Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. That is, how much should your company be willing to lose in cash every month as you make investments in staff and equipment that funds technology, sales, marketing and management.

Startup 212

Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Gross Burn vs. Net Burn. Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Net burn is the amount of money you are losing per month. I often see companies burning $100,000 per month (net) looking to raise $6-8 million.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Earlier this week, Derek Norton , a long time advisor to the media, Internet, and technology industry in Los Angeles, announced a brand new venture capital fund called Watertower Ventures (www.watertowerventures.com). We sat down with Derek to learn more about the new $5M fund and what it's all about. Tell us about the new fund?

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Bockerstette, Main Street Venture Fund As I outlined last week, trophy angel investors are always looking for trophy entrepreneurs. In many areas, not enough entrepreneurs meet the criteria, so it’s still a buyer’s market. It consists of eight major criteria, which we call the “Eight P’s for Successful Funding”.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2015

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

Startup 104

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Slides 104

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? But it +is+ an anti-entrepreneur stance.&# A few reasons.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. I talk about failure a lot because I think it can be tremendously instructive and I think that success without failure often masks underlying lessons.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

Steve Reich

JULY 20, 2013

In a nutshell, new SEC rules will REQUIRE entrepreneurs to register with the SEC BEFORE approaching investors. Worse yet, Angels will no longer be able to “self certify” as accredited investors–we will have to show W2′s or proof of our net worth, and most of us will never be willing to share such personal information.

Pasadena Angels 45

Pasadena Angels Pasadena .Net Writing 45

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

Value Prop Twitter Style : AngelList is the productization of raising startup funding. Venture Hacks is educating entrepreneurs on the game theory of how to raise venture capital. 3) If you were writing your book Pitching Hacks today, how would your advice differ ? If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” To grow faster businesses need resources in today’s financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2013

The sad truth is that cash flow surprises kill many startups, even though they should have been adequately funded to survive. I will outline here ten key principles and disciplines that every entrepreneur must understand and practice to minimize surprises and failures in this area: Failure to document cash flow projections is a disaster.

Startup 114

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 10, 2013

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or Angels. The net is that if I see a website business plan today with a projected development cost greater than $200K, I suspect the founder must be including some fancy perks, or they don’t understand the market dynamics of e-commerce today.

Sites 78

Sites Commerce Startup Tool 78

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2014

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, lawyers, venture capitalists, or Angels. Budding entrepreneurs and home-based businesses should be writing business plans before they start, so they understand and can manage the tasks ahead, but no outside investor need ever see the plan.

Startup 100

Startup Commerce Sites Blogging 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

To grow faster businesses need resources in today to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. I often ask entrepreneurs to consider, “What’s your objective? They don’t want high burn rates but they will never fund slow growth. million to fund operations in their first year of operations. Not necessarily.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2010

Al is a repeat entrepreneur, who last founded Integrien, and was SVP and GM at LowerMyBills. As of the last four months, we've had about 200,000 plus downloads, a bunch of great write ups, and a lot of mom bloggers who have been reviewing the app and writing stories on it. Al Eisaian: It's been angel funded so far.

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or Angels. The net is that if I see a website business plan today with a projected development cost greater than $200K, I suspect the founder must be including some fancy perks, or they don’t understand the market dynamics of e-commerce today.

Commerce 99

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 99

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or angels. The net is that if I see a website business plan today with a projected development cost greater than $200K, I suspect the founder must be including some fancy perks, or they don’t understand the market dynamics of e-commerce today.

Commerce 88

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2016

In the new business world, many entrepreneurs are so excited with large initial orders that they don’t anticipate the cash flow challenges that can quickly kill their startup. Of course, you can’t predict everything, but writing down what you know will identify existing problems sooner, and allow other team members to help.

Startup 64

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 64

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

We also want to create more capital for women entrepreneurs to increase the chances of being funded and connected to a bigger network. Entrepreneurs are everywhere and capital isn’t. What has been exciting is the ripple effect of putting 10 angels-in-training and 10 women social entrepreneurs together in the same room.

Mentor 84

Mentor Invest Entrepreneur Startup 84

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

For a high-volume seed fund that adds many portfolio companies every year (such as our friends at 500 Startups who invest in over 100 distinct companies annually), the cost of a bad affirmative decision (a false positive) is quite low, since it accounts for a relatively small portion of their total fund. Unicornless. com> 4/25/08.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

socalTECH

JULY 13, 2009

GRP has just recently closed on a new $200M fund, and Mark has been one of the more active venture capitalists in the Los Angeles area in recent months. In 2000, we set up our second fund--worth almost $400M--and for that vintage year, that fund is one of the top tier performing funds in the entire country.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Southern California Santa Barbara Rustic Canyon 157

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

As an employee of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets from 1999-2003 and of the Indianapolis Pacers from 2003-2008, I learned first-hand from the likes of Rod Thorn, Byron Scott, Jason Kidd and Larry Bird about the importance of leading by example and keys to assembling a championship-caliber team. Have you raised any funding yet?

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2013

First you have to find the current owner, using Domain Tools , or other lookup functions available on the net. Get the agreement in writing as quickly as possible. The faster you fund the account the better chance you have of the seller not being able to back out. Negotiate for the name.

Startup 87

Startup Pricing Tips .Net 87

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

I taught a somewhat crazy course about writing and deploying a scalable website in Ruby on Rails and deploying it in EC2. When you began your teaching career, did you plan on eventually being an entrepreneur? What guidance can you give to anyone in a financially safe career who longs for the exciting life of an entrepreneur?

Cloud Computing 188

Cloud Computing Santa Barbara EC2 Startup 188

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

In most cases, these applicants for equity funding must be rooted in technology to apply to this limited discussion. There is an exemption from the requirements that these investors be accredited with net worth or income minimums to qualify legally to invest in your company. Angel investment groups or funds.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC “ There’s a great meme developing this morning on the need to simplify funding terms and documents. Many had the typical investor-friendly terms where entrepreneurs would get screwed and not even understand how they got screwed until many years later. I totally agree.

Funding 252

Funding Venture Capital Startup Blogging 252

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

Everyone wants to read a PDF, but few want to write or change them. Dipanshu Sharpa: My third company raised a ton of money from venture funds--$26M--and I what I didn't want to do is to raise a lot of money and have lots of people. A good comparison of the software is to a PDF reader. The awareness of the company took off.

Startup 100

Startup Software Review Technical Review Software 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

In my Twitter bio is says that I’m “ looking to invest in passionate entrepreneurs ,” which almost sounds like I was just looking for a cliché soundbite to describe myself. Yet along with “authenticity” they are two of the key attributes I look for when I meet with companies I may consider funding one day.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

I didn’t mean to be so insulting and I didn’t mean for the net to be cast so wide that many people wondered whether I was talking about them when I was speaking of “job hoppers.&# I learned a lot from reading the comments. No rule is ever absolute no matter how it sounds when one writes a blog.

Startup 285

Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 285

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

In my ongoing quest to get you good transcripts of the wonderful interviews we’ve done in the past, I present you with one amazing interview here with Tom McInerney – a friend, co-investor, former entrepreneur turned angel investor and “wizard of Oz&# behind the scenes at the uber hot startup Klout. 0:28:00) & (0:31:27).

Angel 302

Angel Startup Ideas .Net 302

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

In more than a decade of writing about the Internet and tech-enabled businesses I’ve learned that mobs don’t do nuance well. Unsurprisingly a whole generation of first time stock traders became jaded about not just Internet stocks but the entire public stock market system as many people lost a large portion of their net worth.

Course 280

Course Startup Framework Marketing 280

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

Our firm has funded many of them. But the status symbol of this milestone is driving investors, entrepreneurs, the press and everybody into thinking you magically can achieve this status in a matter of a few years with a great team and an astounding idea. I met a wealthy investor from China. At least for now. For a fee, of course.

Technical Advisors 150

Technical Advisors Startup Writing Blogging 150