Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2017

As an angel investor and business advisor on new ventures, I expect to see five-year financial projections from every entrepreneur. Founders point to the great number of financial unknowns in any new business, and are reluctant to “commit” to any numbers which may come back to haunt them later. Project unit-volume and price levels.

Pricing 57

Pricing Startup Entrepreneur Invest 57

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

We continue to see a ton of interest not only from great companies in Los Angeles, bu companies from all over the world and the country. I do think the way we work with companies is a little different from other programs, in that we view it much more like the wasyI personally think about investing and venture capital.

Incubator 187

Incubator Southern California Startup Ideas 187

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. Expect to hear a lot more about Maker technology in the next 18 months.

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Custom 366

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

We caught up with David Siemer , both an investment banker who runs Siemer & Associates (www.siemer.com) and an early stage investor here with Siemer Ventures (www.siemervc.com), to get his thoughts on the subject. How about mergers and acquisitions? For good companies, it''s a great exit opportunity.

Southern California 124

Southern California SoCal Commerce Invest 124

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

Ariel built a strong brand where consumers knew what to expect when ordering her products (sheets, towels, table clothes, robes, etc.) If you’re in the market for pure functionality and you value the lowest costs, Amazon will always be a great bet. companies that have to spend too heavily on customer acquisition). Get Physical!

Product 296

Product Course Custom Customer 296

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Messenger : Rob Duva , Co-Founder, COO RingRevenue, prior Director of Customer Acquisition, CallWave. At CallWave, Colin was CTO, Jason was CFO and I was in charge of product marketing and customer acquisition. It’s these different perspectives that have allowed us to create a great product and great partnerships.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

It's very exciting to find these apps, and once we make those acquisition and changes, see if our expectations and projections are meeting up with what happens in reality, once we actually own the application. We saw that and said--there are lots of apps out there, lots of great app. We have a huge acquisition pipeline.

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. Greathouse: Great products and companies that came out (of) Santa Barbara. We both made personal investments in the company.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

“it’s smart to use an impending investment valuation to drive a higher acquisition valuation” I would like to amend her statement slightly to read, “it’s smart to use an impending investment valuation to drive an higher acquisition.” Christin goes on. A nice play if you can make it.”

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

Venture Capital funds: the different between “closed funds&# (which typically have a 10-year time horizon) and “evergreen funds&# which re-invest profits back into the fund. His view: sometimes entrepreneurs expect too much value from the partner. DST invested $180mm last fall. Are “strategic investors&# (e.g.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

otherwise I prefer to invest less and risk less). We want money to make some acquisitions (investors would prefer to fund M&A if they know specific deals – not to encourage bad behavior. But this strategy great depends on point 3. We want a strong balance sheet (um, ok. Think DropBox, Airbnb, Uber, Maker Studios.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I called the meeting a 10/10 because we had a great 90-minute discussion in which we had great rapport. And when you finish the demo you can bring in the other important components such as competition, team, customer acquisition strategy, etc. The white board is a great way to make this happen. Mobile app?

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2016

What they don’t realize is that about half the investment deals fail to close at this stage, including mergers and acquisitions , during the due-diligence process. The same is true of Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank investments you see on TV. Everyone expects a few flaws, but serious undisclosed issues will likely kill the deal.

Technical Review 55

Technical Review Help Innocal Startup 55

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

First, I believe that Seesmic has an excellent product – especially the web version of their product and that having another senior and experienced exec like Loic Le Meur would be great for Twitter. But wait, aren’t you the guy who invested in Ad.ly, the in-stream advertising company? No, I don’t think so.

Acquisition 287

Acquisition Develop Development Conference 287

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

If you are charged for every nanosecond you spend with your lawyer, consider finding one who is willing to “invest” more aggressively in your success. I established such a relationship with a fantastic lawyer and he taught me a great deal over the 10 years we worked together. but They Make Great Guard Dogs. They make mistakes.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

As an entrepreneur and startup investor, I have helped create companies which achieved two IPOs which collectively raised over $100 million, as well as two acquisitions which totaled $385 million. 1) Expect Independent Channel Sales Reps To Perform Missionary Sales. During those same 25-years, I also made innumerable mistakes.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

socalTECH

OCTOBER 7, 2010

The firm is announcing today that it has just reached its 17 millionth registered user, having added more than 300,000 new users since its August acquisition. In 2009/2010, I joined the team which had been building out the Titan platform, with the idea that the competitive gaming model was very attractive. In August, we acquired Xfire.

Competition 154

Competition Acquisition Sites Los Angeles 154

Frank Addante

JULY 30, 2007

► August (1) Invest in Transparency & Active Communication ► July (1) The Fear of Success ► May (2) Optimized for Speed = 30% Waste Happy 1st Birthday Rubicon Project! Internet Advertising ASP) Exit: $112M IPO and acquisition Lesson: Think big. Do we invest more capital into the business to grow it faster?

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Outsource Development Advertising 40

Frank Addante

AUGUST 27, 2007

► August (1) Invest in Transparency & Active Communication ► July (1) The Fear of Success ► May (2) Optimized for Speed = 30% Waste Happy 1st Birthday Rubicon Project! Internet Advertising ASP) Exit: $112M IPO and acquisition Lesson: Think big. ► October (1) New Video! Visit StrongMail Website Startup 4.0:

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Outsource Development Web 2.0 40

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1. They are, in fact, great news for traditional venture capitalists. The number of startups being created has increased by an order of magnitude.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► August (1) Invest in Transparency & Active Communication ► July (1) The Fear of Success ► May (2) Optimized for Speed = 30% Waste Happy 1st Birthday Rubicon Project! Internet Advertising ASP) Exit: $112M IPO and acquisition Lesson: Think big. ► October (1) New Video! Visit StrongMail Website Startup 4.0:

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40