Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2014

But I continue to learn that there are a host of other factors, maybe not even related to you or your business, that could keep you from getting the funding that you need. Obviously, a key factor is always the state of the economy and the mood of the venture capital community. No surprises here. Whites and Asians lead the race.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

*. If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. At the time almost nobody had heard of the following funds: FirstRound Capital, TrueVentures, Floodgate and SoftTech.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

What you’ll see if you watch the video is an unscripted and unfiltered look into how Scott Kupor & I see some of the changes and challenges of the venture industry. The only point we didn’t seem totally aligned on was what we happening to the “middle of the VC market.” tl;dr version.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. The large investment amounts preferred by VCs are no longer needed to launch winners.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

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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.” for $565 million to Excite.

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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. Companies were getting funded more easily and many more companies were actually being created.

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Xconomy

DECEMBER 5, 2017

Author, investor, and AOL co-founder Steve Case today announced a new $150 million venture fund aimed at pumping investment capital into tech companies in so-called flyover states. Contributing to the fund is an impressive group of some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Nearly four months ago we rebranded at Upfront Ventures. You can watch the video above for a very brief overview of why we rebranded and where we see our place in the VC ecosystem along with what has changed in our industry. Relaunching our brand is part of our larger initiative to build a VC firm of the future.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

And there’s none that makes me happier than to announce that Jordan Hudson has been promoted to a Principal at Upfront Ventures. What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. VC firm admin. Portfolio community building.

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Xconomy

OCTOBER 25, 2016

According to the National Venture Capital Association and PitchBook , this past quarter $15 billion was invested in 1,810 deals , which compares unfavorably to both the prior quarter ($22.1 billion, 2,559 deals), signaling perhaps a period of digestion given how much had been invested during the 2014-2015 window.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

Los Angeles-based AppOnboard , the startup developing mobile app demo and analytics software, has raised $15M more in a funding round, the company said on Tuesday morning. The company said that Paul Heydon of Breakaway Growth Fund will take a seat on the company's board of directors as a result of the funding round.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2013

I believe the days of the “job work” mentality are thankfully waning, with more people looking to get satisfaction by making the world a better place, rather than just tolerating brain-numbing work to fund enjoyment elsewhere. Thus a record number of entrepreneurs (and employees) are getting rich.

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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. We want money to make some acquisitions (investors would prefer to fund M&A if they know specific deals – not to encourage bad behavior.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Finally I realized that Venture Capital and Angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Exudes integrity, humility, and stability.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources.

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TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

After all, Glossier’s founder and CEO Emily Weiss is very, very far from the first entrepreneur to profit off of our desire to look good. Yet women founders and CEOs remain frustratingly rare as Silicon Valley’s glass ceiling persists, almost impenetrable – venture capitalists (only 13% of whom are women in the U.S.) And who cares?

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 25, 2016

It is no secret that the number of private companies with valuations in excess of one billion dollars has skyrocketed since the start of 2014. As show in CBInsight’s chart, the number of such “unicorns” created during the first half of 2014 was roughly equivalent to the number created during the prior three years.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2015

I believe the days of the “job work” mentality are thankfully waning, with more people looking to get satisfaction by making the world a better place, rather than just tolerating brain-numbing work to fund enjoyment elsewhere. Thus a record number of entrepreneurs (and employees) are getting rich.

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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.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2014

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market-research data. On the other hand, spending your entire startup budget on market research won’t improve your odds of success or funding.

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socalTECH

JULY 21, 2016

Santa Barbara-based WeDo , a new startup developing social, to-do list apps, has raised $1M in a funding from angel investors, the company said this morning. Mobrem is a serial entrepreneur, who was the founder of Lettuce, which he sold to Intuit in 2014; Shulem is a 21-year old Mac software developer.

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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. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. Why Shouldn’t Most Services Businesses Raise VC? It may be the right answer for you.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

in a funding led by Orange County's Okapi Venture Capitalis looking to help direct to consumer brands use better data to direct their marketing and other efforts. The company got acquired by FD in 2014, and over the next two or three years, a lot of people just left the business.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. We’re excited to continue to grow our investment professional staff and will continue to do so over the course of 2013 & 2014 with our new fund.

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Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 21, 2014

In light of a less than savory PR landscape, I saw this event to be an important call to attention to the developements towards the Bitcoin industry for 2014, as well as geographically important gathering of minds and enthusiasts in the space. A profile of the state of the Bitcoin industry and its presence of female entrepreneurs.

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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. billion by 2014. Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data.

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TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Her newest venture, Moe Assist, claims to be the first project management and payments tool for influencers. million in funding from Rebecca Minkoff and other unnamed investors. Bain Capital Ventures' Jamison Hill. Naturally, these were also the first business to get funded. focused fund.

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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”). billion collected in 2014. I just don’t see it happening any time soon.

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TechCrunch LA

JULY 21, 2020

When Upfront Ventures partner Kara Nortman first met Natalie Portman a few years ago to talk about ways their non-profit organizations All Raise and Time’s Up could collaborate, she never realized they’d eventually be partners on a sports franchise. That non-profit is also a partner with Angel City. “In

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Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2018

Fortunately, for those headed to SXSW, Startup Night SXSW 2018 , presented by the Kauffman Foundation and TechCo, will be filled with investors from a multitude of industries who are looking to discover and fund startups building the latest solutions and tech innovations. Joanne Chen, Partner at Foundation Capital.

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Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

Applications are being accepted starting today, through April 16, 2014 for early-stage companies with innovative consumer media and entertainment product ideas. Also joining the team will be Yohei Nakajima , former academy program director at CoLoft, a popular co-working space for tech entrepreneurs in Santa Monica, California.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable.

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Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 17, 2013

Silicon Valley’s big VC firm’s The Social+Capital Partnership, Andreessen Horowitz, Formation8, Ron Conway, and Anand Rajaraman have today launched Data Elite , to help tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges through data science. Venture lab & early stage fund for big data startups and scientists.

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Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, technology has served you well. The barriers to entry when it comes to launching a company require less tension and a lot less capital. BlackTech Week was created in 2014, and in four short years, they’ve gained over 2700 participants, 150 speakers, and 3 pitch competitions.

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Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

Station F is the brainchild of Xavier Neil, a tech billionaire and serial entrepreneur, who invested millions in acquiring and refitting the building. Amongst its tenants are over 10 VC funds who have taken desks on Campus: Accel, Index Ventures, Balderton, Daphni, Partech Ventures. Factory Berlin.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Smart entrepreneurs now avoid this option like the plague, due to its unpredictability and the challenges of running a public company. entrepreneur IPO m&a startup Stock Exchange' Marty Zwilling.

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