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!” The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

There are many times when being overly capitalized before you’re ready is a negative. Plus, most early-stage M&A fails so this isn’t likely a good use of capital for a young company). Availability of Capital. ” Whatever answers they have manufactured the only thing I hear is, “Because we can.”

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Or as I picked up from Bruce Dunlevie at Benchmark Capital (who I’m told took the quote from elsewhere). I plan to write a whole separate blog post about this quote because it’s always stuck with me. 5 years or so later I still revisit that sales campaign and relive many of the steps. In fact, ramp up your efforts.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while and was going to use AngelList by Nivi & Naval as the basis for my example and the perfect prompt came yesterday when I read Fred Wilson’s blog post on AngelList. Before booking a hotel I always check out Trip Advisor and read reviews. So how does this apply to you?

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

If you are a leader at a startup and you are reading a business book, you are not closing customers, raising capital, improving your product, or spending time with your loved ones. The short version of my review is: “Enchanting? At the beginning of the index, Guy writes, “I hope Robert Cialdini checks this index.” Positive ROI.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I have been meaning to write this for a while as I’ve noticed that much of my board time is involved in trying to be an independent referee for founders who themselves are trying to resolve their own conflicts. Those seldom get reported.

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I acknowledged this in the article.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

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 seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Value is created through diligent hard work. Rationale: My idea is so mind-blowingly fantastic that I must immediately spend some of my precious capital to protect it. Public relations at a startup is a sales process.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

“Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean, Needs not the painted flourish of your praise: Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye, Not uttered by base sale of chapmen’s tongues” . One is obvious, without protection, such IP might prove to be of little worth, as other companies can mimic the technology without recourse.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. The collapse of the IPO market and dysfunctional math in the venture capital community has stacked the odds against you. Not that I blame you! Here’s why.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. Responses ranged from, “hey, they’re in a HUGE market&# to “it is an amazing company and their technology rocks.&# I guess that makes USV, Spark Capital, Foundry Group, Accel, Benchmark, Revolution (along with several others) pretty happy right now.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2015

Good news: a quick review of TechCrunch’s March 2015 List of Top 20 U.S. To better understand how the accelerator world has matured beyond Demo Da, I sought out Jason Denenberg, former partner at Angel Capital Group, and current Director of Entrepreneurship at Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN). No program can work miracles.

Startup 100

Startup Class LAMP Santa Barbara 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

They get positive product reviews on TechCrunch, GigaOm or Paidcontent.org. It’s marketing 101 for tech companies in terms of how you market to customers. Sales owns the former, the latter get marketing emails so you’ll be top of your prospects’ minds. They get their widgets embedded or their products piloted.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I know you’re not a tech guy and haven’t done anything other than an HTML course you once took, but if you’re inspirational and a leader you’ll find somebody to moonlight for free to get your prototype built. Existing tech or industry executives - Do you have strong relationships in your industry?

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

I finally got around to writing it having read Fred Wilson’s post about what a CEO does. Once you’ve been around for a few years, attracted some great people, landed real, paying customers and raised venture capital you’ve likely got a talented team around you. Both are basically people businesses.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Sales Customer 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. 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. If a fund has a $25 million fund then you know they aren’t going to be writing $5 million checks!

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

In most cases, these applicants for equity funding must be rooted in technology to apply to this limited discussion. Email readers, continue here… ] The Angel Capital Association (ACA) lists over four hundred member groups, located throughout the USA. This class of investor typically writes checks from $50,000 to $250,000.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. Three reasons: There is a relative valuation between the price a VC pays and their expectations of what it will exit for in an IPO or trade sale. I put my money on the latter.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Berkonomics

JANUARY 16, 2014

All parties need to perform due diligence to ensure that the assumptions are correct, that neither partner has financial issues which could affect the partnership, and that the opposite partner has the skills to contribute to the partnership. Access to new technologies. Access to capital unavailable to either partner singly.

Technical Review 204

Technical Review Startup Examples Metrics 204

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2012

The multi-tiered platform allows for money to be transferred between Facebook friends, the ability to click and purchase any item that you see on Facebook and through the published API’s, developers can integrate and write their own applications on top of the ZunguZ platform. Why the name? We liked the Z on the beginning and the Z on the end.

Software Review 92

Software Review Social Network Platform Technical Review 92

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. Trying outrageous new things or even trying mundane things but in new ways but with extreme quality & innovation is what fuels the tech startup industry. The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

Google’s market capitalization is in the stratosphere for a reason – keyword search advertising is highly effective. However, you are only paid for ads that generate sales. Such actions include sales, trials, leads, downloads, etc. Such sales are highly trackable, because the clicks can be measured like any other online ad.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

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. This is true whether your at a sales meeting or at a VC firm. This happens often is sales meetings or VC meetings. Congratulations.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

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. I want to know how many people, their level of tech sophistication, their age and their interests.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. But some companies have entrepreneurs that seem talented on paper, are in a space that seems interesting to investors and are able to raise venture capital early in the company’s existence. Our first big round of venture capital (our A round) was a whopping $16.5

Startup 299

Startup Venture Capital Technical Review Training 299

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - Many other great companies are not. -

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

How Most Board Meeting Prep Works I’ve been sitting on tech boards for two decades so I have some experience with what goes wrong. This can include: Fund raising, product development choices, sales, marketing effectiveness, competition, business development, M&A … whatever. This is part of a broader series on Board Meetings.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

No rule is ever absolute no matter how it sounds when one writes a blog. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. But in our first year of sales (and those were really shitty years to be selling software) we sold $2.1 I’ve acknowledged that many times.

Startup 285

Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 285

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2011

I’m looking for somebody who can sell, but not better than our head of sales. You do a startup and decide you want somebody to step in and run the company so you can focus on technical excellence. You want somebody who can raise $15 million to build out your R&D, business development and sales organizations.

CTO Hire 363

CTO Hire Technical Review Startup Demand 363

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. Having recurring revenue allows you to keep the original purchase price down, which in turn increases sales.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

This has been especially true for angels or seed investors as there is a new thesis that less capital is needed to start Internet companies so more money is being spent at this phase of the funding lifecycle. VCs have also gone back to writing checks because as an industry we can’t be seen as “sitting on the sidelines” for years at a time.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Sometime around 2003/04 my technology team turned me on to “Spolsky on Software&# a periodic newsletter served up blog style from Joel Spolsky of FogCreek Software, a maker of bug-tracking software. Microsoft Office ended up beating its competitors because it was able to read and write to file formats other than its own.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software Blogging Startup 285