Berkonomics

APRIL 1, 2021

My favorite example of a world class pivot comes from the CEO and board of one of my most successful investments. Green Dot Corporation was formed by an entrepreneur in the year 2001 to create a product to permit those without credit cards to purchase items on the Internet. My story of a great pivot.

Resource 156

Resource Research Class News 156

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Email readers, continue here…] Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally-generated funds. And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Venture Capital 266

Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

Berkonomics

JANUARY 6, 2022

First, the marginal exit event: Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event for the early investors, including the entrepreneur or the founders. Promissory notes come before any equity, and most late equity investments come before early equity investments, even of the same class of security.

Venture Capital 156

Venture Capital Sales Pricing Equity 156

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 18, 2018

For investors, a subsequent down round at a lower valuation than the last, or an exit opportunity at a loss are all opportunities for the affected stakeholder to show a side that can sometimes shock an entrepreneur or CEO. The chasm between management and employees. Investor loyalty is most tenuous of all.

Layoffs 240

Layoffs Class News Email 240

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. Concentrate on a world class team.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. Concentrate on a world class team.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Berkonomics

APRIL 3, 2014

There are three classes of equity investors for early stage businesses that we have not yet considered. First, angel investment groups come in all sizes from a few organized angels to large groups of three hundred or more. Angel groups invest from $250,000 to $1,000,000 or more in qualified investments.

Equity 232

Equity Startup Organization Invest 232

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

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. Email readers, continue here.] Anyone can build a good – or great – plan.

Startup 245

Startup Summary Metrics Class 245

Berkonomics

JULY 5, 2018

Most businesses fall into the class of those that can be sold someday to a willing buyer. Accepting venture or angel money is to create a contract between the investors and the entrepreneur that the business will someday be sold or even go public to create an exit for the investors. And I’d go further.

Class 226

Class Email Competition Entrepreneur 226

Berkonomics

MAY 27, 2021

If you take money from knowledgeable investors, you will be required to create a board as a part of the investment process. The average board for a company taking outside investment money is five. More importantly, no entrepreneur or CEO can do it all alone, especially in a rapid growth scenario. So, why go through the effort?

Resource 156

Resource Acquisition Class Help 156

Berkonomics

APRIL 4, 2019

On the other side, entrepreneurs and CEO’s usually have a natural fear of giving too much information to us investors after the initial investment is received. Email readers, continue here…] Prepare for your annual meetings well. Requirements created by investment documents. But don’t worry.

Class 120

Class Course Report Competition 120

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

Although many are entertaining, most fail to provide entrepreneurs with a sufficient return on their time investment. Unfortunately, most business books do not offer entrepreneurs an adequate payoff. At the conclusion of Enchantment , Guy includes a 20-question test which enables readers to assess their persuasion capabilities.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

My favorite example of a world class pivot comes from the CEO and board of one of my most successful investments. Green Dot Corporation was formed by an entrepreneur in the year 2000 to create a product to permit those without credit cards to purchase items on the Internet.

Class 176

Class Resource Email Examples 176

Berkonomics

JUNE 12, 2014

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. First, there is the entrepreneur , the visionary, and force behind the venture from start to finish. Email readers, continue here.]

Startup 214

Startup Equity Invest Class 214

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. You imagined him as the kid in your class at school at the front of the room raising his hand at every question and saying, “Oooh, me. It is election season.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2012

We caught up with Sam Teller , who is directing efforts at the accelerator, to help fill entrepreneurs in on where the program fits in the world of technology and startup acceleration. For readers, LaunchpadLA is all about? It was really just something built for the community to help support entrepreneurs.

Class 261

Class Mentor Startup Santa Monica 261

socalTECH

DECEMBER 26, 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. Growing our practice from 3 original partners who would meet at coffee shops into a full institutional investing platform is a constant evolution.

Southern California 100

Southern California News Platform Class 100

Berkonomics

APRIL 13, 2017

Email readers, continue here…] Can you dominate that market? Do you have a world-class management team? Building a great business to create wealth for the entrepreneur at exit, means thinking of the exit strategies from the beginning. Can you translate an idea into a compelling product?

Patents 291

Patents Pricing Ideas Marketing 291

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

If you take money from knowledgeable investors, you will be required to create a board as a part of the investment process. The average board for a company taking outside investment money is five. More importantly, no entrepreneur or CEO can do it all alone, especially in a rapid growth scenario.

Resource 222

Resource Acquisition Class Help 222

Berkonomics

JUNE 17, 2011

Most businesses fall into the class of those that can be sold someday to a willing buyer. Accepting venture or angel money is to create a contract between the investors and the entrepreneur that the business will someday be sold or even go public to create an exit for the investors. Email readers continue here.]

Equity 209

Equity Class Email Competition 209

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event for the early investors, including the entrepreneur or the founders. Promissory notes come before any equity, and most late equity investments come before early equity investments, even of the same class of security.

Angel 120

Angel Sales Pricing Equity 120

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

These nominees came from (many) reader suggestions; suggestions by a wide range of industry insiders who served as an informal nominating committee; and our own and other editorial coverage. Congratulations to our third class of the socalTECH 50! Where did these names come from? Harrison Tang , Spokeo. Alice Taylor , MakieLab.

SoCalTech 100

SoCalTech Lootcrate Southern California Snapchat 100

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

Email readers continue here.]. Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally-generated funds. And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Venture Capital 174

Venture Capital Invest Class Entrepreneur 174

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 20, 2010

I recently read a book I'd highly recommend to every reader of this blog called "Yes, 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive” by Robert B. Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California.

Southern California 113

Southern California GRP Partners Blogging SoCal 113

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

5) When I interviewed people at my past startups, I rejected them if they asked me about our dental plan, as true entrepreneurs don’t care about such pedestrian benefits. You decide how much you want to invest in your employees and then you give your employees the control to build a custom perk package for themselves.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

I recently read a book I’d highly recommend to every reader of this blog called “ Yes, 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive &# by Robert B. Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

Only Hire A+ People Who Punch Above Their Weight Class. I believe that you should always hire people are are looking to “punch above their weight class,&# which means to hire people who want to be one league above where they are today. Weight Class : Let’s take sales. I had always been a scrappy entrepreneur.

Startup 327

Startup Sales Class CIO 327

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

Technology riches yield bumper crops in venture capital with new firms and new largesses – the rewards of LPs rediscovering our asset class. Or the influx of massive new amounts of entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs seeking fortune and fame? This must be a boon for entrepreneurs of fast-growing tech firms – right?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Platform Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2012

You can fly first class and not talk to fellow passengers. Entrepreneur Dinners. One of my favorite things to do is to organize entrepreneur dinners when I travel. I usually ask somebody local who knows the local scene to invite out 10-15 local entrepreneurs who might be interested to meet up and I agree to pick up the tab.

Startup 319

Startup Organization Entrepreneur Blogging 319

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Interesting patterns emerged: Everyone makes the same classes of error. Wannabe entrepreneur symptoms and cures - Gabriel Weinberg , July 25, 2010 I was once a wannabe entrepreneur. recently did a lecture at a Babson MBA summer class on Entrepreneurial Leadership. You're probably making a lot of these errors too.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217