Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. That is, how much should your company be willing to lose in cash every month as you make investments in staff and equipment that funds technology, sales, marketing and management.

Startup 212

Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2018

This allowed him to learn enough from all his early mistakes to hit it big ($10 million revenue) with a global beauty tools company called Tweezerman. From the dollar you gave to the homeless guy on the way to meet a prospective client, to the new tie you bought to look professional, write down every single penny. Record every expense.

Writing 97

Writing .Net Commerce Entrepreneur 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2021

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. and.me (for Montenegro), as well as allowing companies to set up their own top-level domains. Starting and name a company today is a world-wide decision. Negotiate for the name.

Startup 136

Startup Pricing Tips .Net 136

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2021

Net out the problem and your solution in the first 30 seconds. Pitch your company, not your product. Disciplining yourself to write down the plan is actually the best way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. Successful startups are all about the right people with the right stuff. Executive summary glossy.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Tips Funding Startup 156

Eric Greenspan

JULY 9, 2012

As I write this, the articles and comments about my company’s demise continue. Someone called my company a scam today. We built an amazing company, full of amazing people, doing amazing things. When I started this company, the desktop and WindowsXP were all the rage. This is what happened to our company.

IBM 191

IBM IBM .Net Writing 191

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 13, 2010

I’ve always believed that you learn a great deal when you’re presenting, teaching or writing about what you know. Part of the reason I always found presenting to people so compelling is that it forced me to put into writing (a PowerPoint deck) what I thought I knew about a topic. It’s just my writing style.

Blogging 250

Blogging Social Media Writing Startup 250

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2016

This allowed him to learn enough from all his early mistakes to hit it big ($10 million revenue) with a global beauty tools company called Tweezerman. From the dollar you gave to the homeless guy on the way to meet a prospective client, to the new tie you bought to look professional, write down every single penny. Record every expense.

Writing 96

Writing .Net Commerce Entrepreneur 96

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2015

We come to the end of this cycle of insights with a thought about how you might view your successful exit from the company you have spent so much effort to build. Email readers, continue here…] First there comes a sense of relief, knowing that you no longer need to worry over daily cash or threats to your net worth.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Writing .Net Sales 120

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2020

Although customers today are comfortable providing personal information in return for a better experience, they are also quick to write you off if you misuse the data, disclose it, or use it to push irrelevant products. Supplement this feedback with more formal modern satisfaction surveys, like the Net Promoter Score.

Customer 133

Customer Custom Social Media Startup 133

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

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2019

Be sure to net out the opportunity and the solution in the first thirty seconds. Remember, investors or interested in acquiring a piece of your company, so keep the focus on the attractiveness of the company, rather than the product. Make it light, but factual. Prepare a business plan 20-page document.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126

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

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2015

People cite sources like this BusinessWeek story a while back “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ,” or even my own article on this subject, “ 10 Reasons Not To Write A Business Plan First.” Net out the problem and your solution in the first 30 seconds. Pitch your company, not your product.

Startup 104

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Slides 104

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

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

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2013

This allowed him to learn enough from all his early mistakes to hit it big ($10 million revenue) with a global beauty tools company called Tweezerman. From the dollar you gave to the homeless guy on the way to meet a prospective client, to the new tie you bought to look professional, write down every single penny. Record every expense.

Startup 98

Startup Writing .Net Commerce 98

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

People cite sources like this BusinessWeek story last year “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ,” or even my own article a while back, “ 10 Reasons Not To Write A Business Plan First.” Net out the problem and your solution in the first 30 seconds. Pitch your company, not your product. Executive summary glossy.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

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

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

some fun, big tech issues like privacy, net neutrality, location-based services and real-time data. A very big thanks to Alexandra Harris, the founder of FanCause , a company that aims to connect entertainment brands with their fans to raise money. lessons learned from his days as an entrepreneur. Sounds like a noble cause.

Angel 302

Angel Startup Ideas .Net 302

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

This allowed him to learn enough from all his early mistakes to hit it big with a global beauty tools company called Tweezerman. From the dollar you gave to the homeless guy on the way to meet a prospective client, to the new tie you bought to look professional, write down every single penny. Write down agreements.

Writing 99

Writing .Net Commerce Entrepreneur 99

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2016

I am not writing about this out of the blue – this seems to be the topic of the day in my social stream based on blogs written, retweets rendered and attaboys handed out. Founders start companies. These days founders often raise money with minimal time spent creating a company and often have salaries from the early days.

Startup 150

Startup Course Writing Capital 150

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? Most VCs fund companies with a degree of traction.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

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

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

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

This allowed him to learn enough from all his early mistakes to hit it big with a global beauty tools company called Tweezerman. From the dollar you gave to the homeless guy on the way to meet a prospective client, to the new tie you bought to look professional, write down every single penny. Write down agreements.

Writing 103

Writing Entrepreneur .Net Commerce 103

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”. When great companies really hit, all the investors want in and there isn’t enough room. Long-term, we may start investing in some of these companies as they go through. Former Founder Epinions.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

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. There are plenty of great leaders who work really hard and work for big companies. They finally quit.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

LPs have been feeling great about venture capital due to holding valuable paper positions in companies like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Dropbox, all of which they feel confident will drive large cash distributions in the future. In fact, if you add the capital flows of the past ten years, there have been just shy of $50 billion in net cash outlays.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

And she didn’t start her company in Northern California. Tracy built her company, Recycled Media , out of necessity. She drove her company to profitability before paying herself a modest salary. She put all of her savings into her company. In one year of Airbnb Tracy netted more than $28,000.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

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

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2010

As of the last four months, we've had about 200,000 plus downloads, a bunch of great write ups, and a lot of mom bloggers who have been reviewing the app and writing stories on it. The net-net, is they want to simplify their lives, and we've given them an application that allows them to simplify their life, save money, and share.

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168