Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

We’ve grown accustomed to a professionalism where we know when a work issue comes up we can count on each other for a quick Sunday call between family time. But a couple of people replied with responses of such lack of comprehension that I thought it was worth expanding on for first-time entrepreneurs. Not possible.

Startup 363

Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2014

Want to be an entrepreneur? According to a recent Forbes article , UC Santa Barbara''s Technology Management Program offers students a superior startup education over the University of Pennsylvania (home of Wharton), as well Harvard, Northwestern and even its acclaimed southern neighbor, the University of Southern California.

Santa Barbara 258

Santa Barbara Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 258

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Brad wrote up his answer here – you should read it because it’s very instructive for how I believe communities ought to think about naming conventions. I recommend that you start by writing down the attributes you would want people to think about when they think about your brand. This is the list I would start with.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2015

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). Thus investing in startups should always be approached as a low odds game.

Startup 106

Startup Angel .Net Entrepreneur 106

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

We caught up with Ryan (who calls himself an "anti-VC") to hear more about his investment firm, which has invested in such companies as Heal , Elite Daily , Saucey , and FragMob. Tell us a bit of the story on how you started HashtagOne? We want to have startups we can get productive or generating revenue pretty quickly.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. Our last fund we raised was in 2012 and we began investing it in April of 2012.

Venture Capital 396

Venture Capital Funding Technical Review Startup 396

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 30, 2012

According to a January 2012 article in Forbes Magazine , nearly 16% of the 400 most affluent Americans do not have a college degree. For many entrepreneurs, college has little appeal. I generally encourage my UC Santa Barbara students to complete their formal education before joining or creating a startup. Look around.

Tips 247

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 247

SoCal Tech Calendar

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Thursday, December 6, 2012 -- Tech Cocktail's Los Angeles Startup Showcase + Sessions. We'll be kicking off the event with inspiring Sessions talks followed by the traditional demo style Startup Showcase; served over cocktails, of course. Hey Los Angeles, the Mixer parade is coming your way! See [link] (more)

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Angel Startup Course 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2013

The number of startups getting seed funding in 2012 jumped by 65% over the previous year to a total of 1749, according to a recent report by CB Insights. This is great evidence that the recession drag on funding new startups is behind us. This is great evidence that the recession drag on funding new startups is behind us.

Startup 99

Startup Invest Venture Capital Seed Funding 99

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2013

I’ve always wondered who started the urban myth that the best way to start a company is to come up with a great idea, and then find some professional investors to give you a pot of money to build a company. Eighty percent of new entrepreneurs used this approach, with only six percent using investor funding.

Startup 105

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Legalzoom 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2013

The space for startups is more crowded than ever. First of all, it’s now international, so you have startups from every country in the world competing for your customer’s attention and their business. Even the Google search engine crawlers may take up to two weeks to find you. Using the platform to expand your reach.

Platform 105

Platform Entrepreneur Startup Social Media 105

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 16, 2013

Article after article points out that Los Angeles is on its way to becoming one of the most robust startup communities in the United States. It is meant to bring everyone together so that they can learn, network and leave with the sense that they now belong to a family of entrepreneurs, all trying to make LA a startup hub.

Rustic Canyon 74

Rustic Canyon Startup Los Angeles Class 74

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly. A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Many entrepreneurs still dream of “going public,” making billions of dollars, and playing with the big boys. Even though the Initial Public Offering (IPO) alternative for a successful startup seems to be coming back, it is relatively rare. IPOs in 2008, the market was up to a still trivial 128 in 2012 (compared to 675 in 1996).

Startup 89

Startup Entrepreneur Report Summary 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2013

In 2012, total entrepreneurial activity in the United States hit its highest level since their survey started in 1999, according to Babson College. In this context, it’s time for every business, not only startups, to take a fresh look at the basics of business success. Every startup needs a sustainable competitive advantage.

Startup 99

Startup Competition News Framework 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 30, 2014

More and more entrepreneurs are hearing about the successful graduates and investors queued behind a few well-known startup incubators, including Y Combinator, TechStars, and the Founder Institute. Y Combinator , led by Paul Graham, claimed success in 2012 with 172 companies over 7 years, which then had a combined value of $7.78

Incubator 103

Incubator Entrepreneur Technical Review Mentor 103

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2013

I miss blogging because it serves as a great repository for me of my current thinking, as a way of organizing my thoughts and clarifying what I think and as a conversation started with so many of you (as Hunter Walk elegantly said, “Blog not to show how smart you are, but in the hope of soliciting feedback from smart people.

Writing 313

Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2014

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). billion collected in 2012. No one know which startups are not going to fail.

Invest 111

Invest Angel Funding Startup 111

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 16, 2014

We recently sat down with Luc Berlin, co-founder of Miigle, a SoCal startup that has an aggressive global mission to bring entrepreneurs together from around the world. We first interviewed Luc in 2012, just as he was launching the prototype for Miigle. The quintessential problem that every startup has is one of visibility.

SoCal 104

SoCal Southern California Startup Platform 104

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2012

I’ve noticed that most young entrepreneurs are more socially conscious today than ever before, which is a great trend. Of course a profitable model isn’t required if you intend to rely totally on donations, or have deep pockets to fund your socially conscious efforts yourself.

Capital 99

Capital Entrepreneur Guide Startup 99

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2012

Based on my experience as a mentor and an entrepreneur, if you fail on your first startup, you are about average. Every young entrepreneur knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Statistics show that the failure rate for new startups within the first 5 years is as high as 50 percent.

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Ideas Resource Statistics 109

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

My good friend Adam Lilling and I started Launchpad more than 5 years ago . I had witnessed a number of early-stage tech startups in LA raise seed capital from the Bay Area and relocate. By 2011 the market had started to change dramatically. Adam had a full time startup and then was doing consulting (he later raised a VC fund).

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2013

More and more entrepreneurs are hearing about the successful graduates and investors queued behind a few well-known startup incubators, including Y Combinator, TechStars, and the Founder Institute. His tests focus on personality traits alone (ignoring your startup idea), looking for fluid intelligence, openness, and agreeableness.

Incubator 115

Incubator Help Startup Technical Review 115

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2015

Like many entrepreneurs, the founders of Crosscut quit their well-paid jobs in the belief that LA’s moment was about to arrive and they spent years on low (sometimes no) salaries to prove it. LA has grown up a lot over the past 5 years. This was the first of several deals we did with Crosscut.

News 150

News Funding Venture Capital Dollar Shave Club 150

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2014

The very mention of the word fundraising can illicit some powerful emotions among entrepreneurs. On one end, entrepreneurs who have (at minimum) built something customers love and are willing to pay for, and the other hand, investors who are looking for the very companies who fit that profile. Introducing SeedInvest. 116,105,000.

Invest 100

Invest Startup Technical Review Software Review 100

socalTECH

MARCH 28, 2014

To hear how he bootstrapped the company to that size, we caught up with Asher earlier this week for a quick interview. A lot of us in the company are having to reinvent our departments and divisions to keep up with this pace of growth. I started Golive Mobile with $10,000, and with Airpush it took under $200,000 to get started.

Startup 196

Startup Mobile Advertising Organization 196

socalTECH

OCTOBER 26, 2016

This morning, Techstars (www.techstars.org), the startup accelerator which has had great success in spreading its approach to helping to get startups to the next stage of their life�usually, funding�announced it has opened up its third accelerator in Los Angeles, Techstars LA. The focus is on helping the startup.

Startup 100

Startup Los Angeles Mentor Class 100

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 9, 2013

The empirical evidence highlights the lack of women and minority founders in the startup world. A 2012 Dow Jones'' report entitled Women At The Wheel encompassed 15-years of data on venture-backed startups. I recently asked Tracy why she believes that women are so under-represented across the startup landscape.

Custom 185

Custom Customer Study Metrics 185

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2013

As I was reading about it a while back, it occurred to me that the concept relates directly to how investors see startup opportunities and potential success as well, at least those with technology in their offerings. This is the “truly disruptive technology” that startups often claim. Peak of inflated expectations. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 97

Startup Press Cloud Computing Technology 97

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

It’s what life was like as an entrepreneur. I’ve been on the road much of 2012 and part of 2011. But for some strange reason they make you file your progress on fund raising, which is the widely picked up by the press. And why I woke up at 4.50am. But this is nothing like the stress of being an entrepreneur.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

The funding environment for tech startups is an ever shifting ground as we go through predictable shifts that go hand-in-hand with the slowing of the overall market. In other words, it isn’t that VCs suddenly got smart, it’s that the costs of starting a company went down dramatically. Boom in Number of Startups. Rise of Angels.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Funding Seed Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. ” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. I am a VC.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Do you think men make better entrepreneurs than women, and why? First of all, it is evident that there are far fewer women entrepreneurs today than men. First of all, it is evident that there are far fewer women entrepreneurs today than men. Societal trends actually seem to be favoring the women these days.

Startup 107

Startup Competition IBM IBM 107

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can’t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us. The number of startups being created has increased by an order of magnitude. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin!

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2016

Kevin joined Upfront in 2012 as an Associate. We also look for a cultural fit with Upfront, which includes the gravitas to deal with executives and founders at the startups we back as well as the other board members. We are sparring partners, not “deciders.” Great investors know whom to trust and whom not to.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Invest Course 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

He had joined a young startup in LA called HauteLook and was interested in getting to know the local tech community. So I started introducing him to portfolio companies. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence. The guy has knowledge. So why Greg and why now?

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360