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!” If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly. Investors realize that the resources and risk required to hit both markets concurrently are great, so they will likely look for focus, or a staged approach. The net value of this solution from the customer’s perspective.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

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

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. These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.”

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

5) Rincon Venture Partners recently invested in The Resumator , which we identified via AngelList. The core business we have built on is taking out-of-market startups and introducing them to investors. Long-term, we may start investing in some of these companies as they go through. It’s actually quite common.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

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. ” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.”

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

This is not atypical for “middle men” who often take 15–30% of the value of the sale If you’re shaking your head and thinking, “duh” I promise you that even some of the most sophisticated people I know get off track on this issue of “gross revenue” versus “net revenue.” They hired a marketing team to promote their products more broadly.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

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

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2014

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, lawyers, venture capitalists, or Angels. Now the real work begins – promotion, marketing, blogging, and all types of search engine marketing. Facebook is making big money today, but only after a $150 million investment.

Startup 100

Startup Commerce Sites Blogging 100

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

Although many are entertaining, most fail to provide entrepreneurs with a sufficient return on their time investment. At the beginning of the index, Guy writes, “I hope Robert Cialdini checks this index.” Like King, his writing style is breezy and engaging. The time spent reading Enchantment will net a significant return.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or Angels. Now the real work begins – promotion, marketing, blogging, and all types of search engine marketing. Facebook is making money today, but only after a $150 million investment. The cost of entry has never been lower.

Commerce 99

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

In many areas, not enough entrepreneurs meet the criteria, so it’s still a buyer’s market. The result is that the Main Street Venture Fund consistently has more money available than good opportunities for investment. We see many entrepreneurs who grossly over value their company when attempting to obtain outside investment.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. 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

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 10, 2013

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or Angels. Now the real work begins – promotion, marketing, blogging, and all types of search engine marketing. Facebook is making money today, but only after a $150 million investment. The cost of entry has never been lower.

Sites 78

Sites Commerce Startup Tool 78

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. We invested in Overture, which was sold for $1.2 That was quite a prominent exit for us.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Southern California Santa Barbara Rustic Canyon 157

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

The Valley has obsessed with a quick up-and-to-right momentum story because we were thought to live in “winner take most” markets. Of the first four investments I made as a VC in 2009, two have exited and two (Invoca & GumGum) still are independent and likely to produce $billion++ outcomes . It literally drove FOMO.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2013

Of course, you can’t predict everything, but writing down what you know will identify existing problems sooner, and allow other team members to help. Sales volumes are still ramping up while marketing expenses are at max. You can be on budget, and still run out of cash. On the other side, your new customers expect a free trial period.

Startup 114

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 114

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or angels. Now the real work begins – promotion, marketing, blogging, and all types of search engine marketing. Facebook is barely making money today, after $150 million investment so far.

Commerce 88

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2016

Of course, you can’t predict everything, but writing down what you know will identify existing problems sooner, and allow other team members to help. Sales volumes are still ramping up while marketing expenses are at max. You can be on budget, and still run out of cash. On the other side, your new customers expect a free trial period.

Startup 64

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 64

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

so compelling (other than the fact that the CEO Sean Rad is a great young technology leader and his advisers – Brian Norgard , Dan Gould and Evan Rifkin - are some of the guys I respect most in the LA tech market.). That’s a good thing – it means there’s a market. 30% is the market opportunity.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

We’ve worried together about the moral obligation implicit in taking such investments from people so close, even with their promise never to expect a return. 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.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

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

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. When I write a blog post I often see the words before I write them. These are all creative processes.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

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 have investment money at stake so I’m a principal in the negotiation, too. This is the skilled bit that you can’t effectively manage. It happens.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

In my Twitter bio is says that I’m “ looking to invest in passionate entrepreneurs ,” which almost sounds like I was just looking for a cliché soundbite to describe myself. He’s also amazing with online marketing data & methods and an all-around entrepreneur’s entrepreneur.

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

Like most mature markets, the legal profession is highly segmented with respect to the services provided and markets served. If you are charged for every nanosecond you spend with your lawyer, consider finding one who is willing to “invest” more aggressively in your success. Sometimes You Do Get What You Pay For.

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. Chris writes that early-stage deals should have: Founder vesting w/ acceleration on change of control. I tried to argue my views on vesting to a company I tried to invest in 2 years ago. The best series was done by Brad Feld on his blog here.

Funding 252

Funding Venture Capital Startup Blogging 252

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

some fun, big tech issues like privacy, net neutrality, location-based services and real-time data. The best proof of a soft circle is whether an angel will email someone else (refer another investor) and start off that email with “I’m investing in…”. lessons learned from his days as an entrepreneur.

Angel 302

Angel Startup Ideas .Net 302

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

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. We invest large sums of our after-tax money into our funds and this gets a long-term capital gain tax rate when we make a profit. It is seldom ever mentioned.

Startup 150

Startup Course Writing Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

On average they have taken 9-11 years to reach this status and most of our investments have never gotten there. I was trying to tell a real story about grit and risk and determination and seeing the markets early but struggling to persuade others. That’s how markets go. Our firm has funded many of them. At least for now.

Technical Advisors 150

Technical Advisors Startup Writing Blogging 150