Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

socalTECH

DECEMBER 10, 2010

Thanks to all of our sponsors and advertisers, who make our coverage of Southern. venture funding and business deals, technology develops, and more from Santa Barbara. It's the source for keeping a pulse on the dynamic world of technology, reaching venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs, CEOs, social media.

SoCalTech 127

SoCalTech Advertising Rustic Canyon Glendale 127

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

This was really a fun week at TWiVC because we decided to have an entrepreneur come and talk about raising capital rather than having a VC come on. It’s always such a pleasure for me to spend time with Farb because he has all of the enthusiasm and energy you love to see in entrepreneurs. They sponsor TWiVC. BlockChalk.

Venture Capital 214

Venture Capital Startup Design S3 214

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2010

One complaint we sometimes hear from venture capitalists visiting Southern California for the first time, is the difficulty of finding experienced entrepreneurs and executives. The firm has backing from such investors as Google Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and OReilly AlphaTech Ventures.

Southern California 228

Southern California Entrepreneur SoCal Mahalo 228

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. It’s part of what makes him so likable.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Equally, I encouraged entrepreneurs to spend time getting to know their future VCs early because getting a feel for your chemistry is far more important than how the VC is ranked in some survey. I felt the exact same way when I was an entrepreneur. Lines vs. Dots is all about people. Market Opportunity. Let me explain.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know.

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

Handling PR with VCs. This is part of my series on How to Raise VC but could equally be filed under Startup Advice more generally. I recently got a phone call from an entrepreneur whom I respect and who runs a company that I hope will do great things one day. Press doesn’t mean anything other than free advertising.

Venture Capital 291

Venture Capital Press News Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

I am thrilled to announce that we have added Hamet Watt as a Partner at Upfront Ventures. It was a software platform for allowing advertisers to purchase brand integration (product placements) as a standardized unit through a marketplace. I’ve known Hamet for 5 years. The idea immediately resonated. I stayed close.

Invest 340

Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

Ok, I know it’s an hour-long video, but if you have time in the evening, we had a series of great discussions once you get 6 minutes in or so past the upfront advertisements. Is the VC model broken? - Why did the VC investment pace slow down so much? - Was Fred Wilson right that a VC owning a small stake is OK?

Startup 245

Startup Venture Capital Advertising News 245

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. SlideShare: VC signaling in seed rounds. Tesla is not. It's a great talk.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

socalTECH

AUGUST 14, 2014

com, and other local startups); Marc Geiger (Lollapalooza, William Morris Endeavor); Irwin Federman (US Venture Partners, NVCA), along with both Mucker Capital and Amplify.LA. vadio music video streaming technology advertising venture capital investment vevo amplify muckerlab incubator' READ MORE>>.

Capital 138

Capital Funding Seed Funding Incubator 138

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&#. I recently wrote a blog post here in which I argued that the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches. I hope that when you’re presenting to a VC this will give you some sense of what might be going on in our minds. Both presenters are anonymized.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Yahoo 288

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2023

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Successful entrepreneurs get the job done quickly, without breaking the bank. Martin Zwilling

Statistics 120

Statistics Research Report Newsletter 120

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

James Borow and Clark Landry (shared position), SHIFT (Los Angeles, Santa Monica, advertising). Tim Cadogan , OpenX (Pasadena, advertising). Asher Delug , Airpush (Los Angeles, advertising). Jerry Jao , Retention Science (Los Angeles, analytics/advertising). Jason Lehmbeck , Datapop (Los Angeles, advertising).

Southern California 279

Southern California SoCalTech Dollar Shave Club Santa Monica 279

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I originally conceived it as the Top 11 things that I believe “all entrepreneurs need to succeed.&# If it stuck to this theme then I would stand by my top 11. It isn’t a “must&# for me but it’s certainly a huge positive when entrepreneurs have it. I met the CEO Brian Malewicz several times. Another example.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Are you an entrepreneur, looking for capital here in Southern California? It's turning out to be a great time for entrepreneurs looking for funding in the region, with not only high profile exits of such companies as Snap Inc., Watertower Ventures. www.watertowerventures.com) Fund size: $5M. www.amplify.la.

Southern California 138

Southern California Artificial Inteligence Funding SoCal 138

socalTECH

AUGUST 31, 2009

Hamet is now helping True Ventures look at investments in Southern California, and we thought it would be worthwhile to talk to him about the firm's new interest here, his role, plus his insights into where the advertising industry is now. Tell us what you're doing for True Ventures? It's more the stage and entrepreneur.

Southern California 164

Southern California Venture Capital Advertising Entrepreneur 164

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. The VC partner, somebody I greatly respect said, “Yeah, we like Gil and what they’re doing. In my LA I often see computer screens open with entrepreneurs talking about digital media.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Short summary of my posts: 1.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2014

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market-research data. Successful entrepreneurs get the job done quickly, without breaking the bank.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Statistics Research 97

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 13, 2011

The venture capital industry is so heavily skewed to Northern California, which the remains spilled over Boston, New York & Southern California. So it was wonderful to hear from a leading venture capital firm based in Washington DC. I run Revolution’s VC investments. Revolution, what is it?

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Examples Startup Invest 277

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2012

This is one of the best episodes of This Week in VC for a long time. And they invest n select VC funds. 4:45 How do young entrepreneurs begin to work with a company like yours? 25:00 How should entrepreneurs approach you for funding? 27:45 Thank you to Detroit Venture Partners for their support of the show!

Media 285

Media Company Companies Venture Capital 285

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

Because my role as a VC requires me to take and endless stream of meetings I long ago decided I need to learn as much as I can from the meetings I attend so I often just ask tons of questions and assimilate knowledge. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Yet as a business advisor I am convinced that making the jump from a startup to a the next unicorn takes a different mindset, and actions most entrepreneurs are reluctant to face. In my experience, here are some of the key elements of that “second-stage” of entrepreneurship: Move from small investors to major venture capital.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations. I thought about things I never had to as an entrepreneur: check size, ownership percentage, deal stage, portfolio construction and risk. But I guess you could say the same about VC.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. Why Shouldn’t Most Services Businesses Raise VC? It may be the right answer for you.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2010

We asked the same five questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next two weeks. Earlier today, we talked with Greg Martin at Archer Venture Capital. 2) Advertising in the Facebook ecosystem. READ MORE>>.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Southern California Cloud Computing Venture Capital 160

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Successful entrepreneurs get the job done quickly, without breaking the bank. Martin Zwilling.

Marketing 157

Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2012

We asked the same four questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next week. Some dismiss Twitter as a toy to tell people what you had for lunch and others deride them for advertising or for controlling their network.

GRP Partners 178

GRP Partners Southern California High Tech Venture Capital 178

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 11, 2009

socalTECH is a media sponsor of the LAVA Special Event: Meet the VCs on November 17th. It's a can't miss opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to connect with investors in Southern California technology companies. This event series is designed to help investors and entrepreneurs engage with one another.

LAVA 133

LAVA Southern California SoCalTech Education 133

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 21, 2011

When I first got into VC I decided I better have some investment themes. My macro theme was “great entrepreneurs&# who mapped to my belief system about the kind of entrepreneurs I wanted to work with. Of the $300 billion spent annually on advertising, 90% of it ($270bn) is still offline and not measurable. (1).

Mobile 329

Mobile Advertising Media Marketing 329

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2015

When Facebook did it a few years ago, the company used more than $100 million in venture capital funding before it became profitable. It helps to understand how online advertising really works. This model, called pay per click (PPC), is the one most commonly offered to entrepreneurs.

Advertising 99

Advertising CPC PPC Sites 99

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

I guess it may be impractical for Twitter to acquire Seesmic given it has raised considerable amounts of venture capital (reportedly $12 million) but the broader point for me is that I always believed Twitter should control the client versions of its product. Think about the creative tension. Kind of obvious, huh?

Acquisition 287

Acquisition Develop Development Conference 287

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2013

Convetro , the online advertising targeting and optimization technology developer headed by serial entrepreneur Jeff Zwelling, has raised $5M in a Series B funding round, the company said this morning. The firm said the funding came from Bessemer Venture Partners and DAG Ventures, and will go towards sales and marketing.

Santa Monica 147

Santa Monica Advertising Equity Entrepreneur 147

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2014

Fund Raising – No self respecting VC would admit (even to themselves) that they are influenced by what they read about you in the press. But as I like to tell entrepreneurs, great PR could add $10 million to your valuation or increase your chances of closing a round 2x and either case is a reason to make sure you have good press.

Press 415

Press Google Course Writing 415

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2012

Connexity the online advertising startup headed by former Fastclick co-founder Dave Gross, announced this morning that it has raised $3M in a seed funding round. The round was led by Rincon Venture Partners, and also included Siemer Ventures, Persistence Partners and Fastclick Cofounders Jeff Pryor and Dave Gross.

Netflix 124

Netflix Seed Funding Advertising Sales 124