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’m enjoying being a VC. 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.&#.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

How can you say that? You should be asking yourself … how could two boys go down the chimney and one ended up dirty and the other ended up clean?!’ Note: this is a non-religious post. This weekend was Yom Kippur, holiest of the Jewish holidays and the day of atonement. Which one takes a shower?’ ’ ‘I see.

Entrepreneur 337

Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Startup Venture Capital 337

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It goes something like this … VC: “How much money are you raising?” Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” This is a red flag for VCs.

Venture Capital 247

Venture Capital Capital Funding Demand 247

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2010

I’m not anti VC. But there are a lot of things that become norms in the VC industry that always drove me crazy from entrepreneur’s side of the table. But there are a lot of things that become norms in the VC industry that always drove me crazy from entrepreneur’s side of the table.

Entrepreneur 297

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Java 297

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. This is part of a series on how to improve your fund raising game. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting. The first post & the full outline if you click the link.)

Venture Capital 261

Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She actually IS the prototypical entrepreneur. It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. The idea came from having been recently married herself and seeing how expensive it can be to buy a new wedding dress. More on that later.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. VC firm admin. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Helping be the VC “presence” at key events.

Help 365

Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Today we’re announcing that my partner Kara Nortman is becoming Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to welcome her to her new role. I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.”

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Entrepreneurs are inherently risk takers.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 29, 2014

One of the hardest things for most entrepreneurs to know is how hard to push in situations where people tell you “no.” ” But then again most entrepreneurs fail. I’d say less than 20% of of entrepreneurs fit into that bucket.

Venture Capital 389

Venture Capital Email Startup Conference 389

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

A few months ago I wrote a post called “ Invest in Lines, Not Dots.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are. Let me explain.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. No matter how smart or knowledgable Gore was he couldn’t get a break in the media. Most Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs I know are more like Al Gore.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

Back in November I agreed with Nivi over at VentureHacks to do a series on the ten most important attributes of a successful entrepreneur. Unfortunately, I don’t believe it is perfectly correlated with what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. This is the last post in that series.

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Funding 284

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. But VC is like congress. They see how hard she does her job. Their data looks at tech VCs. I read Andy’s post with a knowing smile on my face.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2019

But what if you are an introvert, or new to this game, and don’t know where or how to start? Business groups like TiE-The Indus Entrepreneurs and EO-Entrepreneurs Organization are places to meet people you can help, as well as people who can help you. Volunteer to help out with entrepreneur activities at your local university.

Networking 90

Networking Entrepreneur Social Network Activity 90

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 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’m enjoying being a VC. 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.&#.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

VCs strangely never seem to weigh in on other VC funds. I have no incentive to do so other than to help those reading the WSJ piece better understand how I believe most insiders think. As an entrepreneur I never really knew what to make of VC return data. Let me offer you an insider’s take. Can that really work?”

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Invest Funding Competition 264

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. But you need to understand that VCs are partnerships.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital Summary Organization Entrepreneur 309

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). But it still takes VC to scale a business (thus large capital into industry winners like Uber, Airbnb, SnapChat, etc). It doesn’t take a huge leap to see how well the VC industry is positioned for the immediate future.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

We caught up with Ryan (who calls himself an "anti-VC") to hear more about his investment firm, which has invested in such companies as Heal , Elite Daily , Saucey , and FragMob. Tell us a bit of the story on how you started HashtagOne? I'm a bit of an anti-VC, as you know. It's all about leverage.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

Berkonomics

JANUARY 5, 2012

Investors will invariably try to tell you that they know much more about the “how to” than you do, and that you should listen to them. A good entrepreneur-turned-CEO listens, takes it all in, responds with reason, and stands up for what s/he believes for the parts that matter most. It is good to listen. It is good to listen.

Entrepreneur 136

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Course Startup 136

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

It is simply the most important way to proactively control your career development and how the market perceives you. Frankly, many of their views are shaped by unconscious biases, word-of-mouth feedback, stereotypes and how they perceive your communication style in the world of open, social communication fora. It is neither.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

.” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. ” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.” LA By The Numbers.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

As the startup figures out how to make something lots of people want and how to reach those people, there’s a period of rapid growth. “Why do founders want to take the VCs’ money? ” This is a frequent theme of mine when asked to speak to audience about the VC industry. For example. Growth, again.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

InfoChachkie

JUNE 27, 2011

I recently answered the question “ What are good ways to raise your children to be entrepreneurs? ” My response was brief and straightforward, which is common of popular Quora answers (as discussed in How To Write An Effective Quora Answer ). Note: This is part I of a five part series. No Paychecks.

Entrepreneur 270

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Resource 270

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 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 don’t think most VC’s do. But in most situations a VC will want to be able to judge how you perform over time. I’m sure that happens.

Entrepreneur 291

Entrepreneur Startup Google Yammer 291

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment. LA Female Office Hours. So why is this initiative so important for men, women and other gender identities?

Venture Capital 256

Venture Capital Examples Screening Help 256

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me. Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Berkonomics

JANUARY 10, 2019

Investors will invariably try to tell you that they know much more about the “how to” than you do, and that you should listen to them. A good entrepreneur-turned-CEO listens, takes it all in, responds with reason, and stands up for what s/he believes for the parts that matter most. How to respond to “change the course” suggestions.

Venture Capital 136

Venture Capital Course Email Ideas 136

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

Why You Need to Be Sure You’re Not the Sucker ” I talked about how VCs (or other investors) get deals sent to them and how to interpret a referral. Of course I’ve talked about wanting to get to know entrepreneurs over long periods of time ( lines, not dots ) – my most referred to post.

Venture Capital 337

Venture Capital Invest Ideas Entrepreneur 337

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Every year, at the end of the year, we share some reflections on the past year from our readers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, sponsors, and others in the local technology community. The biggest lesson learned this year has been how hot the LA tech ecosystem has become. Since 2010, $6.3B Since 2010, $6.3B

Capital 100

Capital Technical Review Truecar Venture Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

The speaks to the continued confidence in the venture capital markets and as I had predicted some time ago the VC markets right now are a great place to invest – especially relative to other places to put one’s money. If you want to understand how the VC industry is changing there is a great primer in the link.

Venture Capital 396

Venture Capital Funding Technical Review Startup 396

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

” Today I want to talk about how a VC thinks about equity pricing on your round and particularly if you’re coming off of a convertible note. I can boil it down to how this tension plays out. In the old days VCs funded off of a “pre-money” valuation. How much am I willing to invest in your company?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I told him I wanted to call it, “My Pal Dave” to explain the disconnect for me between how the public perceives Dave and the real Dave I know. I knew him well before he became a VC. I knew his as he considered becoming a VC and we talked a lot about how it was going for me in my early years. Not much more.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according to a classic Crunchbase article. Individual angel investors and crowdfunding have been adding to the momentum, some say exceeding VCs in total amount invested.

Guide 136

Guide Venture Capital Funding Class 136

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. . ” I highly recommend reading it. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Turns out like most things there are no simple answers. Let’s set up a framework.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Berkonomics

JANUARY 10, 2019

Investors will invariably try to tell you that they know much more about the “how to” than you do, and that you should listen to them. A good entrepreneur-turned-CEO listens, takes it all in, responds with reason, and stands up for what s/he believes for the parts that matter most. How to respond to “change the course” suggestions.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Course Email Ideas 120