerged to reduce the risk of early-stage startup failure by helping teams find product/market fit and raise initial capital. They do the most to de-risk the early stages of a startup. Reducing Startup Risk.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2021

In my many years of experience in business, and recent work as a mentor to entrepreneurs, I have seen the business world change, and can relate well to his five success practices paraphrased here: Build the team from people with a shared obsession.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2023

Entrepreneurs need to be effective team leaders, since no one can transform an idea into a product and a business without some help. Otherwise, in my experience, the startup will fail. Even busy entrepreneurs need to schedule regular and predictable times which will be devoted only to working and interacting with the team.

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Leadership Technical Review Technical Cofounder Development Team Review 318

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2022

In my experience as an angel investor to startups, goodwill disagreements are perhaps the most common reason that you will fail to close interested investors as an entrepreneur. If you are the entrepreneur or owner, every potential investor takes a hard look at you. Quality of your technical and business teams.

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Valuation Technical Review Due Diligence Angel Investor 368

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2021

As a logical and data-driven business advisor, I have long focused on facts, technology, and quantifiable pain in guiding entrepreneurs. Other startups use technology to provide personalized products to all customers. Build positive relationships with potential customers.

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Customer Social Media Dividend Technical Review 432

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation Leadership 323

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 30, 2025

By Gayle Jennings OByrne Though interest rates have gone down slightly, ongoing market volatility means that funding for startups is still difficult. Meanwhile, the more recently started AngelPad program has provided an average of $14 million in funding for startups participating in its programs.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley Startup 78

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Passion is necessary, but not sufficient to grow your startup.

Marketing 353

Marketing Technical Review Social Media Technology 353

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. Make sure everyone accurately posts their role with your startup on social media profiles, resumes, and references.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2021

Some of the most common innovation myths that Barbee mentions or I have encountered in my work with entrepreneurs around the world include the following: True innovation can only come from R&D and geniuses. Many innovations, including Post-It notes and superglue, were even invented by accident.

Technical Review 431

Technical Review Leadership Operations Networking 431

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2022

If you are like most entrepreneurs I know, there just aren’t enough hours in a day to get all your own work done, as well as run the many one-hour meetings each team member seems to demand for decisions and mentoring. For one-on-one coaching from the startup founder, I call this approach five-minute mentoring.

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Elevator Pitch Technical Review Dividend Leadership 386

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 14, 2024

I was working at a venture-backed apparel startup for 4 years and saw the power of building digitally-native brands through Facebook and Instagram (TikTok was still nascent). A lot of consumer goods entrepreneurs either worked at Procter & Gamble or Coca-Cola or Unilever. Here are Five Questions with Sandro.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2022

Some entrepreneurs forget that talking is not communicating. From an entrepreneur perspective, here are the key barrier-to-understanding elements: Unclear frame of reference. The responsibility is on you the entrepreneur to decipher the receiver reference, and do the “translation” of your message to them. Information withheld.

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Semantic Technical Review Retention Distribution 342

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

In fact, I often have to tell aspiring entrepreneurs that their inventions have zero value, at least not until they are put in the context of a business plan, with qualified people committed to executing the plan. Every inventor seems to think their invention is worth a million dollars, but I haven’t seen anyone pay that much for one yet.

Technical Review 391

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 391

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2021

If you are a young startup founder, how do you find that CEO or other executive for your “dream team” to close on funding or complement your skills to kick start your company? I have found that most startups and small businesses can’t really afford to go this route (the average fee for a CEO is in the $40,000 ballpark).

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Exit Strategy Leadership Founder Networking 407

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Entrepreneurs that are not listening, not engaging, and not changing are destined to be left behind even in the best of times. If you as an entrepreneur are not “listening” to your online reviews, and not moving quickly to make changes, you are losing ground. Bureaucracy can appear quickly in startups as well as large companies.

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Agile Technical Review Leadership Social Media 379

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2021

New entrepreneurs routinely jump into a startup with a full charge of passion and energy, but often find themselves drained of both after a few months by the workload and challenges. As a result, burnout and loss of passion are consistently listed among the top causes of startup failure, according to many experts. Don’t wait.

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Entrepreneur Startup Early Stage Business Model 435

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 21, 2025

Entrepreneurs entering this field should consider adopting environmentally friendly technologies to stay competitive. Entrepreneurs can position themselves advantageously by staying abreast of these opportunities, contributing to environmental goals and business profitability.

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Technical Review Government Operations Demand 144

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2023

One of the things I’ve learned in working with aspiring entrepreneurs is that managing and leading a team is a scary venture into the unknown for many people, even if they have worked as a business professional for years. As an entrepreneur, executive, or team member, you are most impacted by the people you gather around you.

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Management Leadership Demand Founder 291

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2021

Every entrepreneur with a new technology tells me that his innovation will be industry-disrupting, meaning that it will render the existing technology obsolete, and create a new market. I suspect that several of these will surprise most entrepreneurs as being counter-intuitive to their thinking.

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Non-Compete Technical Review Forecast Social Media 394

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2021

As a long-time mentor to new entrepreneurs and business owners, I have noticed that many no longer associate more fulfillment and satisfaction with more money, power, and success. It seems that fulfillment to these new entrepreneurs is all about changing the world and legacy.

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Business Model Entrepreneur Cost Customer 432

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2023

The biggest complaint I hear from fellow investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes.

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Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 369