Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

In order to understand how to “get to yes” with a VC you first need to understand how VC partnerships make decisions and then you can understand how to increase your odds of closing a deal. VC Partnerships Start by understanding how many partners are at the firm you are approaching. Reciprocity is equally destructive.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Invest Slides 314

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2013

I spent countless hours with VC firms, startups & LPs (the people who invest in VC firms). On my first real day back the first thought I have is that most entrepreneurs don’t manage their VC relationships as well as they could. And it would well be worth your while to broaden your relationships within your VC firm.

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Venture Capital Summary Organization Entrepreneur 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The typical VC process is as follows: They say there are three rules in property: Location, location, location. The surest sign a fund-raising process has stalled is when you aren’t getting follow-up meetings or hearing from the VC or hearing from friends that they got a phone call or email asking about you. Same with VC.

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2010

I was on This Week in Venture Capital (TWiVC) again this week with Jason Calacanis. Stitcher - San Francisco-based service that lets users customize talk radio programming on their mobile devices. I found this investment strange since normally VC’s hate to bet on gaming companies. Time will tell. OTHER STUFF.

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Venture Capital Capital Google Platform 271

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? How our VC Firms Like Ours Organizing to Meet the Challenges?

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

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Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

One of the least understood parts of the venture capital industry and venture capital firms is how investment decisions actually get made. You’d be surprised how many firms are “dictator VCs” – even those that don’t formally acknowledge it internally. ” Some firms are collegiate.

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Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? billion fund.

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Venture Capital Startup LAMP Marketing 466

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Understanding Venture Capital. I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. I believe these VC funds have suffered some amount of reputation fall out. Let me explain: 1.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros. Partner Leverage.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

Investors: FirstMark Capital (Amish Jani)(lead), with existing investors: Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, First Round Capital, Reid Hoffman. Assistly “Multi-channel customer support and management service&# – this is another industry I love and I specifically love the team at Assistly.

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Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

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. I keep meaning to get him drunk to spill the stories.

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Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Mobile 270

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

The steps outlined below represent an ideal approach to raising capital from sophisticated investors. You might be at Step 2 with one VC and Step 3 with another. VCs collude all the time, it is only fair that entrepreneurs compare notes every now and again as well.”. Even the most jaded VC cannot resist authentic flattery.

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Venture Capital Capital Research Custom 236

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 8, 2012

Five broad sources of independent, third-party validation are: Customers, Partners, Distributors, Industry Experts and other Stakeholders. Each of these constituents is represented below in the Triangle Of Evidence that you must build in order to demonstrate that your venture has achieved meaningful traction. Triangle Of Evidence.

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Venture Capital RSS Custom Customer 265

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. Unfortunately your advisers are wrong.

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Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

TechCrunch LA

MAY 3, 2022

million last year, is among hair businesses aimed at women and people of color, like Rebundle , Morado and theCut , attracting venture capital dollars. Upgrade’s e-commerce marketplace has two sides: one that enables consumers to choose a vetted stylist and have their wig colored or customized based on their desired look.

Tool 179

Tool Custom Customer Marketing 179

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

One of the questions I’m most often asked is, “what’s it like being a VC?&# I’ve been a VC for nearly 3 years now. I always start my answer to this question with, “you’d have to be a pretty big baby to complain about being a VC.&# And the VC job has plenty of admin and minutiae.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2009

The post is part of a series called “Pitching a VC&# – the outlines is here. You’ve been trying to raise VC for months. What about all the other VC’s I’m talking with? A VC isn’t going to give you an unlimited offer to stay on the table as you shop the terms around town.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technology 197

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. But take prompts from the VC.

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Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 23, 2012

Wednesday, August 29, 2012 -- Lunch and Learn: Venture Capital and Investments. When companies want to grow revenue streams with new clients and customers, what are the options? This program will focus on the various sources of fundings such as venture capital and different types of investments.

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Venture Capital Capital Invest Entrepreneur 113

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2010

Venture capital investments in Southern California in Q3 totaled to $464.18M, according to the latest numbers released by the PricewaterhouseCoopers/NVCA Money Tree Report this evening, based on data from Thomson Reuters. billion invested in 780 venture capital deals for Q3. Nationwide, there was $4.8 in investments.

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Southern California Venture Capital Orange County Rustic Canyon 195

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 26, 2010

Leaving your real competitors off of you presentation to a VC is not recommended. which features do you believe your customers care about and where you’re try to differentiate? where do you need to make investments to make up ground and therefore need capital?). It is a great place to talk about your future roadmap.

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Venture Capital Slides Competition Education 313

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. I’m not a doomsday guy, but just believe that we won’t see a V shaped recovery, which could make VC funding more difficult for tech start-ups (don’t shoot the messenger!).

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Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 Identify the right people in the right venture firms.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 101

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

My primary role was “chief psychologist&# and as I’ve learned over the past few years the same has been true as a VC. Once you’ve been around for a few years, attracted some great people, landed real, paying customers and raised venture capital you’ve likely got a talented team around you.

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Venture Capital Startup Sales Custom 319

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC.&#. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. A large part of my series has been outlining what the typical VC PowerPoint presentation should look like. You want to build a dialogue where you get to know the VC with whom you’re meeting. It happens.

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Venture Capital Slides Startup Sales 238

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. I’m an investor at [Big Name, Large Fund VC] and recently came across [Your Company]. If the goal is simply to get the basic details (revenue, customers, staff numbers, prior funding) then no judgment is required.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures).

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Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

So part of seeing you with a team is to get a read on team dynamics and believe me all VCs discuss the team dynamics after you leave as in. Here are some guidelines for you – particularly for VC pitch meetings. It’s a terrible sign and VCs don’t miss this. The tougher the question the better.

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Venture Capital Slides Course Summary 377

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 . The abundance of late-stage capital is good for us all. My first ever investment as a VC was Invoca. Entrada Ventures? —?that Maker Studios?—?sold

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Venture Capital Capital Funding .Net 363

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 19, 2020

For entrepreneurs just getting their businesses off the ground, Grill advises that they focus on building their product and customer base before tapping venture investment. For established businesses that need additional support, the door remains open.

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Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Los Angeles 135

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

As such, I understand the degree to which hand waving and vaporware can influence investors and potential customers. An interface that is engaging can fool customers into trying a sub-par product. However, if a product with a mediocre GUI is consistently adopted by customers, it may signal a lucrative investment opportunity.

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Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Most of the venture capital firms covered in TechCrunch and other tech publications compete for a spot on the cap table of the hottest Bay Area, New York or Los Angeles companies of the moment. Since Revolution launched in 2005, venture capital activity in underrepresented markets has grown significantly.

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Venture Capital Funding Seed Funding Activity 211

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

Had a great chat with Jim Armstrong who is a General Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners today on TWiVC. It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. Segment Three: “VC Deals Funded this Week”.

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Clearstone Venture Capital ReachLocal Google 236

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2011

I just read the Q1 2011 report from CB Insights , which shows venture capital is back. Back to VCs, Silicon Valley venture capital firms are still the most active. So what can you do to get to the head of the venture capital investment queue? Overall, investors put $7.5 That represents a $1.5

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Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 93

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

Instead, several former SpaceX employees have launched a raft of new companies, capturing the imagination and dollars of some of the biggest names in venture capital. “ It was a company in LA more than it was an LA company.” Over the past four years, Relativity href="[link] has raised $185.7

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SpaceX Help Venture Capital Snapchat 173