It’s easy to get the impression, particularly when all you read about startups is a handful of publications representing a pocket (albeit a very vocal one) of the broader tech ecosystem, that the legal decisions startup entrepreneurs often face have all been standardized and templatized. But in truth, this is a façade. Extremely important, and […]
LA Tech Week in Review: 9/8/19-9/14/19
The LA TechWatch Startup Daily Funding Report: 9/16/2019
The latest venture capital, seed, pre-seed, and angel deals for LA startups for 9/16/2019 featuring funding details for Panoramic and much more.
Artificial Intelligence, Bona Fide Fraud
A look at why AI fraud is so widespread, and what you can do to protect yourself without missing out on investing in what is still the most potentially impactful technological development of modern times.
8 Strategies to Avoid the Entrepreneur Arrogance Trap
In my years of mentoring entrepreneurs, a problem I have seen too often is low self-esteem, and over-compensating through arrogance and ego. These entrepreneurs find it hard to respect customers or team members, and their ventures usually fail. As a team member, low self-esteem leads to low confidence, poor productivity, and no job satisfaction. Fortunately, […]
The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report: 9/16/19
The notable startup fundings for the week ending 9/14/19 featuring funding details for Trifacta, Capsule, AppZen, Nextdoor, and much much more.
Designing, Developing and Shipping Your Product in Record Time
Many people told us it couldn’t be done: inventing, creating and shipping an award-winning product in seven months — especially with only $100,000 in initial funds. Despite the naysayers, we successfully developed a hardware product called SkyBell, a Wi-Fi enabled doorbell with a video camera that allows a homeowner to see who’s at their door from a smartphone — and […]
10 Keys To Making Money By Investing In Entrepreneurs
Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. First of all, it’s more of an investment in people than in a business, since the startup is usually an idea barely half-baked when they need your money. Secondly, the risk is very high, since as […]
The LA TechWatch Startup Daily Funding Report: 9/12/2019
The latest venture capital, seed, pre-seed, and angel deals for LA startups for 9/12/2019 featuring funding details for Kensho, Basepaws, and much more.
Why Should I Avoid Paying People with Equity?
As Founders, we tend to spend equity like it’s free — only to come to learn that equity is not only expensive now, it’s way more expensive later as the company grows. And we now hold less of it.
6 Founder Actions That Can Kill a Promising Business
In my experience as an advisor to entrepreneurs, business startup founders most often point to a shortage of funds as the primary cause of their startup failure. Yet I often see evidence that points right back at the founder or business owner, attempting to maintain excessive power and influence over of the effort, leading to […]