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. these are simply guidelines.

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2009

This is part of my blog series “ Pitching a VC.&#. I’ve sat through a lot of VC pitches and having been CEO of an enterprise software firm for many years I’ve also sat through many customer meetings with sales teams. After the sales meetings I would ask the exec afterward, “how do you think it went?&#

Venture Capital 275

Venture Capital Sales Slides Startup 275

Berkonomics

JULY 23, 2020

Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. There are some questions a distressed sale brings to mind.

Company 156

Company Companies Sales Venture Capital 156

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. How about young or pre-revenue companies?

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Product Marketing Resource 296

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). For those of you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

So, you are close to selling your company, and counting the profits a bit early. Some companies, especially those financed by angel or VC investors, have good, formal stock option plans with properly priced options set to reward all employees and managers in the event of a corporate sale. Well, that’s human nature.

Sales 480

Sales Venture Capital Writing Email 480

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Conversely if you’re burning $600,000 per month (yes, some companies do) then you only have 5 months of cash left. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

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

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. And here’s the “why.”. Lessons founders learned.

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Startup Outsource Venture Capital 156

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. Wildfire Interactive.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Mobile 270

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. It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Berkonomics

MARCH 8, 2018

Pay early stage board members of companies that are not lifestyle businesses one percent of the fully diluted equity in the form of an option that vests over four years of service. You do not pay professional investors who are serving on behalf of an investment company or VC and paid by that company.

Venture Capital 256

Venture Capital Equity Sales Invest 256

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

You might be at Step 2 with one VC and Step 3 with another. However, the greater degree you can sequentially follow these steps and maintain your discussions with each venture capitalist (VC) at relatively the same stage, the sooner you can spend less time in the company of investors and get back to running your business.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Capital Research Custom 236

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

So when I meet with GRP portfolio companies that do enterprise sales I try to emphasize the following: 1. This might mean helping customers buy traffic, arb’ing deals, helping with RTB pricing or trading, etc. Often your sales engineers can do the customizations without bugging the core eng team.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software Services Company 321

socalTECH

JULY 10, 2019

For this morning's interview, we spoke with Los Angeles-based Halla , a venture backed startup, focused on personalized recommendations for the food ordering industry. The company has raised $1.9M in seed funding, from E&A Venture Capital and SOSV. Spencer Price: That's a fair question. What is Halla?

Pricing 113

Pricing Startup North Hollywood Platform 113

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. Are you looking to potentially sell the company in the next year or two?

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

Venture Capital 255

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. Given customers & sales are the lifeblood of any organization you’d imagine everybody would respect their customers. Contrast that with a VC conversation I had.

Custom 341

Custom Customer Venture Capital Software Review 341

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 2, 2021

The company has already worked with names as diverse as the Golden State Warriors, the Dallas Cowboys, and pop sensation Billy Eilish on embedding its interactive tools into various live events and promotions. But what started in the gaming world quickly spun out as the company slashed prices to $500 per month for its services.

Tool 315

Tool Commerce .Net Entertainment 315

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry. I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw. Short answer – yes.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Berkonomics

JUNE 15, 2017

Taking in angel or venture money requires a setting of an entrepreneur’s expectations that may come as a shock at least at first. From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering.

Venture Capital 243

Venture Capital Sales Invest Class 243

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. I had to laugh a bit reading it. What about strategy?

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

This episode of This Week in Venture Capital featured Michael Montgomery, president of Montgomery & Co. Shame they didn’t like his suggested name for the company: DreamWorks SKG-MM. Should you use investment banks to raise venture capital? Should you use investment banks to raise venture capital?

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Mission Ventures Capital Help 242

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. The VC assumes you’ll have an option pool.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

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

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2012

The median VC exit price for deals is $70 million (FLAG Capital via Bryce.VC). There is a mythology amongst some LPs (funds that invest in VCs) and some VCs that “entry price doesn’t matter – only investing in the absolute best entrepreneurs.” So entry price matters a lot.

Startup 323

Startup Technology Venture Capital Santa Barbara 323

socalTECH

JULY 22, 2020

According to the company, the round--a Seed-2 funding--was led by Okapi Capital, and also included The Cove Fund, Early Light Ventures, SaaS Venture Capital, and Stage Venture Partners and Brad Perry (co-founder of Dealer Socket), along with others. in a funding round.

Artificial Inteligence 124

Artificial Inteligence Santa Barbara SaaS Venture Capital 124

InfoChachkie

JULY 28, 2015

My House Is Not For Sale. Even the eccentric King of Pop communicated the price he was willing to pay for Neverland. However, in many cases, acquiring companies behave less rationally than Mr. However, in many cases, acquiring companies behave less rationally than Mr. Jackson. What is your price?”.

Company 100

Company Companies Santa Barbara Pricing 100

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

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). For you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Venture Capital 266

Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

socalTECH

AUGUST 16, 2021

San Diego-based sales and marketing software developer Seismic has raised $170M in a Series G funding round, the company said this morning, and is now valued at $3 billion. Rowe Price, according to the company. Rowe Price, according to the company. Financial details of that acquisition were not announced.

San Diego 113

San Diego Coach Sales Training 113

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. Are you looking to potentially sell the company in the next year or two?

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2017

Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues.

Venture Capital 243

Venture Capital Product Resource Marketing 243

Xconomy

JUNE 16, 2016

In San Diego, the complaints often focus on the relative scarcity of venture capital and hometown VC firms. So when the San Diego Venture Group recruited Mark Suster of Los Angeles-based Upfront Ventures to give the keynote talk Tuesday night for Startup Week San Diego, more than 800 people filled a downtown auditorium.

Venture Capital 49

Venture Capital San Diego Truecar Web 49

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

500 Hats , January 10, 2010 Developing new startup ideas - Chris Dixon , March 14, 2010 Batch Processing Millions and Millions of Images - Code as Craft , July 9, 2010 jQuery Plugin: Give Your Characters a NobleCount - The Product Guy , March 23, 2010 How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents?

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. I recently wrote about the three rules of sales. Why Buy Anything ? Why Buy Me? Why Buy Now? I boil this process down to “ Why Buy Anything ?”

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Berkonomics

JULY 10, 2014

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from deals where the entrepreneur insists on a start-up premoney 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. Email readers, continue here.] Starting up Raising money'

Startup 179

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Venture Capital 179