Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

We use this try to draw some context that informs our funding decisions. Of course we fund companies in good markets and bad. In venture our goal is to fund companies over a 10-year+ time horizon, which is the time it takes to build truly transformational companies. VC survey data 2016 from Mark Suster.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 4, 2016

Over the last week or so, we've featured the reflections of our readers on 2015 and what it has meant for Southern California's technology industry. Our last contribution comes from Hamet Watt , a venture capitalist at Upfront Ventures (www.upfront.com). As an entrepreneur and a new investor, this couldn't be more relevant.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Even if you work every day in the world of new-venture funding, as I do, the options are confusing, and their meanings seem to change on a regular basis. I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. A micro venture capital firm.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. In reality, crowdfunding has become a major startup funding vehicle, expected to reach $3.62

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InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

MBA’s are an easy target for entrepreneurs’ scorn. I too have taken shots at MBA’s, describing why they are not typically well suited for startup life in Why Entrepreneurs Hate (Most) MBAs. Ventures In Which An MBA Education Is A Plus. billion from 2010-2015. Situationally, MBA’s Can Be Effective Entrepreneurs.

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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. Other popular funding assistance sites for startups, including StartupAmerica and Startups.co Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 2/13/2015.

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Venture Capital Angel Satisfaction Equity 108

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. Same as I felt.

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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, 2,034 deals) and the third quarter of 2015 ($21.1 Liquidity feeds right into the fundraising conditions for venture fund managers.

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Venture Capital Capital Activity Invest 40

socalTECH

JANUARY 23, 2020

San Diego-based Kneron , a developer of artificial intelligence software, has raised $40M more in Series A funding, from investor Horizons Ventures. Horizons Ventures it the venture arm of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing. Accoring to Deal Street Asia, the funding brings the company's total to $73M. READ MORE>>.

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Artificial Inteligence San Diego Software Funding 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2023

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. billion by 2030, exceeding the amounts contributed by either angel groups or VCs alone. billion to USD 3.62 billion to USD 3.62 Risk is increased.

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Equity Platform Entrepreneur Statistics 80

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of those demanding angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. Way back in 2015, the Kickstarter Pebble smartwatch raised $20.3 Later funding rounds can’t deal with a thousand shareholders.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. He points out that the word crowd precedes funding in crowdfunding. Startup revenues come later.

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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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InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

VC's love to talk about their successes. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. Twilio has now raised around $235 million, including a July 2015 round totaling $130 million. Twilio has now raised around $235 million, including a July 2015 round totaling $130 million. What’s The Worst Mistake?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2015

Image via Flickr by Jupiter Labs Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. Every good entrepreneur needs to invest skin in the game, to show credibility and leadership to others.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 6, 2017

Los Angeles-based venture investment firm CrossCut Ventures (www.crosscut.vc) announced this morning that it has raised its fourth fund, CrossCut 4 , a brand new, $125M early stage investment fund. We spoke with one of the firm's four Managing Directors, Clinton Foy , about the big new fund and its investments.

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TechCrunch LA

MAY 29, 2019

Eric P: You have a fascinating background as a serial entrepreneur while you were a teenager. Starting at 21, I worked at a venture capital firm called IncWell based in Birmingham, Michigan then joined a startup called Rocket Fiber. Below is the transcript of our conversation (edited for length and clarity) : Founding PlayVS.

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 12, 2015

Fredi''s email is worth reading, as it reinforces how lucky American entrepreneurs truly are. However, from an entrepreneur''s viewpoint, the philosophical distance can be measured in light years. Although 75% of VC funds in Spain come from abroad, the government has decided to punish capital outflows.

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Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

San Diego’s innovation clusters continued to grow in 2015, as local startups, funding deals, and job growth extended an economic growth spurt that began in 2013. That’s according to a report being released today by Connect, the local nonprofit group focused on technology and entrepreneurship.

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socalTECH

MAY 25, 2016

Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) has just announced a brand new, $240M venture investment fund, led by longtime venture investing veterans Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milken and Jamie Montgomery. What is the investment focus for this fund? It's all about the entrepreneur.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2015

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. If you need funding for these early stage activities, I have some suggestions on better strategies to follow. Thus the best entrepreneur strategy for funding is to build solutions, not technology.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2015

Every entrepreneur should do the same due diligence on a potential investor that smart investors do on their startups. Investors are human and subject to human tendencies, whether they are your rich uncle, an angel investor with personal funds or a venture capital investor with institutional money. Pretend investors.

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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

JULY 30, 2013

The average length of a funding pitch to Angel investors is ten minutes. Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. Remember you are pitching to investors, not customers.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. Each has met legal securities minimums for net worth and professionalism, to reduce the risk to entrepreneurs.

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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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Startup Social Media Entrepreneur Satisfaction 108

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

You thought media twitter was bad… You thought tech twitter was bad… — Hunter Walk (@hunterwalk) August 24, 2015. But I do have some insight into how this will affect venture markets. The immediate impact is a longer funding cycle for anything but seed and A rounds. And if that’s what he meant he was right.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2016

A report, issued earlier this week by venture firm the Female Founders Fund , says that Los Angeles, and New York, are better markets than Silicon Valley to find funding for female founders. READ MORE>>.

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Los Angeles Report Angel Invest 100

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 25, 2016

The constant media coverage of the aberrant unicorn valuations has caused otherwise level-headed entrepreneurs to expect investors to participate at prices which are detached from their startups’ fundamentals. At Rincon Venture Partners , we continue to be disciplined, seed-stage investors. Find A Partner Not A Banker.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2015

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” Focus” is the key to success as an entrepreneur. There must be something deeper that slows people down.

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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. Explosion in Seed Funds. Rise of Seed.

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Tech Zulu Event

JULY 21, 2015

Hundreds of founders, speakers, mentors, and students flocked to the University of Southern California on March 28 th , 2015 to be inspired by female entrepreneurs. As a founding partner of SoGal Ventures , Pocket will now influence the next generation of startups and entrepreneurs worldwide, helping many amazing females along the way.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2015

One of the big questions that every entrepreneur struggles with is how much funding they should request from investors in the first round. On the other hand, venture capital organizations typically look for needs that exceed $2 million. Can you justify your use of funds to this investor?

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

We talk a lot about his schooling, his early jobs as a developer and then as a VC and we talk about his decision to spend winters in Los Angeles. Fred is generous with his time and advice and I hope has shaped a generation of VCs for the better. You can’t time VC investing markets. VC investing is hard work.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

Entrepreneurs could learn about loneliness of success: nobody talks about. Mark Suster (@msuster) July 19, 2015. The Yo-Yo Life of a Tech Entrepreneur. But needed to be seen. And the immediate reaction was obvious – that failure can be pretty lonely, too. Of course that’s true. I was 31. Entrepreneurshit.

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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. “I was like… ‘Hey!

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2016

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of those demanding angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. In 2015, the new Kickstarter Pebble smartwatch raised $20.3 Later funding rounds can’t deal with a thousand shareholders.

Equity 54

Equity Platform Entrepreneur Demand 54