Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We have global opportunities from these trends but of course also big challenges. We also have a world that is, as Thomas Friedman so elegantly put it? Of course we can’t. What Has Changed in Financing? Are we in a bubble?” How little we all knew how ironic that term would become but has nonetheless endured.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 29, 2022

Your four WHAT questions…. What is the problem, the marketplace, the value added? What is the urgent need, the reason people will pay, the positive effect upon the enterprise by making this happen? What if we could do it better, do it in a new way, do it to attract new customers, do it to distance ourselves form the competition?

Design 156

Design Framework Ideas Customer 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of talking to Samir Kaji on the Venture Unlocked podcast about a wide range of topics that we as venture capitalists think about everyday, including: How to build a generational firm?—?retaining than it is to start narrowing down and doing the work to close the deal, or risking hearing a no.

Sales 375

Sales Startup Invest Funding 375

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. What happened? We still loved every moment. We wanted new things to exist and to solve new problems and to see our creations come to life.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

But regardless of whether you can afford this, we think you’ll learn interesting lessons from our conversation with their CRO, Greg Gillman. What can you tell us about MuteSix as an agency? What can you tell us about MuteSix as an agency? Greg Gillman: We’ve been around for about nine years. The key takeaway?

Commerce 211

Commerce Content Marketing Startup 211

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2021

Socially distant hiking in Sedona (we drove there) I recently wrote about my weight-loss journey over the past 18 months where I lost 65 pounds without a fad diet and returned to my college weight. Let me start by explaining what I mean about “mental psyche.” He’ll say things like “I can’t do the workout for you. Free your mind.

Coach 538

Coach Startup Guide Journal 538

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

In the past two weeks we have entered perhaps to most surreal experience in any of our lives. I think intuitively many of us believe it may be a more lasting impact than just “60 days at home,” which is why we almost have a nervous laughter when we call (Zoom!) What do we eat? Where do we shop?

Demand 215

Demand Guide Customer Custom 215

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

She had all of the skills and traits we sought?—?leadership, So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs. On paper she’s more qualified than Yves or myself so with that out of the way can we now just focus on her skills and how you help me recruit her?” So What Does All This Mean?

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Sometimes we use consultants or recruiters; often we use internal talent to fill most positions. And over the years, we students of business success have learned that there is a science to the hiring process that continues through the life of an employee’s tenure with the company. What makes a great leader great?

Organization 156

Organization Course Resource Email 156

Berkonomics

JULY 7, 2022

But we all should be aware of the three levels of leadership that each of us experience as we create, grow and nurture our various enterprises, no matter what their size. Then comes the strategic thinking and planning that leads to what must be done to achieve the vision. How do you measure tactical gains?

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Metrics Ideas Conference Email 293

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

At Upfront we often talk about these as “shots on goal” (a fitting soccer analogy given the EURO 2020 tournament is on right now). What we discuss internally and what I discuss with my LPs is outlined as follows: We back 36–38 Series Seed / Series A companies per fund (we have a separate Growth Fund) Our median first check is $3.5

Funding 294

Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

Berkonomics

APRIL 6, 2023

Where to learn more… In other posts (and in our book, “Building Great Boards” – available on Amazon and other booksellers) we cover legal responsibilities of a board, how to pay board members, the limits of their responsibilities, dealing with under-performing or “noisy” board members, and more. Generative.

Company 156

Company Companies Ideas Competition 156

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

We’ll get to my heartbreak in a minute. What most managers miss is that every month cut from the time it takes to perform such tasks cuts the cost by the value of a month’s worth of fixed overhead or burn. We often accept that development schedules for young companies are almost always too optimistic.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Product Marketing Resource 296

Berkonomics

MARCH 17, 2022

We start with our intended audience, asking ourselves who we are talking to, what we need to say, and how we are going to say it. We want our audience to know what we stand for in the fewest, most memorable words. What we usually do wrong.

Advertising 156

Advertising Email Help Marketing 156

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 30, 2021

In my life as an early-stage investor, I’ve been closely involved with so many businesses, there were bound to be numerous stories of actual and near failures, hopefully from which to learn lessons for all of us as we go forward. The emotions we feel when “turning out the lights.”. We ask ourselves “what if?”.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Training Invest Email 156

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Here’s the question: Wouldn’t it be great if there were no more digital or printed reports to tell us what happened in the past? We need financial data for comparison, and to a degree – for planning. But we should be thinking of finding ways to make data available to us much earlier when it would be more meaningful and actionable.

Report 156

Report Resource Email Sales 156

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Harry was gracious enough to invite me back so this past week we recorded an episode discussing the current market environment. Topics we covered: B2B Companies You haven’t seen the full extent to how the correction is going to affect you. What Do You Need to Prove to Raise an A Round? Should you focus on growth?

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

socalTECH

JUNE 15, 2020

What is PlateIQ, and how did you come up with Gift a Plate? Bhavuk Kaul: We are an accounts payable payments platform for the restaurant industry, and we are transitioning to serve other industries, such as the hospitality industry. We work with over 10,000 restaursnts, a lot of them in Southern California.

Help 173

Help Startup Platform Southern California 173

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

How much time do you devote to each type of activity? What if?” “How about…” “When should we…” “How could we…” You get the idea. How many hours do you spend on business each week? Most respond with between 60 and 80 hours a week, emphasizing what you already know, that CEOs are not often 40-hour workers.

Class 194

Class Organization Technical Review Activity 194

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2019

We spoke with founder and CEO, Shane Bernstein , on why he thinks the company's system is far superior to using a resume to find technical talent. What does Rolebot do? We help rank the talent pool, objectively, by their accomplishments in the ecosystem. How do you do that?

Sites 240

Sites Startup Tool CTO Hire 240

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

What is The List? We are bridging the gap between casual, self service dating apps, and traditional matchmaking, and doing it for business professionals in the dating market. With matchmaking, you hire someone to do everything for you, setting you up for dates. We plan on expanding to other markets in 2021.

Startup 203

Startup Entrepreneur Southern California Netflix 203

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 24, 2022

Yet, there are constant examples of new entrants into a niche that do grow, prosper and sometimes even become dominant. So, when do we know which course to take? Everyone, including those connected with the newly acquired dominant player, wondered what changes would affect their company and their personal lives and fortunes.

Resource 156

Resource Competition Examples Customer 156

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. What person hasn’t crouched at an airport to get 18% extra on one’s battery before boarding an airplane? They have a can-do attitude that is infectious.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Berkonomics

APRIL 7, 2022

But we overcame the fears and…. Email readers, continue here…] We raised six million from angel investors for this otherwise brilliant concept, and several first tier VCs followed with another thirty–two million over time. It is human nature to do so, deferring to the person more expert or more knowledgeable.

Design 156

Design Blogging Course Email 156

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

For today's interview, we sat down to catch up with Jon Waterman, the founder and CEO of Ad.net, to understand what the company's business is nowadays, how the company has evolved over the years, and how the company has adjusted to life during a pandemic. What is Ad.net? What does that mean?

Advertising 203

Advertising Startup Google Commerce 203

socalTECH

JANUARY 26, 2021

We caught up with Jamey to learn more about the company, and also its recent move to merge with another company, Uphealth, via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). What is Cloudbreak Health? We bring language interpreters to the point of care. We bring language interpreters to the point of care.

Platform 203

Platform Activity Help Screening 203

socalTECH

MAY 22, 2019

For our interview this morning, we talked with David Wood , the Founder and CEO of Eventene (www.eventene.com), an early stage startup, bootstrapped startup developing event management software. What does Eventene do? David Wood: We make event planning software for social organizations. How are you backed and funded?

Startup 212

Startup Evite Organization Software 212

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. “ We were targeted to a small number of very premier customers. . “ We were targeted to a small number of very premier customers. “The third piece is a developer ecosystem,” Evans said.

Tool 315

Tool Commerce .Net Entertainment 315

socalTECH

MAY 30, 2019

What is CareerArc? Robin Richards: A number of years ago, we took a look at the landscape and said, what is it that's missing? We also saw that it was easy for job seekers to cross over to Glassdoor and see what employees had said. Richards also has been an active angel investor in local startups.

Content 193

Content Social Network Coach Help 193

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

Bill Payne came across just such a stinky clause in a deal we both were joining as investors late in the process. So, what does the latest tag–along investor do? But what if the principals find this at the last minute? Watch out for what might be a future challenge. So, how do most of us respond to a stinky clause?

Invest 156

Invest Email Entrepreneur Help 156

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 13, 2022

Are we who issue orders to associates or employees ever acting as jerks? We’d never like to think so, or we wouldn’t do it in the first place. Of course, it may be appropriate to explain your reasoning, or ask what part of the instruction is confusing. The post Are we managing like JERKS? Here’s a clue….

Satisfaction 156

Satisfaction Course Email Tool 156

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2021

For today's interview, we sat down and chatted with >Zeb Evans, the founder and CEO of San Diego-based ClickUp (www.clickup.com), the developer of a workplace productivity software platform which is based by such companies as Google, Airbnb, and Nike. What is ClickUp? What's your read of what's going on in the workplace today?

Doc 203

Doc San Diego Demand Product 203

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

“We want to inspire, but we also want to be realistic and show beauty in real life,” Glossier founder and CEO Emily Weiss said in a 2017 interview with Inc, just as the brand had reached what Weiss herself described as “cult status.” What even is a ”girlboss” anymore? What does that even mean?”

Startup 280

Startup Netflix Los Angeles Innocal 280

TechCrunch LA

MAY 31, 2022

Andelman and Queener spoke to me about the new funds, how the firm is working with startups and what they are telling their portfolio companies during this challenging investment environment. venture community was small for a long time, still relatively pretty small, and we all had small funds. Are we amazing pickers?”

Software 163

Software Startup Funding Venture Capital 163

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

It is human nature to do so, but it is not a sign of our best efforts. We recall the enthusiasm we had for the job earlier, how we couldn’t wait to get to work, or initiate a new plan, or share a new idea. We can be that person again. We may run out of fresh ideas after a time; most of us do.

Ideas 156

Ideas Guide Email Company 156

TechCrunch LA

JULY 29, 2020

“[It] became obvious that we should go all in on retail partnerships,” according to Fernandez. “We could never crack growth at the scale we needed,” said Fernandez of the company’s initial business. Everyone loved the idea but the actual growth was slower than we needed it to be.”

Invest 263

Invest Services Southern California Ideas 263

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 27, 2020

“We’re building a decentralized ghost kitchen,” is a sentence that could launch a thousand investor calls, and Alex Canter, the chief executive officer behind Ordermark , knows it. It’s perhaps the growth of the HotBox brand that shows what kind of growth Nextbite could promote.

Funding 263

Funding Los Angeles Technical Review Training 263