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VC Confessions: We Passed On Twilio’s Seed Round

InfoChachkie

VC's love to talk about their successes. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. Tech Diligence - Consider The Source. However, they seldom acknowledge their mistakes.

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How to Make Sure Professional Services Don’t Take Over Your Software Company

Both Sides of the Table

deliver profitable revenue that while on gross margins of 50% vs. software at 85-95% it is still profits to help you cover fixed costs. You don’t want to run the risk that having a PS business that takes your eye of off the ball of growing a large software business. That is the software business. rollout support.

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Brad Feld Drops Knowledge. Here’s What He Said …

Both Sides of the Table

Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. A deep dive into the Foundry Group investment philosophy including an interesting discussion of their investing Themes. “… our lens is: Internet Software Companies anywhere in the U.S. was starting.

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How to Decrease the Odds That Your Startup Fails

Both Sides of the Table

It says that selling an airplane ticket for $500 and getting paid a $5 fees by the airlines (1% gross margin) is not the same thing as selling $500 of software that you built (>90% gross margin). The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself. Market Size.

Startup 150
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The Truth About the Scooter Economy?—?An Insider’s Perspective

Both Sides of the Table

This year we’re in > 100+ cities and 100+ campuses and we’re operational with street teams, better software, better bikes and a more informed ridership. While the ride-hailing market sees autonomous vehicles as nirvana due to no driver costs, the e-scooter market already has this built in. I’ve talked with many campus leaders.

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Angel Funding Advice

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. I’m a software guy so I’m sure there are cases where building isn’t feasible. If you can’t get product released and validated then do user studies. They might be as hard as raising VC. Product : You should build a product or a prototype.

Angel 291
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10 Ways for Startups to Survive the Valley of Death

Startup Professionals Musings

According to a Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with 90% of new ventures that don't attract investors failing within the first three years. This source is a major focus these days, due to government initiatives to incent research and development on alternative energy and other technologies.

Startup 123