Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. I funded them 8 weeks later.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

I plan to write about it early next year when we’re all through. As I’ve written about before, You’d Have to be a Big Baby to Complain about Being a VC. Think about it – most entrepreneurs who manage to raise seed money or venture capital usually raise enough money for 12-18 months maximum.

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Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 I spent my first year developing proprietary deal flow and learning the business and then the Sept 2008 / Lehman Bros collapse / financial meltdown happened. As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago.

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Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

Beware of VC Seagulls, who shit on you and then fly away (or worse yet leave you with Red Herrings). I write this post as a warning to pick your VC’s carefully. I like to say to first-time entrepreneurs, picking a VC is more permanent than marriage. I guarantee this is a bad VC. Let me explain.

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Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 297

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I was reading Chris Dixon’s blog tonight. He writes with a great perspective and is well worth reading. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I had to laugh a bit reading it.

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Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. This is true on all of the major tech blogs. Funding is news.

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Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. If I check Twitter it’s usually because I’m waiting for a meeting to start and I never write posts during the day. I don’t think any serious VC or angel thought it was “collusion.&#

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Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2017

People expect blog posts, Tweets, panels, speeches. Taking tons of VC meetings is relatively easy but getting 1 or 2 to truly engage is much harder and takes total focus. Recruiting, business development, shipping product, writing blog posts, networking … it’s all the same. The modern world is daunting.

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Activity Blogging Email Startup 297

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

As a VC with scores of startups in our portfolio we have ringside seats to many, many fund raising processes plus I had to raise money across about 5 different rounds of capital as an entrepreneur so I’ve developed some thought on the process that I hope can be helpful to some of you before you start. Remind me why I love you?

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. We talk a lot about his schooling, his early jobs as a developer and then as a VC and we talk about his decision to spend winters in Los Angeles.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC.

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Venture Capital Startup Course Entrepreneur 373

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? I am a VC. I hand out money. How differentiated is that?

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Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 22, 2007 Discussion Creation Among Bloggers - LinkedIn, Blogging and Discussion Groups Ive been participating in a Yahoo Group that are users of LinkedIn and who are Bloggers: [link] Its an interesting group of folks from diverse backgrounds. See Five Things Meme as an example.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. I knew him well before he became a VC. I knew his as he considered becoming a VC and we talked a lot about how it was going for me in my early years. I’ve been told so. I’m one of them.

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Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. You help them on stories, act as a source, develop real relationships, read their stories and eventually when you have news they’re more willing to have a conversation. It’s a continual process.

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Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. And if you are – what on earth are you reading such a boring blog as this?!? OK, that sounds like an interesting business, but nothing to write a freakin’ blog post about? Let me start with the power of blogging. Mostly, I love writing.

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Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 26, 2021

Then fans would be tasked with writing their own stories, submitting them to the Realms of Ruin universe by minting them as NFTs on the Solana blockchain. If the authors are inviting fans to write fan fiction about a universe they created, who owns the derivative works?

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Writing Outsource Development Technical Review Examples 196

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

You help them on stories, act as a source, develop real relationships, read their stories and eventually when you have news they’re more willing to have a conversation. And as a result their competitors were able to raise a considerable VC round from well-known firms. It’s a continual process. Some final thoughts on PR.

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Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Short summary of my posts: 1.

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Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about.

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Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Rejecting the paint-by-numbers approach to corporate communications deployed by most marketing executives, Brad has embraced unconventional guerilla marketing tactics to help establish his venture capital firm, Foundry Group, as a thought leader in early-stage tech investing. Write Your Own Playbook.

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Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes.

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Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. The opening paragraphs of that first newsletter are indicative of the captivating and accessible writing style, which eventually cultivated a huge audience. blogging, in a sense.

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Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2010

He had followed me on Twitter and sent me a nice message about my blog. So when I saw the merely mortal Tristan with a normal sized Twitter following I clicked through to his link, saw his blog, saw that he was a second year at Stanford and just thought, “hey, he seems like an interesting guy. before having 300k followers!).

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Social Network Networking Blogging RSS 347

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. Writing a book will be fun. Stuart is well worth following on Twitter & now that’s he’s a VC he is likely to share his wisdom more freely. David is also frequently an inspiration for a story on my blog.

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CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! Plus, he’s a loyal reader of this blog. Can you please intro me to XYZ VC? I never get grumpy that people write. If you do randomly write me I have advice. I know many people think I blog all day long. Research & Development. Marketing.

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Email Product Startup Writing 314

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

Also be careful about VCs. But once a VC has heard your idea he can’t “un-think&# it. Nobody likes to hear you say, “we can’t tell you anything we’re in stealth mode&# so develop some generic talking points that don’t give anything away when you’re asked what you do. Read their articles.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. The opening paragraphs of that first newsletter are indicative of the captivating and accessible writing style, which eventually cultivated a huge audience. blogging, in a sense.

Newsletter 133

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 133

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

First it was street-style photography, then came the launch of her popular fashion blog WeWoreWhat. People say we’re crazy, but we know creators are legit businesses,” Karat writes on its website — the company didn’t respond to a request to chat about what they’re working on. million Series A in March.

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Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

It is simply the most important way to proactively control your career development and how the market perceives you. It will affect your ability to get the right jobs and promotions as well as your ability to attract talent and capital. I talked with a few VCs and batted around the idea of becoming a VC. It is neither.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. Quick caveats: having fewer investors (3-5) is better than many investors (10-15) and PLEASE make sure you hire a great lawyer who has experience in doing start-ups to avoid pitfalls that will make VC harder down the line. They might be as hard as raising VC.

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Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Today Upfront Ventures is announcing that we’ve backed Rebecca Kantar ’s startup Imbellus , a company designed to assess human potential and ultimately change the way we teach children. We led a $4 million investment along with Thrive Capital, GLG and Sound Ventures. Fundamentally the system feels broken.

Design 150

Design Ideas Startup Writing 150

Xconomy

MAY 31, 2016

The new Microsoft Ventures will seek investments that fall outside the commercial deals that the company has done more frequently in the past, writes Nagraj Kashyap, corporate vice president of Microsoft Ventures, in a blog post announcing the new effort. Peggy Johnson. Reprints | Share:

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Funding Artificial Inteligence Cloud Computing Writing 62

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

According to Scripted.com, it raised $700,000 in a seed financing round, which was led by Crosslink Capital, and also included Liveops founder Douglas Feirstein, Jody Mulkey, as well as other angels, including other Los Angeles area investors.

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Angel CIO Southern California USC 173

Xconomy

AUGUST 10, 2016

It’s not that often in a VC career you get to work with teams you’re sure will be featured in documentaries about how major industries changed,” wrote Matt Ocko of Data Collective Venture Capital , which joined DFJ in Nervana’s initial venture funding. “We

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Artificial Inteligence San Diego Framework Venture Capital 40

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

” Part of the beauty of blogging that in two sittings Fred was able to influence what was built over the next 12 months. Kind of like a law firm (or VC firm) with four partners but shortened to just two, people dropped off his second two words. Try writing long reviews of a restaurant. Fred’s post was right.

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Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2010

By Adam Hoeksema According to a report distributed by the Angel Capital Education Foundation , total startup funding from venture capital funds, state funds, and angel investors totals approximately $20.8 Surprisingly, friends and family contributed nearly three times the amount of capital to thousands of startups each year.

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Funding Startup Blogging Invest 90