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. “We’re venture capitalists. “I was like… ‘Hey!

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Writing Los Angeles Equity Startup 171

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2015

It’s disconcerting for most to realize that these shares are initially worth nothing, and the challenge is to get that value up as quickly as possible, without losing it just as quickly to investors, lazy partners and taxation. Retain the right to reclaim stock from anyone leaving the startup. Key founder vesting should have no cliff.

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Startup Entrepreneur Acquisition Demand 99

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2015

Entrepreneurs often ask me why investors expect financial projections for a new startup even before the product is built and while the market is still being defined. You shouldn’t invest in an undefined business. I recently saw a startup projecting $50 million in revenue for the first year.

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Startup Equity Invest Acquisition 107

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Crowdfunding is rapidly becoming the major source of funding for seed-stage startups. This is a relatively new term loosely applied to angels who invest their own money in a portfolio of startups (typically 20 or more) and are willing to lead multiple rounds, usually starting with a seed round. A seed-stage “super angel.”

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2015

They know from forums such as Shark Tank on TV that asking for either too much or too little will derail credibility in the eyes of the investor, and leave the entrepreneur with no money and a struggling startup. If you have a good idea, but haven’t started yet, only friends, family and fools will likely be interested.

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Help Startup Equity Entrepreneur 104

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 29, 2020

Kleiner Perkins , one of the most storied franchises in venture capital, has already invested much of the $600 million it raised last year and is now going back out to the market to raise its 19th fund, according to multiple sources. Speaking onstage at the Upfront Summit, an event at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

IBM 164

IBM IBM Venture Capital Invest 164

socalTECH

DECEMBER 26, 2014

Our first post over the holidays is from Howard Marks --who co-founded Activision--and recently founded startup accelerator StartEngine, and who has been very active in encouraging the technology industry in Los Angeles. After investing in 60 startups, we realized that the biggest pain point was to help them raise the first $1M in financing.

Activision 191

Activision Southern California Los Angeles Capital 191

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

A popular myth these days is that successful entrepreneurs must attract investors to get their businesses going, when the reality has been that more than 80 percent of new businesses are started and grown with no outside investment at all. The first question from most investors is the size of your own investment.

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Startup Entrepreneur Equity Summary 101

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

But many have no insight or connections to the ethereal angel investment community, which actually funds more startups then all other venture sources combined (over $25 billion annually). Here are eight key insights that will help you find a productive match: Angels want equity ownership, not causes.

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Angel Startup Venture Capital Seed Funding 106

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. The average amount per startup was $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment.

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Entrepreneur Startup Equity Invest 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2016

Most first-time entrepreneurs seem to believe the myth that they need a minimum of a half a million dollars to start a business. At least that is usually the lowest number I see requested from our local angel investment group. Find team members to work for equity rather than cash. I’m convinced this also reduces risk.

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Startup Social Media Entrepreneur Equity 61

socalTECH

DECEMBER 26, 2014

Our first post over the holidays is from Howard Marks --who co-founded Activision--and recently founded startup accelerator StartEngine, and who has been very active in encouraging the technology industry in Los Angeles. After investing in 60 startups, we realized that the biggest pain point was to help them raise the first $1M in financing.

Activision 100

Activision Southern California Los Angeles Capital 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2017

More recently, the desire for extra income has become the key driver in new startups, according to a 2015 study. This usually means not taking money from equity investors, since investors want fast growth, high profits, and an exit event, to allow investments to be recouped. According to William R.

Entrepreneur 69

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Course 69

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2015

Yet as I mentor entrepreneurs around the country, it still seems to be one of the least understood approaches to startup funding, with more myths than accredited angels and professional venture capital investors combined. With this model, a startup pre-sells their product early, at a cheaper price, in exchange for a pledge.

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Venture Capital Angel Satisfaction Equity 108

Xconomy

OCTOBER 12, 2016

On Monday, nine startups began a 16-week program at Canopy San Diego , a new accelerator program for seed-stage companies developing new technologies, products, and services to support the legal cannabis industry. And in fact, California surpassed France as the world’s sixth-largest economy, based on 2015 economic data.

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San Diego Startup Southern California Invest 40

Xconomy

OCTOBER 27, 2016

Prices for agricultural commodities such as corn, soy, and wheat are at their lowest levels in years, but investment in agricultural technology has never been better. The crash in commodity prices led large companies to slash their own R&D, opening the door to opportunities for some agbio and agtech startups.

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Venture Capital Pricing Invest Report 40

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 Have you ever wondered what professional startup investors think about all this?

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Equity Platform Entrepreneur Demand 54

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Every investor in your startup, even friends and family, normally expects a share of your company (equity), which means your return for all your effort goes down quickly. This is at least double the time required for most equity investments, and may be a delay you can’t afford in keeping up with the market and your competitors.

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Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

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? That's when you start meddling in the company.

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Southern California Capital Funding Invest 113

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. That means specifically they’re not sure if this is a normal & slight correction or the start of a new cycle. If the next 30 days stays calm then investment will pick up.

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Marketing Venture Capital Startup Invest 150

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. It’s still considered high risk for investment, since manufacturing and quality issues are likely. Specialized VCs start to jump in at this stage. Product verification and clinical trials.

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Develop Development Product Funding 102

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 What is most interesting is the activity beneath the headline data.

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Venture Capital Capital Activity Invest 40

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

When pitching to investors, entrepreneurs always seem to start with a customer pitch, then add a slide or two about the business. In every case, the relevant pitch needs to start by highlighting a real customer problem, then outlining a new solution, with all the features and disruptive technology.

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Product Slides Customer Custom 103

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

Having time to think about “leadership” at most startups feels like a luxury. The reality of most startups is about survival. If people don’t know the mission there is no way to achieve the objective and you end up with a team pulling in 100 different directions – even if only by small amounts.

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Startup Coach Course Invest 150

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

We caught up with co-founder Clark Landry to chat about his new startup, which he co-founded with Michael Ritter. We'd get together every two or three months to grab coffee or lunch, and talk about what we're up to. After I sold my last company, Shift, in May of 2015, I took some time off to look for the next thing to do.

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Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

socalTECH

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Brett and I both grew up in Southern California. I grew up in Thousand Oaks, went to USC, and we met each other way back in the 90's. Where there are lots of players focused on different types of equity, different types of investments, different types of debt, they're doing it in a very unfocused manner.

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Southern California Google Technical Review Manhattan Beach 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

" Investors want to buy into an entrepreneur with a startup that can provide evidence of an ability to double customer productivity, at half the cost, with patented technology. Patents or other intellectual property are a real competitive advantage for a startup, but first to market and working harder are not sustainable.

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Summary Patents Technical Review Competition 101

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Len Short is truly an online marketing pioneer, heading up marketing at Charles Schwab, AOL and then (PRODUCT)RED. I recently caught up with Len outside of George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch. Len remains an active advisor to several startups. “So much power has ended up in Google’s search box. million people.

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Google Technical Advisors Technical Review Equity 220

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Tealium, a San-Diego startup that provides online advertising tag management and marketing services for enterprise customers, has raised $35 million in a growth financing deal intended to expand its technology and market reach. Georgian Partners and Bain Capital Ventures, the investment firms that anchored Tealium’s $30.7

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Customer Custom San Diego JavaScript 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Most are sitting on large portfolios of private companies that are raising money now or will need to do so in the future and they know that they’re up against some headwinds. The Motive for Speaking Up. ” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” All of these are false.

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Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

And I’ll tell you why, starting with where you started and why you succeeded. Users could set up their phone to tweet from it; send an SMS txt and the tweet would appear on your profile. All these things set Twitter up for enormous user growth. Users on the platform started to tune out. I stayed on the platform.

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Platform Startup News Content 40

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

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

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. Startups need to build a large passionate group of fans before the campaign. Startup revenues come later.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2015

Boy wearing Oculus Rift via Wikipedia 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. Startups need to build a large passionate group of fans before the campaign.

Startup 53

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 53