Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. I like to debate with them how they will land customers and how they deal with the press. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? What price?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

Of the first four investments I made as a VC in 2009, two have exited and two (Invoca & GumGum) still are independent and likely to produce $billion++ outcomes . innovated in social media advertising and for a variety of reasons wasn’t ultimately successful and went to zero. My first ever investment as a VC was Invoca.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 2, 2022

Shein has shown the world how combining social media marketing, data analytics, and China’s well-oiled supply chain has created a $100 billion fast fashion behemoth. Its success naturally spawns imitators and challengers. Cider has racked up roughly 7.4

Startup 217

Startup Los Angeles Social Media Venture Capital 217

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2013

San Diego-based Vionic , a developer of technology for helping companies create social media deals and promotions, said Wednesday that it has raised $900,000 in a funding round. According to the startup, which is led by Kosta Gara, its customers include The UPS Store, Office Max Mexico and Pure Barre. READ MORE>>.

Social Media 183

Social Media San Diego Venture Capital Advertising 183

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Now, thanks to social media, you don't have to outspend. Putting customers first. Legendary customer support. You could just outspend. You could use brute force to get the word out.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

socalTECH

APRIL 20, 2010

Overtone , a developer of social media monitoring software for consumer brands, announced this week that it has raised $7M in a Series C funding round. The firm--which is based in San Francisco, but has its finance, R&D, and client services operations in Carlsbad--said the funding came from ABS Ventures and Dolphin Equity Partners.

Social Media 133

Social Media Venture Capital Media Equity 133

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

But VC is like congress. “I don’t know the exact math, but I hear it again and again: the top 2% of firms generate 98% of the returns in venture capital.” As you can see from the chart their data suggests there are about $25 billion of VC distributions per year in the US. Their data looks at tech VCs.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2011

This site aggregates and filters content from thought leaders who talk about topics such as Marketing , Sales , Design , Revenue , Hiring , Social Media , Business Models , Metrics , PR , Venture Capital , Angel Investors , Bootstrapping , Incubators , Agile and many others.

Content 175

Content Startup Social Media IP 175

socalTECH

OCTOBER 9, 2019

There's a new opportunity in clean technology investments, according to venture capitalist Aaron Fyke , the head of a new, Pasadena-based venture capital investment fund, Thin Line Capital (www.thinlinecapital.com). This is not a typical, venture capital investment. social media, and everything else.

Invest 113

Invest Capital Venture Capital Idealab 113

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

Handling PR with VCs. This is part of my series on How to Raise VC but could equally be filed under Startup Advice more generally. Just notice how many VC emails you get after your TechCrunch article or after you were on stage at TC50. In your VC pitch your PR page should take no longer than 30 seconds – Wait.

Venture Capital 291

Venture Capital Press News Startup 291

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2023

The first step is to set your criteria, including a match for your sector type and stage, and then proactively seek out and contact the best candidates: Review profiles on professional social media sites. Identify customer executives who need your solution. Identify customer executives who need your solution.

Statistics 98

Statistics Entrepreneur Funding Social Media 98

Berkonomics

MAY 21, 2015

The logic in this is simple: once a company has market share, other issues can be sorted out to monetize the market, make the company profitable, scoop up wavering competitors, or even sell the company to a larger firm looking for a large customer base. Many, many companies accepting venture capital lost it all following this instruction.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Social Media Invest Marketing 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

The first step is to set your criteria, including a match for your sector type and stage, and then proactively seek out and contact the best candidates: Review profiles on professional social media sites. Identify customer executives who need your solution. Identify customer executives who need your solution.

Funding 173

Funding Tips Startup Statistics 173

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. People don’t want to speak to customer service reps. Not so fast.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan. Do research on investor visibility via Google and social media.

Technical Review 138

Technical Review Startup Innocal Offshore 138

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Nearly four months ago we rebranded at Upfront Ventures. You can watch the video above for a very brief overview of why we rebranded and where we see our place in the VC ecosystem along with what has changed in our industry. Relaunching our brand is part of our larger initiative to build a VC firm of the future.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Startup Blogging Platform 324

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Message delivery must be customized for each investor. In this context, investors are attracted to thought-leaders visible on social media, and people with strong technical credentials.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

kind of like a board for a VC firm). Whenever I’ve faced my toughest moments or biggest decisions as a VC firm, having trust with my LPs and vice versa goes a long way. Some board members spend all of their time in the meeting on electronic devices doing email or even checking social media. I practice what I preach.

Startup 269

Startup Venture Capital Layoffs Resource 269

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

I like the summary of the competitive reality in a new book, “ Rethinking Competitive Advantage: New Rules for the Digital Age ,” by Ram Charan, who relates a wealth of current experience from global clients: Customers expect a personalized experience. Features, availability, and brand are just the price of entry.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

socalTECH

AUGUST 9, 2018

TaskUs has made its name providing much of the back end customer service and business process outsourcing for many, on-demand and Internet companies, across the ride sharing, social media, online food delivery, e-commerce and other areas. READ MORE>>.

Outsource 100

Outsource Santa Monica Social Media Commerce 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

I interviewed Eric for an hour for - This Week in Venture Capital. what is the importance of social media? what is wrong with today’s social media? 26:44 Too much capital is not good. 35:29 Why people use social media. 57: 00 How do you rectify company mission and customer demand.

Social Media 301

Social Media Startup Metrics Media 301

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2023

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors. Conduct your own customized market research.

Statistics 120

Statistics Research Report Newsletter 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know. Thank you. (if

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2021

You continually get frustrated with your team members, customers, vendors, and partners. You never have the time and resources for International expansion, acquisitions, venture capital investors, or going public. It’s very frustrating. All the constituents have their own agenda.

Entrepreneur 174

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Satisfaction Social Media 174

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I think many board members (including VCs) were trained 10+ years ago when life was very different and their advice often comes from an outdated lens. One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Message delivery must be customized for each investor. In this context, investors are attracted to thought-leaders visible on social media, and people with strong technical credentials.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Los Angeles-based Social Rewards , which operates an online, loyalty program which rewards users for social media activity for brands, has raised $600,000 in a seed funding round. Social Rewards was founded by Joseph Morin and Mike Uesugi.

Tech Coast Angels 164

Tech Coast Angels Seed Funding Social Media Los Angeles 164

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors. Conduct your own customized market research.

Marketing 157

Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I’m not going to cover in this post the obvious post-show marketing tasks such as following up on all those business cards you grabbed, communicating with all those people who registered at your site and leveraging your new found fame to score venture capital. Make sure you focus on what matters – your customers.

Startup 310

Startup Venture Capital Press Journal 310

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

Now, given our current economic crisis and VC ‘challenges’, the barriers to funding have gone up significantly as well. Fantastic post by Christian Gammill - Startup Delta Force… From a competitive perspective (e.g. all the other folks out there that will try to enter the same market) the barriers have been dropping over the last few years.

Startup 150

Startup SEM IP SEO 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

I had called on Chamillionaire from the audience and asked him to provide some views on how artists view social media, why they use it and where it’s heading. So it was my great pleasure to host Chamillionaire on This Week in VC this week talking marketing, entrepreneurship, old media and, of course, music.

Entrepreneur 356

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Email 356

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

Enter social media and its importance as a traffic source. The Innovators Dilemma – which means that if you have large customers with big profit margins it’s impossible to throw that all away to destruct your industry. That’s why I say, “ It’s Morning in VC & the Startup World.

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. What stage?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2020

Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan. Do research on investor visibility via Google and social media.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Funding Innocal Offshore 124

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

It’s easy to think that the wife of a well-known & successful VC ( Fred Wilson ) would have had an easy and storied life of wealth and privilege. That’s why I was so interested in having “ The Gotham Gal &# come on This Week in VC ( video link on YouTube , download iTunes, episode 15) ) and dispel those myths.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Venture Capital Entrepreneur 311

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

His work in social media, e-Learning and Performance Support has won awards and has led him into engagements at many Fortune 500 companies including Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Canada, Citibank, Lexus, Microsoft, Nissan, Universal, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Fidelity Investments, Symbol Technologies and SHL Systemhouse.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 13, 2007

His work in social media, e-Learning and Performance Support has won awards and has led him into engagements at many Fortune 500 companies including Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Canada, Citibank, Lexus, Microsoft, Nissan, Universal, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Fidelity Investments, Symbol Technologies and SHL Systemhouse.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Software 150