Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. I’m writing this post to explain to entrepreneurs what you should be thinking about in terms of the VC’s you approach and the size and stage of their funds.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2011

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based Gamzee (www.gamzee.com), a new game company founded by Howard Marks, the co-founder of Activision and Acclaim Games, announced a seed round of funding. We organized the resurgence of the company, then I left in 1998 and started a business in distance learning. What is Gamzee all about?

Activision 217

Activision Platform Startup Mobile 217

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Steve Jillings has a long track record of running successful startups in Southern California, ranging from such companies as FrontBridge Technologies (sold to Microsoft in 2005 for over $200M) and Vantage Media (acquired in 2007). Telesign provides authentication services for the largest web companies in the world.

Marina Del Rey 238

Marina Del Rey Startup IP Examples 238

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on my background. Let’s call these cards 1996-99 and 2005-08. In the latter case many companies (Flickr, Delicious, Blogger, Writely, etc.) got picked up early without raising a lot of VC. It’s hard to say.

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

We help companies reward their employees with perks. Perks are one of the most cost effective ways for a company to recruit and retain employees. How extensible do you see BetterWorks’ business model with later stage companies, where dental plans do matter? “We Those companies are spending up to $300 per employee per month.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. In 2004 / 2005 I was starting to get intrigued with user-generated content. This time frame – 2005/2006 – web 2.0 If you have time check out the video (or download on iTunes – Episode 27 - and listen at the gym or on your commute!). Is that when it became big?

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

One example is that they introduced a program where their founders can pool together shares from their company and exchange them for a small portfolio of other First Round Capital companies. As a courtesy if you enjoyed his write-up please check out his startup company, ChannelStack. I'm a huge fan of this innovation.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

All we have to do is look at the data, though: Since its launch in 2005, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has sold 66 million copies worldwide. Microsoft as a company also donates its products and services to help those less fortunate. That makes it the first in console sales. Giving back. And that’s just a few of the scenarios.

Writing 88

Writing Training Email .Net 88

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

socalTECH

JUNE 6, 2011

We're looking to launch our first class in the fall, with five to ten companies, with the TechStars model of a small capital investment, and a seed investment of $6000 per founder. Typically, venture backed companies, always entrepreneur led. Then I started working for these companies as well. Bruce, what's your background?

Startup 221

Startup Mentor Southern California Incubator 221

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on the skills I’ve developed in my career. Let’s call these cards 1996-99, 2005-08 and 2010+. This is cheaper for them than waiting for big competitors and buying companies at big prices. So where are we now?

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

socalTECH

APRIL 25, 2011

We called the company GOGII--literally, our short text code of 60611, which you can looks a little like GOGII. Around 2005, those of us at JAMDAT thought Apple would disrupt the application space, so we approached Apple. Even though write once and run anywhere has been the holy grail, I think it's the false prophet.

Gogii 200

Gogii Mobile Activision Electronic Arts 200

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

So that we’re speaking the same language I would define “exclusive” as a period in which your company is prohibited from doing business with certain customers or business partners, which is why many incorrectly assume this is necessarily bad. I need to give credit for the topic to PR Malloy who Tweeted me this question.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Customer Custom 150

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 31, 2011

Shani Higgins joined Technorati in 2007 to lead strategy and day to day operations for the company¹s advertising sales, business development and the Technorati Media advertising network. Jim Farley is Ford Motor Company’s group vice president, global marketing, sales and service. Justine Ezarik (a.k.a. Thanks to our Sponsors!

Los Angeles 75

Los Angeles Angel Social Media Media 75

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. As any historian of bubbles will tell you – there were periods of bubbles in assets as arcane as tulips , South American trading companies , dot-com bubbles & housing bubbles. Ah, but today’s Internet companies have real revenue! I believe that. and profits!

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

socalTECH

JANUARY 15, 2009

I had early success working in-house with Matt Coffin at LowerMyBills in 2005, and then I was brought on by Yahoo to build out the Yahoo Publisher Network Team. I went on to Oversee.net, and helped to build that company from 60 to 250 employees. It also solves a lot of problems companies with HR staff might have.

Startup 140

Startup Yahoo Sites Oversee.net 140

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. I’m used to that refrain.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It turns out that to build a successful company you ultimately need this strange thing called “revenue” that people don’t just hand you: You need to earn it. Most of this advice boils down to an argument in favor of basic planning before starting a company or raising money. MakeSpace provides physical storage.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

socalTECH

JULY 13, 2009

The company was founded by the head of the North America investments for Carrefour, the second largest retailer in the world, the head of the retail banking practice at DLJ, the investment bank. The new fund is focused entirely on technology companies. Those companies are doing phenomenally well, and in a normal market was IPO.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Southern California Santa Barbara Rustic Canyon 157

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 31, 2011

Shani Higgins joined Technorati in 2007 to lead strategy and day to day operations for the company¹s advertising sales, business development and the Technorati Media advertising network. Jim Farley is Ford Motor Company’s group vice president, global marketing, sales and service. Justine Ezarik (a.k.a. Thanks to our Sponsors!

Los Angeles 49

Los Angeles Angel Social Media Media 49

socalTECH

APRIL 30, 2010

Last week, San Diego-based Confident Technologies (www.confidenttechnologies.com) announced that it had acquired the assets of Vidoop, and created a company focused on security and authentication of users. We spoke with Curtis, along with William Goldbach , Executive Vice President at the firm, about the company.

Technology 124

Technology Web Sites Orange County 124

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Like many companies they experimented with many pricing models. <Small plug> – I invested in an awesome company called … awe.sm … that is a performance tracking tool that let’s you measure efficacy of channels like this (email, facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc.) JibJab doesn’t do ad revenue at all.

Startup 303

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Writing 303

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 15, 2010

With this method you occasionally might block searching Microsoft employees who aren’t aware of their company’s spammy activities, so make sure you serve them a friendly GFY page that explains the issue. It was fun to write, so go get the best out of it. from the IP address range 65.52.0.0 to 65.55.255.255 (131.107.0.0

SEO 37

SEO IP PHP Blogging 37

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Features like this, as well as our daily interviews wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support of our sponsor eMinutes – a law firm here in Los Angeles that focuses on helping entrepreneurs structure their companies. He previously led business development for Affiliate Fuel, leading to its acquisition by Experian in 2005.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’ve always been a big believer that just a couple of key individuals make all of the difference in a company’s success. Your highest priority right now is hiring the 1 or 2 people that are going to join your company and make a difference. Patron Companies. The ingredients are all here. No Dave S. =

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. Founded in 2008 by Mehdi Maghsoodnia.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2010

One of the companies that just announced $10 million in funding was a company I had never heard of called Huddle. With Huddle, you can manage people, projects and information inside and outside your company, securely.&#. I always worry about companies that spread themselves too broadly. So Skype was ubiquitous.

Screening 266

Screening Screencast Web Yammer 266

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

I asked some of the participating VCs, and they told me their attorneys had figured out a way to keep their stealth-mode companies stealthy.Yes, this strategy is not for every company. Often times when companies raise “bridge” financing (this is money from internal investors. We spoke briefly about why. Short answer: no.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

I have started blogging again having taken a hiatus since 2007 (actually, I was initially embargoed by Salesforce.com who didn’t want me blogging after they acquired my company). I’m enjoying the creative process of getting my own personal thoughts down in writing. So what gives? Thank you, Twitter.

Blogging 219

Blogging Venture Capital Startup Social Media 219

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 13, 2010

I started blogging in 2005 and then re-started blogging about a year ago. I’ve always believed that you learn a great deal when you’re presenting, teaching or writing about what you know. If I write about something that isn’t compelling I can see it in the unique reader numbers. Let me explain.

Blogging 250

Blogging Social Media Writing Startup 250

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2010

You can think of even your PC as a stack in which the hardware manufacturers handled physical layers, Microsoft handled the OS layer and application companies built higher up in the stack. For every layer if I mention companies please don’t assume that I’m suggesting there aren’t other players in that category.

Startup 343

Startup Technical Review S3 Services 343

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. When you achieve economies-of-scale advantages it doesn’t benefit you to help newer companies draft off of your infrastructure to rise and compete against you. It’s Hobbesian economics 101. Enter blockchain.

Course 280

Course Startup Framework Marketing 280