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What keeps an entrepreneur up at night?

Well the list is pretty long and might possibly include:

* Deciding between various options for raising capital ... but giving up equity and control in the process!

* Dealing with vendors that you've outsourced to for product development!

* Spending so much time away from your family to run the venture!  

* Tripling the number of company employees!

* Investing all of your savings in the venture ... and not being paid for several months!

Well Manoj Ramnani has had to deal with all of these. Manoj is the Founder and CEO of DubMeNow, a mobile tech venture based in Vienna, VA. 

DubMeNow is a business card exchange platform that allows easy information exchange between mobile phones. But the company has also penetrated the university market by allowing the distribution of various content to students' cell phones.  

In total the company has raised $2,000,000, most of which has gone to product development and marketing. Since Manoj is one of our featured entrepreneurs, we'll be following his and DubMeNow's progress over the next several months. 

It looks to be a real interesting ride as he and his cohorts reach near that magical 1,000,000 user milestone and attempt to turn DubMeNow into a viral success!

Manoj's  biggest mistake in the last year:

Depending on outside vendors for product development work!

Manojâs Looniest Moment:

Deciding whether to raise an additional $5,000,000 and give up lots of equity or raise a much smaller amount and keep a larger ownership of the firm ... but risk being under-funded!

So what are you waiting for? Listen to the interview to hear Manoj Ramnani's story and his fund-raising travails!

Links

The Looney Executive WebSite

The Mogul Jungle Blog 

DubMeNow Web Site

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Contrary to popular opinion, RFID was not a character on any Star Wars Episode!

However, it does stand for Radio Frequency Identification. And itâs a technology that has numerous applications. One of those is for tracking sales data in retail point-of-sale systems.

Jack Eggert, Co-founder and CEO of WeConectIT, joins The Looney Executive to discuss his company, the technology, and the challenges of launching a tech venture.

Based in Dayton, OH, WeConectIT has a handful of installations and is looking for a broader rollout to additional locations.  Jack and his partner started with $60,000 in friends and family funding. Now, in order to grow fast, they want to raise an additional $3,000,000!

Will Jack be able to raise the $3,000,000?

Well of course that remains to be seen. But since Jack is one of our âFeatured Entrepreneursâ youâll be able to follow his progress for the duration of this series.  

One of Jackâs best tip for other fast-growth entrepreneurs:

Whatever you do â donât under-fund your venture!

Jackâs favorite Mogul: 

Bill Gates!

Jackâs Looniest Moment:

A very smart math PhD tried to connect to a network by simulating modem sounds with his mouth!

So what are you waiting for? Listen to the interview to find out more about Jack Eggert, WeConectIT, and RFID technology!

Links

The Looney Executive WebSite

The Mogul Jungle Blog 

WeConectIT Web Site  

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Got IP?

Copyrights, Trademarks, and Patents â Oh My!

Attorney Jeff Matsuura helps to launch our new emerging growth series with a very interesting discussion on intellectual property, aka IP.

In less than 30 minutes, he gives an âIntellectual Property 101â course that defines IP and the different ways it can be protected.

Jeff is a pre-eminent global practitioner of IP law and the author of numerous books, including:

* The Law of the Internet

* Managing Intellectual Assets in the Digital Age

* Jefferson vs. The Patent Trolls   

Thomas Jefferson had to fight Trolls â really?

According to Jeff, when you create something original from your own thoughts, youâve created intellectual property.

But hold on a second.

He also says that by simply creating IP doesnât necessarily mean it has any commercial value!

And commercial value is the measure of whether or not you should seek a patent, trademark, or other protection.

So to learn more about how to protect your own intellectual property listen now to this discussion with Jeff Matsuura.    

Links

Follow The Looney Executive on Twitter

The Looney Executive web site

The Mogul Jungle Blog

The Alliance Law Group

The Vienna, VA based firm just launched a product that facilitates the automatic exchange of business card information for those Looney Executives that have smart phones such as Apple's iPhone.

And his competitiors should be forewarned:

He loves the movie "Goodfellas".

As far as I know, he's not responsible for any bodies found in the East River or Arizona desert.

But he does have a another successful venture under his belt!

So listen in as Manoj discusses:

1. How DubMeNow he has put $1,000,000 in angel financing to use!
2. How the company will utilize $5,000,000 in Series A venture financing they're seeking now!
3. His keys to success for emerging growth firms!
4. His biggest blunder ... and favorite mogul!

To get to the other side of course!

What you might not know about that old joke is ... the chicken might have been wearing rose colored contact lenses!

Yes, someone pitched the idea of chicken contact lenses to Mark Levine, Managing Director of Core Capital Partners, a VC firm based in Washington, DC.

In Part II of my interview with Mark, he recounts that chicken tale and provides some insight into the VC world:

*  Exit strategies

*  Hot investment areas

*  Why entrepreneurs should not be so focused on valuations

Mark also discusses the value of "The Art of War", and why upstart entrepreneurs are his favorite moguls, beating out the likes of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates!

In Part II of our discussion, Letitia offers up some great tips including:

1. Set up an experienced board of advisors
2. Retain a great law firm
3. Find a really good accountant

Letitia also tells the tale of the time a woman pitched her a real interesting investment opportunity:

A nationwide psychic franchise operation for paranormal activity!

Letitia also discusses whether or not a bubble exists in social networking.

Oh, and her favortie biz movie ... "War Games"!

The company generates well over $20,000,000 in revenue ... with plans to reach more than 3 times that in the next few years!

At Twin Tech II, I interview Richard Dinnis, the Regional VP of the IntePro's Rockville, MD office about the firm's fast growth.

Its founder, Tracy Wilkins, is a serial entrepreneur that has both bootstrapped his way to success, and leveraged venture financing to grow fast and cash out.

He likes bootstrapping better.

Listen to Tracy's compelling tales of business ... including a run-in with a large beer company over a T-shirt, and making the front page of a tabloid paper!

Navigation Arts implements large complex web technology projects. This includes Web 2.0, Web 1.0, and Web no dot oh!

Listen to Michael Endres, VP of Client Services, discuss Navigation Arts and the state of Internet technology.

At Twin Tech II, Blake Glenn interviews the executives of a company called evDeliv.com, an upstart firm that promises to marry the desktop with the Internet in delivering all sorts of services.

Listen to Shawn Busteed (CEO) and Julie Soukup (VP of Marketing) tell the story of their exciting, but challenging, first year in business!

Now they're ready to grab for the money tree in the form of VC or Angel financing!

In Part I of our discussion, Mark talks about:

1. The types of firms he invests in
2. How much capital he typically invests
3. What will get him to say yes to a deal 
4. Exit strategies

... and so much more!