Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2010

As a startup entrepreneur you’ll have many demands for your time. Especially if you start to have a degree of success or build a high public profile. “Thank you for writing to me – it’s nice to hear from you (or meet you) via email. I just wanted to tell you up front so you’d pace yourself.&#.

Startup 305

Startup Venture Capital Writing Conference 305

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2021

If you want to get in better shape and haven’t read that you might start there. I started advice with the premise that no amount of exercise or food eating plan would help with long-term fitness or weight goals unless you first had a mental plan and a set of measurements to track your progress. I want to share with you how I did this.

Coach 538

Coach Startup Guide Journal 538

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

If you take a snapshot during an extraordinary surge in valuations, M&A activity, IPOs and thus wealth creation you’d echo John Doerr’s famous quote from 1999 that, “The Internet is the greatest legal creation of wealth in history.&# If you’re a tech startup person I know you know what I mean. I did that?

Startup 391

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Writing 391

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A This applies equally to VCs, startups & big company executives. The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. So no whinging about what a long post this is!

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

This is part of my series on Startup Advice. I love working with Aussies because their outlook on life seems very similar to what I grew up with in California. Trust me – your chances of selling are much lower if you’re talking rather than actively listening. When I worked in London there were a ton of Aussies.

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Customer 314

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2010

I’m not a shareholder and I’m not even actively looking at making an investment. I’m only writing about the product because I’m passionate about it. Let’s start with what I like most about the product. It’s now 20 minutes later and there are still 64 people active on my blog.

Blogging 287

Blogging Google Screening Mahalo 287

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2014

PR is an insanely valuable activity in early-stage companies. Very few investors understand this and even fewer startups. When you’re an early-stage business every dollar matters and because many startup teams these days are very product & technology centric they often miscalculate the importance of PR.

Press 415

Press Google Course Writing 415

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2017

Only those with maniacal focus on results and a willingness not to engage in every activity achieve extraordinary results. I have written about this before and often recommend to executives that they do less, but complete more by avoiding the shiny objects and distractions stop us from living up to our true potential.

Activity 297

Activity Blogging Email Startup 297

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2020

They become frustrated when they are unable to build their startup over a weekend, and give up way too soon when the path to real success seems to be interminable. A successful startup needs to be a daily task, with consistent focus. Getting started is always a challenge. Frequency keeps insights current.

Startup 173

Startup Writing Blogging Ideas 173

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Everyone seems to be in such a rush to get shacked up these days. Swing by their offices to make it easy for them to say yes and promise not to take up more than 30 minutes for the update (and stick to it). Like it or not – finance is a major job function in any company – startup or public company.

Invest 411

Invest Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 411

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. I started feeling panic attacks.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've recently received several emails from people looking for a technical cofounder for their startup. I promised I would write this post with some thoughts and ideas on the topic. Make sure you go through the 32 Questions Developers May Have Forgot to Ask a Startup Founder. Here's an example of that kind of email.

CTO Hire 211

CTO Hire CTO Coach Startup Equity 211

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

In that article I talked about how PR drives: recruiting, employee retention, biz dev deals, funding and even M&A and that often “attribution” to your PR activities is unknown. When to start PR? As the CEO you need to realize that doing PR is part of the piechart of activities called “your job.”

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 6, 2010

The ability to ask questions effectively is one of the most important skills in business as is the ability to actively listen. We started presenting our company and talking about our views of the industry. He started opening up. He then started to get a little bit negative on our industry. It was golden.

Startup 311

Startup Invest Course Research 311

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). I was telling him that it was much easier when I started because there were fewer deals, life was less public and somehow the world seemed to be spinning more slowly. I don’t.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I started with a Top 10 list for Nivi (at VentureHacks), but I couldn’t cram it into 10 so it became a Top 11 list. There’s one attribute (coming soon) that I need to have in order to write a check but I don’t believe is vital for success. OK, it’s not really my final part.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2012

When I started my first tech company in 1999 I had pretty good tech chops and had led teams but had very little exposure to many other things that matter in a startup including sales, marketing & business development. Negotiating was a subset of every activity in a startup – it really was a way of life.

Startup 322

Startup Training Outsource Development Design 322

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

I recommend starting with a brief overview of you, your company and your solution. After a brief overview of you, your company and your solution I recommend putting up some example clients you’ve worked with, although you obviously need their approval first. Write down the customer pains so you’ll have them for later.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

Mike Stern (wasn’t sure which one so leave a comment if it’s you): Q: “is it possible to sell your startup without venture investment if the company has big traction and a large user base?&# But the key is that if you want to sell your company you need to have active relationships with potential future buyers.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2020

As an angel investor and a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m always disappointed to see founders who seem stressed out most of the time, and more annoyed than energized by the abundance of challenges they see in building their startup. Able to balance right-brain and left-brain activities.

Startup 171

Startup Entrepreneur Activity Ideas 171

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

I had this ethical dilemma pop up on one of the first deals I even did as a VC. I got a call from a VC friend of mine who said, “we’re looking at this deal but can’t write the full check. I decided to write a $2+ million check along with my co-investor who offered $750k. The night started harmless enough.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Writing 356

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

Intellectual Property (IP) is an ugly thing at a startup. However, to a Big Dumb Company (BDC), a startup’s IP is a thing of beauty. How can IP be worthless to a startup yet very worthwhile to a BDC? Patents held by startups generally have a limited ability to reduce competition. Three years is a lifetime at a startup.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 13, 2011

It’s the time of year when many new startups are struggling to rise above all the noise and be heard. monthly actives), I thought I should come here to represent. monthly actives), I thought I should come here to represent. Many startups get caught up in the conference circuit.

Conference 289

Conference Startup Technical Review Writing 289

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2011

Jimmy Hendricks: We actually started two and a half years ago. So, we took that contest and crowdsourcing platform, and started ArtisticHub. In the meantime, Groupon came along, and our media customers started to lose advertising. In the meantime, Groupon came along, and our media customers started to lose advertising.

Platform 263

Platform Training Software Review Advertising 263

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. 2. Chris then discussed his time as founder and CEO of SiteAdvisor, his first venture-backed startup. We then went back to talking about how to choose the space in which your startup is operating.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Mike Yavonditte is the founder of the “super hot&# Hashable , a startup out of NYC that has been described as a “ Mint.com for Social Capital ” Mike sold his previous company, Quigo , to Aol for $340 Million. He is also an active angel investor in companies like Klout and Meetup. Quigo set up a system on specific web pages.

Google 302

Google Startup Advertising Acquisition 302

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

So why is online video such an attractive market to build a startup? These markets represent about $600 billion of total spend between them, leaving tons of opportunities for startups to disrupt and grow large. But a market in which every network competes to sign up the largest talent by throwing rev share deals at them is also stupid.

Company 339

Company Companies Technical Review Content 339

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. ” Nortman said.

Writing 171

Writing Los Angeles Equity Startup 171

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Serial entrepreneur, venture investor and startup accelerator pioneer Brad Feld has notoriously mocked traditional marketing throughout his career. Instead of focusing on marketing as an activity… integrate it into (your) products.”. Instead of focusing on marketing as an activity… integrate it into (your) products.”.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

If you are one of the new age of entrepreneurs who hates the thought of doing a business plan as a first step in starting your new venture you will love this message. Don’t start by committing more than you can afford to lose. Testing for real is the assumption behind approaches such as Lean Startup.

Writing 102

Writing Startup Entrepreneur Capital 102

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2010

And his stated goal at his young age is to get an education so his kids can grow up in a better neighborhood. All of the kids end up in a lottery system to try and get into public charter schools where their odds were between 5-10% of being accepted based solely on numbers. I grew up in public schools and so did my wife.

Class 340

Class Education Technical Review Writing 340

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. How did you start blogging? “My In 2004 / 2005 I was starting to get intrigued with user-generated content. was starting. You still need the presentation to back that up. Brad’s start in Venture Capital. Or, as always, summary notes available below.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m inspired by the enthusiasm of the young, emerging startup ecosystem that is here. As I gear up to give a keynote at the annual Seattle 2.0 awards dinner on Thursday night I started reflected on what it would take to “change the trajectory&# for Seattle or for any regional market, really.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2021

A common challenge faced by every entrepreneur is that they don’t have the bandwidth, interest or skills to do everything that is required to build their startup. Two heads are always better than one in a startup. Your best friend, spouse or a family member is the least likely candidate, so don’t start there.

Startup 126

Startup High Tech Entrepreneur Writing 126

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

Fred Wilson wrote two posts in 2010 that were very influential with the startup community. I know that they really impacted an entire cohort of startups because every company that was coming to pitch me businesses was (is) saying, “I’m a ‘mobile first’ company.” Try writing long reviews of a restaurant.

Web 334

Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

At the highest level we’re looking for somebody really intelligent, digitally native, financially numerate and interested in startups. If this isn’t you, we’d probably still have a look if you did something truly exception – probably at startup or tech firm. Plus, show my you can write! Are we elitist?

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Technical Review GRP Partners Email 290