Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

I have no incentive to do so other than to help those reading the WSJ piece better understand how I believe most insiders think. Especially in an industry where so many investors do so little to actually help. Let me offer you an insider’s take. As an entrepreneur I never really knew what to make of VC return data.

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Invest Funding Competition 264

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

However, being that I started a tutoring agency when I was 18, Beverly Hills Academics, I was able to understand the logistics on how to operate hyper-locally from the beginning, so HeyTutor could spend money on developing a platform where we knew exactly what we were doing. In this industry, customer acquisition costs are super high.

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Beverly Hills Acquisition 113

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. Conversely if you’re burning $600,000 per month (yes, some companies do) then you only have 5 months of cash left.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). There is a lot you can do without spending money. I do it myself.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2014

I was an early and tireless advocate for the growth of the Internet video ecosystem and as virtually every article I wrote made clear I believe the 800-pound-gorilla is YouTube and will remain so for the foreseeable future. The Internet works best on Deflationary Economics. So Why MiTú? Indeed we are already seeing that online.

Invest 291

Invest Content Media Networking 291

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. You’ve found yourself in a super hot category and – let’s face it – it’s still a very frothy venture capital funding market so you may have loads of VCs chasing you.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. If you can’t out-Amazon Amazon, then move on and do something else. Here are some ideas of what I believe matters.

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

The surest way to run a marathon is to tell everybody you’re going to do it (transparency). I’m a big believer in product stability & performance before adding too many features. The best way is to start by asking yourself at management team level: what are our company objectives and how do we best measure them?

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup SEO Customer 346

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

40% of all of YouTube is viewed on mobile devices and of high-quality content I believe it is between 60-70% based on my insider data. The point isn’t to “build a business on YouTube” but rather to use YouTube as a marketing platform to build a video business that works across many platforms.

SEM 150

SEM Content Platform Acquisition 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2020

The problem is that these business financials are future projections, while the idea is “now,” so you believe the idea can do most of the selling. If you insist on projecting $100 million in sales the first year, smart investors will likely run for the nearest exit. Define an exit strategy for investors to liquidate their share.

Ideas 123

Ideas Statistics Invest Marketing 123

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

Examples of VC platform services include: recruiting, marketing, design support, inside sales reps, consulting, accounting services and so forth. Side Note : Upfront has hired Kerry Bennett as a member of our executive management team to run marketing – please follow her on Twitter here ].

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Perform China Syndrome Market Analysis. In order to reasonably assess the size of your addressable market, you must perform a bottoms-up analysis which is based on a number of elemental assumptions.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 6, 2020

As time has gone on, the company then shifted into the ridesharing market, essentially operating as a car availability platform for Uber and Lyft drivers. There are lots of transaction costs which occur both on acquisition of customers and on returns, and those costs are real, and must be considered in how we price the products.

Startup 124

Startup Pricing Platform Study 124

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

Paige is a gifted communicator and my summary does not do him justice. How extensible do you see BetterWorks’ business model with later stage companies, where dental plans do matter? “We We see two markets. 3) I’ve heard some great stories about your weekend sales “boot camps.” free weekly Infochachkie articles!

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

We had more than 700 resumes, short-listed 65, interviewed 16 in one-hour meetings had 6 full-day interviews including a presentation by the candidate on a selected market opportunity and we did 3 finalist dinners to test cultural fit. Not hard-core, just the stuff you’d do if you were in jr. MBA fine, but not required.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

socalTECH

MARCH 30, 2011

It was interesting to see the acquisition of Accordent - it seems unusual to have only put in $4M in to a company in so many years, and yet you had a good exit? Jeb Spencer: The goal at TVC Capital is to do exactly this. The market was probably $100 million or less when we first looked at Accordent.

Capital 168

Capital Hermosa Beach El Segundo Invest 168

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. Rationale: I cannot afford to hire a direct sales force.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post. The reason I’m more nuanced is that I believe that a well-crafted Powerpoint deck can actually set some context for what you’re about to show the VC. The product feedback will be invaluable.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

SoCal CTO

MARCH 18, 2010

Vince: I’m an author, speaker and management consultant with a special expertise in online media sales. I started out as screenwriter, went into local television, ran ad sales in the west for AOL and joined Facebook in the companies very early days. Like me, you have a lot of different things going on, how do you balance?

Startup 225

Startup Los Angeles Social Network Twiistup 225

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

The top 2% do not drive 98% of the returns. So if you take 6 very strong performing firms of $250 million and assume they do 5x each that is $1.25 The better way to think about VC returns is, do the firms consistently beat alternative asset clases on an IRR basis to adjust for the increased risk and lack of liquidity?

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

One of the investment themes I’ve been focused on in the past 3 years has been Performance-Based Marketing. When I started investing the US advertising market was $300 billion with only 10% of it ($30 billion) of it being online and measurable. I believe that many social networks confused this idea.

Advertising 284

Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Lately I’ve been having to say things I thought I’d never have to remind people, like, “getting to positive gross margin in several territories is a very low bar to claim success” or “profitable excluding marketing costs” is not actually a real thing. Market Size. MakeSpace provides physical storage.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

InfoChachkie

MAY 14, 2012

During my tenure at Expertcity (creator of GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting), one of my responsibilities was leading our online marketing, a role I retained until our eventual acquisition by Citrix. When we launched GoToMyPC in 2001, the rules of online marketing were still being written. and Overture Services.

Content 171

Content Platform Paid Search OpenX 171

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

What is a “strategic&# investor and why do you keep putting the word “strategic&# in quotes? When they promise to help you with marketing, sales, distribution, integrated product development, etc. When they promise to help you with marketing, sales, distribution, integrated product development, etc.

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur Framework 279

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2015

Yesterday I wrote about the need to “ do fewer things, more often ” in which I described that frenzied world we live in and why the shiny objects and distractions stop us from living up to our true potential. I worked with a successful portfolio company recently that had to make some big moves in the market.

Startup 150

Startup Framework Sales Venture Capital 150

Tech.Co

JANUARY 15, 2018

The most common question we’ve receive through the years has been “how do you make money?” Our model evolved over time as the landscape changed, from ticket sales and sponsorships to online advertising, content marketing, and consulting. We are also incredibly grateful for all of those who believed in us.

Media 175

Media News Organization Content 175

socalTECH

JANUARY 10, 2011

To get some insight to how venture capitalists are viewing the market, and how mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs are affecting the business, we chatted with Dave Ryan , Managing Partner at the company. What do you make of the exit opportunities nowadays, and how has your firm been doing? Dave, thanks for the time today.

Mission Ventures 140

Mission Ventures Acquisition San Diego Invest 140

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2013

For starters, here is my selection of some key metrics that every six-sigma joint like GE tracks without thinking, but that too many small businesses haven’t yet formalized: Sales revenue. Sales data needs to be correlated to advertising campaigns, price changes, seasonal forces, competitive actions, and other costs of sales.

Metrics 100

Metrics Technical Review Sales Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

Here is my selection of ten key metrics that every six-sigma joint like GE tracks without thinking, but too many small businesses only monitor haphazardly, if at all: Sales revenue. Sales is simply defined as income from customer purchases of goods and services, minus the cost associated with things like returned or undeliverable merchandise.

Metrics 106

Metrics Startup Sales Statistics 106

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2015

Gregg Parise What we are doing, is we are going into the event management software space, and doing it through a platform technology. Essentially, what we are doing is creating a two sided marketplace. You point out that there''s a lot of folks in this market, why jump in with a new service? What is Events.com all about?

Software 100

Software Activity Startup San Diego 100

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

I review these tenets with my entrepreneurial students at UC Santa Barbara at the beginning of each quarter to reinforce many of the key topics we will cover in the following weeks. They are listed below augmented with quotes from Jeff Bezos taken from various points in his career. You can be customer-focused or competitor-focused.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Framework Customer 279

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

What will you have to do differently to jump the proverbial “chasm” and appeal to more mainstream, bread-and-butter hoteliers? “We We have built SocialStay for scale so I think the ‘chasm’ is both a function of time and sales. You don’t need much… But what you do need is sales. They are starting to see the light.

Startup 233

Startup Design Mobile Social Network 233

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 4, 2014

Kurt Kutay, Founder and CEO of Wildland Adventures , believes that "luxury adventure travel" does not have to be an oxymoron. Greathouse : Yes, it always seems to get harder to launch a startup when a market begins maturing. How has this reality impacted your customer acquisition strategies?

Entrepreneur 187

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Resource 187

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Has it been harder to work with the international market? Rahul Sonnad: It is a little bit more expensive to fly to Europe than New York, but I think, absolutely, that it's been surprisingly not difficult to serve the market. We think Ireland is a really interesting market. That's certainly the case in the U.S., Unlike the U.S.,

Mobile 140

Mobile Santa Monica Startup Commerce 140

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

No cookies for guessing which reason they use to market to us. But Cialdini knew they could do better. We want to do what we believe others like us are doing. It is clearly a ploy by hotels to cut costs but it also benefits the environment. From there Rob decided to make a small investment.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

InfoChachkie

JULY 26, 2010

Even though the Santa Barbara garrison was outmanned nearly six to one, Commandant de la Guerra tricked de Bouchard into believing that his force was formidable by repeatedly marching his small cavalry over a ridge that could be readily seen from the pirate’s ship. BDC employees are used to playing by the rules, so give them a rulebook.

Entrepreneur 168

Entrepreneur Santa Barbara Startup Conference 168

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 9, 2014

Too often people dive straight into their shiny solution ideas without thinking about why they’re doing what they’re doing or considering the change they want to see in the world. A lack of focus If there’s one thing that startups are often guilty of, it’s trying to do too much, too soon. Chase the vision not the money.

Startup 78

Startup Design Customer Custom 78