Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) Summary: Team Leadership skills, operating knowhow and industry knowledge are all tremendously important. Connections?

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2015

Here are the most common elevator pitch missteps I see often as an angel investor and advisor to startups, with some quick advice on how to address each: Insist on leading with the story of the company. Skip the sales pitch and avoid preaching. Your second sentence should acknowledge competition, but highlight your added value.

Startup 104

Startup Summary Patents Examples 104

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

It always amazes me how an entrepreneur can define his market opportunity so broadly, and then assess his competition so narrowly in the next breath. Competition and sustainable advantage. List and describe your competition, direct and indirect, including customer alternatives. Asserting you have no competition is not credible.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

Best is if you have a combination of ad revenue, sponsorships and some forms of non ad revenue (subscriptions, merch, music sales, etc.). Summary : YouTube as a customer acquisition tool to building great online businesses is unrivaled today. I believe that the high revenue share YouTube takes encourages platform competition.

SEM 150

SEM Content Platform Acquisition 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post. And it’s almost universally true that the new band of angels & seed investors are product gurus. That notes only told part of the story.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

No summary of what we did, no easy way for me to recommend my trainer to my friends, and no way for me to easily book the next appointment. Bobby’s strong sales acumen, genuine charisma and leadership abilities make him an invaluable asset to the founding team. Any competition in LA? Why did you venture into fitness?

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

It always amazes me how an entrepreneur can define his market opportunity so broadly, and then assess his competition so narrowly in the next breath. Competition and sustainable advantage. List and describe your competition, direct and indirect, including customer alternatives. Asserting you have no competition is not credible.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an angel investor. It’s always impressive to have stand-alone supporting documents for product specifications, sales plan details, and backup financial reports.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Statistics 109

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Or read the quick, informative summary below the image! Since selling Matt has gone on to become one of the smartest angels I have seen operate. Here’s a summary of our interview. o Everything is for sale but it’s the price that moves the timing. o Put a timeframe/money – competition in the picture.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an Angel investor. It’s always impressive to have stand-alone supporting documents for product specifications, sales plan details, and backup financial reports.

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2013

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Here is a quick summary of the priorities normally covered by the due diligence process: Evaluation of key players. Sales and marketing strategy.

Technical Review 97

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 97

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2018

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an angel investor. It’s always impressive to have stand-alone supporting documents for product specifications, sales plan details, and backup financial reports.

Funding 62

Funding Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 62

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

There’s plenty of capital out there, but there’s also a lot of competition for startup funding. Angels (invest their own money) and super angels. If you’re raising funds from angels you’ll likely need to get investments from several different players. His best advice: take capital where you can get it.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

It always amazes me how an entrepreneur can define his market opportunity so broadly, and then assess his competition so narrowly in the next breath. Competition and sustainable advantage. List and describe your competition, direct and indirect, including customer alternatives. Asserting you have no competition is not credible.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

In the case of MakeSpace we had huge initial successes in New York City as Rahul led the scaling of our drivers, our trucks and our warehouses and we figured out the right price points to beat the local competition. We have been able to build deep customer insights on product, pricing, service, geography, competition, etc.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2012

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Here is a quick summary of the priorities normally covered by the due diligence process: Evaluation of key players. Sales and marketing strategy.

Technical Review 98

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Training 98

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. There are various models of this but amongst the most successful I’ve seen executed is FabFitFun , based in Los Angeles.

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&# Getting a meeting with a prominent angel or VC is difficult enough. This is not unlike a major biz dev deal you’re trying to sign or a big sales campaign into the VP of a major company. I like to tell entrepreneurs to treat it like a sales campaign.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Startup Email News 277

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2010

Here is a summary of the steps I recommend along the way: Turn your dream into a vision. Find friends, Angels, or VCs to fund your plan. During this process you are looking for affordable space, defining the roles of your team members, defining the product/service, developing initial sales channels and customers.

Technical Review 91

Technical Review Summary Entrepreneur Coach 91

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2010

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Here is a quick summary of the priorities normally covered by the due diligence process: Evaluation of key players. Sales and marketing strategy.

Technical Review 91

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 91

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 9, 2014

Whilst the tide is turning, there’s still a need to educate startup founders about the competitive advantage well-designed products and services can bring. Too much talking, not enough listening Perhaps it’s because funding is so important to early-stage startups that they soon get good at perfecting their sales pitch. growth hacking.

Startup 78

Startup Design Customer Custom 78

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

Raising money is a sale and selling requires persistence and follow up. The best sales people never give up and they are politely persistent in finding new ways to get in front of target buyers. It’s the exact same phenomenon in sales when you’re in a competitive RFP and 5 firms are pitching. Be in Person.

Funding 238

Funding Venture Capital Startup Course 238

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Watch the 30-minute interview to hear why but summary notes below. And I have been impressed with Steven Kaplan and others at University of Chicago (my alma mater), who have been encouraging entrepreneurship through the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship , through angel investing , seed conferences and changes in teaching.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was an angel investor in his company, made a bunch of calls on his behalf and then I personally sent it out on AngelList. I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

. – Digital Messaging Infrastructure Company (incubated by Addante and Associates, LLC) Age: 25 - 29 (present) Time Period: 2002 - present My Role: Founder High Point: TBD Here is a summary of my experiences to-date with StrongMail: 1. Relaxing 2. Incubation 3. Go-to-Market 5. Spam Changes Everything 6. Venture Capital Funding 7.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

The conversations bleed into the sales messages the next time, they wend their way into software designs and form the plan of attach against competition. This is a topic that comes up often in Los Angeles because many CEOs are tempted to hire their tech teams in the Bay Area. I understand the need to have geographic coverage.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335