Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We had a special edition of This Week in Venture Capital this week shooting out of the Next New Networks offices in New York. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital. We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. Google Analytics vs. Facebook’s new analytics tool.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

socalTECH

MAY 25, 2016

Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) has just announced a brand new, $240M venture investment fund, led by longtime venture investing veterans Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milken and Jamie Montgomery. What is the investment focus for this fund? Big ideas rule the day.

Southern California 113

Southern California Capital Funding Invest 113

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Mike Yavonditte is the founder of the “super hot&# Hashable , a startup out of NYC that has been described as a “ Mint.com for Social Capital ” Mike sold his previous company, Quigo , to Aol for $340 Million. Now, he ‘outsources’ his investments through John Frankel of Frankel Asset Management. How Quigo Went Head-to-Head With Google.

Google 302

Google Startup Advertising Acquisition 302

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing. Too many angel deals just means more to watch and invest in for the ones that do succeed (if the VCs can get in at reasonable prices).

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 8, 2019

Responding to Elizabeth Warren’s call to regulate and break up some of the nation’s largest technology companies, the venture capitalists that invest in technology companies are advising the presidential hopeful to move slowly and not break anything. In this case the barrier would be reduced access to capital.

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Startup Chief Technology Officer Social Media 144

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

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). That's the first time organized, institutional, managed capital is coming into a company, right after friends and family.

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

Privacy is important, so inventory owners can choose the restrictions on who can see the liquidation, like competitors, and it doesn’t appear in Google searches, Kaplan explained. The investment was led by Union Square Ventures and included participation from Eniac Ventures, Human Capital and Flexport.

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). 15 years ago we were at the peak of Internet hype with the launch of many over-capitalized businesses with a market size & opportunity was limited.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

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. I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns.

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.” Given how efficient markets are when a large market like LA starts to blossom it attracts capital pretty quickly.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

There seems to a perpetual shortage of local venture capital investors in the region, despite the huge growth in startup activity here, particularly along Silicon Beach. Among those funds is TYLT Lab (www.tyltlab.com), which recently announced a new, $20M early stage investment fund specifically focused on companies here.

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

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. I know that I have not yet earned these kudos based on investment returns (although my partners have. By definition, you read blogs.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Nowhere is social proof more prevalent than in angel investing. Any SoCal entrepreneur raising early-stage money should put Rincon on their short list.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Google knows it. The quote comes from Google. THE FULL STORY.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

In the original version of his post, Andy writes. “I don’t know the exact math, but I hear it again and again: the top 2% of firms generate 98% of the returns in venture capital.” According to FLAG Capital there are 100 active VCs (as defined by making at least $1 million in VC per quarter for 4 consecutive quarters).

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. What stage? What price?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

For the past 5 years or so Google, Facebook and a handful of tech industry giants have been quietly buying scores of early-stage startups for their talent. Almost certainly the startup would have raised some capital. You have been at Google, Salesforce.com, Yahoo! Acquihires and Venture Capital. And who cares, right?

Press 357

Press Startup Yahoo Venture Capital 357

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

The chosen candidate will probably have worked for a very reputable firm that is either in technology, consulting, investment banking, media or a startup. If you worked for firms like McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Goldman Sachs, Google and the like you’re probably more likely to rise to the top of the stack. Plus, show my you can write!

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Technical Review GRP Partners Email 290

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. If you are talented, of course, you can get funded in any region with enough venture capital and obviously in markets outside of the Valley it is easier to get noticed and get access. In our regions?

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. When I write a blog post I often see the words before I write them. These are all creative processes.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

I give a sneak peek at a blog post I’m writing on the topic next week. What advice do you have for people who want to get into venture capital? I talk in the video about the economics of venture capital and how we make money. Google’s investment in Zynga. Tags: This Week in Venture Capital.

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

I recommend that you start by writing down the attributes you would want people to think about when they think about your brand. The birthplace of sponsored search (Overture), semantic search (Applied Semantics which became Google AdSense), comparison shopping (ShopZilla, PriceGrabber) and many others. Think about venture capital.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. When you think about the success that is Silicon Valley, the unfair advantage is not just the huge amounts of available venture capital. Who can get help get access to their capital? I don’t write about LA but I write from LA.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. And so is venture capital. Fred Wilson wrote perfectly about sticking with struggling investments. and I realized that without years of experience it is tough to answer this question. Most VCs are book smart. FourSquare.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. I guess that makes USV, Spark Capital, Foundry Group, Accel, Benchmark, Revolution (along with several others) pretty happy right now. million pre-money valuation is now raising $1 million at a $12 million valuation the next investor has nowhere to go but up (or sit out the investment).

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We caught up with CEO and co-founder Brett Rossman to learn more about the company and how it''s been able to grow, profitably, all without raising a dime of outside capital. We generate thousands of new customers everyday for clients such as Ally Bank, GE Capital, Transunion, and a few other big brands.

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

The company recently raised a round of funding from Santa Barbara-based ScOps Venture Capital. Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and others have had to raise tons of capital and have super-solid foundations to go with the hyper-local play. How did you connect with Kevin and ScOps Venture Capital, and why did you decide to raise a round?

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Beverly Hills Acquisition 113

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!” Have easy access to capital by investors who are committed to building businesses at Interent scale. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. In our current portfolio 3 or his 4 investments are in the Fin Svcs space. tip: write it down when asked / parked). Let me write that down.&#. -

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. We spoke about the changes to an “accredited investor&# proposed by Chris Dodd – This would be bad for angel investing. and who had biz reasons for wanting to remain stealth.”. - We spoke briefly about why.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Brad was openly writing about this and it felt like he was giving the VC playbook away for free! Most prefer not to say this publicly for two reasons: 1) they have an entire portfolio of startups, many of whom are raising capital and 2) they prefer not to be attacked publicly or seem “anti entrepreneur.”

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. In contrast, low-volume, high-conviction investors like Rincon only invests in a handful new companies each year, making it much more costly (in dollars and effort expended) to invest in a loser.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. What stage? What price? I hustled.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

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. Bruce Brown: I was working in 1985 writing keyboard and mouse drivers for Windows version 1. Bruce, what's your background?

Startup 221

Startup Mentor Southern California Incubator 221

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

There is a battle between entrepreneurs who try to change the world and solve a meaningful problem and those who write take-down pieces with no apparent personal benefit other than attention. As you may know Google recently restructured so that Larry could spend more time on big innovations – on “moonshots.”

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. 99.9999% of you won’t be contemplating raising capital at $500 million any time soon or selling for a billion. My friend Christin Herron of Intel Capital weighed in on the issue.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316