Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. So that means 2-3 good investments a year and we are doing well.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROI). Email marketing. One of these experts, David T. Cold calling.

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Marketing Invest Social Media SEM 114

Berkonomics

APRIL 12, 2018

Small companies most often scrape by with borrowed or invested funds, doing everything possible to grow and prosper with limited resources. So, it is like a punch in the gut when an employee makes a claim against the company for a perceived or actual but unintentional violation of a law or regulation. So, my advice is simple.

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Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to build the business. The investors want a motivated entrepreneur, and it is certainly more difficult to motivate a twenty percent owner than a sixty percent owner. Four reasons you should reconsider.

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2022

Dave’s note: This is a reprint of a 2015 insight that seems to have struck a chord with investors and entrepreneurs. None of this advice has changed… Let me tell you a few short hair–raising stories of entrepreneurs who have raised money and regretted it later. The problem, of course, comes if the business fails.

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Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Often, we joke together as managers of companies or of people that our goal is “world domination” or “to crush the competition.” But that is a number in a vacuum without at least two other measures: return on investment (ROI) and percentage of net profit to revenue. How about companies formed to profit and give to charity?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I recently got an email from a friend who had been approached by a well known VC. He sent me an email asking whether the approach was real and whether he should take it seriously. Here is the email he received (reprinted without names with his permission). “Hi [entrepreneur], I hope all is well.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Someone on Quora recently asked me to answer the following question: Why Do Digital Entrepreneurs Hate MBAs? Tech entrepreneurs' consternation with MBAs does not rise to the level of loathing. As noted in Startup Advice From College Dropouts , successful entrepreneurs are often poor students. Look For MBA Outliers.

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TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 26, 2020

The Los Angeles startup community is joining the rest of the world in mourning the death of NBA superstar, entrepreneur and investor Kobe Bryant who was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., Bryant launched his venture career with partner and serial entrepreneur Jeff Stibel back in 2013, according to Crunchbase.

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Berkonomics

MARCH 25, 2012

For those of us who’ve invested in early stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem. There are many ways to project the value of a company for purposes of pricing an investment, but all rely upon the revenue and profit projections of the entrepreneur as a starting point.

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Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 24, 2012

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to build the business. The investors want a motivated entrepreneur, and it is certainly more difficult to motivate a twenty percent owner than a sixty percent owner. Email readers, continue here.]

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Resource Invest Summary Startup 180

Berkonomics

MAY 11, 2023

The quest for a great management team is not a fluke, but rather a result of backward looks at the failure rate from past investments by those same angel investors and venture capitalists. Here’s a test: Several weeks ago, we published statistics of start-up and company failures. And it’s a tough test at that.

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Statistics Startup Ideas Entrepreneur 156

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2010

I call it the entrepreneur thesis. I’m not talk about the age old debate amongst investors whether you back entrepreneurs, markets or products (or as people like to hedge – product / market fit). It’s entrepreneurs I back. Today’s post is about my investment thesis. It’s what I call the “entrepreneur thesis.”

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Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

I guarantee that there comes a time when growing businesses outgrow the original span of control of the entrepreneur. It is a critical period and is a test of the entrepreneur’s desire and ability to delegate. Email readers, continue here…] My story of “that rock” in one paragraph. Comfort, or risk-it-all?

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.Net Los Angeles Content Entrepreneur 156

Berkonomics

AUGUST 31, 2023

In 1994, (I know a long time ago), I invested over a million dollars (two million six hundred thousand in today’s dollars) into a company whose entrepreneurs had a vision that I bought into for many reasons, not the least of which was that I had industry experience and understood the need. Fast forward just a few years to 1996.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 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 wanted to also post the series here to have it as a resource on my blog for future entrepreneurs who stop by. If you haven’t spent time over there you should.

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Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Berkonomics

AUGUST 5, 2021

When do most companies communicate? Early stage company investors as a group have a common gripe – almost universal. Information flows from the company irregularly, in fact most often when the company is urgently in need of more money. The entrepreneur often expects that person to keep fellow investors informed.

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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. Of course, you will find yourself in opposition to your investors and some of most of your board members if you do this after taking outside investment. The advantage of creating an evergreen company.

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 25, 2024

Entrepreneurs will have a relative willing to devote time, a school friend with business experience, professionals who charge for the service, investors with a reason to promote your success and more. Some charge by the hour, making themself available much as an attorney, keeping track of hours spent on phone calls and emails with you.

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socalTECH

MAY 2, 2013

Despite a growing technology industry here in Southern California, local investors and entrepreneurs tell us there''s still a shortage of local, venture capital. In particular, funding for companies developing deep technology--software and cloud, as opposed to content and media--seems to be lacking.

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Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 27, 2020

Investors have to look behind the plan and at the entrepreneur and his or her team, knowing that, over time, most of us have come to the conclusion that it is the execution of the ever-changing plan, not the plan itself that makes a company a success. Anyone can build a good – or great – plan. A personal story of a pivot – Tyson style.

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Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

We’ve worried together about the moral obligation implicit in taking such investments from people so close, even with their promise never to expect a return. There is an exemption from the requirements that these investors be accredited with net worth or income minimums to qualify legally to invest in your company.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2012

In case you don’t know, they are one of the biggest media companies in the world. And they invest n select VC funds. I asked Andrew how companies can best work with Condé Nast and he gave the answers in the episode. 45 minutes in: Andrew’s process for investing in startups. 30:30 Are you investing in email?

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Media Company Companies Venture Capital 285

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.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 16, 2019

For our interview today, we have Noramay Cadena , a Partner at MILA Capital , who spoke to us earlier this year about the venture capital investment firm and what it looks for in entrepreneurs. Noramay Cadena: We're investing at the intersection of tech, manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics. What is MiLA Capital?

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InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Because of the rapid pace with which Venture Capitalists review investment opportunities, they must employ pattern matching techniques which include identifying common fundraising deal breakers. Surprisingly, most venture investments do not break down over valuation. A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes.

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Technical Review Entrepreneur IP RSS 264

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. Nurturing stage email performance. Return on investment for demand generation. Don’t just use these in isolation.

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Metrics Demand Paramount Content 102

Berkonomics

MAY 9, 2024

Conversely, a fast-growing industry lifts most all good participants, making excellent companies excel even more and grow even faster, like a small plane flying at 150 knots with a 75-knot tailwind. Email readers, continue here…] Have you created high barriers to entry? How large is your total market?

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Berkonomics

DECEMBER 30, 2021

Several times in my investing life, as the final board member making the arrangements to dispose of remaining assets, I have literally been the one to turn out the lights, carry out the documents, books and records to my car, and become the only remaining contact between the failed business and the investors, bankruptcy court, or creditors.

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Berkonomics

MARCH 7, 2019

When you started the business, you took investments from friends and family in small amounts just to get you started. Enter the need for larger investments. Investors love to see entrepreneurs who have used their own money to ignite their businesses. But often, entrepreneurs turn to others for initial capital.

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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.

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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.

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Berkonomics

MAY 13, 2021

Several years ago, I wrote a book entitled, Extending the Runway , using parallels to piloting a plane to equate to the process of creating and building a small company, making maximum use of resources to get to and beyond breakeven. The five resources boards and investors can add to a company. It is worth revisiting the most.

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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.”.

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