Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 4, 2009

Many entrepreneurs who start technology companies are product people, technologists or savvy business people who worked previously for a larger company. Most start-up entrepreneurs have little or no sales experience. This is the easiest one for most entrepreneurs. I know I didn’t. Why Buy Anything?

Sales 319

Sales Startup Platform Tips 319

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

I’d like to talk about Crocodile Salesmen in 3 scenarios: 1) when YOU are selling (or someone on your team), 2) when you are trying to recruit a sales person. But how to apply “listening&# in a sales meeting? Let’s assume you run a Customer Support software company. Many of you are “tellers,&# too.

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Customer 314

Berkonomics

JANUARY 7, 2021

Think of startups and early stage businesses whose entrepreneurs you know. We should think of the creation and growth of a high valued company as the sum of three parts, with three distinct classes of participants helping to make real value out of a raw start-up. One: The entrepreneur. Two: Co-management. Reward for early risk.

Startup 240

Startup Equity Statistics Entrepreneur 240

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

It is perfectly OK for you to want to grow your company and plan to keep control for you and your offspring, with no intention to sell. The advantage of creating an evergreen company. I was able to negotiate a “put” of my shares back to the company at 5x my investment. What if you later decide to just keep control?

Equity 156

Equity Course Sales Invest 156

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

When do you sell your company? Those of us in the business of calculating (guessing) this mythical peak in value often make the same mistake as our entrepreneurs. Companies sometime run out of cash in the midst of their increasing success, and often find that sources of loans or investment are not freely flowing at the moment of need.

Pricing 156

Pricing Invest Equity Entrepreneur 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 31, 2023

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Lead management performance.

Metrics 102

Metrics Demand Paramount Content 102

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

John Lusk, along with his Co-Author Kyle Harrison, leveraged their humble company''s newsletter into The MouseDriver Chronicles , a New York Times bestselling book. The company''s newsletter was initially created to share their entrepreneurial journey with their family and friends. an email) to about 35 people.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

Almost anyone who has sold a company has a story to tell about their good deal, the problems with the buyer, a last-minute change of terms, or more. I’ve been offered $15 million for my company and my partner is suing me for all I am worth. How the industry was growing around the company. The year was 1998. What can I do?”.

Sales 120

Sales Web Design Web Design 120

Berkonomics

JANUARY 6, 2022

First, the marginal exit event: Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event for the early investors, including the entrepreneur or the founders. This makes for some head-rubbing when attempting to calculate the return on investment with a proposed sale. and there are those accumulated dividends. …and

Venture Capital 156

Venture Capital Sales Pricing Equity 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2020

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Lead management performance.

Marketing 174

Marketing Invest Demand Metrics 174

Berkonomics

JUNE 29, 2017

If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and more.

Invest 243

Invest Entrepreneur Sales Startup 243

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2015

We come to the end of this cycle of insights with a thought about how you might view your successful exit from the company you have spent so much effort to build. Email readers, continue here…] First there comes a sense of relief, knowing that you no longer need to worry over daily cash or threats to your net worth.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Writing .Net Sales 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about: A fund-raising deck that articulates your company strategy, plans, team, market, competitors and so forth. Most entrepreneurs (and VCs raising from LPs) think this means progress. against a broad range of similar companies.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 17, 2012

However, certain questions can be tricky for an entrepreneur to answer. Below are five common questions an entrepreneur will encounter when seeking venture funding. Handled appropriately, these questions provide investors a window into an entrepreneurs’ soul, which minimizes the chances of a future misalignment.

Entrepreneur 253

Entrepreneur Google Invest RSS 253

Berkonomics

APRIL 20, 2023

Starting a company is HARD – in so many ways. Here I am a professional investor in early-stage companies, and I attempt to find those with the greatest chance of success and growth in value over time. We have years of real data to call upon: data that impacts both investors and entrepreneurs. And risky too.

Statistics 156

Statistics Startup Study Invest 156

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 30, 2021

How about the entrepreneur -founder? Professional investors rarely attach a red letter upon a failed entrepreneur. Email readers, continue here…] We who invest look for patterns from previous experience. Turning out the lights from a company following an existing business plan to extinction teaches us lessons.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Training Invest Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Many entrepreneurs struggle with their setbacks.

Entrepreneur 288

Entrepreneur Startup Slides Seed Funding 288

Berkonomics

JANUARY 28, 2021

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from deals where the entrepreneur insists on a start-up pre-money valuation that is so high, no angel could expect to make a return upon the investment, even with a reasonable sales price for the company down the road. Here’s the “what.”. And here’s the “why.”.

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Startup Outsource Venture Capital 156

Berkonomics

JANUARY 13, 2022

How might you view your successful exit from the company you have spent so much effort to build? Email readers, continue here…] But what about the pause to celebrate? What most entrepreneurs fail dramatically at is to celebrate the moment. Then do as all good entrepreneurs do. Many fail multiple times.

Writing 156

Writing Entrepreneur .Net Sales 156

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Public relations at a startup is a sales process. No one has heard of you, your company or your solutions. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”. Grant Exclusivity. Share and Enjoy.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. an investment in your company. friendly, but direct in my thoughts.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I originally conceived it as the Top 11 things that I believe “all entrepreneurs need to succeed.&# If it stuck to this theme then I would stand by my top 11. I’ll publish the final post in this series this week and then move on to my next series – sales & marketing. It will be controversial – I know.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

A startup leader's primary responsibility is to maximize the return to its stakeholders, which include the company's global and local neighbors, employees, suppliers, customers and investors. Angry people are usually inspired to act against your company's interests. Be boring in public. Association Guilt.

Entrepreneur 203

Entrepreneur Email Sales RSS 203

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

One of the most common questions that entrepreneurs who meet me for the first time like to ask is, “Do you miss being an entrepreneur? I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. On Being an Entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Venture capitalists sometimes make an error in directing their portfolio company CEOs to push resources to the limit and scale the business to immense size quickly, all to seize market share. It was true for Amazon and other visionary companies that grabbed market share during the early Internet era. But beware.

Venture Capital 156

Venture Capital Social Media Invest Marketing 156

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Recently a CEO friend told me her story of a dinner including her director of business development and an executive of a major company, a candidate for a large sale. I tried to sleep in the room they gave me and managed to make it to the 10:00 AM meeting with the very well-known sports figure and sales candidate.

Sales 156

Sales Conference Startup Course 156

InfoChachkie

MAY 5, 2016

Given TimeHop’s failed experiment, I was especially intrigued when I learned that a team of a dozen remote entrepreneurs hack the typical corporate structure and creates a company that generated nearly $100 million in revenue. Some companies allow employees to work remotely one day a week or on an ad hoc basis. FastSpring.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Santa Barbara Email Outsource Development 100

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 18, 2018

For investors, a subsequent down round at a lower valuation than the last, or an exit opportunity at a loss are all opportunities for the affected stakeholder to show a side that can sometimes shock an entrepreneur or CEO. I have seen investors allow a company to die, rather than suffer the massive dilution of an offer by a new investor.

Layoffs 240

Layoffs Class News Email 240

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

Thursday night was the unveiling of the newest batch of Launchpad LA companies. The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to. Have a look at the companies below.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Berkonomics

MAY 2, 2019

So, you’re managing all that work, all those interruptions, all those texts and pesky emails. So, where do you get those sparks of genius that could change your company and change the world? How most entrepreneurs work today. So, where do you get those sparks of genius that could change your company and change the world?

Email 120

Email Training Entrepreneur Sales 120

Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur come out with that one. It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a totally new device or service that could take the world by storm. We investors see this all the time.

Competition 120

Competition Slides Research Sales 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

This is a very common scenario when entrepreneurs pitch VCs and frankly is a very common scenario when VCs try to raise money from LPs. After my board meeting I had to do an interview with a CFO candidate that one of my portfolio companies asked me to speak with. Wednesday I have 4 companies coming in to talk about their companies.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

There’s the sale of a company, where as a board member, I asked the CEO to name his asking price and then go home and wait the result. There’s the disengagement with an angry employee threating to sue the company. There are the several that were disengagements between partners threatening to sue each other for perceived wrongs.

Pricing 156

Pricing Examples Training Email 156

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

John Lusk, along with his Co-Author Kyle Harrison, leveraged their humble company''s newsletter into The MouseDriver Chronicles , a New York Times bestselling book. The company''s newsletter was initially created to share their entrepreneurial journey with their family and friends. an email) to about 35 people.

Newsletter 133

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 133

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

I’ve seen some smaller retailers execute very innovative strategies, such as posting items for sale on Instagram to the first person who emails them. Wilson: "I feel that it’s very challenging for a company that has a great core product to expand into other areas. Image: Wikipedia. Share and Enjoy.

Entrepreneur 210

Entrepreneur Commerce Sites Social Network 210

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 15, 2018

Looking back over an entrepreneur’s journey. As I look back over more than fifty years as an entrepreneur, I can think of the financial focus of my three entrepreneurial businesses as a prime driver in my life during the early stage of each. But, for this short moment…. The rewards of angel investing. The rewards of angel investing.

Coach 120

Coach Startup Organization Invest 120