Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). And there’s conferences.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

I was thinking about this yesterday because my assistant Tasha posted a link on Facebook to Paul C. ” In it he talked about how he gets daily emails asking for intros to Oprah (he does a lot of work with her) and his advice. Think about it – who knows angels the best? I wrote about there here. Be helpful.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

Santa Barbara-based 15desks , a developer of software-as-a-service for educators, said this morning that the firm has launched a new product for course management. The firm said it is privately funded, and first launched in 2007 at the University of Santa Barbara.

Software 124

Software Santa Barbara Education SaaS 124

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. Of course everything could be replicated if a massive juggernaut like Amazon or Google wanted to pour all of their resources into it but I’m talking about technology that is hard to replicate, takes years of know-how and once adopted is significantly valuable.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 4, 2015

Valuation is one of those ubiquitous words: at least when it comes to discussions around startups — and, of course, stock market multiples. For example, there are the private company valuation figures that get bandied about: think the numbers people reference for Uber and AirBnB for example. Ask us in the comments section below.

IP 40

IP Equity Examples Guide 40

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

I joined Upfront Ventures in 2007 and took over as co-Managing Partner in 2011 along with the founder, Yves Sisteron. From 2007-2012 I scoured LA constantly. 7 times out of 10 he knows what’s going on before I do and is either slipping a paper on my desk, texting me or emailing me something about to go down. I keynoted.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Journal Invest Santa Monica 150

InfoChachkie

JULY 13, 2010

In this video John Greathouse does a small Q&A about building what traits/roles are needed to create a strong start-up team. Read the post about building Tribes: The Tribe. He is a member of the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Faculty where he teaches several entrepreneurial courses. _. — Meredith Publishing.

Startup 150

Startup Course Acquisition 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2013

What I love about writing is that you inadvertently say what many others are thinking and just knowing that somebody else is thinking something similar can be reassuring. But it comes across as a whiny complaint about the shitty year that 2012 was. After all, you’d have to be a really big baby to complain about being a VC.

Writing 313

Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

I know most startups (or even VCs) tend not to think about this but when you ask LPs the data are clear: Another trend we’ve noticed in LP opinions is regarding seed funds.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Seed Funding Capital 286

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 I remain a huge supporter and am very proud of our accomplishments and hugely optimistic about our future. All I could think about this morning was this … featured image from 500px. years ago. 5 years ago.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

SoCal CTO

MAY 19, 2010

I wouldn’t say it’s 1999 or even 2007, but it certainly has turned around. In between, I got an email from CJ Cenizal asking about this exact issue: I'm growing a social gaming startup, Elevated Games ( elevatedgames.com ) as Founder and CEO. Of course, a lot of people say the same thing. Depends on complexity.

Develop 175

Develop Development TechEmpower Southern California 175

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Of course it’s much harder to identify “emerging managers” who it turns out have been some of the best performers over the past 5-7 years such as Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, First Round Capital, True Ventures, Greycroft, Foundry Group, Thrive and Upfront Ventures. 2007 was the watershed year.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

It is, of course, a very recent phenomenon. If you want to understand the software trend that drove the creation of the seed-stage VC phenomenon I wrote about it that linked blog post but in short: cloud computing drove down the cost to create startups enabling a new category of investor. But not many others.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Invest Cloud Computing 150

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 11, 2011

Although the response was somewhat rude, it was valuable, as it caused me to think a bit more deeply about this issue. He is a member of the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Faculty where he teaches several entrepreneurial courses. _. Copyright © 2007-11 by J. free weekly Infochachkie articles! Meredith Publishing.

Entrepreneur 239

Entrepreneur Study Entertainment Course 239

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

And as I’ve written about before – building a personal brand is extremely important in today’s competitive job market. Jason is a master of communications and that’s what this post is about. We shared information about building sales teams. We chatted about the shitty things VCs did to us.

SaaS 150

SaaS Venture Capital Conference Technical Review 150

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

What is it about the content delivery network market which has enabled Santa Monica-based EdgeCast to go from startup to over $100M in revenues in only a few, short years? For those who don't know about EdgeCast, CDN services, who/what kind of clients you serve? James Segil: EdgeCast is the fastest growing CDN in the world.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc. The obvious thing that investors think about is making a financial return on the investment they made in your company. And of course there are always outliers.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

This was a really fun episode for me because Mo is informed and knowledgeable on so many topics and being a Boston / NYC VC it gave us so much to talk about relative to just covering California VCs. Content, of course, is the same!]. BookRenter – plus a discussion about Chegg … what is going on in the university book market?

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

I must admit I discuss this very frequently with portfolio companies but hadn’t thought to write about it. Between the mid nineties until 2007 wireless carriers around the world religiously protected the software that went on to phones and they guarded the end consumer relationship by controlling this software.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Custom Customer 150

socalTECH

OCTOBER 26, 2016

We spoke earlier with Cody Simms , Executive Director of Techstars America and who leads the program in LA, to hear more about why the startup accelerator operator is opening up its third accelerator here, why Los Angeles has turned out to be one of the leading sources for startups across its network, as well as Cody's advice to entrepreneurs.

Startup 100

Startup Los Angeles Mentor Class 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

In the intro section of the show we talked a lot about why VC funds are becoming smaller again and where Greycroft fits. Of course none of these funds (my own included) want to be lumped into just one category because we all move across the spectrum. In the show we talked about why this is important to mobile application developers.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. A caller dialed in to ask us questions about his startup. About a year ago I had lunch with a guy who I believe is an amazing entrepreneur. What about VC’s and Risk? He wanted to raise angel money.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

I thought the analogy was preposterous back in 2006-2007 but it has become obvious. In the summer of 2006 over a cup of Peet’s Coffee, you told me about this new thing called “cloud computing” and that you were trying to come up with a creative way to incorporate it into the curriculum of your upcoming UCSB Computer Science class. “By

Cloud Computing 188

Cloud Computing Santa Barbara EC2 Startup 188

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

There are so many events to attend that one could become a full time conference attendee and you could easily feel like you’re missing out with each event that happens without you and of course there is Twitter and Instagram and Snapchat to remind you just how fun it was for everybody else. “Yeah, we think about going every year.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 5, 2019

Some people call this the emergence and development of a new type of leader, called the algorithmic leader, who can steer the course through the world of big data, machine learning, and the constantly changing demands of new customers and social trends. He anticipated his future customers and what they might want.

Artificial Inteligence 96

Artificial Inteligence Custom Customer Design 96

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. Of course, I have an advantage because I organize the LA CTO Forum. Of course, it’s never complete.

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Innovation and Geography I ran across a post in Read/Write Web - Does Location Matter in Web Innovation? that talked about a recent NY Times article When It Comes to Innovation, Geography Is Destiny. Of course, thats probably even more true in Silicon Valley.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

Journal or Blog – Writing about your experiences will force you to be contemplative and thoughtful. He is a member of the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Faculty where he teaches several entrepreneurial courses. _. Copyright © 2007-11 by J. John is a CPA and holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School.

Startup 206

Startup Journal Writing Blogging 206

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

What''s interesting about ad-tech, is that with the exception of AdaptTV and AOL, there''s not a lot of large buyers out there for ad-tech companies. How about mergers and acquisitions? If you rate the market on a one to ten scale, with one being 2002 and ten being 2007, we''re probably at around five or six. Now we have it.

Southern California 124

Southern California SoCal Commerce Invest 124

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 6, 2011

Pull Quote: “If you are smart, competitive, hard working and passionate about what you do you will have the best experience of your life. We all make important, complicated decisions in our life and having accurate, objective data about our choices allow us to find and compare products that meet our needs. How do you stand out?”.

Entrepreneur 232

Entrepreneur Competition Software Review Course 232

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 29, 2010

A friend once told me about a soccer game in which the opposing team deployed a frustratingly effective strategy. Optimistic About Tomorrow, Pessimistic About Today. Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to be optimistic about their long-term success while simultaneously apprehensive about their near-term failure.

Entrepreneur 193

Entrepreneur Course Startup Ideas 193

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

If you’ve taken the roller coaster ride that is a startup – you know what I’m talking about. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. But I’m very happy now. I’m enjoying being a VC. of your product.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 24, 2011

We all make important, complicated decisions in our life and having accurate, objective data about our choices allow us to find and compare products that meet our needs. Hmmm, I actually don’t read other entrepreneurial books or blogs – except infoChachkie of course [Editor’s Note: Kevin is clearly full of it here!].

Blogging 219

Blogging Entrepreneur Software Review Course 219

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 29, 2010

A friend once told me about a soccer game in which the opposing team deployed a frustratingly effective strategy. Optimistic About Tomorrow, Pessimistic About Today. Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to be optimistic about their long-term success while simultaneously apprehensive about their near-term failure.

Entrepreneur 185

Entrepreneur Course Startup Ideas 185

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Danielle goes through some commentary from Bill Gurley, Fred Wilson and Marc Andreessen about burn rate and then goes on to discuss her own burn rate and others publicly weigh in. if you have a good use for it and we’re excited about your company – fine. Of course a lot of this also comes down to investor trust.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

By now you will likely have read Andy Dunn’s scathing post about Venture Capitalists in which he decries the industry’s masses. After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. But VC is like congress.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2010

I’m not talk about the age old debate amongst investors whether you back entrepreneurs, markets or products (or as people like to hedge – product / market fit). Today’s post is about my investment thesis. He was telling me about a deal he had done. I had an offer to sell my company to Salesforce.com in 2007.

Entrepreneur 321

Entrepreneur GRP Partners Venture Capital Invest 321