Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

One of the interesting things about being a VC is that you often see companies in transition. If you’re an early investor like I am that often means writing the first $2-3 million check into a business that previously had either survived on fumes or on a $500,000 angel round. Act your stage. Other B-round scaling issues?

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

socalTECH

MARCH 28, 2019

I was previously at Salesforce Ventures for almost four years, focused on investments in companies in the enterprise software space which were strategic to Salesforce. I got started in investment banking, focused on helping medical companies buy technology companies, and then later in the enterprise space and in the cloud.

Capital 162

Capital Entrepreneur Invest Artificial Inteligence 162

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

In his words, [in some instances] “because lots of capital is available, the company takes on the capital and that ends up resulting in no constraints on decision making and so the company decides to do five things in stead of just one.” You are defined by how you serve the companies that are struggling. Again, Fred.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. I spent time on college campuses. I attended events.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

socalTECH

JUNE 13, 2011

Where did the idea come from? Jonathan Lehmann: I was awarded the Larry Wolfen Entrepreneurial Spirit Award at UCLA, after getting amazing coaching from Matt Ridenour in our business plan development class. That allowed me to take a summer to develop the new idea, and transform it into a business. It has been really amazing.

UCLA 256

UCLA Startup Ideas Help 256

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. We are judging how well you are coached on stage.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Frank Addante

JUNE 25, 2015

It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day monotony and slowly drift away from the very mindset that is the foundation of our company. Was it the original idea? The Greeks did not have the might to defeat the Trojans, but they were clever and conceived the idea to construct a huge wooden horse, and to hide a force of men inside.

Coach 40

Coach Startup Ideas UCLA 40

Frank Addante

JUNE 25, 2015

It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day monotony and slowly drift away from the very mindset that is the foundation of our company. Was it the original idea? The Greeks did not have the might to defeat the Trojans, but they were clever and conceived the idea to construct a huge wooden horse, and to hide a force of men inside.

Coach 40

Coach Startup Ideas UCLA 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2016

For leaders, this is often evident in the willingness to be coached, by outside experts or by your own team. Good ideas can come from anyone at any time. This is the self-reinforcing circle of excellence every company needs for success. Challenged by his contemporaries, Edison soberly responded: “I have not failed.

Examples 76

Examples Startup Coach Patents 76

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I recently got together with Aaron Shechet and an early stage startup to discuss the direction the company might want to take. It was a great conversation and I thought it would be a good idea to do some visible networking with Aaron to get to know him better. We also represent a few larger companies with international issues.

Startup 150

Startup SEO Pepperdine Blogging 150

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Jon Sperry – a highly respected dialect coach who has worked with Harvey Keitel, Sofia Vergara, and Russell Crowe – taught a Stage 32 class that was attended by members from over 40 different countries. In the past year alone the company has amassed over 1k hours of educational content and generated over $1 million.

Education 82

Education Entertainment Class Manhattan Beach 82

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2012

From LA Demo Day to Silicon Beach Fest to Crowdstart LA to hackathons to Startup Weekends, companies and entrepreneurs alike have joined forces to feed the startup ecosystem. Startup Weekend is a 54-hour frenzy in which a group of strangers can come together to form a company and compete for prizes.

Startup 100

Startup Ideas San Diego Mentor 100

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Seth attended UCSB but dropped out to start a denim company. . Write it down…. 6) Y our Company’s success squarely resides on consumers’ willingness to trade personal data for enhanced services and discounts. Jeff and Brian are informal and very generous with ideas, input and feedback when they have time.

Startup 233

Startup Design Mobile Social Network 233

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 24, 2012

We created The Digital Detox retreat (an idea we started playing with on the island in Cambodia) as a way to provide people with the opportunity to put aside their digital arm, ”re-format” their own personal hard-drives, and get an experience that would inspire them to make changes to lead a more balanced life.

Pricing 86

Pricing Coach Email Startup 86

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

Understand Personality Types – One of the benefits of working for a big company (Accenture) was that we had lots of speakers come in and train us in topics like leadership, creativity, presentations, strategy, etc. The idea is that in a meeting you need to quickly suss out what type of individual you are presenting to.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2009

What is the idea behind Knowledge Genie? How did the company start? Instead of writing a book, we wanted to develop a platform to bring our methods to life, and scale our knowledge. One of our hopes, aside from creating a way to package knowledge, is to essentially allow entrepreneurs to create their own publishing company.

Geni 100

Geni Web Guide Platform 100

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

We get a lot more emails from women entrepreneurs who say they are a high net worth in their community and we should come and help boost the number of angel investors in their companies. At the end of the Pitch Summit, our concept is to teach them diligence and how to invest in one company as a group. That is something I am aware of.

Mentor 84

Mentor Invest Entrepreneur Startup 84

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Like many companies they experimented with many pricing models. <Small plug> – I invested in an awesome company called … awe.sm … that is a performance tracking tool that let’s you measure efficacy of channels like this (email, facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc.) JibJab doesn’t do ad revenue at all.

Startup 303

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Writing 303

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Amazon in turn led to the formation of an earlier stage of venture capital now led by what I call “micro VCs&# who typically invest $250-500k in companies rather than the $5-7 million that VCs used to invest. Many LPs want to write checks of $10 million or $25 million because they themselves have billions of dollars to manage.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2010

And most companies don’t do enough between board meetings. For the record, this is not a secret, coded messages to companies for which I am on the board! I found that too often it was an update meeting for investors rather than a meeting for my company to get value. But that isn’t what this post is about.

Startup 301

Startup Venture Capital Software Review Email 301

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 2, 2011

So is this a good idea? In Poly Sci I learned critical thinking and writing. If I’m counseling young people I often coach them to consider getting degrees that will be practical for becoming more employable when they graduate. You built a company at 22. You have a stated goal of building your company.

Education 322

Education Startup Incubator Class 322

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 2, 2010

As a VC I’m acutely that a “yes&# decision to support an entrepreneur can do just that, yet I only write 2-4 of them per year and maybe another 3-4 as an angel. Being helpful doesn’t mean telling every person their ideas are great. Create an internship at your company where one doesn’t exist.

Startup 352

Startup Help Blogging Entrepreneur 352