Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We have global opportunities from these trends but of course also big challenges. Of course we can’t. I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. Hot, Flat & Crowded.”

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

In the comments section a clever question popped up about whether I would have invested in myself before I became an investor. My first response mentally was, “Of course!” In fact, my salary never caught up with my pre startup salary across 2 companies and 8 years. I had invested in myself for years.

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. They help create confidence amongst your staff in your future.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

Of course not. It’s a hard topic to write about because it’s almost an accepted norm that total transparency is good. You took the risk to start your company. A tool to better help you find bars & restaurants? They told you, “Yeah, man, I’ll gladly write the first $250,000. “What?

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” This year an associate from Upfront Ventures – Glenn Poppe – helped me pull together more information about how our industry is changing.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2021

If you want to get in better shape and haven’t read that you might start there. I started advice with the premise that no amount of exercise or food eating plan would help with long-term fitness or weight goals unless you first had a mental plan and a set of measurements to track your progress. It was inspiring.

Coach 538

Coach Startup Guide Journal 538

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Here is a sample of the reading list for the course that gives you a flavor for just how modern and practical this course is. Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2013

Yet some simple techniques can help massively improve your ability to get people to take action on your important emails. On my most important ones I spend as much time figuring out what to cut out as I do putting into the writing of it. State your most important ask up front. Write to one person at a time.

Email 415

Email Writing Software Review Startup 415

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

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. In a VC business when you raise additional capital you need to “level up” and act the round you are. Act your stage. But at what cost?

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

So, with thanks to whomever originally created this great little parable, here it is: “Every day, a small Ant arrived at work early and started work immediately, she produced a lot and she was happy. So the lion recruited a cockroach who had extensive experience as a supervisor and who was famous for writing excellent reports.

Course 156

Course Writing Report Startup 156

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2021

Most entrepreneurs avoid setting up a board of directors for their new business unless or until they sign up an investor who demands a seat on the board. High-performing startups today are the ones that use every resource at their disposal. I recommend three or five members to start (an uneven number prevents tie votes).

Startup 145

Startup Entrepreneur Mentor Writing 145

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

One of my favorite events last year was attending Startup Grind where I got to interview Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma. ” We talked about my influences as a younger person and what got me started in technology and entrepreneurship. And of course we talked about many of my views of building startups.

Startup 337

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Venture Capital 337

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

I thought I’d write a post about how to talk about valuation at a startup and give you some sense of what might be on the mind of the person considering funding you. Of course, unlike cars there is no direct comparison across each startup so these are just some general guidelines to try and even the information field.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have. Many people start companies arse backwards. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

When I first started writing this blog several years ago I had less followers than you have right now. But the realist in me knew I couldn’t write daily nor could I convince you to think to check out my blog with regularity. And of course the other place I inform myself is on Twitter. I should know.

Writing 326

Writing Buzzfeed Social Media Blogging 326

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

There is a battle between entrepreneurs who try to change the world and solve a meaningful problem and those who write take-down pieces with no apparent personal benefit other than attention. Even bigger is the desire to stick one’s middle finger up at all of the people who doubted you all along. ” **.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've recently received several emails from people looking for a technical cofounder for their startup. I promised I would write this post with some thoughts and ideas on the topic. " Typically, this requires quite a bit more information for me to be able to respond and provide real help.

CTO Hire 211

CTO Hire CTO Coach Startup Equity 211

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I had just left Salesforce.com where I was VP, Products, after they had acquired my second startup. VC is a long-term business Some businesses are overnight successes but few of them really move immediately up and to the right. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

TechCrunch LA

JULY 2, 2020

From larger fund investors like Mark Suster and Kara Nortman at Upfront Ventures to Dana Settle at Greycroft Partners; to early-stage investors like Will Hsu at Mucker Capital; TX Zhuo at Fika Ventures, the responses were generally upbeat about the future opportunities for Los Angeles startups.

Los Angeles 277

Los Angeles Venture Capital Capital Invest 277

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 29, 2014

I often describe “chutzpah” as being able to skate right up to the line of acceptability without crossing over it. And being persistent I believe is the most important attribute for success in an entrepreneur (assuming of course that you have all the other requisite skills). It’s your job to persist.

Venture Capital 389

Venture Capital Email Startup Conference 389

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

If you sold your last startup for $800 million, you probably already know how to build a business, and even conservative investors won’t worry about the quality of your next business plan. Most investors tend to think of startups without a plan as expensive hobbies. I hope not. Marty Zwilling.

Sample 137

Sample Writing Mentor Content 137

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

It’s very common for startup companies to have COO’s. So I know I’m getting myself into a bit of trouble by writing this. But … Startups don’t need – shouldn’t have – COOs. I have this conversation with every startup that comes to see me and has a CEO & a COO.

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

But of course it’s hard to advise people that they should do PR without a guide to how to do it on the cheap or how to do it at all. When to start PR? You help them on stories, act as a source, develop real relationships, read their stories and eventually when you have news they’re more willing to have a conversation.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

It’s the first EIR that we’ve had in the years that I’ve been with the firm and I hope will be the start of our investment in this program. We’re excited to continue to grow our investment professional staff and will continue to do so over the course of 2013 & 2014 with our new fund.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. I talk about failure a lot because I think it can be tremendously instructive and I think that success without failure often masks underlying lessons.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2021

Here are my thoughts on the right focus at a college or university: Take entrepreneurship courses, but major in a more specific discipline. Practical business courses are better than an advanced degree or MBA. Practical business courses are better than an advanced degree or MBA. Starting a business is not rocket science.

Entrepreneur 149

Entrepreneur Tips Writing Coach 149

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Brad wrote up his answer here – you should read it because it’s very instructive for how I believe communities ought to think about naming conventions. I recommend that you start by writing down the attributes you would want people to think about when they think about your brand. This is the list I would start with.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2018

Here are my thoughts on the right focus at a college or university: Take entrepreneurship courses, but major in a more specific discipline. Practical business courses are better than an advanced degree or MBA. Practical business courses are better than an advanced degree or MBA. Starting a business is not rocket science.

Startup 97

Startup Writing Coach Incubator 97

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Organization 93

Organization Startup Incubator Ideas 93

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 5, 2021

John Bradberry, in his classic book “ 6 Secrets To Startup Success ” explores many of these attributes, especially passion, and defines some useful principles to help enthusiastic entrepreneurs squeeze the most out of their passion, while not being trapped by it. Ensure that your passion adds up.

Entrepreneur 145

Entrepreneur Course Ideas .Net 145

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

if you listen you’ll pick up much more than my quick notes below). We talked about what startup CEOs should do in these situations and how to think about these renegotiations. A seed deal hasn’t already been “priced up” to a range where a new investor might be concerned about the valuation relative to performance.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. What Is This?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. What Is This?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2011

I was recently approached by Fast Company to comment on “crisis management&# at startups in the wake of the Airbnb “ranksackgate&# story. During the 2004 election he was accused of having made up material facts from his service in the Vietnam War in an election against somebody who didn’t serve in a war.

Startup 329

Startup Press Training Media 329

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. I divided success into the phases of venture capital and 18 months into writing my first check here was my view (details on each in the link above). “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. The start of marketing is figuring out a market need and a way to solve that need better than anybody else.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2010

A little known, but valuable resource, every startup should investigate is a formal or informal connection to your local university. Here is a short list of the areas where you should be able to find help, whether you are a student or an independent entrepreneur: Finding an idea. < Business plan creation. Finding a team.

Help 94

Help Startup Mentor Incubator 94