Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

As more consumers were skipping commercials the idea of authentically integrating brands into media seemed obvious to me and ended up informing a lot of my investments in 2009 and 2010. At every entrepreneur event I through between 2008-2012 I invite Hamet because he was a great mentor for entrepreneurs. The idea immediately resonated.

Invest 340

Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

And with the crash of Sept 2009 – March 2009 the market cleared out created an open field in which to invest, go slowly, learn and let companies mature before they felt the need to be “hyped.” It’s true that my job requires more travel than I’d like.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA). 2009 has been the worst year for M&A in a decade.

Venture Capital 241

Venture Capital Technical Review Southern California Company 241

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

If 2011 & 2012 look like 2010 then the current crop of angel investors will look great. First Round Capital & True Ventures seem to spend as much time cultivated relationships with “second round capital” as they do entrepreneurs. So where are we now? It’s hard to say. And the best early-stage investors know this.

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152

socalTECH

JULY 15, 2015

We formed the company in 2007, came out with our first product in late 2008, and began selling in earnest in 2009. In 2009, we immediately approached the law firm market because we knew it so well, and because we had lots of relationships from over the years. That went equally well, and we found that extra capital really us grow.

Software 100

Software Report Startup IBM 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. Example: if a VC is on their fourth $200 million fund that they just raised in 2009 then you might hear them talk about $800 million under management. For example, my firm, GRP Partners, has a $200 million fund that was closed in March 2009 and we have 4 investment partners.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

Some quick data that I pulled from EmailisNotDead.com (mid 2012). source: Harris Interactive IM Shopping Poll (August 2009)). And you can’t act like a B-round company when you raise $20 million in growth capital. There are 2.9 billion email accounts. This figure is predicted to reach 3.8 billion by 2014.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2012

CallFire technology is already playing a prominent role in 2012 political races across the spectrum. Company founders, led by Ravishanker, made the strategic choice early on to bypass venture capital. “Choosing to bootstrap over raising venture capital has forced us to build a profitable business,” he said.

Venture Capital 89

Venture Capital Cloud Computing Class Education 89

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. They feel very confident they can hit $18 – 20 million in 2012. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. This team is talented.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 12, 2012

Fresh off their GDC Online 2012 public unveiling, I had a chance to sit down with Mike and discuss his journey to being a social gaming trendsetter with their new social game Race 4 My Place. So in 2009, he created a skill game similar to the board game “Memory” aimed at helping people sell their homes.

Study 71

Study Entertainment Press Marketing 71

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

is backed by Bain Capital and U.S. Venture Partners and was recently recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Most Promising Companies and by Billboard as one of the 10 Best Start-ups of 2012. He brings to ScoreBig.com the much needed expertise for marketing and growth. ScoreBig.com , headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif.,

Ticketmaster 65

Ticketmaster Entertainment Pricing Class 65

Xconomy

JULY 12, 2016

— Swift Navigation , founded in 2012 and now based in San Francisco, is using real-time kinematic (RTK) technology to enhance the precision of satellite-based GPS positioning data.

San Diego 40

San Diego Seed Funding Guide Technology 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

As in, “your money into my company will convert at a 15-20% discount to the next round of capital I raise with a maximum price of $8 million pre-money valuation (or whatever the cap was).” This has worked very well in the 2009-2012 time frame because the tech market has boomed in this period. Enter “the cap.”

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2015

Today is a huge validation for Crosscut and continued faith that LPs that any national VC would covet are placing on the LA market and two great institutions – The James Irvine Foundation and Top Tier Capital – have underscored this by backing Crosscut. LA has grown up a lot over the past 5 years. This is not your dad’s LA.

News 150

News Funding Venture Capital Dollar Shave Club 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

Invoca had grown steadily and consistently since 2009 and by 2015 SaaS companies with scale had become hot – trading at a median of 7.3x 2012-2015 were boom times in tech startups as prices were always moving up leading to FOMO leading to higher than normal multiples driven by a massive entry of new investors in the market.

Funding 150

Funding Startup SaaS Venture Capital 150

socalTECH

OCTOBER 26, 2016

That worked well enough, we did another class in 2008 with another 10 companies, and in 2009 we expanded to Boston. Those companies have raised more than $2 billion in follow on capital, and have a valuation of over $6.5 One could argue that in 2010, 2011, and 2012, that growth was in the video and entertainment area.

Startup 100

Startup Los Angeles Mentor Class 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Come 2009 we felt really bullish about the future for startups because the froth was gone and so, too, were wantrapreneurs. The people left standing had a compelling vision to build companies and we backed many in 2009. When this period was fresh, in Sept 2009, I wrote a very detailed assessment of what I thought had just happened.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

63 Los Angeles Entrepreneurs To Be Proud Of By mario on May 2, 2012 in Features , grid. He was Director of Online Marketing for Mota Motors, a BusinessWeek Top 50 Most Promising Startup of 2009 and TechCrunch50 finalist. Goodreads raised a Series A round of funding from True Ventures in the summer of 2009. Idea Mensch.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

This has been especially true for angels or seed investors as there is a new thesis that less capital is needed to start Internet companies so more money is being spent at this phase of the funding lifecycle. VCs have also gone back to writing checks because as an industry we can’t be seen as “sitting on the sidelines” for years at a time.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

Every year Upfront Ventures surveys Limited Partners (LPs) who are the main source of capital that invests in VC funds and thus the main source of capital that goes to startups to get an early-warning sense of the year ahead, leaving aside any Black Swans. Will they have enough capital?” Will it last? Will they get squeezed?

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Seed Funding Capital 286