Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. ” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.” acquired Overture for $1.63

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2015

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. despite having been passed into law in early 2012 via the JOBS Act , and still has no scheduled date for availability, waiting for the rules to be finalized by the SEC.

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Venture Capital Angel Satisfaction Equity 108

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2016

Today is amongst the proudest days I’ve had at Upfront Ventures — getting the chance to announce that Kevin Zhang has been promoted to Partner. years at Upfront has been both a pleasure and also has taught me a lot about venture capital. Kevin joined Upfront in 2012 as an Associate. Watching him develop over the past 4.5

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Invest Course 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2013

It was a particularly rough December in what proved a difficult 2012. Example: Fred Wilson writing his end of 2012 post wrote. But it comes across as a whiny complaint about the shitty year that 2012 was. But the reason I couldn’t publish that post is it didn’t capture the greater picture that 2012 represents for me.”

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Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. 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. VENTURE CAPITAL. And finally that brings me to obvious topic of venture capital.

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Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

There is a lot of uncertainty about the state of the private, high-growth technology markets and the venture capital markets that underpin them. Perhaps I would call it “Mourning in VC” as in mourning for the days of rational behavior. I spoke last week at the annual Cendana VC/LP conference. Are LPs to blame?

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Venture Capital Pricing Platform Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2015

Crosscut Ventures has just announced their 3rd fund and clocking in at $75 million , which will be focused heavily on Los Angeles – FTW. 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.

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News Funding Venture Capital Dollar Shave Club 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me.

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Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

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 this is nothing like the stress of being an entrepreneur. As I’ve written about before, You’d Have to be a Big Baby to Complain about Being a VC. What’s it really like being an entrepreneur?

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2014

Want to be an entrepreneur? In addition, Entrepreneur Magazine recently included UCSB in its Top 50 Schools For VC Backed Entrepreneurs at number 37. A decent showing, but well below a number of larger schools, as the ranking is based on the number of graduates who secured VC funding. Techpreneurs. All-Star Alumni.

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Santa Barbara Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 258

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

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Incubator Entrepreneur Technical Review Mentor 103

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2013

is already well above the dot.com bubble of 15 years ago, although we have slipped a bit this year from the high point of 320 new entrepreneurs out of 100,000 adults in 2011. Thus a record number of entrepreneurs (and employees) are getting rich. Social media is a boon for entrepreneurs and startups.

Startup 109

Startup Entrepreneur Social Media Satisfaction 109

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. million) made by either Angels or venture capitalists, or both. Yet these comprise much fertile territory for entrepreneurs. Top five states for venture capital.

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Startup Invest Venture Capital Seed Funding 99

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

Because my role as a VC requires me to take and endless stream of meetings I long ago decided I need to learn as much as I can from the meetings I attend so I often just ask tons of questions and assimilate knowledge. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Changes in the Software World & in Venture Capital. But notably you had the following changes: Horizontally scalable computing & storage systems, which meant you required less capital up front for hardware. Venture Capital. And then the world changed. Changes in the Startup Ecosystem. We have invested $17.3

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Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

And of course a place of idyllic weather, culture and a lifestyle. For me Silicon Beach doesn’t quite encapsulate the wonderful, dynamic, creative, large, thriving community that is the 13 million proud Angelinos any more than Silicon Alley captures the bustling 2012 community of New York City. Think about venture capital.

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Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. Of course a lot of this also comes down to investor trust. (it is also the title of a fabulous book from Internet 1.0

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

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. Some quick data that I pulled from EmailisNotDead.com (mid 2012). Of course that website isn’t completely up to date but it’s a great resource for seeing the overall picture.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

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. They will need more money.

Invest 111

Invest Angel Funding Startup 111

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

.” I applaud all efforts by people to take on this issue and especially be Adeo who – let’s be honest – was really the first champion of trying to make the VC world more transparent by launching TheFunded, which didn’t exactly endear him to VCs initially. They’ll get priced soon enough by a VC.”

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

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”). Here again, the entrepreneur will be the one hurt most, by having fewer funding sources to access.

Startup 106

Startup Angel .Net Entrepreneur 106

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. We are experiencing a frenetic time. My general advice is to do less.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

I am a VC. But through expressing points-of-view I can raise above the consciousness of my customers (entrepreneurs and limited partners who invest in VC funds) in ways that I couldn’t without breaking through the noise of the hundreds of others of VCs who also have money. ” Of course not.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

The new hot topic for entrepreneurs the last couple of years is crowd funding, which is anticipated to at least supplement, if not replace, the slow and mysterious process of current Angel and venture capital investors. It has had some notable successes for entrepreneurs (over $1M in funding), as well as non-starters.

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Funding Satisfaction Sites Outsource Development 99

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. In my view, the quality of incubator leadership is the single biggest potential value provided and learning opportunity for entrepreneurs.

Incubator 115

Incubator Help Startup Technical Review 115

Eric Greenspan

JULY 3, 2012

The company was always seeking capital. As an entrepreneur, my greatest lesson learned here was how difficult it is to find capital for a services business. Venture capital firms have a distaste for the smaller multiples earned by services businesses, along with the challenge to scale such a business.

Capital 234

Capital Pricing Press Custom 234

socalTECH

MARCH 28, 2014

Los Angeles-based mobile advertising company Airpush has quietly grown to around $100M in annual revenues, according to a recent ranking from Forbes--a big surprise, as the company was completely bootstrapped by founder Asher Delug , who eschewed the usual use of venture capital and private equity to build a company to those revenue levels.

Startup 196

Startup Mobile Advertising Organization 196

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2012

Entrepreneurs are inundated with success stories, but far less is written about ventures that do not succeed. Most entrepreneurs do not have the guts to publicly discuss a venture gone awry. The company was always seeking capital. In May of 2012, sales dropped drastically. We sought capital just in case.

RSS 170

RSS Technical Review Capital Email 170

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2016

I know because I went back a second time with 75 or so tech executives and VCs and my inbox is flooded this morning. Catherine (Cat) Hoke founded the program in 2010 and launched the business plan competition in 2012. You get in a line with executives on one side and EITs (entrepreneurs in training) on the other.

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Writing Startup Design Training 150

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 28, 2011

In addition to the 330+ students, entrepreneurs and investors in attendance, the event also achieved over 45,000 views on the TechZulu live stream. GumGum was founded in 2007 when a team of seasoned Internet entrepreneurs realized web site publishers were missing out on valuable revenue by not monetizing their image-based content.

Idealab 77

Idealab Tech Coast Angels Startup Platform 77

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 28, 2011

In addition to the 330+ students, entrepreneurs and investors in attendance, the event also achieved over 45,000 views on the TechZulu live stream. GumGum was founded in 2007 when a team of seasoned Internet entrepreneurs realized web site publishers were missing out on valuable revenue by not monetizing their image-based content.

Idealab 49

Idealab Tech Coast Angels Startup Platform 49