Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2010

I wrote several of the characteristics when I did the Top 10 (11) Attributes of an Entrepreneur. If engineering got the shaft because “we need 3 more weekends from you to get this release out the door&# … then there better be a solution to make this up to them and to explain your decision. Zynga and others.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Yahoo Startup Technical Review 330

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

The biggest complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Check the setup and set the stage.

Startup 64

Startup Slides Technical Review Research 64

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Note the full presentation deck with additional slides can be found on SlideShare here or you can simply scroll through it at the bottom of this post.]. We all have one-click purchase power (Apple, Google, Amazon, eBay).

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. Many startup companies hire advisory boards. It’s mostly done by first-time entrepreneurs who want to persuade (bribe?) If you plan to set one up – no problem. come out of the gate strong and never let up) then you might get some attention.

Startup 306

Startup Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 306

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2015

The biggest complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Check the setup and set the stage.

Slides 105

Slides Technical Review Startup Research 105

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

But then Marc Andreessen weighed in – as did I and several others – and the media picked up on his comments. Entrepreneurs can still build big businesses on the outskirts.” We once thought Microsoft was a monopoly on the Internet due to IE. billion less than 5 years after it was created. Laughable now.

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My advice to entrepreneurs was and is “ when the hors d’oeuvres tray is being passed take two ” (e.g. It eventually closed at 11,204 in April ’10 before sliding back around 10,000 as I sit here and type. raise money now to weather any storms).

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

On a regular basis, I am approached by entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. They cite sources like a recent BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this NY Times article. You have built a successful startup, and plan to use the same investors.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2013

The biggest complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Check the setup and set the stage.

Angel 102

Angel Funding Slides Technical Review 102

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2019

If you are like most entrepreneurs I know, there just aren’t enough hours in a day to get all your own work done, as well as run the many one-hour meetings each team member seems to demand for decisions and mentoring. For one-on-one coaching from the startup founder, I call this approach five-minute mentoring.

Mentor 124

Mentor Technical Review Coach Slides 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2015

If you are like most entrepreneurs I know, there just aren’t enough hours in a day to get all your own work done, as well as run the many one-hour meetings each team member seems to demand for decisions and mentoring. For one-on-one coaching from the startup founder, I call this approach five-minute mentoring.

Product 99

Product Mentor Startup Technical Review 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Based on my experience and data from the field, over seventy-five percent of new startups fail, even with venture backing. Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. Make sure your solution is defensible and unique.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. This blog post ended up on Valleywag (which had much bigger presence back then). Anyway, the starting point for this blog entry is a cartoon I remember reading in the New Yorker.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

I have been writing a series on how startup boards get selected, who sits on them and what to avoid. I will also delve into how to prepare for them, how to make the meeting effective and how to best follow up to make sure people take action. msuster Many investors don't know how to be good Board members.

Startup 251

Startup Help Technical Review Writing 251

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2012

The biggest complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Check the setup and set the stage.

Tips 97

Tips Slides Technical Review Startup 97

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. They cite sources like the BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this Forbes article. On the other hand, your mother probably won’t read one.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 109

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

I thought about things I never had to as an entrepreneur: check size, ownership percentage, deal stage, portfolio construction and risk. I started showing my partners more deals that I found interesting and doing loads of analysis on the future of markets I thought were ripe for disruption. On Mar-6 it hit 6,626 or 53% off its peak.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2011

The biggest complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Check the setup and set the stage.

Slides 95

Slides Technical Review Startup Research 95

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

Other times the partner wants to test whether there is support before sinking in tons of due diligence time. Either way, don’t assume that the entire room is up to speed on your company. If it’s OK with you I’d love to answer it in just a couple of minutes after the next few slides.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 12, 2010

In the technology world there are a few websites that most startups track to keep up with the latest financings, acquisitions, product announcements and gossip: BusinessInsider, TechCrunch, Mashable, GigaOm, etc. Dan makes a point that you shouldn’t be telling everyone about your valuation as Slide did. Minutes 8 – 10.

Venture Capital 232

Venture Capital Slides Seed Funding Google 232

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

The concept comes from a Stephen Covey book called “ First Things First ,&# which is a worthwhile book ( Wikipedia overview here ) but if you haven’t read his seminal book “ 7 Habits of Highly Effective People &# you should start with that. I did the outline of the 15 slides on the flight over (after a few beers).

Slides 374

Slides Email Entrepreneur Startup 374

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. are eliminated during due diligence. Over the past 10 years, I have had the opportunity to see how the process works, several times from the startup side, and more recently from the angel perspective (as a member of an angel group selection committee).

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. are eliminated during due diligence. Over the past 10 years, I have had the opportunity to see how the process works, several times from the startup side, and more recently from the angel perspective (as a member of an angel group selection committee).

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 3, 2012

A look around technology industry, perhaps the heart of the global revolution, shows a happily working international community all pushing for the common goal of innovation. An E visa is meant for foreign investors looking to start a business in the U.S. or purely invest in established U.S. In Silicon Valley’s favor, “U.S.

Technical Review 77

Technical Review Startup Offshore Entrepreneur 77

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Any SoCal entrepreneur raising early-stage money should put Rincon on their short list. Before booking a hotel I always check out Trip Advisor and read reviews. It’s hard for angels to assess whether or not to invest because they often have day jobs and can’t commit to the kind of due diligence that most VCs go through.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? These are probably the two sites where I've posted the most reviews.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

It was an online community like CompuServe and eventually started offering people dial-up access to the Internet for a monthly fee. Brands didn’t advertise their web pages they advertised “AOL Keywords.&# You couldn’t pick up a magazine in the 96-99 timeframe without seeing AOL Keywords advertised everywhere.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Web 2.0 Startup 318

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

Some great content around the intersection of startups and being a Startup CTO in June this year. This continues my series of posts: Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March There was some really great content in June. It shows a lack of interest.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175