Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. I obviously don’t have a crystal ball so the economy could fare better than my gut, but here’s why I’m cautious for some time in 2010 or early 2011: Why is the future still so unpredictable?

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

I hope I straddled people’s points of view well enough not to have offended anybody while adding a framework for how I think about the service. I hope I straddled people’s points of view well enough not to have offended anybody while adding a framework for how I think about the service. So why I am writing it then?

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

The reason I am doing this is because this is the way I can have the biggest impact on helping entrepreneurship become more successful.”. “The The reason I am doing this is because this is the way I can have the biggest impact on helping entrepreneurship become more successful.”. I wanted to give back to my community in the D.C.

Entrepreneur 87

Entrepreneur Santa Monica Startup CTO Hire 87

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 12, 2012

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Steve Blank, author of Four Steps To The Epiphany , Stanford Professor and noted entrepreneur. The subject discussed in the video below is Steve’s belief that Venture Capitalists should begin their careers as operational entrepreneurs. free weekly Infochachkie articles! Fundraising skills.

Venture Capital 239

Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur SaaS 239

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2011

In a way, startups have become kind of like the video game industry. Some become true breakouts that can be built into a franchise even though they started as just a game, like Angry Birds. Will you get the TechCrunch bump, the tier-1 VC anointment, followed by great PR firm support and then the NY Times or WSJ story that follows?

Startup 309

Startup Cloud Computing Venture Capital Marketing 309

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. Rinse & repeat. You have a hunch.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2010

We asked the same five questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next two weeks. This changes the landscape in a lot of ways: accumulating capital becomes less critical, while accumulating talent becomes more critical.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Southern California Cloud Computing Venture Capital 160

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

So how should you decide what to do? This conversation seems to come up very frequently these days both with portfolio companies and with entrepreneurs just looking for mentorship. This conversation seems to come up very frequently these days both with portfolio companies and with entrepreneurs just looking for mentorship.

Help 303

Help Startup Competition Framework 303

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Serial entrepreneur, venture investor and startup accelerator pioneer Brad Feld has notoriously mocked traditional marketing throughout his career. I recently spoke with Brad about his approach to guerilla marketing and how he instills eclectic marketing tactics in Foundry Group’s portfolio companies. . <iframe

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I said that I felt that Micro-VCs were the most important change in our industry.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

As a fourteen-year veteran of the venture industry I have often heard the phrase, “value added investors”, which is usually touted by certain VC’s as their biggest differentiating quality. The value that is being “added” is often at arms length or via a specialist who interacts with the entrepreneur.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 18, 2011

I must say I’ve become a regular user of ShopperSeeks every since this interview. Kyle: How did you get started in the entrepreneur world? Which got me thinking about how I would go to a store and find something I liked, only to be disappointed when they didn’t have it in my size or color. That was half-true.

Startup 99

Startup Social Media Media Sites 99

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

As a fourteen-year veteran of the venture industry I have often heard the phrase, “value added investors”, which is usually touted by certain VC’s as their biggest differentiating quality. The value that is being “added” is often at arms length or via a specialist who interacts with the entrepreneur.

Web Design 40

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 40

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. But in 2012 a visit to any major college in America will show you the massive increase in aspirations of our young talent to become the next Mark Zuckerberg and build a future Facebook. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin!

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

How to Take Down Facebook -- Hint: It Ain't Twitter. 20 Recommended Quora Threads for Startups - ReadWriteStart , November 1, 2010 The Q&A site Quora has become an indispensable trove of knowledge and expertise when it comes to the tech industry. but: Something is Still Missing. but: Something is Still Missing. call to arms.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2012

I had been trading emails & Tweets with venture capitalist John Frankel and we were to meet in person in March 2011 at SxSW to talk about Klout and other investments he had made. He was an early investor in Klout and was the most compelling voice I had heard on why the company would become hugely relevant.

Cornerstone OnDemand 303

Cornerstone OnDemand Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup 303

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations. I thought about things I never had to as an entrepreneur: check size, ownership percentage, deal stage, portfolio construction and risk. Yesterday was a Monday. Depressing.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305