Tech Zulu Event

MAY 28, 2013

Join us for a special evening with InfoWorld’s Dave Linthicum as he delves into global enterprise software trends with some of LA’s most successful SaaS and cloud computing companies. The opportunities cloud computing and SaaS afford management. Paths to SaaS and cloud computing that will work for your enterprise.

SaaS 92

SaaS Cloud Computing CIO Web 92

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

I started my first company in 1999 and was admittedly swept up in all of this: Magazine covers, fancy conferences, artificial valuations and easy money. Sure, we built SaaS products before the term even existed but at 31 it was hard to delineate reality from what all of the monied people around us were telling us what we were worth.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

I wrote my version here and Scott wrote an excellent write-up of his views here. We both agree that the later-stage valuations are being driven up to a point that feels irrationally priced [he uses b-round SaaS valuations as an example and I am willing to be even more broad based]. Each of the two videos is about 10 minutes long.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital SaaS Writing Funding 309

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Topics we covered: B2B Companies You haven’t seen the full extent to how the correction is going to affect you. We discussed why in Q4 you will see large renegotiations of SaaS contracts and increased churn rates. Other companies have only seen a slight decline and may be expecting demand to return to normalcy later in the year.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

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. I’ve seen too many companies go off track by a VC hell bent on the team pursuing the VCs strategy which at times is about chasing the next shiny object. Traditional software vs. SaaS. Most VCs are book smart.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. It’s why opt-in marketing databases can be so incredibly valuable for companies like Gilt Groupe, One King’s Lane and AdoreMe. Much more data in the full post. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I follow Jason Lemkin closely (he’s a long-time friend) and he speaks frequently and passionately about SaaS businesses having built a successful one himself. I want to wake up in the morning on weekends thinking about the company, the product, their positioning. I have fallen in love twice recently.

Venture Capital 373

Venture Capital Startup Course Entrepreneur 373

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

Let’s say you have built a SaaS company where a large part of the early revenue comes from a few big customers or a large part of the revenue is services based vs. software based. The investor is a customer and they have money to spend but only for a limited number of companies. Let me give you an example.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. What makes their story more remarkable, in the age of 20-something billionaires, is that both of the company’s founders are in their 50’s.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

InfoChachkie

MARCH 4, 2013

Business Lessons From The Dark Side Of The Moon. • Obtain Customer Feedback Before You Release Your Product - Musicians spend their entire youth writing songs and performing them in front of live audiences, which ensures that their initial album is validated by their fans before they enter the recording studio.

Startup 269

Startup Cloud Computing RSS Writing 269

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

There’s one attribute (coming soon) that I need to have in order to write a check but I don’t believe is vital for success. If your last company was Apple, Blackberry, AdMob or JAMDAT and you have some experience in the sector then I know that your product will have your experiences baked into it. He’s a star.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

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.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

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. He first worked hard to get him to be an advisor to the company.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. That is, how much should your company be willing to lose in cash every month as you make investments in staff and equipment that funds technology, sales, marketing and management.

Startup 212

Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

The mistake entrepreneurs make is either writing a lengthy email (everybody has too much email so it will get skimmed / not digested) or not having a deck which means the VC can’t quickly determine his or her fit as a potential investor. The key is WHAT you send. Compelling.

Venture Capital 261

Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Steve Reich

JUNE 6, 2012

The stories are everywhere…VCs and Angel groups are passe’–the cool kids are raising money from “Super Angels” Just go talk to a friendly millionaire, and he/she will simply write a check to finance your “A” round. The ones that can (and will) write a seven-figure check are rare.

Angel 55

Angel Writing SaaS Startup 55

socalTECH

MAY 19, 2017

We spoke with CEO and co-founder Andrew Peterson , who told us how his team's experience at Etsy resulted in the founding of the company. Andrew Peterson: We have what we call a web protection platform, that provides other companies with protection against attackers who are attacking their web applications. What is Signal Sciences?

Web 138

Web Startup Southern California Software 138

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

We’ve had just one market since then and it could confuse one into thinking: every deal finds downstream investors, every company good or bad finds a home, you know anything at all about brazil, india, china or even saas sales, ecommerce or analytics (you know all these in a bull market). We’ll see in time. 10 is the new 3.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. Yet as obvious as it is to create messaging for your company, many people don’t consider their personal brands.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2009

We caught up with Jason and Kurt to hear more about the company. What's the story behind the company and how it started? I am someone who likes to interact with my Representatives and Senators, by way of writing letters, emailing, and what not. It's really helpful, particularly for companies who don't get social media.

Startup 100

Startup Writing Southern California Email 100

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

We spoke with Matt Kumin , the company's founder and CEO--who was formerly an executive at Edmunds.com--to learn about the company's products. We're a content curation platform, software-as-a-service for content, and we are focused on helping companies engage their customer more directly using content.

Web 237

Web Newsletter Content Startup 237

socalTECH

JULY 27, 2009

We started the company based on my own personal experience, as everyone these days has a laptop, and everyone has their application out on the cloud. William Chow: I started the company a couple of years ago. How is the company funded? So, if you're sitting on a plane or in a remote office, it works great. more) READ MORE>>.

SaaS 127

SaaS Web Google Sites 127

InfoChachkie

MARCH 16, 2015

Hosted by SAAS giant Salesforce, it is more akin to a circus than a professional event. Why am I writing an article about a trade show that occurred nearly four months ago? Thus, the company had a difficult challenge. How can a relatively small company make itself heard, while ensuring a clear return on its trade show budget?

Conference 100

Conference SaaS Ideas Sales 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Our profile this morning is with Network Automation , a Los Angeles company competing in the IT automation market. Southern California--despite the lack of huge, name brand firms-- has a significant number of enterprise software companies, of which Network Automation is just one. The traditional way to handle that is to write code.

Networking 214

Networking IBM IBM Pacific Palisades 214

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2016

This year, we are partnered with the Home Shopping Network, HSN, so that our companies not only get Hatched and an investment, they get PR on the Home Shopping Network as well. You have had an interesting career path to TV, starting with investment banking and a healthcare company � how did that happen?

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Competition 100

socalTECH

JULY 13, 2009

The company was founded by the head of the North America investments for Carrefour, the second largest retailer in the world, the head of the retail banking practice at DLJ, the investment bank. The new fund is focused entirely on technology companies. Those companies are doing phenomenally well, and in a normal market was IPO.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Southern California Santa Barbara Rustic Canyon 157

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

There is a transition in every company from a “seat of the pants&# kind of entrepreneurial company to a “process driven&# mechanized one. Frankly, I’m much more of the former kind of guy and I tire of the routine process & politics required to succeed in a big company. This seldom works.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Amplify’s portfolio companies are schooled on every challenge they need to master in order to achieve success. All the companies that graduate from the accelerator’s program work from the same office and can literally reach out and touch their investors at any time. Jeff looks for these same qualities in the companies he backs.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization. Mostly, no.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

At the end of the day, you want to be employed and you want to get a job, and this allows companies to look at what you've done, what your portfolio is, and speed up the interview process. After that, I was involved in a lot of angel investing, starting companies, and helping entrepreneurs to get going.

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

Tech.Co

MARCH 1, 2018

What you’ll also find is that of the 25 companies, our founders represent an inclusive group with 40 percent female, 52 percent minority and 12 percent veteran founders from 14 states and 5 countries. Once uploaded, the company safeguards the data in their secure cloud. AdWallet (Albuquerque, NM). That’s the concept behind AdWallet.

Startup 79

Startup Mentor Platform Help 79

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

As a starting point there comes a time where investors have piled millions of dollars into a company and while they don’t want to control it, they also want a degree of independence in decision-making that comes when you have somebody who wasn’t a founder that is on the board of directors. you can build that with your personal peer network.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

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. They are an open-source & SaaS provider of eCommerce solutions. Write out the topic and maybe even the blog title.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Seth attended UCSB but dropped out to start a denim company. . 8 ) SocialStay is effectively a B-to-B, SaaS product that requires you to simultaneously speak to several audiences (hotels, travelers, travel sites, etc.). Write it down…. Seth attended UCSB but dropped out to start a denim company. .

Startup 233

Startup Design Mobile Social Network 233

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 31, 2011

If there are 10 things that make a company successful, you’re only accountable for 1 – 4 of them as an executive. Another team member was nominated the Company Secretary during that same process, and I try to use the title as frequently as possible to show respect for his office. Become a Founder! Well we have four co-founders….

MyLife 160

MyLife CitySearch Web Technical Review 160

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

It has historically been the case that VCs would rather fund the promise of 100x in a company with almost no revenue than the reality of a company growing at 50% but doing $20+ million in sales. Goliath” mythology take on the titans of industry and wins. This “overnight success” was first financed in 2004.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 31, 2011

If there are 10 things that make a company successful, you’re only accountable for 1 – 4 of them as an executive. Another team member was nominated the Company Secretary during that same process, and I try to use the title as frequently as possible to show respect for his office. Become a Founder! Well we have four co-founders….

MyLife 157

MyLife CitySearch Web Technical Review 157