article thumbnail

Retro: My Favorite Blog Post on Raising VC

Both Sides of the Table

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. 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. My blog was wiped out.

article thumbnail

Venture Capital Q&A Session

Both Sides of the Table

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. In fact, far better if you haven’t raised venture capital.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Tips to Help you Think About Sales at Your Startup

Both Sides of the Table

It’s important enough that I dedicate a tab on my blog to startup sales & marketing. The video link is here and quick time-coded show notes at the end of the post in case you want to jump ahead to just one section. how do you do pipeline reviews? how should a VC do due diligence on sales operations?

article thumbnail

2010 VC Funding Outlook for Startups – Prepare for Winter (Part 3/3)

Both Sides of the Table

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. I’m not a doomsday guy, but just believe that we won’t see a V shaped recovery, which could make VC funding more difficult for tech start-ups (don’t shoot the messenger!).

article thumbnail

Choose Your VC Investor Carefully

Both Sides of the Table

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.

article thumbnail

How to Make Sure Professional Services Don’t Take Over Your Software Company

Both Sides of the Table

I recently wrote a blog post in which I pointed out that many investors & advisors discourage enterprise startups from having a professional services (PS) business and I think this is a big mistake. deliver profitable revenue that while on gross margins of 50% vs. software at 85-95% it is still profits to help you cover fixed costs.

article thumbnail

15Five Lands $8M To Expand Use of Its Coaching Software for Managers

Xconomy

San Francisco-based performance management startup 15Five , whose mission is to torpedo annual performance reviews for workers and replace them with supportive weekly coaching by managers, announced today it raised $8 million in a Series A funding round. Employees use the system to make a 15-minute check-in report to their bosses every week.

Coach 54