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. In particular I tried to do most of the “entrepreneur advice on VC” up front so that if you don’t want to watch our views on the deals you don’t have to. They sponsor TWiVC.

Venture Capital 214

Venture Capital Startup Design S3 214

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

Santa Barbara-based TrackStreet , a developer of software to help manufacturers monitor their channel and e-commerce sites--and in particular, minimum-advertising-price (MAP) policies--has raised $2M in seed funding, the company said Wednesday.

Commerce 124

Commerce Artificial Inteligence Seed Funding Santa Barbara 124

socalTECH

MAY 13, 2013

Los Angeles-based Greentoe.com , which operates an online marketplace which lets people name their own price for electronics and other items, has raised a round of angel funding, the firm said today. greentoe venture capital angel ecommerce retail retailer seed' Size of the funding was not announced. READ MORE>>.

Angel 231

Angel Funding Venture Capital Entertainment 231

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He eventually applied his lessons learned in these experiences when he founded Zag, a company that helps consumers buy cars over the Internet at pre-negotiated prices with nearly 4,000 dealers across the country [disclosure: my firm GRP Partners is an investor in Zag]. Tags: This Week in Venture Capital. Total raised: $17mm.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

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. Topics include: - Should you raise money at a high price and then just spend it slowly? - Is the VC model broken? - Long answer in the video). -

Startup 245

Startup Venture Capital Advertising News 245

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

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

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

My partnership was pretty bearish and scratched our heads a bit at price tags. 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. US TV advertising is $60 billion in its own right. It was a great learning time for me.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

According to Lehmbeck, in an interview with socalTECH, the company's software takes key specifications from products such as televisions and other consumer electronics, and applies them to ads automatically, so that instead of just advertising a big screen television an ad might contain key terms and information about those products.

Yahoo 145

Yahoo Paid Search GRP Partners SoCalTech 145

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

When they look at buying your company they often think in terms of “how long will it take until I earn back the profits to pay for my acquisition price?” Do you imagine eventually raising VC and trying to build a faster growing company?” They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Xconomy

MARCH 9, 2018

The idea, he says, is to bring the supermarket circular—the printed weekly publication that advertises a store’s discounted items and other promotions—into the digital age. “We do it at check-in and give [shoppers] personalized recommendations, coupons, a wayfinder in the store.”

Pricing 69

Pricing Advertising Ideas Artificial Inteligence 69

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2023

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors.

Statistics 120

Statistics Research Report Newsletter 120

socalTECH

APRIL 5, 2011

Santa Monica-based TrueCar , the online car pricing site headed by Scott Painter, has scored a new, equity investment and partnership with direct marketing firm Guthy-Renker , the firm announced today. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. READ MORE>>.

Truecar 232

Truecar Invest Edmunds Santa Monica 232

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

In my experience, here are some of the key elements of that “second-stage” of entrepreneurship: Move from small investors to major venture capital. They will then line up with you, per Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia. They will then line up with you, per Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

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

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors.

Marketing 157

Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

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. For the advertiser, this is the cost-per-click (CPC) model. Get paid every time an ad is displayed on your site.

Advertising 99

Advertising CPC PPC Sites 99

socalTECH

OCTOBER 6, 2017

Laurence Sotsky: I've been working in the software-as-a-service space for some time, in medium-sized, venture capital backed companies. The platform approach we took allows teams and companies and venues to access the best functionality, at a subcription price, rather than a custom development price.

Mobile 162

Mobile Platform El Segundo UCLA 162

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. The reduction in screen size has made the economic model of Internet advertising totally inefficient. The first investment I ever made as a VC was in a company now called Invoca. Home alarms.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 22, 2011

If that bond isn’t there or if it feels like I’m in a bidding process for the highest price, I might as well be Wells Fargo. In the simplest form, new startups have a product that is INFERIOR to that offered by the competition but at a dramatically lower price with the seller opting for a very thin margin on their product.

Startup 386

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 386

InfoChachkie

JUNE 23, 2011

You guys did a lot of self-funding before you approached the venture capital community. The catalyst was that we saw the demand and it was confirmed by some of the leading advertisers in the marketplace. One of the things the Internet was supposed to do for advertisers is enable real-time, highly engaging messaging.

Yahoo 210

Yahoo Startup Advertising Summary 210

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2016

Most people have heard of Foursquare for local nightlife and Airbnb for rooms, but other nationally recognized sources for local services are still hard to find, including social media, local news, advertising, and event calendars. I still hear often the dream of a free service to users, supported by advertising, per the Facebook model.

Advertising 63

Advertising Content Social Media Satisfaction 63

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2019

We're applying that same platform and are now using it for information, commerce, and advertising in vehicles. At some point, something more compelling and interesting came up, and I left and went back to Nokia as an EIR in their venture capital fund, focused on mixed and virtual reality and IoT.

Artificial Inteligence 113

Artificial Inteligence Startup Commerce Platform 113

Xconomy

JULY 19, 2019

Soaring prices of Bitcoin and other so-called digital tokens were attracting investments from speculators hoping to get rich quick—but these virtual coin values were also known to drop just as suddenly, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Stability Oversight Council noted.

Pricing 89

Pricing Report Invest Venture Capital 89

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. As an early-stage VC I love this phase. presented pricing challenges when compared to a whole new set of offline competitors we didn’t know well. We built a strong brand in the city and acquired a ton of organic traffic.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2018

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors.

Research 87

Research Marketing Statistics Report 87

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself. But this isn’t likely to be a VC-backable business (which to be clear is totally ok). Marketing with long payback is precisely what requires venture capital. Market Size. Efficiency? How will you charge?

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

Entrepreneurism / Monetization Advertising, ecommerce, monetization. . Entrepreneurism / Monetization advertising effectiveness, content distribution, monetization. . Entrepreneurism / Monetization Funding, psychology , vc. . Name Your Price: Influencing Customer's Purchasing Decisions. Unger, John T. Unger, LLC.

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 10, 2014

Executives from Sony Pictures, Disney and Interscope Records are among those who recently purchased homes, joining residents who are executives from Google and 72andSunny , the advertising agency also housed here in Playa Vista. Here, prices can climb higher. million, it is the highest sale price of the year. In West L.A.,

Entertainment 108

Entertainment Santa Monica Journal Belkin 108

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Around 2003, Quigo was doing tens of millions of dollars in revenue with two main products: a ready-to-use, search engine marketing solution for advertisers called FeedPoint and a contextual advertising platform for publishers called AdSonar. He wanted Quigo to be in the business of letting advertisers buy directly into the system.

Google 302

Google Startup Advertising Acquisition 302

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

All of that are in this week’s episode of This Week in VC. I thing I’ve learned over the years is that technology purists hate advertising even when it is that revenue stream that truthfully drives much of our industry. He said it was better than the Yellow Pages because he would provide pricing transparency.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

For example, the Facebook business model of offering a product free to customers while gaining revenue from advertising was born out of the need to survive as a business while offering a fun service. Startups funded by large venture-capital investments rarely think about productivity.

Startup 57

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Outsource 57

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

And know that VC will be hard to come by. Want to build a product that relies on converting local mom-and-pop businesses into online advertisers – see if a regional approach might work better. But I believe that if you go down this road you will struggle to simultaneously serve the SMB market. So you chase them. Avoid rabbits.

Startup 389

Startup Custom Customer Resource 389

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2014

If 10 percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Statistics Research 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2016

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from Angel and venture capital investors.

Marketing 59

Marketing Startup Statistics Research 59

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? Internet advertising is good. the Rubicon Project (Internet Advertising Technology) Status: Pre-Launch Visit the Rubicon Project Website Startup 5.0: Internet Advertising ASP) Exit: $112M IPO and acquisition Lesson: Think big. Internet advertising is good.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40