Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

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!).

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

VC's love to talk about their successes. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. Tech Diligence - Consider The Source. However, they seldom acknowledge their mistakes.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

With Startup Boost, we had dozens of investors, service providers, successful entrepreneurs, and major industry leaders (including Microsoft, Google, Softbank, REME, and TechStars) coalesce around our initiative to help early stage companies get to the next level. AIs continued growth is something I will be keeping my eye on in 2019.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

This is why I loved Brad Feld’s recent post about the “ illusion of product / market fit.” ” This, too, is a must read for any entrepreneur. I have many investments with early traction and I the entrepreneurs I work with must tire of my constantly saying, “Are we really making a difference?

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

Your product demo crushed. You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. The investor has money and the entrepreneur is selling ownership in his or her company. What do I do now?

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

(In case it’s not obvious it’s a play on the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.&# ) I believe that being successful as an entrepreneur requires you to get lots of things done. Entrepreneurs make fast decisions and move forward knowing that at best 70% of their decisions are going to be right. This paralyzes most people.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series of posts and I need to file this one under both Raising Venture Capital and Startup Advice. There were tons of young entrepreneurs showing their latest Web 2.0 People mistook extra doses of Ajax for a successful product. That died with waterfall software development.

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. A deep dive into the Foundry Group investment philosophy including an interesting discussion of their investing Themes. “… our lens is: Internet Software Companies anywhere in the U.S. was starting.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2013

They can read reviews, see pictures and even talk to the family before confirming. I typed in my brothers zip code and ton of houses popped up in his area and I was able to search out on a map view. I then clicked on reviews, looked at pictures and read the owners descriptions of what they were looking for. I registered.

Venture Capital 344

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review San Diego 344

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I originally conceived it as the Top 11 things that I believe “all entrepreneurs need to succeed.&# If it stuck to this theme then I would stand by my top 11. It isn’t a “must&# for me but it’s certainly a huge positive when entrepreneurs have it. Are you launching a mobile application? Another example.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

We’re going to start aggressively spend money on marketing our product. In a world where the economy only heads in one direction (read: 2009-2014) most investors & entrepreneurs forget to pay attention to gross burn. We want a strong balance sheet (um, ok. but that’s our firm’s money on your balance sheet.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

There is a common belief in the angel and venture capital community that you put your money on the best team, rather than the best idea. Thus the top priority of every entrepreneur who wants funding should be to build and highlight their “dream team” of co-founders, executives and advisers, to attract the biggest and best investors.

Startup 60

Startup Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review 60

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. Rinse & repeat.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. They are, in fact, great news for traditional venture capitalists. This article originally ran on PEHub.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2018

com) recently , announced a new healthcare focused venture capital fund, worth $25M. We know one thing, which is that entrepreneurs come out of a world where there is disruption. Wavemaker is a very established venture capital fund, a generalist fund run by Eric Manlunas. What's the story behind the fund?

Startup 113

Startup Technical Review Software Review Artificial Inteligence 113

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. We only want software revenue.” We prefer to sell software, not get involved with client systems.”

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Jackson, CEO and co-founder of CapLinked (www.caplinked.com), which is developing tools to help entrepreneurs and investors connect. Eric is an experienced entrepreneur, and was a very, very early employee at PayPal, where he was recruited by Peter Thiel. Jackson: It's actually two audiences, both the entrepreneur and investor.

Southern California 243

Southern California Entrepreneur Software Review Yammer 243

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The vast majority of those are nowhere up to modern codes. “From the invention of the semiconductor to the creation of the Internet, new engines of economic growth have emerged due to public investments that support research, commercialization, and strong supply chains,” the White House wrote. ” Climate resiliency .

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. I offer the same advice for many of my friends who are newer VCs.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, technology has served you well. The barriers to entry when it comes to launching a company require less tension and a lot less capital. Indiegogo is a platform for ground breaking technology and where you can find interesting products that haven’t hit the mainstream market.

Startup 140

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 140

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

My starting line with every entrepreneur is that everything I learned about being an entrepreneur I learned from F’ing it up on my first business. An external consultant helping the procurement team overturned the decision and got the company to select a small software company owned by the consultancy.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

Andy Wen was the CTO of Christianity.com, and the CTO of early online education firm VCampus, and he also ran the product and web security for eTrade, as well as started a company called Lighthound deals, like a Groupon. It's a pretty credible team and we're starting to staff up on the product and development side.

Startup 271

Startup CTO Coach Activity Software Review 271

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

Our interview today is with Andrew Schydlowsky , the CEO and founder of Santa Barbara-based TrackStreet (www.trackstreet.com), a startup which is backed by Okapi Capital, The Cove Fund, Early Light Ventures, SaaS Venture Capital, and Stage Venture Partners. Andrew Schydlowsky: I'm a serial entrepreneur.

Artificial Inteligence 140

Artificial Inteligence Startup Commerce Sales 140

Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2018

Also at Startup Night will be 25 diverse and innovative startups showcasing their latest products, competing for prizes including: $1K from LaunchKC , Business Extra Points from American Airlines , and a fast tracked spot to the Startup of the Year semifinals competition at Innovate Celebrate 2018. As the President of Start Co.,

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Startup Software Review Entrepreneur 70

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Southern California's technology community--despite all of the recent excitement around Silicon Beach--continues to be underserved in terms of capital, with a lack of venture capital funds (with money), and other private technology investors. Jeb Spencer: We consider ourselves a private equity firm.

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. Product : You should build a product or a prototype. I’m a software guy so I’m sure there are cases where building isn’t feasible. In most cases if you can’t get a prototype done you’re probably not an entrepreneur. That’s OK.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291