Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m Why is this?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. The monkey on my back.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. I’m writing this post to explain to entrepreneurs what you should be thinking about in terms of the VC’s you approach and the size and stage of their funds.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

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. 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. A caller dialed in to ask us questions about his startup. Why should I be?

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to. We want to give our brightest new startups the connections and interactions they need to help streamline success. And of course we had, TheMan.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

I had this ethical dilemma pop up on one of the first deals I even did as a VC. I got a call from a VC friend of mine who said, “we’re looking at this deal but can’t write the full check. I decided to write a $2+ million check along with my co-investor who offered $750k. The night started harmless enough.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Writing 356

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

Considering that many of our funds are in the $200–300 million range, these returns were more meaningful than if we had raised billion dollar funds. Obviously the funding environment has changed considerably in 2022 but as early-stage investors our daily jobs stay largely unchanged. What do you do with a $650 million platform?

Startup 408

Startup Venture Capital Writing Invest 408

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

I’m going to write a pure admiration piece. We attended a fbFund demo day ( which I rarely do but it was put on by my long-time buddy Dave McClure – who hadn’t yet started 500Startups – and Sheryl Sandberg who was much more of a mere mortal back then). Yes, I still used a Blackberry in 2009.

Startup 150

Startup Conference Ideas Writing 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

When the masses start all running one way without questioning “why?&# – and when it defies any logic I can figure out in my head – I call bullshit. They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. “ Question Authority.&#.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry. Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly?

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

Over the years I’ve written extensively about the downsides of convertible notes for startups such as here , here and here. In the old days VCs funded off of a “pre-money” valuation. This was until about 2009 because most the investments in companies came from one, maybe two, sources.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? Did they really need a Startup CTO or Developer or both? Otherwise, you’ll end up spending time with people who are not going to be interested. Was it a case of needing Homework?

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

My friend Ethan Anderson put it best to me after the panel, “You probably shouldn’t have been up there. The VC industry has different segments in it that have different fund sizes, different investment amounts and different risk / return expectations. We need people at all stages of the funding lifecycle and not just VCs.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

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? Ive personally been involved in the start-up world in Los Angeles for about 15 years, and have had the opportunity to work on many early-stage companies (e.g.,

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

Paul Kedrosky made the case for “naive optimism&# being an important part of startup success. Either downside scenario requires angel deals to be funded further. I know that in late 2010 it’s not as popular to say this because we’re in the era of “super angels&# and feel-good startups.

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

In the original version of his post, Andy writes. Most top tier VCs return about 3x invested capital and outlier funds (the best of a vintage) might return 6-8x. But Mark, many of the great firms are $500 million and up! You invest across many funds just as VCs invest across many companies. billion in returns. Yeah, true.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Of course that website isn’t completely up to date but it’s a great resource for seeing the overall picture. But let me start with some data. Much more data in the full post.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

socalTECH

JULY 20, 2011

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based HitFix (www.hitfix.com) an online news site focused on entertainment, announced it had raised $2M in a funding round. Jennifer Sargent: HitFix started two and a half years ago. We're constantly serving up what's next in entertainment for consumers and fans, to keep them hooked in.

News 173

News Entertainment Startup Bertelsmann 173

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. We caught up with Al recently to hear about his latest startup. We built that and put it on the App Store on December 24 of 2009.

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2009

Our interview today is with Santa Monica-based OneCubicle (www.onecubicle.com), a new startup we ran across recently, which is looking to provide a more professional social networking site for younger people. Why did you decide to start yet another social networking site? It's not in my make up.

Social Network 100

Social Network Entertainment Startup CTO Coach 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Paul Kedrosky made the case for “naive optimism&# being an important part of startup success. Either scenario requires angel deals to be funded further. I know that in late 2010 it’s not as popular to say this because we’re in the era of “super angels&# and feel good startups. Not everybody agreed.

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 6, 2014

To get some up to speed, Rap Genius , as a team and company have upheld a reputation as anomalies in the tech world. Beginning with hip hop in 2009, they’ve since included different genre verticals into their model with rock, poetry, news, even bible. When we started, we did the personalities and just had fun with it.

Startup 93

Startup Mobile Entertainment Sites 93

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

socalTECH

JULY 13, 2009

GRP has just recently closed on a new $200M fund, and Mark has been one of the more active venture capitalists in the Los Angeles area in recent months. Mark Suster: Let's start at the 50,000 foot level, then I'll segue into that question. Our brand new fund is a $200M fund, and we think that's the perfect size for a new fund.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Southern California Santa Barbara Rustic Canyon 157

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. Running a startup is a grind. We first met five years ago through serendipity as I described in this 2009 blog post and elaborated on again in more detail 2010. It wears you down.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Most are sitting on large portfolios of private companies that are raising money now or will need to do so in the future and they know that they’re up against some headwinds. The Motive for Speaking Up. ” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” All of these are false.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

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. Thus, while we maintain a healthy degree of optimism, we begin each funding discussion knowing that most nascent startups are not worthy of an investment, until we prove them otherwise.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us. Dec 26, 2009).

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

When convertible debt first started being introduced as a “faster, cheaper way to get startups funded” they didn’t have pricing built into them. In fact, most early investor work hard to help their startups get to the next level so it makes no sense for the angel investor and founders to be at odds.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. but: Something is Still Missing.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

socalTECH

APRIL 25, 2011

We spoke with Scott about GOGII and textPlus, the shifting mobile market, and also what lessons he's applied to his new startup. We loved the mobile space, and when we sold Jamdat we felt that market was just getting started. We felt there had to be an easier way to reach a broad audience in mobile, so we started looking at messaging.

Gogii 200

Gogii Mobile Activision Electronic Arts 200

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Right now they’re setting up 500 free corporations for first time entrepreneurs. There are hundreds of entrepreneurs here in Los Angeles who are building awesome companies, writing awesome books, making awesome movies and are trying to solve important problems to help make this world a better place. Thank you @eminutes. .

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding. Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. short answer: very, very rarely. But it does happen.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► 2009 (3) ► May (1) A Tour of the Rubicon Project Headquarters ► April (1) "Pay it Forward" Event for Students & Aspiring Ent. "Keep it Simple" - My Golden Rule Startup 5.0 – I’m just going to chill out for a bi. ► May (5) the Rubicon Project The Journey Startup 6.0:

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I just had to line up behind him. Jody didn’t exactly have an easy time fund raising because he’s not one of the prototypical Silicon Valley funded entrepreneurs. We then started talking about Dave McClure. I started to realize that Dave is able to do it because he approaches VC differently.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

I recently wrote about my views that startups rounds should be priced. I would never as a VC fund a round and then expect somebody else to pay a higher price right after me. Since 2009 I have been counseling people to offer discounts to the first angel investors. You simply draft up a series seed term sheet. why buy now?

Pricing 294

Pricing Venture Capital Writing Equity 294