Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? With the enormous changes to our economies and financial markets?—?how

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2023

Setting your expectations Taking in angel or venture money requires a setting of an entrepreneur’s expectations that may come as a shock at least at first. There is no middle ground. Resetting your priorities Taking money from these sources involves resetting priorities over time. The newest investor has the power.

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Venture Capital Sales Invest Class 292

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. And professional investors often penalize the company with lower-priced down rounds or expensive loans as a result. Growth before the VC arrived was not a problem.

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Venture Capital Product Marketing Resource 296

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). Venture, private equity and more: Here we lump a large number of investor classes into one.

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Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

Some companies, especially those financed by angel or VC investors, have good, formal stock option plans with properly priced options set to reward all employees and managers in the event of a corporate sale. I found myself in such a situation upon a sale of my computer software company. Formal option plans for some.

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Sales Venture Capital Writing Email 480

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

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. Investors: Google Ventures. Enter ShoeDazzle.

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Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Mobile 270

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Many, many companies accepting venture capital lost it all following this instruction. VCs have a goal of creating extraordinary value for their investors. Venture investors need large scale to make large exit valuations, or in many cases are not interested in maintaining marginal companies. But beware.

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 28, 2021

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from deals where the entrepreneur insists on a start-up pre-money valuation that is so high, no angel could expect to make a return upon the investment, even with a reasonable sales price for the company down the road. And here’s the “why.”.

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Outsource Development Startup Outsource Venture Capital 156

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.

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Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

The steps outlined below represent an ideal approach to raising capital from sophisticated investors. You might be at Step 2 with one VC and Step 3 with another. VCs collude all the time, it is only fair that entrepreneurs compare notes every now and again as well.”. Even the most jaded VC cannot resist authentic flattery.

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Venture Capital Capital Research Custom 236

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

I recently wrote about my views that startups rounds should be priced. Fred, who also wrote his views about convertible debt (significantly more succinctly than I) believes that the price of a single round should be the same for everybody. I also would never expect another VC to do that to me. Price the round.

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Pricing Venture Capital Writing Equity 294

Berkonomics

MARCH 8, 2018

You do not pay professional investors who are serving on behalf of an investment company or VC and paid by that company. The option price should be set by appraisal under IRS rule 409a, and certainly should be low enough to recognize that common stock options are not worth as much as preferred stock, given the many preferences of the latter.

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socalTECH

JULY 10, 2019

For this morning's interview, we spoke with Los Angeles-based Halla , a venture backed startup, focused on personalized recommendations for the food ordering industry. in seed funding, from E&A Venture Capital and SOSV. We spoke with CEO and co-founder Spencer Price to learn more about the company. What is Halla?

Pricing 113

Pricing Startup North Hollywood Platform 113

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw. But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly? Short answer – yes.

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Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. Given customers & sales are the lifeblood of any organization you’d imagine everybody would respect their customers. Contrast that with a VC conversation I had. ” I cringed.

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Custom Customer Venture Capital Software Review 341

Berkonomics

JULY 23, 2020

Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. There are some questions a distressed sale brings to mind. How about outside investors?

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Company Companies Sales Venture Capital 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. Do you imagine eventually raising VC and trying to build a faster growing company?”

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. I had to laugh a bit reading it. What about strategy?

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Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Projecting financials is a natural extension of the homework every entrepreneur needs to do on customer opportunity size, product costs, pricing, competition and customer value. As a rule of thumb, most viable businesses need a gross margin above 50 percent, even on wholesale prices, to cover operational expenses and survive as a business.

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Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

This episode of This Week in Venture Capital featured Michael Montgomery, president of Montgomery & Co. You have to be selected to present and it is typically reserved for companies that have already raised early-stage capital and are well into revenue growth. Should you use investment banks to raise venture capital?

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Berkonomics

JUNE 15, 2017

Taking in angel or venture money requires a setting of an entrepreneur’s expectations that may come as a shock at least at first. From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering.

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Venture Capital Sales Invest Class 243

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. I just want to figure out what a fair valuation is.&# I figured all the VC’s talked so we should. But this example above is all entrepreneur math, not the VC’s. million.

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2012

The median VC exit price for deals is $70 million (FLAG Capital via Bryce.VC). There is a mythology amongst some LPs (funds that invest in VCs) and some VCs that “entry price doesn’t matter – only investing in the absolute best entrepreneurs.” So entry price matters a lot.

Startup 323

Startup Technology Venture Capital Santa Barbara 323

socalTECH

JULY 22, 2020

According to the company, the round--a Seed-2 funding--was led by Okapi Capital, and also included The Cove Fund, Early Light Ventures, SaaS Venture Capital, and Stage Venture Partners and Brad Perry (co-founder of Dealer Socket), along with others.

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Artificial Inteligence Santa Barbara SaaS Venture Capital 124

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. I recently wrote about the three rules of sales. In sales we often call these USPs (I wrote about them here: Unique Selling Propositions ).

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Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

- SoCal CTO , January 13, 2010 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 9 Reasons Why Many Smart People Go Nowhere - Life Beyond Code , March 29, 2010 No Accounting For Startups - Steve Blank , February 22, 2010 Startup Advice In Exactly Three Words - #StartupTriplets - OnStartups , January (..)

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Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). Venture, private equity and more: Here we lump a large number investor classes into one.

Venture Capital 266

Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 2, 2021

But what started in the gaming world quickly spun out as the company slashed prices to $500 per month for its services. Sales, Sony Music Entertainment, in a statement. . Initially the LA-based company launched to the gaming community with interactive features that folks could use in-stream to create better engagement with fans.

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Tool Commerce .Net Entertainment 315

Xconomy

JUNE 16, 2016

In San Diego, the complaints often focus on the relative scarcity of venture capital and hometown VC firms. So when the San Diego Venture Group recruited Mark Suster of Los Angeles-based Upfront Ventures to give the keynote talk Tuesday night for Startup Week San Diego, more than 800 people filled a downtown auditorium.

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Venture Capital San Diego Truecar Web 49

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

There are clauses in preferred stock investment agreements allowing the investor in many cases to “put” the shares back to you at the purchase price plus dividends or more after a period, usually five years, if no effort is made to find a buyer or begin the IPO process. A personal experience that relates.

Equity 156

Equity Course Sales Invest 156

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

You can’t succeed in business without an operational model that delivers value to customers at a reasonable price, with an underlying cost that allows you to make a profit. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Sales/Marketing.

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Sales Custom Customer Outsource 102

socalTECH

AUGUST 16, 2021

San Diego-based sales and marketing software developer Seismic has raised $170M in a Series G funding round, the company said this morning, and is now valued at $3 billion. The Series G round was led by Permira and also included JMI Equity, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Jackson Square Ventures, Ameriprise, and funds and accounts advised by T.

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San Diego Coach Sales Training 113

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. Do you plan to run this as a smaller business but maintain healthy profits?

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Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Berkonomics

JULY 10, 2014

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from deals where the entrepreneur insists on a start-up premoney valuation that is so high, no angel could expect to make a return upon the investment, even with a reasonable sales price for the company down the road. Why fight about valuation, or disappoint the founder at the outset?

Startup 179

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Venture Capital 179

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

If you don’t have a destination, don’t waste your money trying to get there, and don’t expect anyone to support you along the way Projecting financials is a natural extension of the homework every entrepreneur needs to do on customer opportunity size, product costs, pricing, competition and customer value. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

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Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 147