Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. A business plan is for you first, not investors.

Startup 174

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 174

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2021

The issue in these cases was usually not the technology per se, but the bigger business picture of marketable prices, ease of use, and support infrastructures. You don’t really understand a new idea, until you try to write it down and succinctly communicate it to peers and critics. Network in the industry as well as outside.

Mentor 139

Mentor Entrepreneur Ideas Networking 139

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Writing a book is very different from writing a blog. One, I wanted to know what it was like to write a book. Second, both Jason and I felt there was a lot of timeless information…the state of the art of the Venture Capital Term Sheet hasn’t changed that much in the last 30-years. There were a couple motivations.

Venture Capital 224

Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur Blogging 224

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2022

If you can explain the problem to a mentor, or even write it down, you will more likely get to the root cause quickly, and avoid emotional and blame-infused responses. Good problem solving requires making informed decisions, relying on logic. Explore solutions, outcomes, and options calmly. Work with a partner you can trust.

Startup 135

Startup Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review 135

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 11, 2012

And negotiation technique is one of the few areas on my MBA that was truly new information to me by the time I had attended. As a result I’ve really resisted writing about negotiations. Sometimes I even say, “I will change price / terms if I need to. Your job is to offer a price (or terms) and walk.

Pricing 305

Pricing Startup Examples Writing 305

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. Another is to gain the support of a core vendor who is willing to offer special extended terms to the company as its investment in creating the product in a finished state.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I’m sitting at my computer now at 9.00pm writing this – which is an hour earlier than I normally write (there are about 8 women at my kitchen table having a book club (aka excuse to drink wine & gossip so I’m locked in another room writing. We have an informed point of view. I enjoy that. Same thing.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

As automotive web sites go, there are lots of review and information sites giving you information about new and used cars, magazines and information sites for auto enthusiasts, and discussion sites and groups for all kinds of cars. Their writing style, even for a mainstream publication, is they write with lots of testosterone.

Truecar 204

Truecar Writing Edmunds Sites 204

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2020

Pushing yourself on customers by touting features and price doesn’t work anymore. Although customers today are comfortable providing personal information in return for a better experience, they are also quick to write you off if you misuse the data, disclose it, or use it to push irrelevant products.

Customer 133

Customer Custom Social Media Startup 133

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

But we’ve gotten the point where ENIFA and they will invest with no information based solely on the name of who else has invested. Even if one disagrees with the premise, why would anyone feel the need to attack Mike for writing it? Information Leaks are a Real Problem. Information leaks. This is a hard one.

Angel 150

Angel Startup Seed Funding Invest 150

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. Another is to gain the support of a core vendor who is willing to offer special extended terms to the company as its investment in creating the product in a finished state.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Berkonomics

MARCH 13, 2014

They told me all about why this is such a good idea: hard to manage price discovery in the commercial real estate market; fragmented information about vacancies obtained from landlords and brokers; and the large scale of transactions. The company is building a website to match commercial tenants with commercial landlords.

Invest 237

Invest Examples Networking Writing 237

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. So you’re stuck with an internal financing and no leverage to drive a fair price for yourself.

Entrepreneur 310

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Writing Invest 310

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests. They will have to negotiate price and terms. Therefore of course they need to be more selection when writing checks and can’t spread their bets across 75 deals. million round I might write $1.8 – 2.2

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

InfoChachkie

MAY 18, 2015

I am sorry to disappoint the MBA crowd, but estimating the value of your startup stock options is not something you can do using the Black-Sholes option pricing model. To this end, politely and persistently ask the following questions until you obtain enough information to estimate each of the variables in the formulas shown below.

Startup 100

Startup Software Review Pricing Capital 100

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

You likely are writing your first one of these. In fact, let me provide an important warning: If you create these documents, don't have input from a technical resource, take it to a development shop and they provide you a price. It's fine to send out documents that have older information. Don't stress over format.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

These have the benefit to VCs of not cross-collateralizing returns and to LPs of being able to know the underlying asset before they write the check. If you get into a high-growth company and you have asymmetric information on how the management team is performing? But there are clear pro’s and con’s.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital Capital Startup Funding 292

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Even though I have raised significant venture capital as an entrepreneur and have participated in dozens of transactions as an investor, I still found the book to be informative, especially with regard to the dilutive impact of some of the more onerous deal terms that we avoid at Rincon Ventures. Price – I am cheapskate.

Venture Capital 205

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

socalTECH

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Last month, Beverly Hills-based Nash Information Services , the firm behind The Numbers --one of the most extensive database of financial information about movies--announced a new service which allows third party software applications and websites to pull information from the firm's database, via OpusData (www.opusdata.com).

Beverly Hills 164

Beverly Hills Research Hollywood Sites 164

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. The key to getting money is that the people writing the check trust you. The information is publicly available.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

And for some strange reason entrepreneurs didn’t share this information. I’m not sure I really even need to write this at length because Nivi absolutely nailed the topic in his article “ The Option Pool Shuffle.&#. I just want to figure out what a fair valuation is.&# I figured all the VC’s talked so we should.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? A few reasons. You should read this post. Deep pockets.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

You need to be an eager investigator, avoiding the temptation to write things off before you’ve opened your eyes to all the possibilities they offer. If you can enhance the user’s experience with sending, or getting, real-time information, you should. Here are some principles I have adapted from Emily’s work: Be eternally curious.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Ideas Writing Training 95

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

We short-handed this marketing mix as “ the four P’s ” – product, price, promotion and place (distribution) – this was devised in 1960 and while a little bit dated is still a useful framework. Simply write a great book? Of course websites like Reddit and HackerNews try to weed out such behavior.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

If you have investors or board members that have wide relationships you can get significantly more value out of them by keeping them informed. So naturally we’re pushing for him to drop critical information when their paths cross organically. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes. More information comes out.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2015

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. A business plan is for you first, not investors.

Startup 105

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Ideas 105

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2019

If you can explain the problem to a mentor, or even write it down, you will more likely get to the root cause quickly, and avoid emotional and blame-infused responses. Good problem solving requires making informed decisions, relying on logic. Explore solutions, outcomes, and options calmly. Work with a partner you can trust.

Mentor 85

Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review Summary 85

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

Of course when you think about it it’s kind of obvious but when people make snap judgments about information they hear about companies or read about in the press they often don’t take the time to start to consider the details. One company might be growing its revenue at 50% per year and the other might be growing at 5% per year.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2017

Ultimately the Goldman Sachs report gets picked up by a journalist who writes a hyperbolic headline with emphatic conclusions because nobody wants to read that tomorrow will be just like today. So a degree of skepticism, critical thinking and understanding data biases are always in order.

Venture Capital 182

Venture Capital Statistics Writing Report 182

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Or read the quick, informative summary below the image! Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. o CPM model gave him control over the information in the acquisition cycle so he focused on that. - o Everything is for sale but it’s the price that moves the timing. He told them it was now or never.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. She helps write press releases. Soleil is paranoid about leaking design & product information because she’s been burned. ladies, show me what you got.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

Of course sentiment can swing wildly with new information but I set out to take the pulse of the market as we enter 2016. Leaving aside China, oil prices, Syrian refugees, a presidential election and all of the things that might feed into general market fear – this chart is telling. So why the slow down all of a sudden?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Course Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2011

You need to be an eager investigator, avoiding the temptation to write things off before you’ve opened your eyes to all the possibilities they offer. If you can enhance the user’s experience with sending, or getting, real-time information, you should. Here are some principles I have adapted from Emily’s work: Be eternally curious.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Ideas Writing Training 92

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

Yesterday, I was talking to a startup founder about their MVP and they said something that finally got me to write this post: "I have a few investors interested but they want to see a product." That's an even tougher hurdle. Yes, that's correct. Sorry, but that's the reality.

Metrics 264

Metrics Venture Capital News Product 264

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

As a result founders often meet the wrong investors, waste time on those who ask for more information. Keeping it to 8–10 helps you manage the public information flow that will be broader if you see 20 firms and also help you prioritize resources. Any information that creates a compelling next meeting is worth doing.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

We had the final terms of our agreement fairly well boxed in within a range of about 5-7% on price and within 30 days on move-in date. I obviously preferred the lowest price and I wanted the latest move-in date. She told me, “start with the price you want but the move in date he wants.&#. I told my agent. She way annoyed.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73