Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. But succinctly this press places a marker in the ground for your company. When thinking about how to get press coverage you have to realize that any quality journalist looking to write a story has to have an “angle” to write something.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. I divided success into the phases of venture capital and 18 months into writing my first check here was my view (details on each in the link above). 5 years ago. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10. The monkey on my back.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent. The reality is that a journalist who’s writing a story about you – a relatively unknown entity – wants to hear directly from the founders and/or the CEO.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent. I pointed out the fact that they only ever talked to the press when the had an announcement and that it was a continual process. Always more appealing.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Blogging Press 349

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? ” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. ” Can you imagine that ever getting inches in the press? I am a VC.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2023

It’s better to write 100 lines of new code every day, recognizing that you will have to iterate to perfection, rather than expecting a week of work to happen all in one night. By writing just 500 words a day in a blog, I suddenly realized that I had enough for a book in just a few months. Frequency keeps the pressure off.

Startup 109

Startup Writing Blogging Ideas 109

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

In addition, the discipline of producing it, like writing a business plan, will help you immensely in understanding the key elements that drive you and your business. I often hear the excuse that writing a book takes precious time away from building and running your business, which you cannot afford.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I know I can’t be in every deal and I know that the easy part of being a VC is writing the first check in a deal. And when the press releases and the attaboys wear off it still comes down to real work. If an accelerator is writing you they’re also writing 25 other VCs. I don’t. Pay attention.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2020

It’s better to write 100 lines of new code every day, recognizing that you will have to iterate to perfection, rather than expecting a week of work to happen all in one night. By writing just 500 words a day in a blog, I suddenly realized that I had enough for a book in just a few months. Frequency keeps the pressure off.

Startup 173

Startup Writing Blogging Ideas 173

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Are you cynical about their chances in the market just because they seem to be hot in the press and that bugs you? Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures wrote a great post the other day that reminded me I’ve been meaning to write about this topic. That plus great press & it’s working on some level.

Startup 313

Startup Press Writing News 313

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

It has even gone so far that we now have evocative headlines in the tech press such as “ Buy or Die ,” which is what got me thinking about this post. But the press (and I suspect many of the senior execs of these companies) don’t really explore the corrosive downside of these acquisition. Woo the press.

Press 357

Press Startup Yahoo Venture Capital 357

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15 If you invest early and then pull back in the next 3 rounds your multiples on cash invested are much higher than if you keep writing checks. As I tell our LPs, “if I’m not making you slightly uncomfortable when I’m writing my first check I’m not doing my job.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I have experienced many first-time entrepreneurs with too much hubris if fund-raising came easily and press was fawning and employees joined in droves and customer adoption has been rapid. In London when founders failed they were ostracized in the press and culturally I believe it became harder to raise capital.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2011

I recently was reviewing a press release for a company in which I’m an investor. I told him that I thought the press release was crap (I think my words, exactly). Of course I can’t write every press release for the company nor would I want to. ” to “we’re so excited to work with you.”

Press 337

Press Venture Capital Doc Summary 337

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

But for some strange reason they make you file your progress on fund raising, which is the widely picked up by the press. I plan to write about it early next year when we’re all through. But it’s hard to know that from the press. The press who trusted me enough to report on our successes. Entrepreneurshit.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 21, 2021

But Sarandos doubled down on his defense of the special, writing an internal email that “content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.” categorically denies leaking sensitive information to the press.” Netflix told TechCrunch that the employee admitted to sharing the content externally.

Netflix 300

Netflix Demand Content Hollywood 300

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 26, 2021

Then fans would be tasked with writing their own stories, submitting them to the Realms of Ruin universe by minting them as NFTs on the Solana blockchain. If the authors are inviting fans to write fan fiction about a universe they created, who owns the derivative works? Another unabashed proponent of fan fiction is N.K.

Writing 196

Writing Outsource Development Technical Review Examples 196

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

But don’t let this information get out into the general press and don’t market more than a few months out. Market to Your Target Audience – I’ve seen a lot of startups who like to write blog posts on life as an entrepreneur. You’re reading their press releases or blog posts. They come and go.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

Help them write other stories. One day they’ll write yours. Whatever amount you’re getting out and talking with prospects, customers, employees, recruits, competitors, press, investors, potential investors … it’s never enough. Relations with journalists to drive better coverage of your business long term?

Startup 410

Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 29, 2014

Maybe they’ve hit a few set backs: They’ve struggled to raise money, they haven’t gotten press coverage or they haven’t gotten accepted to present at prestigious conferences. It ends up being a turn off to potential employees, investors, business partners and the press. Nothing beats a warm intro.

Venture Capital 389

Venture Capital Email Startup Conference 389

InfoChachkie

APRIL 16, 2012

This was exactly the approach Steve took when he self-published Four Steps via Café Press, at the behest of his then star pupil, Eric Ries , Co-Founder of IMVU and the author of The Lean Startup. According to Steve, “The original version (of Four Steps) was printed on tree bark at Café Press. I have to thank him for that.”.

Startup 229

Startup Class Press Custom Development 229

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2022

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Even the most experienced executives write down what they need to say, and practice for every event. The challenge is to be prepared, and communicate quickly and effectively until it’s over.

Media 118

Media Tips Social Media Startup 118

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

I’ve tried over the years to write many times about the realism of the downsides of being an entrepreneur because there is a complete cognitive dissidence between what you read about yourself in the press and what you feel internally about where you’re at in the journey. Of course that’s true.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

For starters some funds are small and thus while they put $750k into your company to own 10% of your company they might not be able to write another $2 million if you then raise a $20 million round (10%). New investors sometimes want early investors to put in money to “prove” they have confidence in the new price.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” Of course that was a wrong narrative for both companies. Mostly kidding. Another firm funded them.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. The opening paragraphs of that first newsletter are indicative of the captivating and accessible writing style, which eventually cultivated a huge audience. And of those 35 people.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 26, 2011

Each new customer, each mention in the press or online adds to the feeling of early accomplishment. Because it is yours to write alone, there is no Hollywood script more thrilling than the one you create during those first days when everything is so very new. And it is more satisfying because it is yours, from idea to execution.

Press 149

Press Hollywood Writing Startup 149

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

As Brian Solis is fond of saying, “PR stands for public relations, not press release.&# That’s right. Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. What will be your unique positioning?

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

This does not mean you shouldn’t solve big, complex problems or write complex code. But the narrative in the press about Al Gore was that he was a smarmy know-it-all. Bush had the opposite narrative in the press. Obviously press narratives of people are characterizations that seldom match reality.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2018

For those not familiar with the writing process in Hollywood works, fill us in? We saw that there were a lot of talent discovery programs out there, such as screenwriting fellowships, labs, film festivals, workshops, and writing competitions. That's been our focus, on centralizing talent discovery on the platform.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Hollywood Platform Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2015

A while back when I was reading the press I saw a quote from Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins that was simple, yet profound. I liked it so much I wrote it down and tried to think about what it meant to me and I promised myself I would write about that one day.

Startup 150

Startup Press Writing Help 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

We listened way too much to what the press said. Create a great press-kit that you have easily accessible on your website. Just don’t believe what they write about you. Write a blog post or a journal about how you feel while you’re there. That’s OK. It happens to many companies that ride the wave.

Startup 310

Startup Press Venture Capital Journal 310

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. The opening paragraphs of that first newsletter are indicative of the captivating and accessible writing style, which eventually cultivated a huge audience. And of those 35 people.

Newsletter 133

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 133

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

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. We’ve just been biased by our narrower view from “people like us” and the tech press who are in our same demographic. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

It’s a hard topic to write about because it’s almost an accepted norm that total transparency is good. They told you, “Yeah, man, I’ll gladly write the first $250,000. CEO transparency. It almost sounds uncontroversial. A CEO should tell her staff everything! Of course not. But mine if different. It was not.

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2010

I would take all of the one-on-one conversations that I have with entrepreneurs from the things I’ve learned and just write them up for anybody to read. I had a tactic of writing out the line of reasoning for the employee so they knew what to say. When I started blogging I had an idea. Then you’ll be fine. It was me.

Startup 294

Startup Press Course Writing 294

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year.

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366