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

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2020

Customer expectations of a relationship and personalization are stretching every business today, and pervasive use and confidence in social media by customers can override all your image building and marketing messages. Supplement this feedback with more formal modern satisfaction surveys, like the Net Promoter Score.

Customer 133

Customer Custom Social Media Startup 133

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly. This statement leaves no confusion in the minds of investors, or customers, of what the company does and how it is different (and better) than the competition. The net value of this solution from the customer’s perspective.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

What changed — and why the definition changed — was it became 90+% cheaper to start companies and thus seed funds appeared en masse as did angels so the size of seed rounds actually INCREASED and the size of A-rounds in many instances decreased. So VCs started writing some smaller A-rounds. Why the latter?

Seed Funding 399

Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

If you want the full SlideShare deck with many slides not in either post it’s in this link –> The LA Tech Market. Has it begun to mature or is it just better marketed than in was say 5 years ago? Given how efficient markets are when a large market like LA starts to blossom it attracts capital pretty quickly.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Derek Norton: I just closed on a new fund, worth $5M, which I raised from a group of high net worth, high profile LPs. We are going to write checks of between $100,000 and $500,000, and we are going to invest in what we are calling first institutional capital. Tell us about the new fund?

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

70–80% of the costs of most startups are employee costs so what you’re really talking about when a company is unprofitable is that they are growing their staff ahead of their revenue. Are you looking to potentially sell the company in the next year or two? I often ask entrepreneurs to consider, “What’s your objective?

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

Investor in Twitter, Foursquare, DISQUS, and (by Naval’s own admission) “a lot of other companies you have never heard of”. The core business we have built on is taking out-of-market startups and introducing them to investors. When great companies really hit, all the investors want in and there isn’t enough room.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? AngelList is a great way to market your deal.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

So founders took fewer risks and at the societal level with fewer companies taking fewer expansion risks job creation is weaker. After all, if people feel more of a safety net for trying and not succeeding more people are bound to try in the first place and more innovation is almost inevitable.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. I commented briefly on his blog and made a mental note to write a blog post. At the time he granted me permission to write about his story. So he decided to start his company in Canada.

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Startup High Tech Software Review 282

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. Selling at smaller retailers will net you fewer customers and higher margins.

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about: A fund-raising deck that articulates your company strategy, plans, team, market, competitors and so forth. VCs (and LPs) have a vested interest in having more data, whether they want to invest in your company / firm or not.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Tech.Co

APRIL 11, 2018

Plenty of workers have had enough: In the final quarter of 2017, according to real estate company Redfin , more residents left San Francisco than any other major U.S. You’d be forgiven, then, for assuming the city is seeing a net loss of tech workers. But, you’d be wrong, according to a new report out from LinkedIn.

Report 70

Report .Net Template Writing 70

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

Being tenacious without the mental flexibility to pivot based on market feedback is a disaster. Great companies are comprised of great individual point people or functional leaders. But when I’m looking to write my check I need to look in the eyes of the captain — the maestro who brings the whole orchestra together.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2010

For our interview today, we caught up with Al Eisaian , CEO of Pasadena-based IconApps (www.iconapps.com), which is developing mobile applications for the iPhone market. The way we have build this app, is we can change the skins to go after different markets, like the college crowd, or high school crowd, or what have you.

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

And 450 million licenses of Windows 7 were sold since its launch in 2009, making it the fastest-growing operating system ever, and showing us that Windows is going to keep controlling the OS market share. Bing Powered search now controls 30% of the search engine market share. 3. It’s not just about Windows. Giving back.

Writing 88

Writing Training Email .Net 88

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2013

Cash is king when it comes to the financial management of a growing company, so this is not the place for shortcuts and sloppy practices. No matter how small your company is today, there are more moving financial parts than you can manage dynamically in your head. Sales volumes are still ramping up while marketing expenses are at max.

Startup 114

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 114

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

It has historically been the case that VCs would rather fund the promise of 100x in a company with almost no revenue than the reality of a company growing at 50% but doing $20+ million in sales. The Valley has obsessed with a quick up-and-to-right momentum story because we were thought to live in “winner take most” markets.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2016

Cash is king when it comes to the financial management of a growing company, so diligence is required. No matter how small your company is today, there are more moving financial parts than you can manage dynamically in your head. Sales volumes are still ramping up while marketing expenses are at max.

Startup 64

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 64

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

My firm GRP Partners recently funded a young LA based company named Ad.Ly that is an “in-stream advertising&# company currently focused on monetizing Twitter. Traditional media companies published their stories on the web. Advertising has driven the majority of Internet innovation. was the “static&# web.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2013

I’m sure you have all been frustrated at least once by not being able to get the Internet domain name you want for your company. The market for domain investors has been in the doldrums for the last few years, since the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN ) has rolled out top-level domains for every country, like.us

Startup 87

Startup Pricing Tips .Net 87

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

In many areas, not enough entrepreneurs meet the criteria, so it’s still a buyer’s market. Once we understand the target customer and value proposition, we need to know how many of these customers exist and how often they will buy the company’s products or services. There is no product idea good enough to overcome bad partners.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

socalTECH

JULY 13, 2009

Mark has also been quite active mentoring entrepreneurs, We caught up with Mark to hear about what kinds of investments GRP is looking at nowadays, his view on the software-as-a-service market, and how best to approach him with a pitch. So we think we're the right size for the market in 2009. That was quite a prominent exit for us.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Southern California Santa Barbara Rustic Canyon 157

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

This latest round valued the company in excess of a billion dollars, entering them into the overly-hyped Unicorn Club. In contrast, low-volume, high-conviction investors like Rincon only invests in a handful new companies each year, making it much more costly (in dollars and effort expended) to invest in a loser.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 26, 2012

Miselu presented their first prototype, neiro, this year at SXSW for an early debut of what is to come from the company. Miselu is his third company, the first in consumer electronics. Press, Pause, Play ‘s message of mediocrity is one that musical hardware device maker of this year’s SXSW, Miselu , plans to overcome.

Press 100

Press Ideas Product Activity 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

We spoke with Dipanshu Sharma, Chairman of the firm, to learn more about the company and its products. That's the case with every other company we know of and who we have talked to. Most companies use Microsoft Project, and although there are a bunch of other projects, Microsoft has the most market share.

Startup 100

Startup Software Review Technical Review Software 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

That said, there are times where you need to cast a wider net. They know what is “market&# for your recruits in terms of base, bonus & stock options. I want to judge whether they’re really committed to my company or not. When you want to sell your company one day – the same rule applies.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A This applies equally to VCs, startups & big company executives. The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. So no whinging about what a long post this is!

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2009

You are forty, out of a job, a newlywed, your wife is expecting a baby, you don’t own your own home, you have no specialized qualifications, the only company you ever launched went bankrupt and you have just been sentenced to one year in jail.”. A Writer Is Someone Who Writes. Source: Harold Evans, They Made America.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Ideas Writing Startup 153

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

I am in the middle of writing up some of my thoughts on this and will post about it and let you know. I have to say that it has netted far more than I would have thought. Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles. And, I dont like to copy and paste.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

There is an exemption from the requirements that these investors be accredited with net worth or income minimums to qualify legally to invest in your company. If you have a virtual company with your employees working from home locations, as many startups do, it should be the location of the founder. Accelerators.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

As I write these words I already imagine my next deposition in which I’m asked to read this out loud. The simple point is that if you control 51% of your company and/or the voting rights you can avoid a lot of headache and you can still be very generous with early people who join your mission. *. Lawsuits. He sued anyways.

Startup 150

Startup IP Writing Ideas 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

Yet along with “authenticity” they are two of the key attributes I look for when I meet with companies I may consider funding one day. This is how Upfront Ventures came to fund Tristan Walker – one of the most talented and passionate entrepreneurs with whom we work whose new company is called Bevel.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2019

It’s no secret that the rate of failure of new business startups may be a high as ninety percent , so we all need all the help we can get, validating the opportunity, clearly positioning against competitors, projecting financials, and planning all the necessary marketing and operating activities. Make it light, but factual.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Such attorneys can also add tremendous value in your negotiations with Big Dumb Companies (BDCs), as they can ensure that you focus on the deal points that are of most significance to a small entity. Like most mature markets, the legal profession is highly segmented with respect to the services provided and markets served.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

This was pre Venture Hacks so not a lot of help on terms on the Net. But it was my second company so I had already learned all o f the lessons the hard way. Chris writes that early-stage deals should have: Founder vesting w/ acceleration on change of control. I’m putting millions of dollars in your company.

Funding 252

Funding Venture Capital Startup Blogging 252