Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2023

Here is my edited summary of their ten principles, which I like and may convince you that you don’t need a business plan at all, or at the very least will help you write a better one later: A new venture is a means, not an end. Too much hesitation will kill any new venture, as markets move quickly and difficulties mount.

Startup 142

Startup Capital Resource Research 142

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

If you want the whole deck you can find it on SlideShare but I’ve written up a short summary with commentary below. In fact, the “traditional VC” market has only grown 14% per year and mega-rounds now account for nearly half of the dollars in the industry. More on that later.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital Capital Startup Funding 292

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. Whether you are charting new territory for pricing models or technology, there is rarely a perfect solution. Explore solutions, outcomes, and options calmly.

Startup 135

Startup Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review 135

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Here is my summary of some major considerations that every entrepreneur needs to evaluate against the cost and effort to attract equity investors: Completing a grant application is real work. Otherwise find an inexpensive class on grant writing. Enhance your business plan and marketing with these in mind.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2020

Here is my edited summary of their ten principles, which I like and may convince you that you don’t need a business plan at all, or at the very least will help you write a better one later: A new venture is a means, not an end. Too much hesitation will kill any new venture, as markets move quickly and difficulties mount.

Startup 143

Startup Capital Resource Research 143

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

15 years ago we were at the peak of Internet hype with the launch of many over-capitalized businesses with a market size & opportunity was limited. The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). But markets value high growth over short-term profitability. Where are we today?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

In my opinion it’s the most natural fit and it would give Netflix a very strong presence in Los Angeles and in TV (obviously subject to getting the right writes from the studios). He defines this as new products that are dramatically cheaper, lower quality, lower margin but larger markets. Incumbents can’t react.

Netflix 329

Netflix Evite Pricing Hulu 329

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2013

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Sample 92

Sample Writing Startup Summary 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2012

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Sample 96

Sample Writing Summary Startup 96

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

The idea that the course asks students to write public blog posts is a testament to its more modern teaching style. My list of excuses includes: product, pricing, competition and lack of sales support. In my post I specifically talked about the integration of marketing and sales. In Summary.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

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 would be great to get notes and summaries from these. Don't stress over format.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

I must admit I discuss this very frequently with portfolio companies but hadn’t thought to write about it. As the desk-based Internet emerged it was initially sold through telecom carriers (after players like AOL and EarthLink innovated the market). I need to give credit for the topic to PR Malloy who Tweeted me this question.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Customer Custom 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

If you want to watch the show click the image above or this link , but if you want a quick read – here’s a summary: 1. on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price. The A round was done in February 2000 (end of the bull market) and my B round was done in April 2001 (bear market).

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2010

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Startup 91

Startup Funding Sample Writing 91

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2018

Here is my edited summary of their ten principles, which I like and may convince you that you don’t need a business plan at all, or at the very least will help you write a better one later: A new venture is a means, not an end. Too much hesitation will kill any new venture, as markets move quickly and difficulties mount.

Startup 94

Startup Capital Resource Research 94

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. Whether you are charting new territory for pricing models or technology, there is rarely a perfect solution. Explore solutions, outcomes, and options calmly.

Mentor 85

Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review Summary 85

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2017

Given enough performance over time any number of random people will be proven “right” about a market and if you look back in time you can believe that they had a method to their outcomes. Thus when I read “ A Random Walk Down Wall Street ” in my early 20’s it reinforced my belief about how people are fooled by data.

Venture Capital 182

Venture Capital Statistics Writing Report 182

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. 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.&#.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. People who believe the former believe that you should see the market demand before too many people know you’re “in market.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Or read the quick, informative summary below the image! Here’s a summary of our interview. Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. People want to invest in people they trust – once you’ve made money for someone you can always go back, and even get better pricing.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2017

I found a good summary of these attributes in a recent book, “ The Old School Advantage ,” by an expert on interpersonal communication, J. You can also establish authority by writing and public speaking. Scarcity is one of the best justifications for higher prices. You are your own brand, and the brand for your business.

Social Media 58

Social Media Customer Custom Entrepreneur 58

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

Short summary of my posts: 1. The fact that I invest less just means the company is earlier stage and needed/wanted less or without a product/market fit we weren’t yet prepared to invest more heavily. How this works: I try to set a price that feels like a fair balance between GRP and the company.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

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. You cannot be just a biz dev type, salesperson, marketing genius or whatever and divorce yourself from product.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2016

Here is my edited summary of their ten principles, which I like and may convince you that you don’t need a business plan at all, or at the very least will help you write a better one later: A new venture is a means, not an end. Too much hesitation will kill any new venture, as markets move quickly and difficulties mount.

Startup 68

Startup Capital Resource Entrepreneur 68

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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

In the original version of his post, Andy writes. It’s a market, after all. And I’ll know in 18 months whether we have product / market fit. So I prefer to watch what works first and pay a higher price to get in when it’s proven.” In Summary. They see how hard she does her job.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. It pains me to see the typical (and predictable) responses on Twitter, “VCs want prices to drop!” ” “Sure, prices are dropping.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

Summary notes, as always, provide below. It was a pleasure to write them myself. He said it was better than the Yellow Pages because he would provide pricing transparency. they can build teams that really focus on building & marketing great products. All of that are in this week’s episode of This Week in VC.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

The video can be watched here , but there is a most excellent summary below provided by John Excley. I appreciate the write-up and your continued support of this blog. Mike believes the reason AltaVista didn’t become Google ( despite their market leadership position ) was because they didn’t focus on search. Thank you, John.

Google 302

Google Startup Advertising Acquisition 302